Archive for the 'Animals' Category

Dean Weingarten.

Neighbors in the Dupuyer area had warned him about the dangers of grizzly bears in the area. He had taken their advice and was carrying a Smith & Wesson 629 stainless steel .44 magnum revolver.  The revolver was loaded with 305 grain HSM cartridges. He had a can of bear spray.

[ … ]

As the bear knocked him down and twisted him, he managed to free the revolver from the windbreaker, release the thumb break, and draw the revolver.

He could see the back of the bear, but not it’s head. He shot the bear in the back, into the shoulder/chest, with the muzzle of the revolver just inches from it.  Ken said, maybe he should have shot her in the head, but he did not want to shoot his own leg.

Ken says the first shot worked. It hurt the bear. The bear immediately let him go and retreated. As the bear turned and presented its side, he shot again at its chest. As the bear staggered away and paused, Ken emptied the revolver at it.

Then Ken attempted to reload with an HKS speed loader. The HKS is a handy way to carry spare ammunition. It seemed to take a long time to reload. He attributed the lack of speed to a lack of experience.

The bear staggered away. Ken finished reloading, assessed the damage, and limped back to his truck. He was able to drive to the hospital in Conrad. It took him four months to heal.

Dean has the rest of the story.  This speaks well of the practice of carrying a large bore handgun with you.

A large bore long gun, of course, would be better in certain circumstances, but I’ll willing to bet that a shotgun or rifle would have been knocked out of his hands during the initial assault, and that a handgun was much easier to turn and wield.

Finally, there is the added advantage that a handgun is on your person at all times – or at least it should be.

Dean Weingarten.

When the deputy arrived at the young family’s location, he exited the vehicle with a Colt AR15 style rifle in .223 caliber.

The mountain lion was not deterred, even after the deputy arrived. The deputy tried shouting at the animal. It stopped pacing back and forth and started advancing toward the deputy.

The deputy fired a warning round in front of the big cat.  It continued to advance.

The deputy fired at the front of the cat, below the head. At the shot, the cat started charging the deputy. The first shot was from 25-30 yards out.

The deputy continued to fire, hitting the cat three or four times out of four or five shots.  The last shot was into the side of the cat as it turned. It dropped to the ground about 10 yards from the deputy.

[ … ]

When mountain lions were routinely hunted with dogs, it was common for even a small dog to tree a mountain lion.

Today, thirty years after regular lion hunting was banned in California, mountain lions routinely kill and eat pet dogs.

That’s closer than I want to be to an advancing mountain lion.  As I’ve said before, there aren’t any animals in North America that will stand and take on a pack of dogs.  Flight is their first instinct.  For large predators it needs to be a large pack.

Via Wirecutter.  This ridiculous report.

Okay, first of all, I don’t want cops to have dogs.  I see absolutely no need for it.  I don’t agree with their “war on drugs,” and most cops don’t have the temperament or training to handle dogs, horses, farm animals or any other living creature.

Second, this isn’t the way to train a dog.  I know how to train dogs, whether positive or negative reinforcement.  This isn’t training.  This is just abuse.

Third, I’d say with certainty that the cop isn’t suitable for law enforcement work.  I don’t know about the dog, but the cop must go.  The jury is still out on the dog, but most dogs are a reflection of their handler.  If the cop wants to understand why the dog did what he did, he needs to look in the mirror.

Fourth, the chief is a moron.  Both the cop and the chief need to be fired.

That about covers it.

From Dean Weingarten, the master chief of bear attacks and firearms.

Years later, Bridger Petrini gave me a lead to the person who had been attacked and had defended himself with a .41 magnum single-action revolver.

Early the next morning, Tanner woke, and before breakfast, accompanied by his dog, Ovada, he prepared to glass for sheep. He had seen signs of bears digging for roots on the mesa. Almost as an afterthought, he strapped on his Ruger Blackhawk .41 mag in its holster and pistol belt. The pistol was loaded with five rounds of factory ammunition. Loops on the belt held six more rounds.  To Tanner, the pistol and rounds were another piece of gear. He wasn’t known for babying himself or his gear. His friends had kidded him about his old and abused ammunition.

There wasn’t much wind at sunrise. As he gained elevation to the top of the mesa where he would be glassing for sheep, the wind picked up. The visibility was excellent. He did not see any sheep.  By 8 o’clock, he was thinking about heading back to base camp, a thousand yards away, looking forward to coffee and something to eat.  A sound caught his attention. He looked toward the sound.  There was Ovada, a sow grizzly bear and two cubs, charging full tilt at him from a hundred yards out.

Tanner drew the Blackhawk .41. He does not consider himself a pistolero, but the big revolver was comforting in his hands. He fired a warning shot over the sow’s head. It made no impression.

He fired again. A miss.  The bears and dog were close, now. The sights lined up. A pause, perfect sight picture… click and misfire!  He fired again. Another miss, but now the bears and dog ran off, out of sight.

One round was left in the Blackhawk. Tanner had six rounds in his gun belt loops. He reloaded. He decided to leave the area, in case the bear came back.

50 yards away, a narrow chute gave a less than vertical way done the mesa. He started into it. He had only descended 20 feet when he heard and saw the sow again.  It had circled around the bottom of the mesa and was now coming up the chute, directly at him! He reversed course, climbed up, and scrambled onto a rocky outcrop.  Sow, dog, and cubs all moved as fast as they could up the steep slope of the chute.

Tanner cocked the pistol and held it steady. As the sow’s head came to within two feet of his position, he fired directly into her forehead. Instant death. The sow tumbled backward and rolled over and over down the chute, with Ovada in pursuit. She came to rest 150 feet away.

[ … ]

On the way out, they located Ovada. She had treed a mountain lion, and held it, by herself.

Tanner says bear spray would not have worked, because of the wind. He says the wind is almost always strong at the higher elevations.

What a wonderful dog.  And that was a close call for him.

Hey, I think we have a fan of the .41 magnum aboard here, don’t we?

Courtesy of BRVTVS.  She tells the story herself and supplies video.  There’s no reason for me to elaborate.

News from Virginia.

A Virginia hunter was attacked by a black bear, with the animal taking a softball-sized chunk out of his leg.

Ronnie Dalton, 68, from Carroll County had been out hunting on Saturday in Hillsville and was about to pack up for the day when the incident occurred, The Carroll News reported.

Dalton was in his hunting tree stand when he noticed a black bear cub nearby. After scanning the area for the mother and failing to find her, he decided it was safe to climb down.

But when he reached the floor, he spotted her and the animal rushed towards him in an aggressive manner.

“When my feet hit the ground I saw her. She looked up and saw me and when that happened she made a beeline at me as hard as she could come. I tried waving my hand like they say on a black bear, but I guess that doesn’t work if they have cubs and feel threatened,” Dalton told The Carroll News.

Dalton decided in the moment the the best chance of saving himself was to climb back up into the tree stand. But he was not able to escape the bear’s reach.

“I thought maybe I would have a chance. When I tried to climb the tree stand, I got about three or four rungs up and she made a lunge on me and grabbed my right side. She bit me on my right calf and jerked me out of the stand,” he said.

The bear took a softball-sized chunk of Dalton’s leg, and left three or four large teeth marks. It also caused him to fall around 7-8 feet out of the tree, temporarily knocking hum unconscious.

“When I came to and got to my senses and looked, she was already leaving with her two cubs, thank goodness,” Dalton said. “And so then I looked down and saw my britches was tore and my leg gashed open. I said to myself, ‘I have to get out of here.’ I grabbed my bow and took off toward the house.”

Dalton thinks that being knocked out may have actually saved his life, because the bear may have no longer considered him a threat to her cubs.

Bad situation.

Question.  Did you have a large bore handgun with you?  This could have ended far worse than it did.

The reigning king of bear attack data (firearms, calibers, effectiveness) has a surprising one for you.  He has cataloged 20 instances of successful self defense with .22 rimfire.

For me the takeaway is to shoot what you’ve got and pray for the best, but I sure would want a large bore handgun.

It seems to me if you make your way into the bush with a .22LR, you failed before you ever left home.

Some cats apparently shy awake from a direct confrontation with deadly snakes.  Not this one.  It’s faster than the snake, and won the battle.

This was a legitimate fight to the death.

Via reader Ned.

Comments and observations?

He obviously saw the cat while still walking towards it.  Otherwise he wouldn’t have been catching it on video.

I think I would have turned around before he did.

Does Fred want to pet the kitty?

Dean Weingarten has the scoop.