The Paradox and Absurdities of Carbon-Fretting and Rewilding

Herschel Smith · 28 Jan 2024 · 4 Comments

The Bureau of Land Management is planning a truly boneheaded move, angering some conservationists over the affects to herd populations and migration routes.  From Field & Stream. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently released a draft plan outlining potential solar energy development in the West. The proposal is an update of the BLM’s 2012 Western Solar Plan. It adds five new states—Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming—to a list of 11 western states already earmarked…… [read more]

Grizzly Bear Attack Stopped With .44 Magnum

BY Herschel Smith
3 months, 1 week ago

This even occurred in Wyoming in 2010, and Dean Weingarten uses a FOIA to get the details.

So chalk another one up for the .44 Magnum.

Idaho elk hunter kills grizzly in self-defense

BY PGF
5 months, 2 weeks ago

Source:

BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho elk hunter shot and killed a grizzly bear that charged at him, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game said in a news release.

It’s the second incident in one month in which hunters killed federally protected grizzlies in self-defense.

Rare, that’s what we’ve been continually told. As long as the grizzly remains protected, incidents of aggressive contact will continue to rise.

According to the news release, the man was hunting northwest of Henrys Lake on the evening of Sept. 30 when an adult female grizzly emerged out of the brush nearby. Officials said the man yelled to warn his hunting partner of the bear’s presence, and the animal charged at him.

The man reportedly shot the bear several times with a sidearm, killing the grizzly before it made contact with either hunter, Fish and Game said.

[…]

At least one other Idaho grizzly has been killed in self-defense in recent weeks. Archery hunters near Island Park Reservoir, roughly 20 miles from Henrys Lake, shot and killed a male grizzly on Sept. 5 after it charged at them.

That area of eastern Idaho has been the nexus of grizzly- human conflicts in the state over the last several years.

Always carry a large bore handgun. This report has no info on the caliber used to kill the bear, which we’re always interested in.

Two Bear Attacks, Two Different Outcomes

BY Herschel Smith
5 months, 3 weeks ago

First.

On the evening of September 30, a sow grizzly bear charged an elk hunter in thick timber near Henry’s Lake, Idaho. According to an Idaho Department of Fish & Game (IDFG) press release issued this morning, the hunter yelled to alert his partner about the charging bruin before firing several shots from his sidearm that killed the bear “only a short distance way, before it was able to make contact.”

“The hunter immediately called the Citizens Against Poaching hotline to report the incident,” the press release states. “Idaho Department of Fish and Game responded to the call and conducted a thorough investigation. It was determined that the hunter acted in self-defense during a surprise encounter with the bear from a very close distance.”

This is incomplete reporting because we aren’t informed of the handgun make and caliber.  But at least the outcome is clear.

Second.

A 73-year-old woman was mauled by a bear while walking with her husband and their dog in Montana near Glacier National Park on Sunday, officials have announced. The woman’s husband used bear spray to get the beast off his wife and they were able to make it back to their vehicle and drive to a location where they could call emergency services at around 3 pm.

Between bear spray and a large bore handgun, you know which one I’d choose.

Successful Bear Defense With A Pistol

BY Herschel Smith
9 months, 1 week ago

Source.

A hunter in Montana killed a grizzly bear in self-defense last week, officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks report. The hunter was targeting black bears on a remote parcel of private land in the Madison Range backcountry when he was charged by the grizzly. He shot and killed the oncoming grizzly bear with a pistol on June 5 and notified MFWP that same day.

[ … ]

Looking beyond the northern Rockies, Alaska Wildlife Troopers reported another self-defense killing, this one involving a brown bear, over the weekend. Saturday’s incident involved 34-year-old Nicholas Abraham, who was hunting hares in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge when he was attacked by a brown bear sow with two cubs. Abraham shot and killed the bear with a .44 handgun and then drove himself to a hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.

I had seen these two reports over other news outlets, and in none of them was the specific handgun and/or caliber mentioned for the first incident.

At least we know the round used in the second incident – .44 magnum.

Wyoming Dentist Uses GLOCK 10mm Pistol to Stop Grizzly Attack

BY PGF
1 year, 4 months ago

Source:

Wyoming dentist, Dr. Lee Francis, 65 years old, was hunting elk with his 40-year-old son, in the area near Rock Creek, in the Sawtooth Mountains, east of Bondurant, Wyoming.

In this video from KSAL-TV, he gives an interview and explains what happened. Dr. Francis is an avid hunter and outdoorsman. He successfully collected a large grizzly bear with a bow and arrow in 2013. Several attempts to contact Dr. Francis have been unsuccessful.

Dr. Francis had separated from his son when he unintentionally stepped in front of the entrance to a bear den. He saw the fresh dirt, had drawn his Glock 10mm, chambered a round, and was backing away when the bear charged at him out of the den from 10 feet away.

The best interview about the encounter appears to have been in an article at cowboystatedaily.com.  The article says Dr. Francis used 130-grain hardcast bullets in his 10mm Glock.

“He came right at me, and he came on full blast,” the elder Francis said. 

Counting the cartridge already in the chamber, he had 14 rounds loaded with 130 grain hard cast bullets in his Glock. 

“I just remember shooting three or for times, right before he hit me,” he said. “Then I went down on my back.”…

Hard cast bullets will punch through a bruin’s body, instead of rapidly expanding and expending their energy in massive, shallow wounds
the way that hollow point bullets do, he said. 

“Hollow points are meant for stopping people, not bears,” he said, adding that it was also fortunate for him that his weapon was loaded
with hard cast bullets. 

“A hit from a hollow point would have probably just exploded my whole foot,” he said. 

He also said he favors the high-capacity, semi-automatic Glock over magnum revolvers.

130-grain hardcast bullets for a 10mm would be unusual. Perhaps it is a typo or misreading of notes, where another weight of bullet was intended.  Buffalo Bore has a 220-grain hardcast bullets loaded for bear in the 10mm.

More at the link and the CowboyDaily link has good details as well.

Polar Bear Attack

BY PGF
1 year, 4 months ago

Source:

Mr. Weingarten locates another good self-defense against bear story.

On March 5, 2005, two people were attacked by a polar bear in the remote area of Kapp Lee, Edgeøya, in the Svalbard archipelago.

The .500 Smith & Wesson revolver had been on the market for just over two years when this occurred. The individual responsible for security had one of those big revolvers on his person.

This story was uncovered as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by AmmoLand. The names of the individuals involved were redacted. The original account is a translation with some grammatical and spelling errors.

Paul saw a polar bear coming at a constant pace along the beach towards the cabins.

He yelled that there was a polar bear and went immediately to the cabin door and met Sally.

He loaded the signal pistol with a red signal flare. From earlier experience, he had found that red flares are just as efficient as bangers to scare bears since the red flares are red and visible the whole way, compared to the bangers that are not visible before they explode.

Paul fired two red signal flares toward the bear with no apparent effect.

The first flare was fired in front of the bear 73 meters away. The 2nd flare was fired at 54 meters away. The bear continued towards them. Paul loaded and prepared to fire a flare/banger as the bear closed to 25 meters away.

He saw the bear was too close. The flare would explode behind the bear. He fired it toward the ground in front of the bear. The flare bounced over the bear and exploded behind it. The bear did not react.

Sally was standing beside Paul with the rifle. Paul took the rifle and chambered a round. He fired 2 warning shots right after one another as the bear closed to about 11 meters over the bear’s head.

The bear did not react to the warning shots. It continued at a quick, constant pace toward them.

After the second warning shot, Paul gave Sally the rifle and commanded her into the cabin.

He went to the door but noted that only the light was from the open door.  There was a lot of equipment in front of the door. Sally had managed to jump over the equipment. Paul turned around and tried to close the door. The snow made it impossible to close the door completely.

The bear was very close. Paul used the handgun to shoot two warning shots, in the air, over the bear. The dog was barking at the bear at the same time.

The bear did not stop or react to the shots or the dog.

Paul felt that the bear would get into the cabin if he did not shoot it.

He had trouble closing the door, did not know how to lock it, and did not know the inside of the cabin.

He waited too long to shoot. Read the rest at AmmoLand.

Lions and Bears, Oh My!

BY PGF
1 year, 4 months ago

First, Here Kitty Kitty,

Bend police shoot, kill cougar in NW Bend neighborhood after deer-kill site found in a backyard.

“The cougar was exhibiting behaviors consistent with being a public safety risk, including showing no fear of humans in extremely close proximity, hunting in a heavily populated area and returning to the kill site,” the police spokeswoman said.

Sounds like hunger. People won’t’ hunt the dear, so Lions do. Reality is a hard lesson; somebody will get attacked pretty soon. The suburbs of America are now full of deer. The grazing is good; those deer face no human threat and are fairly docile, prime targets for predation by an apex hunter. These “rare” incidences will likely increase.

After setting up a containment area and ensuring the location was safe, officers shot and killed the cougar, Miller said. ODFW took possession of the animal and later reported it was a 1- to 2-year-old, 77-pound female.

Beth Quillian, a public information officer for ODFW, says the cougar was shot instead of tranquilized because of the threat it posed to the community.

“Tranquilizing animals like a cougar can be pretty tricky,” Quillian said. “It’s not always as easy as tranquilizing the animal and it’s down.”

Miller says it was a hard, but necessary decision.

“We don’t take this decision lightly, we care a lot about wildlife as well — but our role is the safety of our community and our neighbors,” Miller said.

And there was this “rare” Mountain Lion recently captured in a Los Angels neighborhood.

Next, Hunter Shoots Himself in the Leg While Fighting Off Grizzly Bear

“firing a gun in a grizzly bear encounter is rarely the right decision.”

That bit of expert advice sounds like the punchline from a standup skit.

After Francis shot himself, his son activated his SOS device to get help, according to the news release. Then, he provided first aid to help control his father’s bleeding. With darkness approaching, they worked out a plan with emergency responders through the SOS device.

Francis’ son, unnamed in the news release, got his father on a horse and led him toward nearby Water Dog Lake. Search and rescue workers caught up with the pair at about 9:20 p.m. and administered first aid. They extracted Francis by UTV to Flying A Ranch, the news release said, and then flew him via helicopter to the University of Utah Hospital for treatment.

A search and rescue official also accompanied Lee’s son and horses back to the trailhead.

His son, whose age was not mentioned, did a very good job. Fill your mind with useful knowledge, practice those skills, carry the tools you need in the bush, and don’t go alone.

Wyoming game wardens have begun an investigation and will try to locate the grizzly bear that Francis told police attacked him.

Western Wyoming officials said the incident marks the second grizzly bear attack in the area this month. On Oct. 15, a grizzly attacked two college wrestlers outside the town of Cody.

Wait, we were assured, attack after attack, year after year, that these encounters are “rare.”

Such incidents have become more common in Wyoming, where grizzly bears have made a comeback, especially around Yellowstone National Park. As a result, Wyoming leaders have asked the federal government to remove grizzly bears from the Endangered Species Act. If approved, the bears could once again become legal game animals.

[…]

Wildlife officials continue to recommend bear spray as the preferred method of dealing with grizzly bears. According to the National Park Service, it’s actually more effective than firearms for defending yourself in a bear attack. Not only that, but it’s also a better move from a legal standpoint.

That last highlighted link in the embedded article provides zero data and no evidence of the assertion that bear spray is more effective. It’s just a bunch of government propaganda about how it’s always best to be a disarmed slave, even in the wilderness.

Nerves Of Steel

BY Herschel Smith
1 year, 5 months ago

I don’t know why he didn’t shoot (maybe licensing or permitting), but he certainly had nerves of steel to be bluff-charged by a bear like that.

Source.

Attacked By A Bear

BY Herschel Smith
1 year, 5 months ago

I don’t think this guy would have had time to unholster a firearm, at least initially.  But when the bear came back around on him he could have had a firearm trained on it.  I think I would have.

I suspect cubs are somewhere in the mix.

Two Successful Defensive uses of .22 Mag Against Bears

BY PGF
1 year, 5 months ago

Dean Weingarten at AmmoLand:

On Tuesday, August 30, at about 6:50 p.m., James Little settled into campsite 674 in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). His youngest child was a few feet away.  His youngest cried out, and James grabbed the child and took a couple of steps, uncertain of what had happened.

Then his oldest yelled, “Bear!” and James turned around. The bear was about six feet from him. It had been within 3-4 feet of his back when the child was startled. This was the start of the remarkable incident. In James’ words:

Just finished a trip to Horseshoe that should have been three nights, but turn to one. (Campsite 674) Had a bear walk right into camp and within four feet of my youngest! Nothing would discourage him till I fired a couple of rounds.  We packed up and bolted to an open site (campsite 677) a half mile away on the other side of the lake. Weren’t there five minutes and was pulling up the food bag and my wife screamed. There was another bear fifteen feet away heading to our canoe with our kids in it. I had to fire another round before he would be deterred.  Left that site and unexpected BWCA.com member Ausable and his crew took my family and me in for the night. (Campsite 672) Early the next morning, we broke came and headed out. My family had had too much. Across from the portage from Caribou to Lizz, (campsite 645) the campers there had their breakfast intruded upon by a bear who would not be deterred till he had taken their food bag.

This correspondent talked to James, who reported the incident to the BWCA authorities.

James used a North American Arms mini revolver, the Wasp model in .22 magnum, with a 1 5/8 inch barrel. The revolver was loaded with Speer Gold Dot defensive ammunition.

Read the rest at the link.


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