Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Bear protection: 9mm, 40 S&W, 45 ACP?

wwy, I admire your experience and agree with you about bear spray. I still carry a can on most trips. I prefer it's non-lethal, educational effect and have used it a few times, mostly to educate young bears or deter "teenage" boars testing how far they can push humans.

Spray, and the Kimber "PepperBlaster", can be carried and used, even in campgrounds and other public areas, by people incompetent with firearms, without the fear of someone getting shot. they are also perfect around town and rural areas with agressive dogs too. And from my limited use, they are effective.

But no one tool is perfect and if the only tool you have is a hammer then every problem looks like a nail.

Brad,

We don't have grizzlies in Colorado (I think)In the summer I sometimes carry a titanium 4" .357 with 7 180gr Buffalo bear buster bullets. In 40 years of hunting/camping I only have had one bear experience. I was scouting for MD in late August camped in my little Hilleberge UNA. Warm night left the front open. My attack beagle was asleep at my feet. I awoke to a pretty good sized black bear snuffing my face. yikes! I made some short of sound, bear bolted. dog woke up ran over my face. .357 was useless as it was outside my bag. I thought about bringing it in the bag but didn't want to have a dream and end up blowing my nuts off....long night.
I have carried bear spray in areas were there were grizzlies. My daughter was a wrangler in Yellowstone and the Tetons for 3 or 4 years and she always carried spray but never had to use it.

LC

I shot a grizzly on the Kelly River in 1988 with a 475 Linebaugh that came in on me while cleaning a moose. I was shooting a LBT 390 grain LFN that I cast out of wheel weights and water quenched. My friend hit the bear first with a 250 partition out of a 338 win. The bear went down and imediatley got up up as if spring loaded. From my angle I hit the bear in the back of the rib cage angling toward the off shoulder. At the shot the bear went straight down with a four legs straight out and never got up again. This was the first bear and moose ever shot with the 475 Linebaugh. I was impressed with the performance of these big bore revolvers then and now when loaded and shot properly.

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Great job under pressure ,Phil!

That's the truth. I sent the story to a guy I know that has seen bears on TV and hunted deer once when he was about 14yrs old. He called and started with how he would have had blah blah, I said stop right there because you would have done the same thing I would have, chit your pants and blowed your damn feet off trying to drag whatever you have out of your holster.


Those people were lucky to have 458Win with them.


Had it been someone like me the only thing that wasn't injured by gun fire would have been the bear.

OK where in Anchorage can you buy BB 9MM 147 Gr cast bullet loads? Shipping not an option. Checked and called all the shops I know, Grace does not show it as an option?

When you ask for it be prepared for what are u thinking ?

I spoke with a Game warden a few years ago about grizzlies here. He said officially there are none here, but the department was investigating claims of a guide, who had a ton of experience guiding in Alaska, that he had seen a Grizzly in the northern part of the state.

The Bear season in Oregon starts August first. I have been climbing a ridge to a vantage point on a private cattle ranch to look for bears in the wild fruit trees, and the black berries. I am up there until is it's too dark to see and then hike the 45 minutes back the the ATV for the several mile ride to the ranch gate.

On my way down Saturday, I was using the trail the cowboys use for the horses, they keep it limbed and open enough to walk at a good pace with a headlamp. Down the trail I go, when I hear a loud Woof and the unmistakable sound of a bear clicking it's teeth. I carry a .44 mag S&W mountain gun with crimson trace grips. As I looked around toward the sound I could see this bear,... head down ears back,... and ready to rock and roll. I'm at 15 yards, Maybe..... maybe 12?

I froze to see her next move, removing the revolver and putting the red dot on the brain. ( one reason you must always have the holster on the outside of your jacket or coat, no time to fumble with zippers and buttons. It's not as easy to hold steady as you might imagine. She keeps clicking her teeth, and now I am hearing the sounds of bark scraping on the tree behind her. Certainly cubs climbing up. I cannot turn to walk away and take my eyes off of her. I'm in a bit of a bind in the dark having to wait on her to turn and leave. It was not a comfortable situation to turn my back on her for me to walk away.

I reached for my iPhone to use the flash on her. This was the resulting picture. It did nothing by the way, she was just locked on me, in the starting blocks waiting for my next move. Thankfully the cowboys trail was rather nice, except for the sticks and rocks, it was not a bad path. I was able to slowly walk backwards hoping I did not trip and fall. I made it around a bend in the trail and then hauled my butt up the ridge to the ATV. I'm not sure how the rest of the season will go with her and her cubs in this place.

If you are serious about the use of a handgun for bear protection, regardless of what you choose, the crimson trace grips are a priceless addition to the design. It would have been extremely difficult to use open sights in this situation, and I have trijicon night sights on this gun too. However with a head lamp on those night sights are not usable it's too bright without being properly aligned for the sights to be functionally visible in the dark.

Things you should figure out before you are in this situation!

In this case it works for me, I'm a bow hunter and only carry this S&W for this exact purpose.

As for Pepper spray, It only took one time to have the wind blow it into my face and be blinded while in a bad situation to never EVER want to have that happen again!

Police carry pepper spray for the same reason that hikers, backpackers and outdoorsmen carry it. It is often the best solution to diffuse a situation without having to kill the threat and the lethal means is in no way compromised.

And for those who wanted to know about penetration here is a photo showing both the entrance and exit with the bullet still in place. this shot was not well placed as it was too far back and too high, but he was highly agitated and twisting and biting each time I hit him.