12 gauge slugs.

Born on a mountain top in Tennessee,

Greenest state in the land of the free.

Raised in the woods so's he knew every tree,

Killed him a bear when he was only three.

Davy, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.

If, by some mischance, I find myself loose in bear country, I will be armed with an M1A with 20 rounds of 7.62mm AP.

Works on everything this side of a tank.

“Killed him a bear when he was only three.”

Ahem...that was “Kilt him a bar when he was only three.”

It’s a nightmare situation to my way of thinking. Particularly grizzlies. They’re fast. They won’t be running smoothly on a straight line right at you. They’re bounding creatures; i.e., they bounce up an down in a ridiculously exaggerated fashion as they run. So if you’re aiming for the heart (not that I’m advocating that shot on a charging grizzly), say, it, the heart, is bouncing up and down by that much, too. And it seemed to me, watching videos of charging grizzlies from my couch in California, they run at you like a curve ball coming full speed. Try to hit that when you’re under tons of stress!

.22LR.

Shoot your hunting buddy in the knee and run.

https://franceshunter.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/with-a-bear-behind-lewis-clark-meet-the-grizzly-bear/

Of all the animals the men of the Corps of Discovery encountered on their expedition, the most formidable of all was the Ursus horribilus, better known as the grizzly bear. Lewis and Clark were no stranger to bears, having grown up hunting the grizzly’s smaller cousin, the black bear, which was then commonly found across along the east coast. Intrigued by the Mandan Indians’ formidable description of the animal they called the “white bear,” they were eager to try their hand at hunting this fabled beast.

Lewis and Clark began to see signs of the grizzly shortly after they left Fort Mandan in April 1805. Lewis reported seeing “tracks of the white bear of enormous size” along the Missouri, along with mangled buffalo carcasses on which the bear were feeding. The first grizzlies they spotted ran away, giving the Corps a false sense of security. They killed their first grizzly on April 29, 1805, an immature male of about 300 pounds. Lewis bragged in his journal, “the Indians may well fear this anamal equiped as they generally are with their bows and arrows or indifferent fuzees, but in the hands of skillfull riflemen they are by no means as formidable or dangerous as they have been represented.”

Subsequent encounters would prove otherwise. On May 5, William Clark and George Droulliard killed an enormous grizzly bear, with some effort. Clark described it as a “verry large and a turrible looking animal, which we found verry hard to kill we Shot ten Balls into him before we killed him, & 5 of those Balls through his lights.” Lewis estimated the weight of the bear at 500-600 pounds, about twice the size of the average black bear. He noted that after the bear was shot, “he swam more than half the distance across the river to a sandbar & it was at least twenty minutes before he died; he did not attempt to attack, but fled and made the most tremendous roaring from the moment he was shot.” Once the bear finally died, they butchered it for meat, bear oil, and its thick furry skin. Sobered by the size and ferocity of the bear, Lewis wrote, “I find that the curiossity of our party is pretty well satisfyed with rispect to this anamal.”

A few days later Private Bratton narrowly escaped after being chased half a mile by a bear he had wounded through the lungs. Lewis sent a party in pursuit, which found the bear “perfectly alive.” They finally killed it with two shots to the skull. By this time, Lewis’s bravado had all but disappeared. “This bear being so hard to die reather intimedates us all; I must confess that I do not like the gentlemen and had reather fight two Indians than one bear; there is no other chance to conquer them by a single shot but by shooting them through the brains… the flece and skin were as much as two men could possibly carry.”

On May 14, six men from the Corps of Discovery, “all good hunters,” came upon another grizzly bear lying in the open about 300 paces from the river. Lewis described what happened next:

” they took the advantage of a small eminence which concealed them and got within 40 paces of him unperceived, two of them reserved their fires as had been previously conscerted, the four others fired nearly at the same time and put each his bullet through him, two of the balls passed through the bulk of both lobes of his lungs, in an instant this monster ran at them with open mouth, the two who had reserved their fires discharged their pieces at him as he came towards them, boath of them struck him, one only slightly and the other fortunately broke his shoulder, this however only retarded his motion for a moment only, the men unable to reload their guns took to flight, the bear pursued and had very nearly overtaken them before they reached the river; two of the party betook themselves to a canoe and the others seperated an concealed themselves among the willows, reloaded their pieces, each discharged his piece at him as they had an opportunity they struck him several times again but the guns served only to direct the bear to them, in this manner he pursued two of them seperately so close that they were obliged to throw aside their guns and pouches and throw themselves into the river altho’ the bank was nearly twenty feet perpendicular; so enraged was this anamal that he plunged into the river only a few feet behind the second man he had compelled take refuge in the water, when one of those who still remained on shore shot him through the head and finally killed him; they then took him on shore and butchered him when they found eight balls had passed through him in different directions.”

That wasn’t the end of the Corps’ close encounters with grizzlies. Lewis recorded that George Droulliard was very nearly caught by a bear on June 2. On June 14, Lewis himself was out hunting when he came face to face with one of the animals he called “these gentlemen:”

I selected a fat buffaloe and shot him very well, through the lungs; while I was gazeing attentively on the poor anamal discharging blood in streams from his mouth and nostrils, expecting him to fall every instant, and having entirely forgotton to reload my rifle, a large white, or reather brown bear, had perceived and crept on me within 20 steps before I discovered him; in the first moment I drew up my gun to shoot, but at the same instant recolected that she was not loaded and that he was too near for me to hope to perform this opperation before he reached me, as he was then briskly advancing on me; it was an open level plain, not a bush within miles nor a tree within less than three hundred yards of me; the river bank was sloping and not more than three feet above the level of the water; in short there was no place by means of which I could conceal myself from this monster untill I could charge my rifle; in this situation I thought of retreating in a brisk walk as fast as he was advancing untill I could reach a tree about 300 yards below me, but I had no sooner terned myself about but he pitched at me, open mouthed and full speed, I ran about 80 yards and found he gained on me fast, I then run into the water the idea struk me to get into the water to such debth that I could stand and he would be obliged to swim, and that I could in that situation defend myself with my espontoon; accordingly I ran haistily into the water about waist deep, and faced about and presented the point of my espontoon, at this instant he arrived at the edge of the water within about 20 feet of me; the moment I put myself in this attitude of defence he sudonly wheeled about as if frightened, declined the combat on such unequal grounds, and retreated with quite as great precipitation as he had just before pursued me.

Lewis climbed back on shore, no doubt with his legs trembling, as he watched the bear run away at full speed. “The cause of his allarm still remains with me misterious and unaccountable,” Lewis wrote. Still, he counted his blessings: “So it was, and I feelt myself not a little gratifyed that he had declined the combat.”

In the end, the Corps learned that grizzlies were best avoided, though it didn’t stop an incensed bear from treeing Private Gibson during the return journey in 1806.

I love the transition from: “they are by no means as formidable or dangerous as they have been represented” to “This bear being so hard to die reather intimedates us all”. Even the .46 caliber Girandoni air rifle is not enough gun for a full-size grizzly bear.

Excellent choice. Simply excellent.

“12 gauge slugs.”

Absolutely. If it should come down to it, your last shot should be to jam the barrel in the bears mouth and pull the trigger....

A hippy with a stick.

I received some good advice for people who are in bear country.

The advice said to wear little bells on your clothing and carry some pepper spray when you are in bear country. When the bears hear the bells, they will leave the area; if some stay, the pepper spray will drive them away.

However, it is important to know whether the bears are black bears or brown bears.

The best way to tell the difference between black bears and brown bears was to examine their droppings. Black bear droppings will contain squirrel fur, berries, and smell of fish. Brown bear droppings will contain little bells and smell of pepper spray.

Taurus makes a model 627 Tracker.

They used to make a 627 Tracker Titanium.
Can still be found.

Titanium frame for lighter weight.
Great for backpacking, where weight is an issue

Can find it in 357, 41 or 44 magnum.

I wouldn’t go into bear country with anything less than a 41 magnum.

A long spear.

When I was a teen up north, my friend and I were out deer hunting. He accidentally come up on one and startled it. Instead of running away, it charged him. He put five 30-30 rounds into it....hardly even slowed it down. I think it just made it even madder. He ran up the hill towards me as fast as he could go, no rifle, no jacket and yelling his head off with it right on his azz.
In those days, I only had an old war surplus Springfield 03 bolt gun...30-06. One shot to the head and it was over., It all happened pretty quickly too. IF I had missed, it probably would have had us both. BTW, all five of those 30-30 slugs were buried in the summer fat never even getting close to a vital spot. These things are one tough animal.
Yeah, I’d opt for one of those big hand cannons as a backup. Give me a good 30-06 or 300 mag rifle...LOL

Alaskan guides carry 375 H & H. I carried a 338 Magnum, the smallest caliber one would want to have against a Griz. Misnomer: Griz may kill but they don’t eat you, black bear will eat you. 12 ga: Best combo is 3” mag with 000 buck, not a slug. Never aim for head, aim for shoulder to break a major bone and roll the animal. Look at a skull of Griz, All shots except eye will bounce off. Best defense if black bear: fight with anything you can find because you are dinner. Best defense if Griz: lay down and cover the back of your neck and crotch and don’t move or scream no matter what (Griz may nip or just sniff and walk away) When choosing between a bolt action and semi auto: go with bolt action because with a semi your gun will be empty when the bear is actually close enough to hit.

Bella Twin, the .22 Used to Take the 1953 World Record Grizzly, and More

Ammoland Inc.

Posted on June 7, 2017June 8, 2017 by Dean Weingarten

By Dean WeingartenBella Twin is shown with the hide from the world record grizzly bear Dean Weingarten

Arizona -(Ammoland.com)- On 10 May, 1953, Bella Twin was hunting small game with her partner, Dave Auger, along an oil exploration cutline south of Slave Lake, in Alberta, Canada. She was 63 years old.

They saw a large grizzly bear coming toward them. Wishing to avoid an encounter, they hid off the side of the cut.

But the bear kept coming closer and closer. The bear got so close that Bella Twin thought it less risky to shoot the bear than to not shoot it. It was probably only a few yards away. Some accounts say 30 feet. Perhaps she saw it stop and start to sniff, as if it had caught their scent. We may never know.

She shot at the side of the bears head. Knowing animal anatomy very well (she was an experienced trapper, and had skinned hundreds, perhaps thousands of animals) she knew exactly where to aim to penetrate the skull at its weakest point.

She shot, the bear dropped. It was huge. She went to the bear and fired the rest of the .22 long cartridges that she had, loading the single shot rifle repeatedly, to “pay the insurance” as Peter Hathaway Capstick said. She made sure the bear was dead, and not just stunned. My father taught me the same lesson when I was 13.

Here is a picture of the bear's skull and the .22 caliber holes in the left side.1953 World Record Grizzly Skull

For those curious about how to place that shot on a live bear, the place to aim is half way on a line from the center of the eye to the ear hole.

From the front, you would aim directly up the nose. If the bear's mouth is open, aim for the back of the roof of the mouth. Aiming above the nose will likely miss the brain.

What rifle did Bella use to shoot the world record grizzly in 1953?

I wrote an article asking for help in 2014. Several alert readers replied over the intervening period. Because of their efforts, and the Internets, I have been able to find more detail about Bella Twin, her rifle, and the event. One reader was able to track down the current location of the rifle and send me pictures taken by the curator of the museum. The rifle is a Cooey Ace 1 single shot .22 rimfire.

Bella Twin used the rifle for many years on her trapline. The rifle was produced between 1929 and 1934. From a commenter at Ammoland:

Excerpt from: https://www.ammoland.com/2017/06/bella-twin-the-22-used-to-take-the-1953-world-record-grizzly-and-more/

Where can I get one.....or two?

88mm flak gun.