Tragic bear attack in Wyoming

I wouldn't feel under-gunned with a 10mm and hardcast checked for reliability, and I LOVE the 10mm. But I do hunt in grizz country and I carry a Taurus TI 41Mag or a SW329 in 44Mag.

Almost more important than the cartridge is how you carry it. Would things have been different if he had the gun on him? We'll never know, it could have helped, but I can't see how it would have made things worse.

I use BladeTech paddle holsters with friction retention. I adust the tension up so I can shake the holster upside down and it will retain the gun, but I can pull it out with a sharp pull. So no retention to remember to undo under pressure. Been using for years with no loss of weapon. I clip it to the belt of my pack, and if I drop my pack, I transfer immediately to my waist. The gun is ALWAYS inches from my hands.
 
While I'd rather have more power, if all you've got is a 9mm, they've been used...

No question.

Another way I express that is: I would only carry a 9mm for bear defense if I was prevented from carrying a more powerful firearm.

9mm is 100% better than what Timothy Treadwell was packing. If I recall, his girlfriend employed a frying pan on the boar that killed them both. That bear just continued feeding on Timothy while she swung that frying pan at him.

I wish Treadwell had carried and employed some pepper spray, because I'd give 10 to 1 odds on a heavy bet... that boar would not have been deterred by any bear spray being marketed. Either way, it would have been the best bear spray test case EVER! That bear came to eat and never left his kills. Treadwell didn't believe in bear spray. He considered it unnecessary and inhumane to his Disney character bear friends. He had names for many of "his" bears. Dunno if he named the one that ate him. I have heard that he wasn't familiar with that one.

Gov officials finished that bear off at the kill site. They didn't come into Treadwell's camp armed with bear spray. Gov officials don't abide by their own National Park Service guidance on bear spray when their lives are on the line. Four different long guns were fired into that man-eater repeatedly, even after the boar stopped moving. Just for good measure...

And the officials went in with triplicate backup. Very good move.
 
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Alright, for the 10mm lovers, just make sure you load them suckers hot. Basically just a .40 sw unless you push the envelope. This one barely managed to stop a black bear
https://www.alloutdoor.com/2018/09/...ent=2018-09-18&utm_campaign=Weekly+Newsletter

On a lighter note, Does anybody know how to tell the difference between a griz and a black bear by their droppings?

Black bear scat is smaller and usually filled with berry seeds and squirrel hair. Griz scat is usually filled with bells and smells like pepper spray.
https://web.eecs.umich.edu/~fessler/misc/funny/bears.txt
 
A few years back I was backpacking Yosemite's Tulomene River trailwith a group from Las Vegas. I hear a girl up ahead scream my name and I came up at a trot.

Big black bear standing up on hind legs 20 yards from her. I had my bear spray canister out but yelled and he scrambled up a steep ravine and left.

Next day a juvenile cinnamon was harassing Boy Scouts at a camp B/C two of the dummies walked away from their breakfast pancakes and the bear helped himself. Thrown rocks (bear spray at the ready)got rid of him.

BUT... If I am going into grizzly territory I'll be carrying my .44 magnum Tarus - on my person.

Eric B.
 
A few years back I was backpacking Yosemite's Tulomene River trailwith a group from Las Vegas. I hear a girl up ahead scream my name and I came up at a trot.

Big black bear standing up on hind legs 20 yards from her. I had my bear spray canister out but yelled and he scrambled up a steep ravine and left.

Next day a juvenile cinnamon was harassing Boy Scouts at a camp B/C two of the dummies walked away from their breakfast pancakes and the bear helped himself. Thrown rocks (bear spray at the ready)got rid of him.

BUT... If I am going into grizzly territory I'll be carrying my .44 magnum Tarus - on my person.

Eric B.
Yes with 325 grain hardcast....!!!!!
 
Alright, for the 10mm lovers, just make sure you load them suckers hot. Basically just a .40 sw unless you push the envelope. This one barely managed to stop a black bear
https://www.alloutdoor.com/2018/09/...ent=2018-09-18&utm_campaign=Weekly+Newsletter

On a lighter note, Does anybody know how to tell the difference between a griz and a black bear by their droppings?

Black bear scat is smaller and usually filled with berry seeds and squirrel hair. Griz scat is usually filled with bells and smells like pepper spray.
https://web.eecs.umich.edu/~fessler/misc/funny/bears.txt

Well, to start with, he picked completely inappropriate rounds. Those are not the bullets you want loaded in bear ammo. Yes, many factory 10mm rounds are not really much more than 40SW. But Buffalo Bore and DoubleTap offer real 10mm rounds with appropriate hardcast bullets for bear.

Even for practice rounds with powder coated lead bullets, my 10mms shoot real 10mm loads. If I want to shoot 40SW I have a 40SW for that. It's an insult to the 10 to neuter it in that way.
 
I know we are talking about bear defense, but I do have an old High School friend who now lives in Alaska, he is a big time Bow Hunter he has already completed a Super Slam in his 40's, now he is working on a second super slam. He hunts exclusively with a bow only, I read an article he had even quit carrying a sidearm due to weight in the back country. In 2013, he sent me a picture of a Big Brown he had shot with his bow, the bear weighed in around 1200lbs, I asked how close he had to get a shot, he mentioned 30 yards, but the evening before he was 10 yards away, but couldn't find his sight pins on the bear due to the lighting, he eased out and came back the following morning and got him at 30 yards.. The man has nerves of steel, always did since I known him, I don't have that much courage without a backup.
 
Kmccord,
Your friend accepts the risks associated with those hunts. I respect his freedom of choice. But it's not for me.

Just like free-style mountain climbers accept the risks of climbing the vertical faces of mountains without ropes and climbing harnesses. Not for me.

Most don't accept those risks. Otherwise this Thread would have died out after just a few informative posts.

I know Fred Bear would not have survived at least one polar bear hunt had his guide not killed the charging bear. Fred Bear liked to hunt as much or more so than most. So much that he preferred not dying in the process. I guess that's another way of viewing the passion for hunting. I try to stay healthy so I can continue to enjoy my first and foremost hobby.

Every time I've seen video of Mr. Bear hunting bear, there was also a guide armed with a long gun.
 
Kmccord,
Your friend accepts the risks associated with those hunts. I respect his freedom of choice. But it's not for me.

Just like free-style mountain climbers accept the risks of climbing the vertical faces of mountains without ropes and climbing harnesses. Not for me.

Most don't accept those risks. Otherwise this Thread would have died out after just a few informative posts.

I know Fred Bear would not have survived at least one polar bear hunt had his guide not killed the charging bear. Fred Bear liked to hunt as much or more so than most. So much that he preferred not dying in the process. I guess that's another way of viewing the passion for hunting. I try to stay healthy so I can continue to enjoy my first and foremost hobby.

Every time I've seen video of Mr. Bear hunting bear, there was also a guide armed with a long gun.

I know, I don't have the nerves to hunt without a backup for something that large and aggressive, he did tell me he was in the back country hunting sheep, came over the crest of a mountain, he had his ice ax in his hand at the time and stumbled across a sow grizz with two cubs. She charged immediately and he side stepped and swing the ax, she knocked him down and walked around him then left... I would have **** my pants while she circled me...
 
For those interested, the Casper Star-Tribune today has an article that lays out many of the details surrounding the attack. I don't know how to post a link, so you'll have to go directly to the paper's website.
 
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