Originally Posted by Birdwatcher
[quote] One of the best and most detailed written accounts is an early one; The Journals of Lewis and Clark. Those guys had a number of tussles with the "white bears" in their travels, most often initiated when they peppered said bears first with one or more round lead rifle balls smile


I have been doing a deep dive through Lewis and Clark's journals the last few months, and we hit a bunch of significant L&C historical spots on vacation this year. They absolutely hated the white and brown bears (they had not decided whether they were seeing different species or different color phases). Once, when they planned to attack one, they kept two people back to cover the retreat by holding fire and sent 4 people in the attack party. Four solid holes in the bear just got it mad. It still continued after taking the other two rounds, one breaking a shoulder. Lewis said that the only way to kill them with a single shot was by shooting them through the brains, which was difficult. He also said in the same passage that he would rather fight two Indians than one bear.

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