Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Griz Defense with Bergers

kutenay... I'm with you, I'd like to see the actual "study" before giving it a nod.

The two peer-reviewed retrospective studies I know of comparing the success of bear defense with firearms vs pepper spray were, in my view, significantly flawed because they failed to take into account the basic differences in bear attacks on unarmed hikers/forestry workers and attacks on hunters. But there is no question that people CAN and DO defend themselves effectively with firearms at times.

I'd like to hear Phil Shoemaker's take on this. He's our resident bear-killing member, I'd like to know what he thinks. I have no comment to make on the Berger bullet for bear defense but would like to know his take.

I've not shot a charging bear, but I've been bluff-charged, and have had a lot of up-close exposure to bears over 30+ years in the course of my outdoor recreation when I lived in my native Alberta. I also did some bear-country biologist work when I was a college student. This latter job earned me a slot at a class where we shot "charging" bear targets with 12-gauge slugs... this was the same class all provincial F&G officers took, btw. We were taught to aim at the "center of mass", which is basically the center of the chest under the chin. We were trained to take the time to make ONE good shot, because there is likely not enough time for a second one unless you anchor the bruin with your first shot.

At that time (1975) Alberta wildlife officers carried 12-ga 870's as bear medicine. Last time I talked to a ranger on patrol in bear country, in 1996 in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park where there was a LOT of grizzly activity, he was carrying an iron-sighted 300 Win Mag. He told me they'd had some "poor outcomes" with the slug guns on grizzlies, so had upped the ante.

There is no question that as grizzly populations increase in the mountain west, the frequency of hunters getting into dangerous encounters with grizzlies has also increased. In some areas, as one other member posted earlier, grizzlies hear a rifle shot and their innate response is to think "Elk for supper!". They will and have killed hunters to claim a fresh carcass.

My take-away from all of this is that if I'm hunting ungulates in grizzly country, I would prefer to carry a rifle chambered for a cartridge that will work reliably on griz, and that rifle is going to be set up for close work but can be upped to higher power if an elk is spotted at distance. A .308 class or better rifle, topped with a 1-4X or 2-8X scope left on the lowest setting until a distance shot presents itself, would suffice. Heavy-for-caliber premium bullets are preferable; they'll work fine on elk or deer or moose too.

I would not choose to hunt alone in grizzly country, and I would definitely not field dress or pack meat alone.

As always on these bear threads, I strongly recommend Gary Shelton's books on bear behavior and defense against bear attacks. Ignorance of these magnificent animals' behavior has cost many a bear and many a hunter dearly, and ignorance is never an excuse for killing or being killed.