Bear attacks man walking dogs

From wild and wooly Alaska:

For Soldotna fishing guide Greg Brush, the rare and precious finally arrived -- a summer day off between king and silver salmon seasons.

It was Aug. 2, a little after 11 a.m., when he headed down Dirks Lake Road, a quarter-mile from his home, taking three dogs for some exercise in preparation for hunting season. Brush talked to his animals as they walked past homes on one- to five-acre lots.

The slightest noise -- a twig snapping -- prompted Brush to glance over his shoulder. Less than 20 yards away, a brown bear was charging, "ears back, head low and motorin' full speed.

"Came with zero warning," Brush said. "No woof, no popping of the teeth, no standing up, nothing like what you think."

Brush said he wears a pistol on his walks because bears have chased his dogs in the past.

He drew a Ruger .454 Casull revolver. There was no time to aim, barely time to squeeze the trigger. He's not sure whether he got off two shots or three, but one proved fatal.

"Total luck shot," he said.

"It doesn't get any closer. He slid by me on his chin when I shot him," Brush said. "I was backpedaling as fast as I could. I wasn't even aiming. I tripped over my own feet as I pulled the trigger."

He estimated that the animal weighed 900-plus pounds, and was 15 to 20 years old. It had grass packed in its molars and little fat on its bones.

"It was starving to death and saw an opportunity," Brush said....

Article here. Note how quickly the attack occurred -- a gun in a backpack likely wouldn't have been accessible quickly enough. And fortunately, Mr. Brush's handgun, a .454 Casull (a powerful round for a handgun), with proper shot placement ("lucky", according to Mr. Brush) was up to the task of stopping the 900 pound bear.

Of bears and ammo selection

From the Rocky Mountain State, comes this story:

BOULDER, Colo. — It took three rounds from a shotgun, five bullets from a handgun and two shots from a rifle to kill the 120-pound black bear that broke into a Boulder County home early Monday morning.

The bear break-in was the fifth time in a week hungry bears have gotten into Boulder County residences, all while the residents were home. That has wildlife officials urging area residents to take precautions and bear proof their homes.

Brenda Fischer's barking dog woke her at about 2 a.m. Monday morning. When she went upstairs to investigate, she found a bear in the kitchen of her home on Poorman Road, between Sunshine and Fourmile canyons.

Fischer quickly returned downstairs to wake her two children and her husband.

"As soon as I knew there was a bear inside the house, I went to gather up both our weapon and our ammunition, because they are in two different places, and went to place myself with the weapon between the family and the bear," said Paul Fischer, Brenda's husband.

"As soon as I moved to try and make a place for him to get out, he charged me," Fischer continued. "That's when I shot him and he kept charging me. I shot him a second time, and he kept charging me. I shot him a third time and he was finally disoriented enough for me to get away."

The first two rounds from the 12-gauge shotgun were birdshot and the third was rubber bullets, according to a report by the sheriff's office. The Fischers escaped through a bedroom window, leaving the wounded bear inside the house. [emphasis added]

When officers arrived on the scene at about 2:30 a.m., they found a bloody bear trying to claw his way through a screen door.

Sheriff's Sgt. Lance Enholm, after determining that the bear was severely injured and would need to be put down, fired his .45-caliber handgun five more times at the animal.

"(The first shot) struck the bear in the head, and it immediately reacted and began flopping around and growling," Enholm wrote in his report. "... I fired another round from my handgun, again striking the bear in the head. This didn't appear to have any impact on the bear, and it kept coming towards me."

It was shot number nine, however, this time from the sergeant's .223-caliber rifle, that finally felled the bear; a final round ended the bear's suffering, according to the police report. ...

Article here. Note that a 120 pound bear isn't all that large. Birdshot and a rubber baton round are poor choices for stopping a bear attack. Slugs would have been a much better and effective choice. I suspect that on a small bear like that, even 00 buckshot would have had the necessary penetration to reach vital organs. Indeed, the sergeant's choice of .223 was probably sub-optimal as well (depending to some extent on the particular ammo), although some agencies have removed shotguns from their patrol vehicles as they have transitioned to patrol rifles typically chambered in .223 Rem or 5.56 mm NATO.

Bear attack, Wyoming edition

From bear country:

Jerry Ruth saw the grizzly for just a fraction of a second before it was on him.

Within seconds, the 275-pound animal had crushed the Wyoming man's jaw when it bit him in the face, fractured his rib and punctured his lung and left deep bite wounds in his calf and scratches across his back.

After the attack, the bear left him for her three cubs that Ruth saw for the first time as he lay bleeding on the dirt. When it reached the cubs about 15 yards away, the bear turned toward him again, "squaring off" as if to charge, Ruth recalled Friday.

Ruth grabbed for the .41-caliber magnum revolver he was carrying in a hip holster and relied on his training and experience as a police officer to save his life. He fired three times, saving three bullets in case his first shots failed.

But the bear dropped and didn't move, ending the furious encounter as swiftly as it started. ...

Article here. Mr. Ruth, a retired cop, is lucky to be alive given the nature and extent of his injuries. The article notes that he always carried his gun whenever he ventured into the backcountry around his house, diligence that probably saved his life.

Bear encounters on the rise

On bears encounters:

HARLAN, Ky. – Bobby Koger was deer hunting on a Kentucky hillside when a black bear gave him the fright of his life.

A 300-pound animal, apparently unhappy that an intruder was on his turf, came charging and didn't stop until Koger raised his .50 caliber muzzleloading rifle and fired from point-blank range. A hunting companion who witnessed the attack from a distance also shot the bruin, which wheeled, ran a short distance and collapsed.

Conservation officers concluded that they fired in self-defense at a bear that had lost its natural fear of humans.

With black bear populations rising, run-ins have become almost commonplace — more than 15,000 in the past year in states east of the Mississippi River according to a survey of state wildlife agencies. [emphasis added]...

Article here. While Mr. Koger was fortunate that his single shot muzzleloader stopped the attack, it is wise to carry a handgun of sufficient caliber and power to serve as a backup weapon. Perhaps something at least as powerful as a .357 Magnum for small black bear. Obviously, those in the Western states or Alaska would be well advised to carry something even more potent, as the pool of dangerous animals includes large brown bear and moose. Note that this is a backup, last ditch weapon, and you're always trying to balance power, with controllability, with weight that you have to lug around (and most likely won't need to use).

One lucky shot

From Wyoming:

It was a one-in-a-million shot, but luckily for Ron J. Leming, his father accurately fired the arrow from his bow the one time it counted the most - as a 500-pound grizzly bear chased him downhill.

Ron J. and his father, Ron G. Leming, were archery hunting for elk up the South Fork of the Shoshone River in northwest Wyoming in mid-September, about 15 miles into the Washakie Wilderness from the trailhead. It's an area they are familiar with, having hunted there for the past 15 years.

For three days they'd bugled, cow-called and worked the woods, hoping to shoot a big bull. Fall is when elk breed. Big bulls bugle to challenge other bulls in hopes of breeding more cow elk. Hunters imitate the sounds in hopes of luring the testosterone-amped bulls into range.
...
The grizzly staggered down the hill about 80 yards and fell over dead. With his first shot at the running bear, the elder Leming had likely nicked the bear's aorta, causing it to quickly bleed out.

"I was covered in blood," Leming said. "I didn't know if it was my blood or the bear's.

"My dad pretty much saved my life there," he said. "That's the thing I cannot believe in this whole story. He stood there with a bow and made that shot at a charging grizzly bear. That's amazing. You could take that shot a thousand more times and never do it."
...
Although the Lemings both had bear spray and pistols in camp, they had packed neither along on their morning hunt. [emphasis added]

Article here.

Bear attack, Alaska edition

Article on bears and some recent bear attacks in Anchorage, Alaska:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Even in a city whose logo is "Big Wild Life," the summer of 2008 is testing residents' tolerance for large carnivores.

The problem is bears, black bears and bigger grizzlies. So far this summer, three people have been mauled in the city.
...
Residents share the municipality — covering more than 1 million acres and with more than 360,000 people — with more than 300 black bears and 50 to 60 grizzlies. Aggravating the problem is that Alaska's largest city is snug up against the half-million-acre Chugach State Park, the third largest state park in the United States.

Article here.

Bear Attack, Connecticut Edition

Another bear attack, this one in Connecticut.

NEW MILFORD — An Indian Trail Road homeowner was justified in killing a black bear Wednesday after it chased his dog and then acted threateningly toward him, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

James Galvin killed the female bear with three blasts from a 12-gauge shotgun while standing outside his front door about 7 a.m. Galvin said he fired after the bear stood on its hind legs, lowered itself and started toward him.

"I thought it was going to attack," Galvin said. "It was about 15 feet away from me."

Article here.

Bear attack, Tennessee edition

Another bear attack, this one in the Tennessee Smokies:

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- A hike in the Smokies turns into a fight against a black bear for a Florida father and his eight-year-old son.

Eight-year-old Evan Pala was taking a picture of his father and brother on a log in Le Conte Creek, when, out of nowhere, a black bear attacked.

Evan says, “Right behind a tree, it popped out on two feet, just the bear jumped on me...It was holding me to the ground, and it pushed my teeth right into the rock.”

All of a sudden, a fun family hiking trip turned into a fight for life for John Pala, and his sons evan and 10-year-old Alex -- an 86 pound black bear had Evan in his grasp.

Article here. I don't know whether firearm carry is legal where the family was hiking, but even in many outdoor disarmed victim zones, a knife is often legal.

Bear attack, Alaska edition

Another reason to carry a firearm when jogging (and where legal to do so), especially in bear country.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Another Anchorage resident has been mauled by a grizzly bear in a city park popular with joggers and bicyclists.

The woman was attacked by the bear Friday evening while jogging in Far North Bicentennial Park.
...
Anchorage police say this time the bear caused serious injuries. The woman was bitten on her torso, arm and neck.

Article here.

Bear Attack

From Oregon. Gentleman out picking morel mushrooms (yum!) gets attacked by 400 pound black bear. Fortunately, he has an anti-bear attack tool:

When the bear just up the hill roared, Joshua McKim's first thought was that he had never heard a bear make a sound like that.

His second thought, almost instantaneous with the first, was that he was awfully glad he had brought his pistol on this mushroom-picking trip.

When he first glimpsed the bear through the thick brush, McKim had cocked the hammer on the .45 caliber semi-automatic Taurus, a copy of the famous 1911-model Colt.

Read the whole story here. Note that Mr. McKim was the only one of his party armed. He also doesn't appear to have had a spare magazine (or two, or three), and exhausted his entire eight round supply of ammo stopping the bear's advance.