Dang, you used to be good-looking, Jeff.

Lots of stories of bears continuing to live for a period of time after being shot with big, fast bullets. In a pinch, I suppose we would use whatever we've got handy of course. Just keep firing. At the neck. Not the head. Bears wear teflon under their hats and they have carbon-fiber headbones.

Thanks, Jim. I think... (smart ass).

I only wish I had gotten a total weight on him, Charles. Hanging weight (no head, hide, or feet) at the butcher was about 330, head and hide at the taxidermist was about 120. Figure about 1/4 to 1/3 of an animal's weight winds up as a gut pile, and we wind up with one big bruin. I kinda quit looking after this guy. The next one (if there ever is one) will have to be bigger or I won't bother.

I've taken a number of other, much smaller bears up here. 200 pound-ish guys. They don't die so easy, either. Piss one off, and even a "little" one will have you crying for your mother. Pretty scary stuff, how fast one can move when properly motivated. This big old boar scampered like a gazelle on the first hit, with a broken shoulder. After the second, he took his anger out on the shrubbery, tearing up mountain juniper bushes the size of Volkswagens and tossing them around like ragdolls. That with two broken shoulders...

Anyone who thinks he can center one in the noggin that is coming after him has never seen one "properly motivated". You would be lucky to make a "center of mass" hit on this snarling collection of teeth, claws, and fur. It's damn frightening how fast they can move. That, and there is such a slope to their foreheads, that if he's facing you just about anything you hit him with will just skip off. He would have to be close enough so you could be shooting down on him, and by then he's too close. He'll win.

It always cracks me up hearing guys talk about sidearms as "protection" in bear country. They are kidding themselves. Oh, I wear one religiously when out in the hills, but it's meant as a different kind of protection - the predators I'm armed against walk on two legs. Either that or it will feed me if I get lost or stuck out there for some reason. That, and big cats, but they are nervous little bastards compared to bears, and are far more easily killed.

I pretty much figure anything you shoot a bear with in a close range confrontation is gonna take a while to work.

In such a short range confrontation IMO a 9mm firing total metal jacketed flat nose ammo with 36+" of penetration, that can be rapid fired super fast while staying on target, is just as liable to not work as anything else. A bear head is at least as big as the average man's torso and if he's facing you his head will be pretty much centered in his silhouette, so it's no different than shooting a moving human center mass when you target a moving bear's noggin.

Bear's are fast, but so are big city drugged up "African-American" felons. And IMO the felons are a heck of a lot more dangerous too...and to most- just as scary.

Anyway, a high velocity 9mm to the brain will kill pretty much anything instantly. Obviously it's not ideal, but it'd be better a whole fkload better than harsh language. It's certainly a better choice than my 5.56mm AR.

I so need a shotgun. I could kick myself for ever selling my Beretta 12ga. :(

A good thing "African-American" felons usually don`t eat live bunnies:)

It's the rest of the family that needs to watch out for them.

Again, it's the slope of his forehead that is key. Large caliber rifle bullets are well known for just skipping off at the shallow angle presented.

Not even in the same league.

Attitude-wise, agreed. Bears are seldom looking for a fight. The others, well...

Once the fight starts, though, I would happily take the biggest, baddest felon the inner city has to offer over even a yearling cub.

So will a pencil, for that matter. The key is getting through the skull. They have about an equal chance on that one.

black bear? i have seen so many of them shot..and arrowed. they die pretty easy. i got to 20 yards of a huge one last deer season. crept up on it...and decided to let it go. i had a bear tag, but it just looked like a big toy at that range. all my friends watched me let it go, and gave me hell the rest of the trip. when it finally winded me, it turned and disappeared at an alarmingly fast rate.

BunBun says.."Bring it on!":)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1266963841.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1266964005.jpg

A 1150 fps flat nosed bullet will actually fare much better at this than a 2600 fps spitzer, as you know. Spitzers are very prone to deflection, whereas slow, flat nosed bullets excel at "biting" into bone at a much higher angle of deflection.

Of course a lot of it depends on angle. If you get a side shot or a low deflection shot penetration would be virtually guaranteed. Black bears are not as toughly constructed as the larger versions. Regardless, a single penetrating skull shot would end the fight instantly.

You only say this because you have not dealt with any large Philly felons yet.

An enraged or drugged up 6'+, 200+lb hood rat that runs like the wind and has a butcher knife is as deadly as any creature god has ever put on this earth, and deadlier than 99% of the rest. You get one of the super sized 6'5" 250+ lb versions on a drug like PCP and you might as well be facing a xenomorph, they're so hard to stop.

Fortunately a bullet to the gray matter works instantly on them too.

I read "Bear Attacks and How to Avoid Them" very good, also transfers over to human behavior, it should be a must read. Starts off a little slow until u get to the stories of attacks.... some of the people even lived to tell the tell http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1266970245.jpg

LOL, great sign. :D

I have read that a black bear can run as fast as a horse. Short distances of course. Long enough to catch yer azz.

I don't advocate shooting one unless you HAVE to.
Reason - They only know what they were taught from mom
Once a sow is removed eons of generations knowledge passing from mom to cub is gone...for ever...
Something to keep in mind..
Bears die weird .
Blow their harts right out and they do not loose blood pressure right then and there...still operative for a short while...enough to kill you in 40 seconds or so.
when a Griz comes at you it is usually it for discipline purposes
When a Blacky comes at you ..you are on the menu !
Vash, - nothing dies EZ-

What a stupid post.

Quite true. Give me a good, flat nosed semi-wadcutter any day, even in a rifle. I'm not sure anymore, but that last bear may have been the last animal I've taken with the modern spitzer. I much prefer a heavily loaded .45-70 these days.

Come to think of it, I think I will stick to wild animals. Not sure I ever want to have to deal with this sort, or be anywhere where I might. The wilderness is a safer place...

I can see that. Sorta like the Moro tribesmen Black Jack Pershing and company had to deal with. We owe the .45 auto to that lot.

Assuming you can hit what little of it they actually use...

you guys are scaring me.

A quote from the innernets...

Hey man this could actually happen to some of you guys. You're in the woods aintcha?

Excerpt from a favorite Yogi Bear cartoon:

"George, there's a bear in the trailer."
"Yes, dear."

here's the book I read....http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1266986715.jpg

How fast can a horse run? Bears go 30-35 mph, top of the food chain. I think I would rather get hit by a car than attacked by a bear.