My good buddy lives in a very remote part of Northern British Columbia, near our summer cottage. They regularly have all kinds of wildlife on their doorstep. They keep large dogs in the yard, to keep the bears and cougars and wolves away from their livestock and poultry. The lady of the "estate" is not a gun person, and feels a single shot .410 is about as big and as complicated as she can handle, and she prefers not to carry that on her walks either. So one fine late summer day three years ago she goes for a walk with her Doberman, St. Bernard and Saluki hound. Checked out the Blueberry and Saskatoon bushes on a nice south facing slope. A black bear came charging in from the side of the trail, grabbed and killed the rather fast and agile Saluki right in front of her. One bite, a quick shake, and done. Bluffed and threatened the other two dogs and her, as they retreated.
A week later, she wanted to go for a walk and asked her husband to come along because she wasn't feeling secure. Told him to bring a gun. He thought she was being paranoid, and didn't really want to carry his Marlin .35, but agreed finally to take his ruger 4" .357 revolver loaded with those silly little Hornady 140 gr. Leverevolution cartridges. Not legal to carry, but where they live there is pretty much no law, only your conscience. As soon as they approached the berry patch, what was likely the same medium sized boar bear charged out and tried to attack the surprised St. Bernard as the Doberman prepared to fight. A quick draw, one shot and it was done. Buddy didn't describe exactly where he hit that bear, but said it was about 30-40 meters away, and one shot was all it took.
So bring what ya got, and shoot straight. Sometimes ideal doesn't matter, just having something in your hands is better than nothing.
Last edited by castnblast; 04/19/20.
