Posted on 12/03/2007 3:09:30 PM PST by george76
Long ago, grizzly bears thrived in Montana as did tales - some tall, some true - told by frontiersmen of a man-eater even more fearsome than the other two bogeymen of the forest, wolves and mountain lions.
Today, the reputation of Ursus arctos horribilis - along with other major predators ...
Also changed is how people can handle encounters with grizzlies, using a chemical spray rather than guns to improve the odds that both humans and bears will escape the encounters unharmed.
But Workman believes that if a bullet was good enough for his great-grandfather more than a century ago, then it's good enough for him when confronted by a charging grizzly, especially since he's wielding a modern, high-powered rifle.
It's an opinion held by many hunters, but Workman also is a member of Montana's Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission, the citizen board that oversees the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
And that agency, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, devotes considerable resources each year on bear awareness programs that emphasize chemical spray, not bullets, as the way to keep both people and bears safe in the woods.
Last week, Workman drew widespread criticism from bear biologists, wildlife officials and some hunters when he shot a charging grizzly - and later said bullets are far more effective than bear spray in fending off such an attack.
“These people who think that they're safe with bear spray, I'm here to tell them it's a false sense of security,” he said.
“The spray is better than nothing, but I'll choose a firearm every time.”
Workman...also drew fire for saying grizzlies have become so populous in Montana that they should be taken off the endangered species list and hunted to make them afraid of people.
(Excerpt) Read more at missoulian.com ...
Can someone tell me if this situation could be resolved by pepper spray.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZnsL7-UdGc
Is the 45-70 of which you speak the same as the 45-70 Government?
You forgot the gold nugget chains, Masonic rings and Bear tooth on a leather string...
Against grizzlies, nuclear hand grenades are in order.
“The spray is better than nothing, but I’ll choose a firearm every time.”
True, the 45/70 will take down a bear, but anything greater than a 30.06 is good for bear. .300 Win Mags are a good bet, as are .375 and a good slug shotgun.
Of course, a strong backup is a good idea too, preferably someone you trust standing behind you to finish the deal if need be.
If a .375 can topple a Cape Buffalo, it can take out a grizz with no problems.
Grizz meat is good too.
Big Marlin/Garrett ammo here. No pepper spray needed.
I have been told that a 12 gauge with #4 shot works well at close range.
LOL!!
[Grizz meat is good too.]
Cook it well - trichinosis is endemic in bears. I treated a fellow who contracted it from eating undercooked grizzly meat. He was in the hospital for 3 weeks and nearly died.
I think that maybe you might have been told 12 ga with size 4 buckshot. Big difference.
Then again, I’ve been wrong before....
;-)
[I have been told that a 12 gauge with #4 shot works well at close range.]
Only if you really want to pi$$ that bear off really good.
The Alaska Dept. of F & G tested various ammo on a collection of green (as in not yet dry) bear skull several years ago.
They found that contrary to popular legend, buckshot did not penetrate the skulls. It might do a good job of shredding soft tissue but the brain will still be connected to the teeth and claws.
Their study showed that any centerfire rifle caliber from .308 Winchester on up would penetrate ALL of the skulls they had.
The older type of round-nose hollow base shotgun slugs often deflected off the skull. The German Brenneke slug has a sharp shoulder like a wadcutter bullet and that one dug right in and did massive destruction. After those tests, the Brenneke slug became standard issue for LEO’s and fish cops in bear country. I spoke with a North Slope Borough LEO who had to shoot a grizzly in Deadhorse, AK with a Brenneke. It was a one shot kill and he was very pleased about that. After that, guess what kind of slugs 43north carried in his 12ga. when he wasn’t carrying his Marlin .45/70 (or is .22 pistol)?
Like Elmer Keith always said - “Big bullets let in a lot of air and they let out a lot of blood.”
Same thing. It’s a leftover cartridge from the age of black-powder cartridges in the late 1800s, the name basically meant 45 caliber, 70 grains of black powder. Antique guns and replicas still shoot that sort of load; nonetheless when you load 45/70 ammo with modern smokeless powder, you’re talking about a bullet weighing 300 - 500 grains moving at 1500 - 1800 fps, and it’s not a tail-heavy bullet so it doesn’t veer or yaw going through large animals.
I believe you are asking a rhetorical question. Can you imagine trying to lay down a bead of pepper spray in hopes of hitting that beast in the face before she ripped your spleen from its moorings? Those guys are professional hunters and you can hear the panic in their voices as that she demon makes a beeline for their position. Time to break out the bazooka and clean underwear.
Thanks. I wasn’t sure if there was a 45/70 and a 45/70 gov. Obviously, the 450 Marlin is a different animal.
A friend of mine acquired a lever action 45/70 gov. a few years ago. Not sure of the manufacturer. Hex barrel. Nice looking piece. The party that sold it to him assured him that it would handle modern cartridges. We always talk about shooting it but have never gotten around to it. Maybe it’s that curved steel butt plate with no other means of recoil suppression that has us holding off.
;-)
Lightweights! Wrestle em’ down with bare hands.
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