Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Sitka hunter killed by bear

Here's the link to the story, it mentions stabbing the bear in the neck several times, and "lethal punch had finished breaking the vertebrae" , but possible that's not accurate. Maybe you were there?


https://www.outdoorlife.com/articles/larry-mueller-and-marguerite-reiss/2007/09/last-stand/

Most copper plated and nickel plated shot these days is just a wash and adds very little to the hardness of the shot. There used to be exceptions.

The best penetrating buckshot load ever made, IMO, was the Remington Premier Magnum XR nickel plated. Not made anymore, but I've preserved some from when I stocked up in the late 80s. These pellets measure a tad over 00 diameter and appear to have a fairly substantial thickness of nickel plating. Damned shame Remington stopped making them. Broadside, they'll shoot through a deer at reasonable ranges. I have no doubt they would perforate any bear at the same ranges.



Winchester makes the Double X load at 1,450 fps. Recoil is downright painful. But they, likewise, will shoot through a deer at reasonable ranges. The shot is copper plated, but it looks like a thin wash to me. But the stuff hits very hard. If I had to rely on a 00 buckshot load in bear country, and if I was out of my Remingtons, I'd pick the these. The 3" load has 12 pellets and also shoots at 1,450 fps. There's a 2 3/4 load, too. The 3" for me patterns best.

For that recoil I will take my 458 every time LOL.

I forgot about the plated vs washed thing...

My experience with two close encounters with grizzlies isn't a large enough sample to consider me an expert on shotgun slugs but a friend had a much larger sample to work with. This friend was the gunner for an ADFG heli bear reduction program. In a week he shot 80+ bears [brown & black] with Brenneke Slugs. The local folks were retrieving many of the dead bears for meat and complained about the excessive meat loss due to the Brenneke Slugs. The next spring he went back and shot 60+ with Foster Slugs. Most of the bears required several Foster Slugs but the local folks could "eat right up to the hole".

I bought some 2-3/4" Brenneke Slugs upon his recommendation and gave a 5 pack to a friend in the bush. Within a month, he had to kill a boar that his little dog had brought back to him, and he was asking me to get him more ammo even though he still had 4 left.

I know Gene and his nephew that was hunting with him. I have seen the major scar. I have heard Gene tell the story a number of times. I saw the bear hide and counted the knife wounds myself.

Just read the linked story. It bears virtually no resemblance to the story I heard from Gene. Pretty disgusting actually.

I was not questioning you, but rather the clueless clown.

When Liver Eatin Johnson got attacked by a griz, he took out his bowie, plunged it into the griz, and left it there. The griz was distracted and let him be, Liver Eatin made tracks. True story.

Stick up your arse, fruit!

I’ve seen literally dozens of various sized brown bears killed, have necopsied them, and must say buckshot or foster slugs are among the last things I would trust my life to. A brenneke slug will work, but not impressively so. Brennekes lack sufficient penetration overall and have been found to deflect in ways that a proper rifle does not.

The .375, 9.3, .416, and .458 flavors have impressed me greatly. They bring a combo of power, bullet upset, and straight line penetration that’s an unbeatable problem solver.

You’re not totally wrong there sir. I’ve seen heroin dealers get off easier than a guy killing a sub legal moose. The Alaska judiciary can be pretty goofy.

Great post Sir!

If you were bow hunting in Grizz country and you were legally not permitted to carry either a Hand Gun or a Rifle and only a Shot Gun which load would you select?

Thank you

I think I’d emigrate.

Barring that, 3” magnum Brennekes and no buckshot. At all.

🤣 🤣 🤣

Ya I hear you, was thinking about it, since anyone can get in these days without any paperwork whatsoever.

I should have asked in my question, how many of those bears were killed with Slugs vs. 00 under 20 yards, do you happen to have that stat?

Thanks again and have a great evening.

I’ve seen them wounded, not killed by buckshot. Buckshot takes the already limited potential power of the shotgun and divys it up amongst a group of the most ballistically inefficient projectiles in hopes of making something good happen.

Foster slugs are non-penetrating garbage that will barely work on rib only broadside shots, and then not reliably penetrate fully.

20 yards is a helluva long way off for a genuine defensive bear shooting.

I’ve never seen or heard of any professional guide who uses buckshot or foster slugs to back up a client or trail wounded bears. There are very good reasons for that.

24HCF member klikitarik has related his event of shooting a smaller, young brownie with Brennekes and not being successful. Had to get a rifle for success.

Yeah, no kidding. Move. But there are some sabot slugs and copper slugs. I'd have to look hard into them. And then compare if 3 inch is actually needed.

No buckshot for me ever. Slugs would have to do some serious reading and confirmation testing for sure.

Hi AGL4now, I wrote up my story, you will get a laugh, PM'ed you.

Cheers

Just survived a 6 day deer hunting trip on Admiralty Island. Picked up a fall RB-077 tag before we left, just in case these were any "issues". Always take my 35 Whelen over there. Took a kid (28 YO Army Reservist) from Colorado with us to shoot his first deer. Let him shoot my .270 WCF, .30-06 and 300 WSM before the hunt. He insisted on the .270 as that is what he hunts back in CO. Switched the 130 gr load to 150 gr.

Hunting with 3 guys in a single groups kinda sucks, but we made it work. When we got one, 2 guys boned it out and the other guy got to hunt by himself for a little while. Took a few turns with one guy staying at cabin while the other two when out hunting - these were the most productive days.

L, how was hunting?

Heading up with a buddy bow hunting on kup next week. No brown bears😂