Side Arm for Grizzly Country

[Quarter Round]

Ask your guide.

 

[David Emerson]

An Alaskan chest holster with a 6 1/.2 inch 500 smith. If you can shoot it. But let,s be real. Any pistol compared to a rifle is like comparing a PT boat to an Iowa. When I lived in Alaska I used to tease the dudes. Carry a 44. Did you file off the front sight? WHY? When the bear sticks it up your %&^ it won,t hurt so bad!!! Lol

 

[Deleted member 115374]

Another case of typing before reading.

"Do,do,do looking out my front door."

View attachment 226267

 

[Deleted member 115374]

Another case of typing before reading.

"Do,do,do looking out my front door."

View attachment 226267

Not so, I saw the pic and read it. What made me question the comment was the fact that you stated you have been riding in grizzly country for 22 yrs. and never seen one. That leads me to believe that you either are blind or just talking smack. The Newark comment came from the fact that there are all kinds of people from all over the country that have moved west and are part timers that have second homes or hobby ranches, and all of a sudden they're experts on whatever. So my question would be which is it and Newark where ?

 

[Deleted member 115654]

Obviously YOU have all the answers, so any comment from me is immaterial.

As the old saying goes: You don't know me, I don't know you, you don't know my friends and I don't know yours."

 

[flyguy1]

Steve Rinella is the most honest hunter out there.

If you have ever been in a tussle with a semi you know the slide won't operate if it is pressed against you or your opponent(no, not the front) so it is only good until the bear is on you if you are lucky enough to get time to draw run thru the mag.
That means use a revolver.
Bear spray ? Yes, it works great provided you can deploy it before the bear is on top of you, it doesn't work if you spray him in the stomach when he's on top of you or there is not bad, swirling wind. You will leave him with an orange stain on his underside so they know what bear to kill, good job ! If he's on me I would rather have a knife or a revolver.
Take whatever makes you feel warm and fuzzy but you may be forced to use it in a circumstance that you hadn't planned on.
Take a revolver, spray, and a knife.
If you hadn't heard the Meateater Afognak Island bear attack story Steven was having lunch telling his 5 buddies "if you want a sandwich like this get your own f##king TV show" as the bear charged from behind, 18" from him. It's about 8:20 in the clip.

Steve Rinella is the most honest famous hunter out there. He is likely right when he referenced the military guys killing the bear while he and Jannis froze. Training over and over in close quarters combat like clearing houses (and in these days actually probably having done it) is very different from we computer bearfighters.

 

[memtb]

gerry, while your "22 year no sighting" comment is somewhat questionable.....I will not suggest that you are fabricating the facts. However, if you would like to change your apparent bad luck on grizzly sightings, I'm sure that there are a couple of folks that would offer to help you check that box on your "bucket list"! I know a fellow, of course cash may be involved, that can get you into grizzlies. You then, can have the option of "how close" would you like to get! memtb

 

[rammac]

As I said earlier, only people who "have seen the Elephant" are qualified to give advice.

The rest is what you heard/read/think and accessible to anyone who has "duck duck go".

I'm a retired Marine with 5 combat tours and I live along the Divide in Montana and I absolutely resent your arrogance and hubris. You were just another dumb *** when you started your first tour in country, it was your training that gave you time to learn how to talk shift. There isn't anything that you learn in combat that can't be learned and experienced by a civilian, it's just a faster learning curve in combat.

Are a lot of clueless people posting, yes, but at least they are trying to walk through the situation in their heads. As for the gun you choose,well nothing is going to be a perfect choice but all firearms are more lethal than any spray and no spray works well on a griz that is actually attacking you. A major part of winning a life or death struggle is confidence in your abilities and equipment so choose the weapon that makes feel like you'll win and recognize that you're only going to have a few seconds to react. Practice as much as you can and learn about grizzly habitat and habits. The truth is that real grizzly attacks in the lower 48 are rare, more Black Bears attack people back east than grizzlies out west.

You'll never find a way to create a true to life practice scenario but, like the military, you can go through your physical activities so many times that your brain and body will just take over without any conscious thought. That takes literally thousands of repetitions so get started training. When a sudden life threatening situation happens most of us will be scared but if you keep going through the motions of reacting you usually forget the fear. We all have a fight or flight capability and once your brain knows that running isn't an option most of us will fight, if we've trained enough to provide our brain with the option to fight.

 

[Deleted member 115654]

Thanks for your service.

Calling me childish names does nothing to enhance your credibility. Most of us gave that up in grade school.
The fact remains that 33 pages of advice from people, most of whom have never seen a Griz bear, not to mention dealt with one, is of marginal value.
Assume when you were in basic, your D.I. had some more experience than reading about it ?
There are countless books and articles on what do do in bear country. I saw nothing here that was "new and different".

Aside from "shifting" on me, can you offer some 1st person experience in dealing with the lower 48 apex predator ?

 

[XSIVSPD]

Thanks for your service.

Aside from "shifting" on me, can you offer some 1st person experience in dealing with the lower 48 apex predator ?

Considering how low the population density of bears is in the lower 48 vs Alaska, I wouldn't consider them "the lower 48 apex predator"

 

[Deleted member 115374]

Obviously YOU have all the answers, so any comment from me is immaterial.

As the old saying goes: You don't know me, I don't know you, you don't know my friends and I don't know yours."

OK Daffy, that response pretty much confirms my suspicions, I think I have a pretty good idea of who a couple of your friends are. Let me guess, Elmer Fudd and Sylvester. I didn't know they were from New Joisy too.

 

[Deleted member 115374]

Thanks for your service.

Calling me childish names does nothing to enhance your credibility. Most of us gave that up in grade school.
The fact remains that 33 pages of advice from people, most of whom have never seen a Griz bear, not to mention dealt with one, is of marginal value.
Assume when you were in basic, your D.I. had some more experience than reading about it ?
There are countless books and articles on what do do in bear country. I saw nothing here that was "new and different".

Aside from "shifting" on me, can you offer some 1st person experience in dealing with the lower 48 apex predator ?

Duck Duck Go RAMMAC ? You got to be kidding me. I live in SW Mt as well. I would say we are in the the thick of things here as far as Grizzly Bears go. 2 killed in Madison range in October, 1 in self defense, the other investigation still pending. I don't know about you but I have bumped 2 out of their daybeds up on the front and luckily they went the other way. Both were within 30 yds when they bolted. Jumped another one in the Gallatin Range bed down underneath a fir tree after 20" of snow overnight, branches were touching the ground with the weight of the snow, at 15 yds he bolted out the other side and kept on going. We had another one walk right underneath a guys tree stand about a mile from Bozeman city limits 2 weeks ago. I am not sure where DUCK DUCK GO lives but he might want to have a conversation with the guy up in Choteau that went to check one of his outbuildings and got chewed up pretty bad 2 months ago or maybe the guy on the Teton River a few miles North of there that stepped in the trees to take a leak and got tore up.

 

[Deleted member 115654]

Thinking it's time to leave this thread to the MT experts.

 

[swe123]

Good plan.