Grizzlies and the 30-30

[Grizz]

But Tutt, there is an epic story of someone in the interior landing his piper cub on a lake and hiking off on a hunt. the story goes that he sprayed his floats with the bear spray thinking it would protect the plane. when he got back the floats were destroyed. After that we used to remind ourselves that the way to track a bear was to follow the little bells that smell like pepper......

another story without the bear spray component was the guy who landed his aircraft in a tundra location on a hunting trip. when he got back brer bear had shredded the fabric. the pilot however countered with a massive supply of duct tape he carried for emergencies. he mended the skin of his plane and flew it home..

another tale is about the helicopter that was destroyed. don't know any more than that, but it was a good laugh.

and finally, I was in a Grumman Goose flying through mountain passes on the way to Juneau. on a knoll below was a blueberry bush and a Ginormous bear stripping berries. when the goose passed over the bear leaped high over the bush and swiped with the huge paw at the airplane. my takeaway is that bears are grouchy and they hate things that fly over them and disturb the peace!

[buckeyeshooter]

I will say this, I have killed exactly one grizzly bear, a Toklat from the Alaska Range on a population control hunt. A boar, he weighed an estimated 450#, and squared at 6'6". My good friend and I were hunting the Castner Creek drainage when we spotted him rolling boulders looking for a ground squirrel snack, we later tried rolling one of the boulders, and the two of us could barely roll a boulder he was moving like it was a marble.We got to within 80 yards, and I proceeded to send four 200 grain bullets clear through him with my Ruger 300 Win Mag. At the first shot he turned and headed downhill, I could cover all four entrance wounds with my hand, the exits were a completely different story. Just before he made the alders, my bud asked if I wanted him to shoot, I yelled YES! He sent one Nosler Partition into the bear from a Winchester Model 94 in 30-30. While we didn't recover any of my bullets as they had all exited, we found his just under the hide on the opposite side after fully penetrating the paunch. The bear expired about 30 yards into some thick alders, I almost put a 45 caliber bullet through his skull from my Blackhawk, as when we found him it kind of surprised me, and I might have been a little, shall we say "keyed up", I had a loaded rifle, but the instinct for whatever reason had me draw my sixgun. He stunk of rotting fish as we skinned him, not at all like the almost sweet smell of the fall black bears, so we ended up only packing out the head and hide, I have eaten a grizzly another good friend killed in a Delta Junction alfalfa field, and it was good table fare, this, wasn't taking a chance. Following weekend another friend had the same results as I did shooting a 338 Win Mag with 250 grain bullets. All of this long winded blathering on, is my way of saying that I am fairly certain I would prefer something slightly more substantial than a 30-30 for facing a grizzly or brown bear, while I have little doubt it will get the job done, some really bad things can happen in the margins, so I would prefer to keep them as small as possible, and would likely stick with the old 45 2.1" in my Marlin 1895GS, my 375 Ruger would not be a bad choice either, and likely would have been in my hands that day had it been around.Bearrug3.jpg

very nice looking rug

[High Desert Hunter]

Thank you!

[AJMD429]

Please explain “pretty solid research”.

Well, I stand corrected I think. While 2 studies that are often compared showed that bear spray is very effective and firearms were not, the way the research was conducted was very flawed although it is generally used and taught now. This guy gives a very good analysis of the 2 studies. -Tutt

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-a ... pray-work/

That's a really interesting article and makes a lot of good points.

It kind of sounds like bears are like human bullies. Three steps to deal with them:

1. AVOID them if possible. Maintain situational awareness and avoid situations where they may hang out. If you do stumble upon one try to ease away from them without attracting attention.

2. PERSUADE them if you are able. If you come to their attention try to appear non-threatening and non-challenging. Use gentle persuasion to redirect their attention ("hey, look at that cool Corvette that guy's got over there..." or "hey this captation spray really smells nasty maybe we should get out of here").

3. SHOOT THEM IN THE FACE promptly if they attack you during or after the above methods fail. Repeat until they cease aggression.

A physically fit and young and tough guy might be able to substitute 'PUNCH them in the face' for step number three if it's a human attacking them, but for a scrawny old guy like me the human would have to get the same treatment as the bear if I expected to prevail. Unless maybe some 4-year-old kid decides to attack me....

I guess the other issue is that bears are a lot tougher than humans. Most humans shot in the face with a 22 short but probably back off pretty quickly but I would expect a few shot at charging grizzly bear your bullet had best go right up one of the nostrils or eye sockets, and it had best be a pretty tough bullet as well.

Definitely step one needs to be followed, unless you really feel the need to bet your life on whether or not you can rapidly hit a 3-inch circle coming at you at 35 mph with your first shot.

[CowboyTutt]

Doc, old friend, and hopefully healing well, glad you actually took the time to review the article and its findings. I hope others may do so also. My "take away" was that bear spray is roughly 90% percent effective in up to an "aggressive bear" (which was not clearly defined in either of the studies) but only roughly 30% effective on a charging bear. I will keep my gun and train with it thanks. Maybe carry both. Thank you Brother!

Sincerely,

-Tutt

[piller]

No experience, so I have to read what others say. My personal experiences on other things lean toward the use of a gun. I would try to have a gun in bear territory. I would probably carry bear spray in addition to the gun. One thing I would not do is go alone at my age and with my health problems.

[AJMD429]

No experience, so I have to read what others say. My personal experiences on other things lean toward the use of a gun. I would try to have a gun in bear territory. I would probably carry bear spray in addition to the gun. One thing I would not do is go alone at my age and with my health problems.

Yeah I forgot Step 1a:

Always have at least one companion....

...Preferably someone overweight and not able to run very fast. Pack a bacon sandwich for them to snack on if you're walking in dense cover...

[Drawdown]

Take plenty of gun, make sure there's plenty powder in the cartridge! Bearspray=BS!

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Wilderness Hunting by Townsend Whelen

[AJMD429]

.
I have never read any of Whelen's books, but I love books like that.

[hfcable]

and if you have significant asthma DO NOT USE BEARSPRAY ! i personally know of two deaths due to bearspray in patients who had asthma, and not particularly severe asthma at that. i have moderately severe asthma and would think of using that stuff.

[Drawdown]

Done knew I wouldn't try it, can't take hardly any fumes. I have Black lung, copd, emphysema, smoked 25 years, and then when I retired, found out I have Alpha 1 ZZ. Take infusion every 2 weeks, and on home oxygen. I worked underground mining almost 40 years, and I ran a continuous miner 32 of those years,, no doubt the dustiest industrial job in america! Needless to say I struggle to do everything, and I hunt steep mountains. When going far I take a portable nebulizer for albuterol. I still go, can't quit!
Doc, nobody else I'd rather read, got 3 his books, wish he'd wrote more, he's the real deal. Not just a writer. Got couple Teddy's books too.
The best read by far I've ever read is "Red Letter Days in British Columbia" by Whelen. It's just a 10-12 page short story. Wish he'd wrote an entire book on that one trip alone!

[piller]

Not many people will tell on themselves.

[Drawdown]

For anyone that may not have read Whelens story. The first 2 pages and last 2.

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One item listed in their supplies, you might find kinda peculiar?

[Drawdown]

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[piller]

Prunes?

[Drawdown]

Middle of wilderness is miserable place to get all locked up!