Posted on 06/05/2010 2:36:20 PM PDT by marktwain
FAIRBANKS — Officials at Denali National Park and Preserve have released no new details or information regarding the fatal shooting of a grizzly bear by a hiker on Friday in the 6-million-acre park south of Fairbanks.
Park officials on Tuesday still had not released the name of the hiker who shot the bear, and rangers are investigating the shooting to determine if it was justified, according to park spokeswoman Kris Fister. She did not say if the park service was contemplating criminal charges against the shooter.
A new law passed by Congress in February made it legal to carry firearms in the area of the park where the bear was shot but illegal to discharge them. Rangers said it was the first known instance of a grizzly bear being shot by a visitor in the wilderness portion of Denali, formerly called Mount McKinley National Park.
The man who shot the bear was hiking with a woman Friday evening in the Igloo Canyon area when the bear emerged from trailside brush and charged the woman, according to accounts from the hikers to park officials.
The man fired nine rounds from a .45-caliber, semiautomatic pistol at the bear, which then stopped and walked into the brush.
The two hiked about 1 1/2 miles out to Denali Park Road to report the shooting to rangers, who restricted access to backcountry units in the area for fear that the bear was wounded and dangerous.
On Saturday, rangers returned and found the dead bear about 100 feet from the shooting site.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsminer.com ...
And those would be..........
Wow!
Killed a Griz w a .45 ACP?!?!
9 shots...but still
Hope we get details on the autopsey!
2. They hiked 1.5 miles to a main road to inform the authorities.
3. Access to the back country was restricted until they determined that the bear was dead.
Those hikers would have been bear poop by today! Good shooting!
Reason why a .45 has always been my caliber of choice.
What’s to investigate here? They gonna ask the squirrels for a sworn affidavit?
Anyone else see a problem with this?
If the ground is bad, they may not be able to get all of that, but there should be enough to either be consistent with the shooters story or contrary to it.
Not really too difficult to understand.
A question for those Freepers who have more experience with handguns than I. Does the description of the killing of the bear sound plausable? Is it be possible to shoot a grizzly bear nine times, having it then stop charging, walk off into the bush and die? The article does not say where and how many bullets actually struck the bear, but is it possible?
Don't ever confuse stopping an animal with killing it. In this case, I don't know what caused the bear to turn and walk away. Pain, fear, walking away from something that hurts? The shots didn't stop it, but certainly killed it. These shots may not have been enough to stop a large enraged bear. You have to have penetration and shot placement for vitals or central nervous system damage.
I have heard that a grizzly bear’s skull in the forehead region is thick enough to deflect .44 magnum rounds at close range.
I'm really surprised that a .45 ACP penetrated the skin, let alone killed the critter. If I were hiking there, I think I'd carry an S&W .50 revolver.
There are many interesting high performance rounds for the .45ACP these days.
Brown bear in heavy brush on moose carcass at 75 yards detected hunter & 2 guides. He charged them, cleared brush at 20 yards, all 3 fired at same time...300 Wby, 338 Mag & 375...all hit bear in the chest.
The shots stopped the bear, knocking him back on his butt...guide said only time he has ever seen a bear stopped by bullets that didn't kill him.
Bear then rolled sideways, back on feet and continued the charge. All three fired again & bear dropped dead 7 yards from closest shooter.
Brown bear measured 9', killed 300 miles West of Anchorage.
Also, there are now 8, 9 and 10 round magazines for the single stack 1911 these days.
Hit send too soon - in fact, if you bought a Colt 1911 Series 80 XSE, you got a factory 8 round magazine, for example. 8 rounds is standard in most aftermarket magazines of original dimensions now (due to shorter followers and modern springs.)
It would be insane to shoot at a bear just for the fun of it. How fast and how close does a bear have to be traveling to consider it a threat?
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