Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 2 Grizz Attack’s in Montana in One Day !!!

Ask the Dad who shot a griz off his son 2 years ago, in the South Fork of the Flathead River

Do what Liver Eatin Johnson did, jab a big bowie knife into his chest and leave it there...done it a million times LOL

A lot more can go wrong than right. Thank God in that scenario it worked. I'd deploy spray on a bear on top of a partner before firing (that would be a last resort)... you've got to have these scenarios worked out in advance with your hunting partners.

Brad and jag;
Top of the morning to you both, I hope the day in your respective parts of the globe are as promising as it looks like it will be up here just north of the medicine line.

This very thing actually happened to a chap a couple seasons ago a few valleys to the east of us - near where comerade who posts here hunts and lives I believe.

A grizzly jumped one of the hunters and was in the process of mauling him with vigor and enthusiasm when his partner - his son in law I want to say - shot the bear with either a .338 or .300 Win. In any case the bullet traversed through the bear and hit the chap in one leg, shattering his knee to the point where it eventually needed to be amputated at Foothills in Calgary - where the bad trauma cases in that part of BC end up.

We try to discuss a plan of how we'd handle it, but honestly I can't even begin to imagine having to shoot a bear off my usual hunting partner who is my eldest daughter. Shakes me to my soul thinking about it really.

Another poster asked how bears can get so close, but it's amazingly thick country up here in the steep hills in some areas and bears are unimaginably quiet and stealthy when they want to be. Again I've not been around many grizzlies, but we see up to a dozen black bears a year and know them all too well - both good and bad, funny and much, much less so.

Anyway gentlemen, that's all I know this morning on the subject and as always it seems work beckons so off I must slither now.

Good luck to both of you on your hunts this fall.

Dwayne

If I'm under a bear, I won't complain about how you get it off me as long as you are not contributing to my death.

I know guns have been used to stop some attacks. I also recall a young man who killed his father while getting a bear off of him somewhere around Cooke City as I recall--maybe on Mt Abundance?

I have a friend that has been involved in two attacks and he says they happen too fast for a gun, btw.

I know of one case where a man shot a grizzly off his partner. His partner was hit in the knee and badly injured but said he was thankful his partner had shot the bear as he would have been worse off if had the shot not been taken. I'm sure there are other cases but this is one I know off. Of the people killed in grizzly attacks, all were killed, in part, because nobody shot the bear.
In one other case, one man had shot an alk and both had leaned their rifles up in a bush while gutting the elk. The bear took them unawates and killed one on the elk and ran the other down as he tried to get to his rifle.
In this area, and especially just east of here, when you have an animal down, you had better pay attention because the grizzlies are always around. Virtually every watershed has at least one resident grizzly. This is how it is and, since it is wild country, it is as it should be. The advisability of being armed in areas like this is one thing which weighs in favor of having guns so it's kind of a good thing. Bears and all, I feel it's probably safer to walk around in the mountains than to walk around in Detroit. GD

Thanks, Dwayne. I hope yall are cooling off up there in Gods country. Wish you would have attached some pics.

I am quite aware of several cases of a hunter shooting his bud whether attacked by any of various animals such as bears or big cats.

My mistake was in not thinking about it being bow season only.

I did hunt with Billy Hill once in Montana who had been charged by a grizzly which had been snared and released by the game boys even though the snare had broken its jaw. I'm sure he considered the possible ramifications as, while running round the tree, he was hollering, "Shoot him, shoot him" to 2 guys he had never seen shoot under pressure.

He was guiding two bowhunters from NY of all places, who both managed to skewer the bear quite fatally as it was chasing Billy around a not too big tree.

I also imagine a shooting a griz throwing someone around would require some degree of caution and level headeness.

As M Stevenson said I would be expecting some intervention.

If a bear were killing me I would still expect my bud would do something even if were to just jump on and start stabbing it.

I merely mentioned I thought it strange 2 attacks occurred on 2 sets of hunters and no bear was shot. I did not say I was and expert or that it was impossible for that to happen.

That was enough to get the "experts" to attack. Just such a simple statement. Gee, WTF have we degenerated to?

Well, I will tell the experts what happens all the time. Bears attacking two guys hunting and no bears shot.

Another thing that happens all the time on the Fire is that those jealous of others or just pissed off about what's going on at home looks for a reason to attack and run down someone else whether they have to take what someone said out of context or attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill.

As Jerry Clowers said from the top of the tree with a wild cat chewing his ass, "Just shoot up here amongst us. One of us needs some relief".

I worked with a guy in Alaska that shot and then was attacked by a solid 10ft brown bear on Kodiak. His partner shot the bear off of him albeit one of the 300 Wby rounds did go through his Tib/Fib shattering his lower leg. He never complained about it because he was alive to tell the story. His leg was not the prettiest thing to look at but with reconstructive rods and pins he was walking and living a normal life not to long later. I don’t care how you get it off me as long as I’m alive afterwards. Any of you that remember the brown bear on display in the IGA grocery store in Delta Junction, that was the bear, it had been cut down in size for a life size standing mount to be able to fit in most places, it had a monster noggin.

Sorry for making the unforgivable mistake of saying "through" the bear rather than taking the time to add " or by" the bear.

I do sometimes expect others to make the mental leap and get the message.

Hey, it happens when one is getting old a senile. Some of you may experience that some day.

These bear attack threads are always a hoot. My favorite is " take the front sight off your handgun" that way it won't hurt when the bear shoves it up your azz... classic

The statistics show a handgun is effective in stopping an attack something like 95% of the time. I suspect a guy getting chewed on would hang onto the handgun for dear life and pump as many rounds into the bear as possible, beats a fist or knife.

Several accounts of people getting shot by a partner while being attacked... I imagine it's a pretty fluid and tense situation. Desperate times and desperate measures sort of thing.

Hard to imagine bow hunting in grizz country without spray and a handgun.

How in the world did you come to this conclusion? You can't hit what you aim at?

Maybe he would be doing the SSS.

Shaking, Shietting, Shooting.

It's kind of a tough call. It's like having cancer. The drugs are really bad for you but most consider the alternative to be worse. The best shooting option for the partner would be a near contact shot to the CNS in a direction offering minimal pass-through danger to the victim. But, yeah, on a moving critter it could be tough. Although it was not a bear deal, here is a recent example of a favorable result. Skip to 2:45 to get to the relevant part. I forgive in advance a reasonably competent shot who attempts to get an attacking bear off me by shooting. In my case, that most likely would be a family member.

All due respect, Jerry, but in my experience (35+ years of backpacking, hunting, and fishing in Alberta bear country) I am gonna call you on that statement. I can say with very high confidence that the likelihood that you saw every bear around you is pretty close to zero. You may have seen a lot of them, but I guarandamntee you didn't see them all.

Bears of both North American species can absolutely silent as they move through cover, very sneaky, and surprisingly hard to see in even moderately thick brush. They are aware of you by scent and by sound long before you can detect them. If they are stalking you, you may never know it. Even after spending all those years studying bears, I have still been surprised by them (and have surprised them) multiple times, and sometimes at VERY close distance. I was never injured by a bear, partly due to knowing a bit about bear behavior, and partly due to luck, but I think I've pushed my luck well past the point of foolishness by this point in my life.

Which is why I carry both pepper spray and a big bore DA revolver any time I'm in bear country now.

That's quite a video.

In my neck of the woods black bear & wolf rifle season opens the same time archery elk season opens. I have actually accompanied a bow hunter pal with my 338 and a bear tag because of the grizzly bear problems.
The 338 gives me warm & fuzzy feelings while blowing on a bugle or cow calling....

Dumb question. For the folks who have or do live in and/or do a lot of hunting in Griz country: Do you carry a handgun during rifle season or do you expect your rifle to be enough? I've hunted some in Griz country, although typically towards the latter end of Oct at the earliest. I've never carried bear spray or a sidearm, just my rifle. Am I being naive?

Yes, I suppose black-bear and wolf season is probably open where these bear attacks happen. I forgot about that.

I try and keep weight to a minimum so no sidearm. I am going to rethink that...... I have a Kahr 40 that weighs 18 0z. six hardcast 200gr beats nothing.

The advantage over a rifle is that it is always on you and if a grizz gets ahold of you you at least have something to fight with.