For all you guys that said a handgun is not for Grizzly.

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This is not the first time a handgun was used in self defense on a Grizzly attack. But I am sure there will be more here saying the same thing as you John.
 
Depends on the shooter. Have been lots of guys use a magnum rifle and not get a bear down also. A woman many years ago shot one of the biggest grizzleys taken with a 22 rifle also.
 
Dayum, I got excited just reading that. LOL I've been charged by a wounded boar hog before and took him down with a .357 which nay sayers oft claim can't be done, but I aimed. But, that's a BIG mo fo! Look at the danged paws! Ijo!

Anyway, just shows ya that revolver on your hip is a lot more useful than that rifle leaning against the tree. And, that feller wouldn't even have had time to swing a rifle or shotgun off his back. He had the right tool at the right time IMHO. If I lived up there, I'd probably add a .454 to my collection post haste. I have a .45 Colt Blackhawk, but I'd want more. I mean, I need an excuse to buy a Freedom Arms (I like single actions). :D I'd just consider it life insurance.

Oh, and I bet he didn't even notice the recoil. LOL
 
handgun would not be my first choice for any bear hunt.
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Perhaps not HUNT, but for DEFENSE, it's MHO that it's the best possible tool because as the story illustrates, you'll have it on you when you need it and it'll be fast out of the leather compared to trying to get a slung long gun into action. Also, if a bear does make it to you, you might be able to maneuver a handgun with an animal on top of you, you won't a long gun.

You won't be able to HOLD that long gun while you're fishing. Think about it.

I choose to carry CCW a pocket gun, little 9mm or small .38 for the same reason. I'd carry a .357 or .45, but it's just not practical when I'm working and in 100 degree T shirt weather. A firearm you have is better than the one you left in the car.
 
...and that's just exactly the point.It wasn't a ''hunt'',it was just a guy out walking his dogs.A heavy caliber revolver in wilderness areas is just smart thinking,and good life insurance.
 
So......everybody is just going to believe this tale?

No skeptics?

Google search reveals nothing to corroborate this.

Zilch.

That's suspicious, since stories like this always make the news.
 
The .45-70 from a lever gun is in the .454 pistol range for ballistics. You can handload it a tad hotter, a lot hotter in a Ruger No 1 single shot, but not much in the Marlin. And, then, there's the 460 if the 454 ain't enough for you. It lays down 2300 ft lbs or so. Then there's the .500 Smith and Wesson Magnum laying down 2600 ft lbs which is about what a 12 gauge slug has and that pistol will WAY out penetrate a 12 gauge slug with its pathetic SDs.

An X frame would be rather easy to tote in a cross draw or bandoleer holster rig and be faster to put into action than any slung long gun and have more power than a .45 70 and as much power and more penetration than a 12 gauge foster slug. I've yet to fire a .500 S&W, saw Jerry Miculek do it and frag a head of lettuce on TV the other day. That was cool. LOL

I don't need any of that hand cannon stuff down here in Texas, of course.

2300 ft lbs for dangerous game? Look up the .470 Nitro. Hell, my .308 puts up 2600 ft lbs from a 20 inch barrel. My 7mm Rem Mag puts up over 3300 ft lbs and it ain't close to a "dangerous game" rifle caliber.
 
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Yeah, you're right, a .454 Casull layin' down 1800 ft lbs ain't enough for a Griz.
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Wrong.

If it hit the brain or the spine, the story could have happened as told.

But isn't it highly unlikely? (Especially when he says he just shot from the hip in the direction of the bear?)

I'll believe it when I see some corroborative evidence.

Right now it's more likely that a guy with a gun found a bear that died of old age and decided to take some pictures and become an instant internet hero.

;)
 
Such good pictures of the head and neck and no bullet wounds.

Hmmmmm.......

And......the account sounds like it was written by a 16-year-old.

Call me a skeptic, but all these things fit the mold of the classic urban legend.
 
I believe it. Some guy killed two Brownies in a fish camp at night with a .357 a few years ago, but they were not charging. and, Jim Corbett shot man eating tigers with a .257 Rigby. But, I prefer my adventure in smaller doses.
I believe I'd get some better dogs if that was me. Then I would have time to unshoulder my 12 gauge. I swear if I lived up there I'd carry my scattergun to the john with me.
 
Such good pictures of the head and neck and no bullet wounds.

Hmmmmm.......

And......the account sounds like it was written by a 16-year-old.

Call me a skeptic, but all these things fit the mold of the classic urban legend.
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OK, you're a skeptic. I see lots of blood, and I doubt you'd see a "bullet wound" with all the fur. And it read to me like it was pretty well-written. I've certainly seen much worse writing.
 
Well there is bleeding from the mouth in the first picture as well as dried blood on the left paw and the board on the ground,,the last picture shows a puddle of blood on the trailer bed where the head had been laying (until lifted up for the pics).

P.S. The names and numbers on the bottom of the posting match a legitimate outfitters business sight on google.
 
Google search reveals nothing to corroborate this.

Zilch.

That's suspicious, since stories like this always make the news.
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"Very Lucky To Be Alive"
« on: Yesterday at 10:06:12 AM »

...an e-mail a friend sent me this morning...
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Today, 11:45 AM #10
Logos
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His post looks to be about 24 hours before yours and you expect to find the story on the web?
A bear charges a hiker and the hiker kills it.
How many times a year does that happen? Is that news that makes priority to the local station?
 
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A bear charges a hiker and the hiker kills it.
How many times a year does that happen?
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You tell me......better yet, show me one.

I've never heard of an actual case like this one in my life......has anybody else?
 
Well there is bleeding from the mouth in the first picture as well as dried blood on the left paw and the board on the ground,,the last picture shows a puddle of blood on the trailer bed where the head had been laying (until lifted up for the pics).
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Bleeding from the mouth is consistent with an animal hit by a car......I've seen that all too often.
 
For all you guys that said a handgun is not for Grizzly.
Go to this link and read the story...
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Sure, they can be used. So can rocks and beer bottles, but that doesn't make them ideal choices. The old bear was in sad shape. Greg might not have been so lucky had he been charged by a healthy bear.

So......everybody is just going to believe this tale?

No skeptics?

Google search reveals nothing to corroborate this.

Zilch.

That's suspicious, since stories like this always make the news.
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Me thinks your search skills are bit on the shy side. With that said, I was skeptical as well. The guy is walking his dogs and the dogs don't notice the bear before him? That does seem rather odd. No other mention is made of the dogs in the story other than he had them along.

I liked this quote...
I heard a twig snap, and looked back...full on charge-a huge brownie, ears back, head low and motorin' full speed! Came with zero warning; no woof, no popping of the teeth, no standing up, nothing like what you think or see on TV!
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Well of course the bear didn't woof, pop, or stand up. It was likely charging the guy as food or was completely startled by him and charged out of defensive instinct. If Greg startled the bear too close, it isn't going to be all curious and casual, chances are. It will react swiftly. Or, if it was hunting him, then no it wasn't going to give him warning of the impending attack.

You tell me......better yet, show me one.

I've never heard of an actual case like this one in my life......has anybody else?
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Yep, but then again I researched the subject some years back out of curiosity. I don't recall in day hikers like this guy, but backpack hikers have done so.

If it hit the brain or the spine, the story could have happened as told.

But isn't it highly unlikely? (Especially when he says he just shot from the hip in the direction of the bear?)

I'll believe it when I see some corroborative evidence.

Right now it's more likely that a guy with a gun found a bear that died of old age and decided to take some pictures and become an instant internet hero.
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BION, it is easy to hit a target that is closing on you in a straight line as a bear would do in a charge than to hit one moving away or moving laterally.

Bleeding from the mouth is consistent with an animal hit by a car......I've seen that all too often.
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Or any sort of lung shot. What is represents is damage to the respiratory tact/lungs.

Calling the post an internet legend was a good guess, only there was too much information that could be corroborated to verify it. It was missing the date and so I figured it was likely made-up as well. After all, the shooter runs a guide service. What better way to drum up business. HOWEVER, it isn't a hunting guide service, but fishing. So this wouldn't help much.

Call me a skeptic, but all these things fit the mold of the classic urban legend.
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What is the classic urban legend? If you mean a larger than life story that is of unlikely events, then sure, it fits. It also fits with the fact that it is being passed on by somebody other than the author, the old "it happened to my friend's brother's uncle's cousin's girlfriend's father-in-law." However, this story is unique in that it includes definite researchable information, even a phone number. The only thing I found missing was a date. So you have location, names of people, and contact information.
Oh, you probably want the evidence now, don't you?
http://www.peninsulaclarion.com/stories/080709/out_478669517.shtml

By the way, contrary to the story, Soldotna is pretty small. What Greg calls a residential area is still pretty remote. It would be nothing to have wildlife in amongst the houses, especially an old boar that it hard up for food and in poor health. In fact, the news account talks of another incident that happened within 400 yards of this one. So don't buy into the aspect that because this was a "residential" community that wildlife is missing.

Friday, August 07, 2009
Story last updated at 8/7/2009 - 1:26 pm
Soldotna mans brush with bear too close for comfort
By Joseph Robertia | Peninsula Clarion
Last Sunday a fourth brown bear for the year was killed in a defense of life and property (DLP) shooting, and there is no mistaking that it was the former, not the latter, that was on the line for the man who shot it.
"I'm not trigger happy, and I wasn't looking for trouble," said Greg Brush, in regard to the incident that took place along Derks Lake Road, off Mackey Lake Road, outside of Soldotna.
The morning started casually for Brush. He had the day off from guiding king fishermen on the Kenai River, and with hunting season fast approaching, he decided to take a walk to start getting into shape.
"My wife and kids had other stuff to do, so I went alone and took the dog," he said, referring to his German shepherd.
In addition to his canine companion, Brush also decided to take a handgun -- a Ruger .454.
He was fortunate he did, but Brush said it was more than luck than made him opt to carry the pistol. It was a recent history of run-ins with brown bears -- as many as 13 last summer, and several already this season -- that made him decide to take protection that day.
"I've had a bear greet my wife at the base of the front steps, popping it's jaw from 10 feet away. In broad daylight. I've had a sow and two cubs chasing my dog on the front lawn, and had two cubs walk past the kids on the trampoline. And, recently I had bears pull down my bear-resistant garbage can," Brush said.
Back on April, 18, 2005, a jogger also was mauled by a brown bear, roughly 400 yards from where Brush had the run-in with his brownie. All of these factors played into him packing a pistol, but he said he still thought he would never have to use it.
"I just never thought it would happen to me. It's one of those things you just always think happens to somebody else," he said.
However, less than a quarter of a mile from his home, Brush heard a twig snap behind him. He whirled his head around and saw a huge bruin burst from the woods less than 20 yards away. It moved straight for him.
"It came with zero warnings. There was no woof, no jaw popping, no standing up. It just had its head down, ears back and was in a full charge," he said.
Brush's dog was roughly 50 yards in front of him when the bear made it's move, and it ran home frightened. Brush was on his own, and he said he didn't have time to think. He just instinctively reacted.
"I drew my gun and just started shooting in its direction. There was no time to aim. I don't know where the first shot went, but I think the second or third shot hit him. I rolled him at about five feet away," he said.
But, the bear had so much momentum behind him from the full charge, that once it rolled over from being hit by the 350 grain bullets, he still slid several yards across the gravel road, and just a couple of feet from Brush.
"He skidded to a stop about 10 feet beyond where I was shooting from. I actually side-stepped him and fell over backward on the last shot. His momentum carried him past where I fired it from," he said.
"From the time I saw him, until he skidded past me it was seconds, and I'm not exaggerating or fabricating anything," he added.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game investigated the incident and confirmed the scenario played out just as Brush described. They also were able to glean information about the bear, which may have led to it making such an aggressive move toward Brush.
"It was a big boar, roughly 15 to 20 years old, but in poor body condition for this time of year. He was very thin and had significant tooth wear," said Jeff Selinger, area wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Beyond these biological attributes, Selinger said it is difficult to pinpoint the exact reason the bear may have charged, although he pointed out that often bears that have lost their fear of humans have done so by gaining food rewards associated to humans.
These could include improperly stored garbage, the contents of unsecured freezers, food for pets or livestock not properly cleaned, salmon eggs left out to cure for bait or bird seed left out all year, just to name a few.
However, Brush was emphatic that he and nearly all his neighbors work hard to minimize bear attractants.
"Over the past few years, we've taken every precaution possible to reduce or avoid this real and severe bear problem," he said.
Again, Selinger confirmed Brush's statement, for the most part.
"I've been by Greg's place several times and he keeps a very clean area, but a lot of times people doing things right pay the price for people doing things wrong. There have been attractant issues in this neighborhood in the past, and this area is a popular spot for people illegally dumping fish carcasses, so I'd almost guarantee that within a five mile radius of where this occurred there are attractants, and five miles is just a few minutes' walk for a bear," he said.
Brush said he was angered to learn this fact, particularly since if true, someone else's negligence could have contributed to him quite possibly losing his life.
"It's frustrating to learn that some lazy person on Strawberry Road, or Sterling, or wherever, could be contributing to my problem," he said.
Selinger said he is equally frustrated by the matter, and Fish and Game is trying to address this issue though a myriad of methods, of which pubic education is among the most important.
"We're going in the right direction with people understanding and making reasonable efforts to minimize attractants, but we still have a long way to go. To make this work, it is also important for people to make it clear to their community leaders that this is an important issue to them," he said.
Selinger cited Kenai, Homer and Seward as leading the way in taking steps to reduce conflict between humans and bears. These communities are involved in the Wildlife Conservation Community Program, which utilizes grant money and in-kind donations to inform residents on how to live safely in bear country, and to purchase or off-set the cost for bear-resistant garbage cans and Dumpster lids.
Soldotna also is working toward becoming a Wildlife Conservation Community program member, and Cooper Landing and Hope have similar bear programs in place.
However, Selinger said this is still not enough.
"We'd like to see this message go boroughwide," he said.
This most recent bear shooting brings the number of DLPs for the season up to four. The first DLP of the year was an adult male killed at a black bear baiting station off Swanson River Road on May 21, but Selinger could not comment further because the incident is still under investigation.
The second DLP was a subadult bear that was killed near the community of Sunrise, off of the Hope Highway, on June 25. The sex and details of this bruin's death also are unclear at this time, since the person who shot it took the salvaged carcass to the Fish and Game office in Anchorage, rather than Soldotna.
The third one was a yearling male euthanized June 26 by Fish and Game near a dwelling at the end of Denise Lake Drive, off Mackey Lake Road. The animal already had been injured. It was suffering from a gun shot wound that went unreported by whoever fired on the bruin.
In addition to these three DLPs, five brown bears -- one male and four females -- were killed during the spring brown bear hunt.
These combined numbers are a stark contrast to last year when 40 brown bears died as a result of human caused mortalities, of which 31 were DLP shootings.
As to the nine brown bears that died as a result of human-caused mortalities in 2008 that were not related to DLP shootings, one was hit by a vehicle while crossing the road, two were killed during legal hunts, two were shot by black bear hunters who misidentified them, one was a bear euthanized after it was reported and found to be mortally injured, one was a cub euthanized after its mother was shot and a home could not be secured, and two bears were found shot dead and never reported to Fish and Game by the shooters.
Joseph Robertia can be reached at [email protected].
 
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