Posted on 09/24/2022 6:18:52 AM PDT by marktwain
Realistic bear defense drills can help prepare gun owners for actual situations.
The success of Eli Dicken in stopping a mass murder in the early stages, with excellent marksmanship at a claimed 40 yards, has engendered a plethora of people creating and executing some form of a “Dicken Drill” of ten shots at 40 yards.
There have been a number of “bear defense” exercises, usually arranged to simulate a worst-case scenario. I know of one such scenario, as it was related to me, by the inventor/trainer who ran it for a major agency.
The “bear” ran on a cart, as I recall, starting 10 yards away. Speed was determined by the person who ran away from the shooting line, pulling the bear, which also moved up and down on the terrain, toward the trainee shooter.
The trainer prepped the trainee, to be tested, thus the trainee was armed with a pump shotgun with a sling. There were rounds in the magazine, but none allowed in the chamber. The shotgun had to be slung on the shoulder, with the safety on, and the bolt locked forward. To engage the target, the trainee had to unsling the shotgun, disengage the bolt lock, work the action, disengage the safety, then shoot. Alternatively, the trainee could unsling the shotgun, disengage the safety, dry fire the shotgun, which would disengage the bolt lock, work the action, and then shoot.
Once preparation to do the drill was ready, the trainer would engage the trainee with a question or small talk. When the trainee’s attention was off the “bear” the trainer would give the secret signal to start the bear charging at the trainee. Unsurprisingly, few trainees managed to get off a shot and hit the “bear”.
Trainers can create a drill to obtain the effect they want
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
In the coastal rainforest, you can be 30 feet from a bear and neither of you know it. They usually take off....and it’s scary how quietly they do it.
What use is a firearm, out in the wild, that is not “hot”?
Rifle sighted in at 150 yards. Thats plenty close to a bear.
Too damn close, I say...I prefer a mile away. Maybe I could ‘run away’.
“The can should be located behind the target, similar to where the brain is located on a bear.”
I must have scanned over where that location is in the article.
Bears.
Two weeks ago I was driving through my ‘subdivision’ (we live out of town and just East is National Forest) I spotted a Mother bear with two cubs in the road — 1:30 PM...
Have been out of state for 10 days until last evening, I reviewed our motion detector/light/camera (A Feit unit from Costco) and son-of-a-gun there she was with her two cubs at 2:30 AM a few mornings ago...
Thanks for the article.
Based on real world bear attacks, you don’t aim for the brain. Odds of killing the bear aren’t all that great anyways. But even a 9mm has an excellent record of getting bears to break off an attack.
Maybe the unfamiliar noise or maybe the unexpected sharp pain in a muscle? Don’t know, but getting a HIT in on the bear is probably more important than trying to get a brain shot.
Here’s a defensive move that works..... shoot your hunting partner in the leg and run. Bear eats your longtime hunting partner.
I have read every thing Dean Weingarten has written on the subject of bears. There are far too many cases where the bear kept attacking after being shot more than once.
There are stories of bears shot, continuing the charge and dropping dead on the shooter as well as at the shooter’s feet....indicating that the bar came very close to living long enough to harm the shooter.
There is also a story complete with photos on Buffalo Bore’s web site of a grisly killed with a 9mm loaded with hard cast flat nosed. The bear soaked up 13 (I think) bullets before dropping a few feet from the guide.
Obviously not everyone can hit the brain of a charging bear, but I do suggest that they try.
Algy saw the bear
The bear saw Algy
The bear was bulgy
The bulge was Algy
Bear attacks vary considerably. Many attacks have been stopped with brain shots, even of large, charging, grizzly bears at close range.
Some attacks have been stopped when the victim pushes the pistol into bears mouth and pulls the trigger.
The real world is complex. No one solution fits all problems.
In collecting all documented cases where a pistol was fired in defense against a bear or bears, the attack was stopped in 98% of the cases.
In many cases, aiming for the brain is the optimum solution.
In others, body shots have worked.
In others, warning shots have worked.
An Air Weight S&W .357 Mag is not something you're likely to fire more than 5 rounds from at the range.
The S&W .44 Magnum w 4" barrel is not something I'm going to be able to get a follow up shot off, on target, in time to stop a charging griz.
I carry, train, and practice with an S&W 686 (357 mag) 7rd w 4" barrel. Using 200gr hardcast rounds when in Griz country.
I was walking along a trail when I suddenly came upon a Grizzly bear.
I quickly broke off a branch from a pine tree and threw it at the bear.
The bear picked up the branch and said, “Ah….good…..garnish.”
“...you don’t aim for the brain...”
If you’re using a shotgun and they are going to be that close, then aim for the front legs which will include the muzzle. At that close a range you would have to be lucky to kill them but if you can inflict pain and surprise, you might scare them to run. And blinding them or knocking them down momentarily by taking the legs out will give you a chance to withdraw backing away. It is a shotgun so do your best to cover the animal with projectiles.
wy69
“Most bear attacks are not surprise charges from extremely close range.”
So, no need to train for close range attacks?
10mm is reported to be effective as well.
My go-to bear gun is the Glock 20 loaded with Buffalo Bore 220 gr. You can do a mag dump in a few seconds. This is the most popular bear defense pistol in Alaska. Only the old timers stubbornly cling to wheel guns.
My favorite bear defense story came from P. Hope, AK along the Arctic coast in the extreme NW corner of the state. An elderly Eskimo woman was walking in the village during a typical January blizzard. It was dark and she was headed to visit a sick friend. She was bundled up in an ankle length parka with the hood up and thick fur mittens. A polar bear jumped her from behind and knocked the face down onto the ground. The bear straddled her and flipped her over. With a snarling polar bear on top of you and ready to make a meal of you what do you do? She balled up her fist inside the mitten and shoved it as far into the bears mouth as she could, uncurled her fist, and withdrew her hand leaving the large fur mitten lodged in the bears throat. The bear asphyxiated and she survived. Well played madam.
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