Posted on 09/14/2017 4:22:05 PM PDT by marktwain
Another case of bear spray failure occurred in Montana on September 4th at about 8 a.m. A grizzly bear charged through bear spray to get at Tom Sommers.
Sommers and his partner Dan were bow hunting for elk when they saw the bear about 30 feet away. Dan put out a cloud of spray, but the bear charged through it.
Sommers was unable to get the safety off his spray can and dropped it as the bear closed with him. He then accessed a pistol, but was unable to shoot before the bear swatted his hand down. As the bear attacked him, it stood on his hand/gun, so he could not shoot.
(Tom Sommers) And partner Dan both pulled out pepper spray. Dan sprayed but Toms spray didn't work so bear came after Tom. Tom ran behind a tree, bear kept coming. apparently bear chased Tom around tree twice, Tom got his pistol out turned to shoot, bear knocked his hand down. Tom hit ground. bear bit through thigh then put toms head in his mouth. while head in mouth tom tried to shoot bear in neck but bear stepped on hand /gun. Tom said he could hear his skull cracking. thought that was it. Dan shot bear at 2 feet with pepper spray. that's all it took. bear ran off and tom shot at it but said he couldn't see anything from all the blood and pepper spray in his face. 4 hours later after several hours on back of mule he is alive and in hospital. great spirits. was laughing. hope I did his story justice.
Some interesting things to note about this failure of bear spray to prevent the attack. Tom would have had time
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Maybe the bear was exhaling through the cloud.
I like to post songs on threads in an effort to try to match the general subject of the thread with a song that could be seen as related to the subject in some way (sort of like thread background music). For this thread, I have to admit that this song is a tasteless match, and I apologize in advance for it, but I'm going to post it anyway. Here's the song:
Real men use a knoife...
Knoife....not a spelling error as I thought.
Seems to have earned a spot in the urban dictionary...a REALLY big knife ala Crocodile Dundee.
I was walking to the pickup with my work partner when I noticed another US Forest Service employee carrying a pistol.
I asked my coworker, “Does that guy think he’s Jesse James or something?”
My coworker said, “Shut up and leave him alone.”
Turns out the guy was on a four man Trail Crew that got between a Grizzly sow and her cubs. When the sow got done with the four of them, this guy was the only one still capable of moving and he went and got help.
I surprised a bear in a Huckleberry patch. I started up the brush saw and the bear exploded out of the patch.
I don’t know what kind of bear it was. I forgot all my training and ran screaming down the trail.
I don’t know why it didn’t take me. My guess is the chainsaw motor may have confused it.
I don’t know. I just consider myself lucky.
Look at a bears hind legs.
That bear exploded out of those bushes.
A little trivia.
According to Outdoor Life, (and I have seen it a couple of other places since), more people in North America are killed by Black Bears than Grizzlies or Brown Bears.
Just looked at a big can of this at Walmart today. Instructions said 30’ maximum range. It is supposed to spray steady 5 seconds.
Much of this seems to be operator error. The bear ran when sprayed in the face.
I used to live in wooded big bear country. A bear came out of hibernation one February and left tracks beside the house in the snow and across the lake. A game cam snapped it about a mile away, a 500 pounder.
The game wardens said they get hungry, wake up sometimes unpredictably, vo eat some more, and go back to hibernation. I carried a .44 mag every time I walked out to the pole barn the rest of that winter.
S&W 686 7 rd - 4” barrel
200 gr. hard cast ammo
Because I can get the .357 back on target for multiple shots.
I don’t have to be able to out run the bear...
Did I read somewhere on FR, that when a bear was attacking a man, the guy used his fingers to gouge the bear’s eyes -— and the bear backed off?
Guy had a pistol. Pulled it, and the bear swatted it away.
I also carry a 28,000 lumens LED flashlight which is also called a bear stopper. It’ll blind them it’s so bright.
I have always wanted to go to Alaska but for the bears. Anywho, I always want to know things (way too addicted to this site) so I looked up bear’s sense of smell...Yellowstone black bears can smell things depending on wind and geography (probably) from 1 to 3 miles away but some say 18-20. YUM. Polar bears have been known to follow a seal for 40. Of course that is super clean air up there in no man’s land.
enjoy.
https://www.nps.gov/yose/blogs/bear-series-part-one-a-bears-sense-of-smell.htm
That's what I'd do if a 500 lb bear was charging me. I'd just poke him in the eye like Moe always did.
Maybe the bear was exhaling through the cloud.
The best bear spray is a good rifle chambered in .300 Weatherby magnum or larger.
12 gauge pump loaded with Brenneke slugs.
S&W 500 spray is much more potent. The choice of liberal bear hunters everywhere.
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