Boy, for guys that claim to want this thread to die... ya'll sure keep applying the ol' electrodes to Frankenthread's heart and calling for lightning! :-)
Sitka Deer, I am impressed that someone who literally has wounded bears die touching them (are you implying that their last charge was stopped that close, or something different?) would go so far as to dive into the brush after a wounded bear without a round in the chamber. Now THAT is putting your money where your mouth is.
It also seems a bit nuts from here, but, whatever. You are many times the hunter I will ever be and I concede that.
But I will take your bait and am happy to debate this with any reasonable takers, which the present company appears to be, so here we go.
Looking at the above situation in it's entirety, I think a reasonable case can be made that what you are doing would be MORE dangerous in general, not less. Here's why. Let's pretend that it isn't you we are talking about here to remove any element of me vs. you here. Let's just imagine two groups of hunters, with a wounded bear in the brush, that might likely die so close to one of them that it touches them- in other words, these are "interesting times", as the Chinese curse goes.
Both groups are good gun handlers. One group dives after their bear chambered but with the safety on, and practicing good gun handling. The other dives in unchambered; I don't know if this means their safety is off or on as I've heard the "cold" guys express it either way. You tell me.
So the guys fan out. This is an inherantly dangerous situation in several ways, obviously. Ignoring the dangers from the bear or from getting shot inadvertantly through the brush by another hunter intentionally firing his weapon, we are left with the danger of an UN-intentional discharge.
I contend that it is at least debateable that in the heat of the moment, with a wounded bear charging, it is LESS safe to have to do a full action manipulation before shooting. Hands are flailing, bear is charging, etc. These are exactly the moments that guys say CRF rifles are needed for, because people make bad physical mistakes in these moments when required to manipulate the action of their rifle. Yeah?
The other group needs to raise their rifle and click the safety off and shoot. A simpler physical action.
I offer this in the spirit of debate. I'm not interested in slinging mud. I know that Sitka, ironbender, Coyote Hunter, etc are not either or I wouldn't bother typing this.
