Gun In Truck - Attacked By Bear Away From Truck

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Double Naught Spy

Double Naught Spy

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Here is a guy with 40 years experience doing what he does, surveying, often in rural parts of Alaska. He has had experience with bears in the past. He knows others who have been mauled by bears. He carries a gun...sort of.

So he is out surveying a property for a realtor when he and a bear suddenly find one another and both are surprised. As bears often do in such a situation, it attacked our hapless surveyor and injured him significantly over only about 10 seconds (he estimates). He notes that he had a gun, back in the truck, but was not carrying it and didn't think he would have had time to use it. Strangely, he did have time to use his surveying pole and to try to run and get behind some small trees before the bear got on top of him and chomped him several times...but there would be no time to use a gun. Sorry, but this just sounds like post hoc rationalization for not having it with him given that he had time to do other things. You can't use what you don't have.

It sounds like a common surprise encounter attack. Once the bear realized he was no threat, the bear just stopped its aggression and walked away.

Luckily, this guy was a surveyor and had GPS gear and was able to provide first responders with his exact GPS location and they found him some 59 minutes later. He had been bleeding out throughout his golden hour. Based on the description, he is lucky he didn't die from blood loss and shock.

Strangely, the only lesson he learned (which is a good one) is that he should have had someone with him. Maybe he should have learned to keep a firearm with him as well, but apparently not. Given where he works, a first aid kit with blood clotting bandages might have been a good thing to have as well. I know, they would have been back in the truck as well...

https://apnews.com/article/alaska-man-survives-brown-bear-mauling-dc9c002699a46cd79dea8d6ce205d7ad
 
Glad he survived it. Hopefully he will have a full recovery and a great story to tell.
I have a buddy that was bitten on the but by a lion when he was a kid. He wins the camp fire story telling session every time.
 
Sounds like complacency got the better of him. No gun with him, and presumably no bear spray or much of any effort to be loud enough to let bears know he was there.
 
There was a fella on here awhile back who posted his well worn Smith 327 or 627 he used for work as a timber cruiser in the northwest. Definitely a job you would want a gun for. Same thing for a surveyor in AK.
 
I have heard several versions of this same story-- someone is aware of a potential threat in their environment, has a gun, but does not have it in reach when it's actually needed. Some call this a failure in "program compliance" which basically means the necessary habit was not sufficiently ingrained. I think what that means ideally is that if you believe a gun might be necessary, it should be on your person always. No exception. But, personally, I do make exceptions for legitimate reasons. Hence, I find it hard to fault this guy...
 
FAS1 said:
So he kept a “truck gun” in case of bear? SMH ;)
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We don't know why he has a gun, whether for general protection, bear protection, or what, but yeah, he is probably like 90% CCW people have carry guns but don't actually carry them all the time when they leave home. Most of those people make exceptions for what they think are legitimate reasons despite having the legal ability to carry. Then they act all surprised, like this surveyor, when something violates their perception bubble and they find themselves without a gun when they need it most and it was their own choice.
 
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Double Naught Spy said:
Yeah, probably like 90% CCW people have carry guns but don't actually carry them all the time when they leave home. Most of those people make exceptions for what they think are legitimate reasons despite having the legal ability to carry. Then they act all surprised...
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I won't be gone long
I travel together
I live in a good area. Or, this is a good area
Nothing happens here / there/ where
Etc

Glad the fellow lived to tell his tale
 
Once more, proof positive that the gun you carry is more effective than the one in the truck, or in the safe...

Sadly, if the only lesson he learned is to have someone else with him next time, he's either depending on someone else for his safety or he's being considerate enough to provide not only dinner for the bear but dessert as well... if he hasn't learned the lesson through the experiences of others, or through this experience, and it would appear he may not have, he is going to get what he's going to get.
 
CDW4ME said:
Moral of the story is always carry.
I'll add, strive to carry a handgun you would prefer in hand if you had to defend yourself.
Anywhere I'd prefer a 32/380/38 snub rather than a Glock 23 to defend myself? No. Nope .... Look how simple that is.;)
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That’s a very good point. The “speed of violence” can happen so quickly that even a weapon in its holster may not leave enough time to deploy it, let alone one that is concealed (21 foot rule?).

When a bad guy’s pistol is in your face, and yours is in its holster, you’ve lost the “quick draw”. They’re inside your decision cycle. Once that bear is in it’s charge, and that weapon is in a concealed holster, hmm, seems kinda like the same thing. Ouch! Lucky guy.
 
armedwalleye said:
Sadly, if the only lesson he learned is to have someone else with him next time, he's either depending on someone else for his safety or he's being considerate enough to provide not only dinner for the bear but dessert as well...
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The reason why people often work in teams in the bush is for mutually supportive safety. That is one of the benefits of having a team.

kwguy said:
Once that bear is in it’s charge, and that weapon is in a concealed holster, hmm, seems kinda like the same thing.
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Open carry is legal in Alaska, which might speed things up a bit, depending on how he would have been carrying.

Also, while he may not have been able to shoot before the bear was upon him (lost the quick draw), there was still a fight that occurred. He tried using his survey stick to defend himself. He tried moving in among the small trees to get away. He wrestled with the bear and got chewed on in the process. Sounds like there was still time to have brought a pistol into play. Mindset is critical in a crisis. There are several accounts of people using guns on bears after the attack has started.

FL-NC said:
but he definitely didn't have time to use the gun he didn't have
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Absolutely.

FL-NC said:
Lack of situational awareness is a killer.
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Yeah, maintaining full situational awareness in a limited visibility situation such as working in the bush can be darned near impossible.
 
Goofy article.

He's a "hero" for not dying... or for calling for help for himself?
That word is so tiringly overused anymore.

He had time to initially evade but a gun would have done him no good?
Many's the man fired on the bear from his own back.

By their account it was in fact a *fatal* attack but for him having communications gear that most don't carry.

The gun in the truck is like being on the side of the road with a flat and excusing yourself the inability to change the tire with: "Well, I DO have a spare, it's in the garage!" Or maybe even: "Having a spare tire does not keep a flat from happening!"

Todd.
 
I did the tourist thing to Alaska back in 2016 and one of my boondock campsites was in the Gulkhana area. I didn't bring any firearms with me because of Canadian laws so I bought a well used short barreled 870 at a shop in Tok,Ak which is the first town coming into Alaska on the Alcan. Four boxes of slugs and four of 00. I had a good Dog with me and out of all our boondock camps he only alerted once. I met a feller along the Glennallen Hwy who showed me the scratched up back door on his house. He swore by his 45-70 lever gun as the best for bear.
 
Blackrock said:
I did the tourist thing to Alaska back in 2016 and one of my boondock campsites was in the Gulkhana area. I didn't bring any firearms with me because of Canadian laws so I bought a well used short barreled 870 at a shop in Tok,Ak which is the first town coming into Alaska on the Alcan. Four boxes of slugs and four of 00. I had a good Dog with me and out of all our boondock camps he only alerted once. I met a feller along the Glennallen Hwy who showed me the scratched up back door on his house. He swore by his 45-70 lever gun as the best for bear.
Click to expand...
A dog is a great thing as long as it is not of a nature to be an instigator and can be called *out* 100% reliably.

One-couple things about bears in general and Grizz in particular - in my experience - is that they stink to holy-hell and are noisy in the strangest ways.

Ironically, the stench is seldom ID'd as bear until too late and the noises that they make are strangely anomalous and easily disregarded to the potential victim's distress.

I recall my first bear briefing at a place called Tanana Base Camp up Alaska held this jewel: "Browns smell gawd-awful.... Don't ask me exactly what they smell like but trust me; if you attend to the outrageous smell we are warning you of.... if you EVER smell it you will know instantly!"

Couple weeks later this was proven out. I needed about 1/2 or less of a second between noting as a mental flash: "what the hell is THAT?!?" and logging it as a potential Brown. Play into that attaching the strange sounds I'd been hearing for about a minute prior.

She and I eventually went our separate ways but the encounter is the stuff of high-fiction and far too long a story to type out here.

Todd.
 
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