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Ive never been near a grizzly to my knowledge thankfully. Black bears are relatively common here. I can’t imagine going into grizzly country unarmed and unprepared to protect myself. 458Win lives among brown bears and to my knowledge he’s only had to kill one in 50 years. Our chances are low of encountering a bad bear but you’d be foolish to ignore the possibility.

Bearanoia is way over-rated. Like Rost says - trust (with some doubt) but verify,

They are highly individual so if you don't know that individual, hope for the best and plan for the worst.

That's my advice- I don't always follow it myself.

I think I posted about this one some years ago:

April, maybe? Or late March.

Snow had crusted over, ice still safe on lakes, so I took my Lab and the wiener dog out for a walk on the wild side, visiting an area I had scouted on snow machine a couple weeks before for moose hunting that fall. I totally forgot about a winter - killed cow moose I'd found on the first trip. Or wolves, maybe- she was pretty far gone.

Passing on the other side of the bog- maybe 100 yards from the cow, We was just past when I saw a good sized brown bear on the lake ahead, some 500 yards away, and stopped to watch him/her with the binoculars. Beautiful dark brown, not quite Hershey bar shade. It had the leg bones - still attached to each other from the pelvis to the hoof and was playing with them - tossing them in the air and trying to catch them, or away, then pouncing on them and shaking them, just like a dog would do. Repeat.

The Wiener dog got impatient and barked at me, and I made a hurried retreat, only to have the Lab clue in when we were maybe 50 yards or so down our backtrail and bark a warning (not needed, dammit!), and here came the bear. It veered off before it got to us and headed for the carcass. By that time, we had another 100 yards on it.....

First time I got caught without a gun in hand on a bear encounter but not the last.

Nor the last time I've gone out and about without a firearm and NOT met a bear. I worry more about people, and tend to go armed more often when frequenting areas that have a higher frequency of low class people than bears of any sort. I have brown bears in, through, and around my yard frequently, but usually aren't strapped when out of the house and in the yard, or walking the dogs around the neighborhood. The dogs know enough to leave moose alone, tho we have sometimes been followed home by cows, apparently curious about the Wiener dog ("What the hell IS that thing???")

A friend of mine when I was in college worked summers in Glacier NP, both before and after those girls were killed.

He told about the time (the summer after the girls were killed, IIRC) he and a permanent Ranger took horses into a back-country campground through snow pack to repair and prep the campground for the summer. The Ranger went to take a dump in an outhouse that the bears had ripped the door off, and while he was sitting there, a Griz sauntered by and stuck his head in the door in passing.

Jim said that cleaned the Ranger right out!

I haven't actually seen a brown bear in or around the neighborhood in over 10 years, just tracks, scat, and fish carcasses brought up from the river.

This one made free use of my front lawn during the night just before we got snow. I saw the garage motion sensor light come on, then the front door motion sensor light, so I checked for tracks in the morning.

all my bears are "good" bears....until they aren't.

jaguartx;
Good afternoon my old cyber friend, I hope the day's been behaving for you - notice I carefully avoided saying bearable - oh, never mind, I had to...

Seriously though sir, if you'd like to do some reading on the subject from a chap who was considered "the" expert on bear attacks here in BC, was called in to do investigations by BC Coroner services and wrote a couple books on it, here's my winter reading list for you.

They are all by the late James Gary Shelton who was born stateside I want to say but lived most of his life on the central BC coast near Bella Coola - so bears he knew, knew well and knew intimately.

I found out about the books when the rancher buddy I'd cowboy for occasionally handed me the first one as we met after church one Sunday. I can still hear him say, "Just read it and let me know what you think Dwayne"....

https://www.abebooks.com/9780969809906/Bear-Encounter-Survival-Guide-Shelton-0969809905/plp

https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/bear-attacks-the-deadly-truth/

https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/bear-attacks-myth-reality/author/shelton-james/

To you or anyone else, I'm personally tilting at the windmill of not ordering anything more than absolutely necessary from Mr. Bezos so that's why I'll link up abebooks whenever possible. I'm sure that they might be on Amazon too, but I've had really good success with abebooks and they even found their way up here across the medicine line via the somewhat wandering hands of Canada Post.

Going off of foggy memory jag, that's the order they were written in and I think they'll make the most sense read in that order.

I thought enough of the first book that my rancher buddy loaned me that I bought my own copy and then the next two as well.

As to what I told my rancher buddy after I read the first one, it was more or less, "I guess we'll have something tucked under the stirrup fender from now on won't we?"... and after that we always did.

Steven Herero also wrote a book on bear attacks which was well researched and he was a university professor and all that - but as far as I know he was never, ever involved in attack investigations so that's something to be taken into account I believe.

Anyways sir, call them Christmas presents for yourself, but they're a good read I believe.

Dwayne

He left when the law got there. Go figure, he was a bleck.

We spend the month of September hunting in bear country. Around West Yellowstone, Montana, the most common bear is a grizzly. I don't know that I would call them bad, as they only know one thing and that is to eat to stay alive. Avoiding the dining pleasure of the bear, keeps you on your toes as you spend the days looking for elk in grizzly country.

There are some big boys out there, we photographed them on a dead elk we found while hunting...

Gee Thanks, Dwayne. So happy to get this post from you. Do you know if James ever made any You Tube videos?

Bella Coola, a place I Bigly regret never hunting out of. I got a moose off a big Indian reservation east of there half a lifetime ago with an Indian guide who also worked for the famous big bear guide out of B Coola.

I was just married and screwed up big time not taking a bear hunt with him back when things were cheap.

Did you ever know of a hunting guide out of Williams Lake by the name of B iirc Iverson? He and his sons killed some monster inland grizzlies somewhere around there years ago. A great guy who did some of that B Sea dangerous king crab fishing in season. 700-800 lb bear iirc. They were almost and big as the coastal bears.

Take care Dwayne and may GOD bless you all up there with a safe and Merry Christmas.

RC

Read more: https://www.ammoland.com/2022/07/ol...a-bear-and-pistol-defense/#ixzz7nfvdxv4z
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U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)-– Old Groaner Skull, Right side, bullet hole shows finishing shot. The bullet hole measures from .8025 inches to .6510 inches across, according to Haley Chambers of the Ketchikan Museums.

Part I. The events which started the story

In early November 1935, at the upper reaches of the Unuk river in Southeastern Alaska, prospector, trapper, and logger, Bruce Johnstone, shot a near-world record grizzly bear in self-defense. The bear had been shot in the head previously but had survived and healed, leaving the skull deformed and the bear blind on the right side.

The skull was brought back to Ketchikan. The story was published in the February 1936 issue of the struggling Alaska Sportsman, written by F. W. Gabler. Gabler interviewed the shooter, Bruce Johnstone. Both Johnstone and Gabler were longtime residents in the Ketchikan area and likely knew each other well. Included in the story was an illustration by Gabler, photographs of the bear’s head and a front paw, and several angles of the skull showing where bullets were found.

This was the start of the mythology of Old Groaner. While Gabler indulged in speculation about the event where the bear had been wounded and what the bear was thinking, the reporting of the facts was probably accurate. The event was recent, the physical evidence was fresh, and Bruce Johnstone (as later reported by a close associate) had an excellent memory. Gabler wrote some of the best-known articles for the early Alaska Sportsman. His last article in the Alaska Sportsman, known to this correspondent, appeared six months after the early, tragic death of his wife in August of 1936.

The Old Groaner story circulated around the campfires and near the wood stoves of Alaska sportsmen, residents, hunters, trappers, and fishermen. Embellishments were likely added. The definitive moment of the creation of the Old Groaner myth occurred when W.H. “Handlogger” Jackson rewrote the story for the Alaska Sportsman in 1953.

This woman might well have wanted a .45 of her own when the Black bear attacked her in Calif.



There were quite a few Black bears up in the Sierra where my wife and I had a cabin for many years. We were always armed when outside. Came very close to having to shoot one on our property but he/she decided to stop coming and exited out property into the surrounding Sequoia Nat'l. Forest.

I saw a huge Black bear Near Magic Mountain just outside Los Angeles. There are plenty of Black bear encounters around Los Angeles. Too many people think Black bears are just great big fuzzy wuzzy Teddy bears.

No they're not.

FWIW.

L.W.

Hello ALL,

Bow hunting for bears was my passion for quite a few years, one thing I know for sure is that you never know how a bear will act.

People that say, 99% of the time a bear will run, I always wonder how that came to that calculation?

I have watched all the Scary Bear Attacks and before that I read many stories of various documented attacks that have happened throughout North America since the 1800's. Including the Old Groaner Skull story.

The thing that has always stuck with me, and what most people don't know is how people die during an attack. Most people think you get a paw swat across the head and your neck breaks and your dead.

In reality most people that get consumed by the bear that kills them, the bear especially a Grizz eats them alive! Man I never want to go out that way. I always carry my Mossy Maverick 88 when I am bowhunting in Bear country. And yes if you look at the stats, black bears are just as dangerous as Grizz. A small 180 lbs. black bear can take you out.

Been attacked twice to date, Very happy to had my Mossy 88 Defender with me, that's for sure ~

KB

I'm not what you would call lenient when it comes to bears/etc., if they don't leave in a hurry they might very well get shot.

When one came sniffing around my campsite a third time I came out shooting, might or might not have hit it.
I started putting a light on my scope at dark, still have the lights, those 18650 battery - type lights are great and last for years.

had to shoot one around79 or 80 i was a foreman up in Knight Inlet on the British Co;umbia coast working to establish a Marble quarry, i had my family with me wife 2 boys and a 3 yearold daughter. there was a blacky that had moved in across the creek and was not going to leave us alone, unfortunate , so to protect the family he had to go , of course warning shots did not work.

Norm

I don’t think bears think like we think they do.

Growing up, we spent all our summers near West Yellowstone, Montana, and we had bears around all summer, every summer. They were both black and grizzlies. Most of our encounters were with grizzlies as they are more dominant and keep the blacks out of their territory.

Grizzlies are apex predators with no natural enemy, and there is little need for them to fear anything. I don’t know how I slept at night with nothing more than a door knob on a 2 inch hollow core door, keeping the bears outside.

My dad kept a single shot 410 by the bed, loaded with a max load of 1/2 ounce of #6 shot. Bears were on the porch many times trying to get into the ice box we had on the porch with bread stored in it. Dad would shoot the bears in the ass with the 410 whenever the noise got too much for a good nights sleep.

One summer after we got married, we were staying in my grandfather’s homestead cabin and we heard a bear on the back porch, snuffing around the bag of dog food we had left outside. I picked up my 22-250 and opened the door to see a grizzly about 30 feet off the back porch with his head in the bag of dog food. I shot a round off into the darkness to scare the bear, and he didn’t even pull his head out of the bag of dog food.

Warning shots are for people that think they work. That bear didn’t respond to that sound any more than a woodpecker on a dead tree. I don’t think bears hear a gun shot and analyze it as a threat, the noise may be disturbing, but it is just as likely he will eat you with or without the noise…

That's why I do not waste any shells on warning shots. That is what my voice is for. The only warning they get from me, is when I YELL at them "Hey Bear move on or die". Some get the message, the ones that don't, well the way I look at it is there is only one of me and there are lots of bears.

KB

Great stories, guys

KillerB, do you have that gun with you when archery hunting deer.

I don't think that would be legal in Texas. I wonder if it would be legal to carry that in Colorado while hunting deer or elk in archery season.

I never carried a firearm camping or hunting in archery season in NM or Colorado but after having trouble with a black bear I started carrying a pistol.

I often walked trails or old logging roads for a few miles back to camp after dark and only used a light in rough spots. After trouble with that one bear I started shining ahead the entire way.

Seeing some of those videos of cougars taking after people also indicated a firearm could prove invaluable in such an encounter.

The only creature I fear in the woods of North America.
I've seen destruction that you thought only a D8 tractor is capable of.
You can't comprehend the strength and potential of mayhem they are capable of.

This was a very large male that passed right by my vehicle in Yellowstone one night.
At one point you could have reached out the window and patted him on the head if you were stupid enough to do so.



And the two Ursus arctos horribilis I've killed.
They are the most amazing creatures in North America in my opinion.






This bear eluded me on my first Grizzly hunt.
The guide took his young son in the following fall and killed the nine foot interior giant.

Speaking of their strength and willingness to destroy stuff, the hunting lease I was in 20 miles north of panama city beach, florida black bears would destroy anything man-made.
They could/would mangle a steel hang-on tree stand, lights, game cams- no man on earth could do what I've seen them do. Every single time they will rip lights/cameras into little pieces, you're lucky if the sd cards is in one piece.

And digging power omg, I made the mistake of doing something I read online, dig a 2' deep posthole digger hole, fill it with corn and pour cooking oil over it. It looked like a mini-excavator had dug the place up.
Florida Game & Fish released a 560lbs. [trouble bear] a little east of us but declined to say exactly where.
Supposedly the biggest black bear ever weighed in FL. was 760lbs., >just saying.

I remember a story from the 1940's I believe, a small tourist cruise ship pulled into a place in British Columbia? Docked at a long large Pier to let the passengers explore, look around, photograph etc. .
It was a horrible year for bear food, no berries/nuts etc.. There was a small 175lbs. black bear feeding on a rotten fish off to the side of the 4-5' tall Pier that bowed-up aggressively at the tourist. One finally ran passed it then another tried irritating the bear, the third or fourth person was a woman and the bear attacked and killed her within seconds. Men tried to help, it attacked a man, killed him within seconds then another man same thing.
A woman took pictures as the small bear stood on the chest of one of the dead men. You could easily see the ferocious demeanor of the bear, every hair standing on end and the look on its face.
A very small bear 100lbs., even less is nothing to mess around with.

I read stories of ''a black bear in camp'' during elk season and some wild & crazy guy runs out of the tent and chases the 300lb. bugger away while laughing/hollering and whoooping it up with his hat. Mr wild & crazy is flirting with disaster that's for sure.

jaguartx;
Good morning to you my friend, I trust you're all a tad warmer down in your chunk of Texas and you're well.

Sorry that I missed your question about James Gary Shelton earlier.

No, I do not believe he ever made a video, although he did teach a WorkSafeBC approved bear survival course for a long time. If one was a timber cruiser or camp guard for tree planters some outfits wanted you to have his course.

It's interesting to note that one arm of the BC government repeatedly said there was no problem with bears - at all, ever - while another arm, in this case WorkSafeBC being the worker's compensation portion, wouldn't let you out in the bush without a safety course because there were so many bear incidents.

One of my nephews and his wife were tree planting one summer and he was paid an extra amount daily because he was the "gun guy" and as such had access to the only firearm allowed in camp. For the life of me I can't recall how much a day it was, but it wasn't nothing even back then.

Again if one wanted to be struck by the disconnect of the Ottawa elite suggesting no one needs a firearm, but still insist on living in wood framed houses, want the forests replanted, but apparently don't understand the very real dangers of tree planting.

Anyways jag, here's a link to the eulogy of James Gary Shelton if you or anyone is interested. It's on the right side when you flip the first page.

https://issuu.com/blackpress/docs/i20190627040937436

It's interesting how folks have a hard time well "connecting dots" as you'd put it, even when the dots are in their yard.

When we first moved here 30 years back, our next door neighbors informed us they were very antigun and not keen on hunting. I just smiled, nodded and kept quiet jag.

On the Victoria Day May long weekend, sure enough one of what turned out to be many, many black bears showed up in their yard and was nose to nose with their precious golden lab which was in it's fenced enclosure.

Our neighbor was originally from Britain and was a teacher - this so you can imagine an accent - and as best as I can recall said, "There is a black bear in our yard now Dwayne and it's growling at Serena (dog). I phoned the Conservation Officer Service to come and deal with it and got a recording. What good is a recording going to do me I ask you? You said you hunt correct? Would you be so kind as to bring a rifle or gun over and see if you can get the bear to leave? I don't want you to shoot him mind you, just get him to leave..."

It wasn't the last time I wandered over to their place with something capable of making noise to haze a recalcitrant bruin away, especially when they learned that the typical response time for the CO's is measured in days, not hours as they're a wee bit stretched out here.

We became friends over the next 30 years and remained so until he passed on this spring. I still really don't think he liked guns or hunting much jag, but he did appreciate his little old neighbor had one several times... funny how that works.

Folks on the 'Fire have seen these before, but here's some of the yard bears of which I speak. The first ones are 50yds of the house, the last one just up the road a wee bit but certainly close enough to walk to our place.

Maybe a 3 year old.



Little guy - likely 2 years old.



Different year, different cinnamon.



Maybe a 4-5 year old, just down the road about a 15 minute walk for us, not the bear.



Anyways jag, if one chooses to live in rural BC or at least our part of it, one needs to get used to yard bears because they're a thing. They're not all bad, but when they get used to being able to push people around they can be stinkers for sure.

All the best to you this Christmas Season.

Dwayne

Most of the black bear problems in Jeff State are caused by the F&W. When a black bear becomes a problem around rec areas, campgrounds and villages, they are trapped and relocated. At this point in Yogi's career he has lost all fear of man, which is dangerous, and he associates man with food sources. So they release Yogi someplace near the end of the road, usually a trailhead to the wilderness areas. Yogi finds that hard going, backpackers don't eat well by bear standards, leave very little garbage...so Yogi heads to the settlements, this only takes about 2 weeks as a rule. When Yogi becomes a PIA he frequently croaks, sudden bear death syndrome. But, the F&W guys get to say publicly to the city slickers, 'there were no bears harmed in this relocation program'. Nothing is said about sudden bear death syndrome. This is what your tax and fee dollars support.