OT: 41 Magnum saves man from Montana grizzly

[Montanan]

41 Mag saved his life

Bear mauling victim admits he shot the bear dead

By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer
LIVINGSTON - Bob Johnson, the mountain man mauled by a grizzly bear last week, has decided to tell the rest of the story.

He shot the bear dead, he said Wednesday, plugging it with a .41-caliber Magnum pistol after it had mauled him once and was returning for a second attack.

Johnson, 55, maintained last week that the details of the attack were hazy. On Wednesday, he said he had been reluctant to tell the whole story because of legal concerns.

He was convicted of a federal poaching charge in the early 1980s and was unsure if carrying a handgun would land him in trouble.

"I was scared of going to jail," he said Wednesday.

After conferring with a lawyer and his doctor, he said he decided to tell the Chronicle the whole story.

The incident began last Wednesday as Johnson was walking quietly in the Soldier Creek drainage of the Gallatin Range, in Tom Miner Basin north of Yellowstone National Park.

He said he was walking slowly, looking for petrified wood specimens.

"I smelled bear," he said. "But that ain't nothing new. Then I took about five steps and got hit somehow."

He said he probably awakened the bear from its daybed.

He said he fought hard with the bear and grabbed its nose with both hands, trying to protect his eyes.

During the battle, the grizzly ripped off a big chunk of Johnson's scalp, scraped a wide groove of meat from beneath his right arm, and battered and scratched his torso. A small backpack probably helped him avoid further injury.

"I really fought," he said. "I fought hard."

After a while, the bear left him and moved some distance away. Johnson said he isn't sure how far the bear went.

"I'm mauled. What am I supposed to do? Get out a tape measure?"

He said last week there might have been a cub present, but now he isn't so sure.

"I don't know," he said. "I might have hallucinated it."

Then the bear attacked again, he said, moving incredibly fast, and that's when Johnson, still on his back, reached for the pistol he wore in a holster on his belt.

"I had my hand by my side," he said. "I pulled the gun and went boom. Tell me how fast that is."

The bullet struck the bear just below the snout and it collapsed immediately and almost landed on him, he said. Then he rose to his feet and put three more 240-grain slugs in it.

Johnson wrapped some of his wounds, then had what he estimated to be a 3- to 5-mile hike back to his truck, then a drive to the B-Bar Ranch, where he got help.

Doctors in Livingston needed 75 staples to reattach his scalp to his skull and lots of stitches to close his other wounds.

Still, Johnson insisted on leaving the hospital Friday. The staples were removed Wednesday.

Game Warden Randy Wuertz said Wednesday he will have to investigate the scene. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service likely will investigate as well.

"I'm sure they're not going to do anything to him for carrying a handgun," he said.

Killing a grizzly bear, which is protected as a threatened species, is illegal unless it is in self defense.

"I should've been paying more attention," said Johnson, a burly man with an oversize beard, who often spends weeks at a time alone in the mountains. "I usually do."

But he doesn't regret defending himself.

"He wasn't feeling too sorry for me, either," he said of the grizzly. "I like some of them. But that one I didn't like. That one was trying to kill me."

[Ysabel Kid]

I'm glad he's okay. Sorry though that free men need worry about legal repercussions for defending oneself from a beast... I'm sure some PETA idiots are crying the blues that this didn't end the other way...

[bigbore442001]

At least he was able to defend himself. That is pretty interesting that he used the .41 magnum to kill the bear.

[Wes]

I packed a 41 up in that country for a few years. Always loaded it with 250-265 grain hard cast and an obscene amount of H110. I replaced it eventually with a 45 Colt. That 41 mag load would shoot through an oak railroad tie at 35 yards. After every second cylinder full you had to snug up your grip frame again though. I'm glad this guy came out of it alright. Hope he don't get into any more trouble.

[buckeyeshooter]

Just another example of why law abiding citizens should be allowed to exercise 2nd amendment rights and carry a handgun in a national park.

[Jaguarundi]

Just another example of why law abiding citizens should be allowed to exercise 2nd amendment rights and carry a handgun in a national park.

+1 I agree.

[GANJIRO]

41 Mag saved his life

Bear mauling victim admits he shot the bear dead

The bullet struck the bear just below the snout and it collapsed immediately and almost landed on him, he said. Then he rose to his feet and put three more 240-grain slugs in it.

240 grains is standard load for a 44 mag, 210 for the 41 mag. I never heard of any 240 grain 41 mag bullets, I wonder if he reloads, he didn't actually know, or was misquoted, not that it matters, just curious.

[Bullard4075]

"240 grains is standard load for a 44 mag, 210 for the 41 mag. I never heard of any 240 grain 41 mag bullets, I wonder if he reloads, he didn't actually know, or was misquoted, not that it matters, just curious."

IIRC Federal loads a 41mag/240 flatnose cast bullet they call the "Castcore"

The reason I remember it is that I thought of buying some for the bullets for my 40-75 (same case as 40-65 Win) Bullard lever.

[Andrew]

Just another example of why law abiding citizens should be allowed to exercise 2nd amendment rights and carry a handgun in a national park.

+1 I have to admit, if I were wandering in bear country I would pack regardless of what ever law was in effect. I(and millions of others) am more import than to let reason float out the window of a judicial office.

Side note- Another reason that the .41mag would be cool to have.

[Jarhead]

That fella got lucky using a 41 Mag on a Grizz...Lucky the round caught the bear below the snout and entered his scull and brain...otherwise he would have been mauled again! Pistols, including the 41 and 44 mag. are not good "bear medicine." If I pack in Grizz/Brown bear country, it's a rifle. No less than 30-06, but would prefer a 458, 45-70/457WW mag...or at least a .338 Win mag.

I was charged by a Grizz in 1989 and glad I had my Pre 64 Model 70 in .338...killed the bear and avoided stables and stiches...

A lucky Man Indeed!

[Mutt]

The .41 mag is probably as good as it gets. Had a Ruger SA that was very accurate and I never seem to notice the recoil. But the ammo back then was hard to come by and I swapped with a friend for the .357 , same gun..Wish I still had that .dang't . It's it's like spilled milk and long gone wishes . Sure glad that feller got out alive. I would think Bears aren't nothing to mess with . Only one out side a zoo I ever saw,was sprawled across the the rear hump of a '36 ford and I was about 11 then .But it was a small black bear ..............Any way I miss that .41.

Mutt

[Comal Forge]

I corresponded with Elmer Keith on a couple of occasions in the mid 1970's and based on his advice, bought a 6-1/2" M29 and a 4" M57 (a couple years apart but both were made late '70's).

With that said, the M29 stays in the cabinet and the M57 goes everywhere with me. I shoot it enough that I can get lucky once in a while and knock down a bird in flight if not too far away. It's pure death on jack rabbits out to about 100 yds if I use a rest. Granted, a heavy rifle would be better but I would not hesitate to carry mine in bear country - better than nothing, I'd think...

I'm glad he lived through it. The bear could have knocked the gun loose in the first attack and killed him.

[MikeS.]

He was convicted of a federal poaching charge in the early 1980s and was unsure if carrying a handgun would land him in trouble.

He might be a felon, if so then all the law abiding stuff goes right out the window.

I've been spending more time in the woods. Guess I need to load up some big hot .44 mag loads for the black bears around here.

[Malamute]

Hard cast, heavy for caliber bullets in sixguns generally penetrate better in animals than high power rifles with expanding bullets. The "paper energy" figures mean little in this instance. It's been tested time and again, and holds up. Deep strait penetration is what kills bears and similar animals at close range in defensive situations. A heart or lung shot, like we generally use when "hunting" is a different event, and doesn't usually result in instant stops in a charge like a bullet thru the brain or spine, or breaking a shoulder down. Hard deep penetrating bullets aren't always the best "hunting" load, nor is a good "hunting" load a good "stopper" at contact distance. Most hard cast bullet loads penetrate much deeper than almost any high power expanding hunting rounds.

Either can work well in different circumstances, but the guy with the 41 and heavy bullet loads was not poorly armed for the event. Phil Shoemaker has killed Alaskan grizzlies with heavy bullets in a 357 and felt it worked well.

[Mich Hunter]

I have a friend back home in Michigans U.P that uses a Ruger 3-screw in 41 mag. He has taken several black bears with it.

[Rod WMG]

comal forge, if you want to sell that useless M29 reasonable I can be contacted at
rodpow2@yahoodawtcom
You fix the...well, I think you know what I mean.

[Travis Morgan]

For those of you that think this fella was unnecessarily worried about the law, you don't realise just how bad the government will person you when you shoot a bear or lion in self defense.
They come out to the scene, do the whole CSI thing, even going so far as to examine your wounds. In Wyoming, for a long time, you pretty much had to get bitten to escape prosecution for shooting a bear.
An outfitter I worked for gave me (I was 20, at the time) a pretty stern lecture, after I said I'd shoot any bear I considered "too close". At the time, we were on the north fork of the Buffalo, near DuBois, Wyoming, home of some darn big bears.

I can kinda understand the government's position, since people who just want to kill a bear or cat would constantly be killing them, then claiming they were under attack, but I also believe they should err on the side of man.