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Ever Defended Yourself Against Grizzly

Just wondering how the bear reacted, what you were using (spray or gun), and how long it took to die. I'm headed to Kodiak later in the season, but I'm assuming they will be hibernating by then.

I've read Ammoland's compilation of over 100 Bear vs Pistol documented attacks and Watched Stuck in the Rut's video.

Only time I had something similar happen was in 2014 I was stalked by a big lion in Colorado, but he did not attempt anything. Felt pretty secure with my suppressed .22 for grouse and my 7 mag I was carrying.

Interested in hearing some responses to this…

I cover myself in honey and peanut butter just to increase myself odds of getting to wrestle a grizzly. Been attacked twice doing this both time by fat girls.

I know one Bowsiter who has, but he's on his way home from P&Y. Hopefully he will see this.

No sir but if i knew a lion was stalking me hopefully it wouldn't be stalking anything else again.

What time of year will you be hunting kodiak? Hunted there over 10 times by now but to the original question no I haven’t been in a position to shoot a brown bear in defense of life. Had two situations stand off but turn the other way. I personally put all my thought and prep into bear awareness/avoiding the situations as best I can where I would startle a bear. I carry a Glock 20 for my own mental sanity fully realizing I may not be able to anchor one if my luck was bad enough to actually find myself in the scenario where I startle a bear into attacking me.

Hey John-----> pix of them 2 or it 'aint' true! haha

I had special ordered a 10 inch Casull .454 from Freedom Arms up in Wyo. I put a 2x Stainless steel scope on it and I wanted to get an elk with it.

I was hunting east of Jackson in elk unit 81. My Mrs. at the time and I decided to split up and each take a side of a draw with quakies and a few pines.

About 1/2 way up she started hollering across the draw at me and pointing behind me.

I turned around and could see movement in the underbrush of the quakies and then bam!! it was a grizz coming at me.

All I had was that .454 and ya don't draw a 10-inch barrel pistol very fast!

I drew and started hollering but everything happened so fast and then he went to my left @ about 5-8 yards and was gone down the draw.

I've had a couple false charges on blackies but nothing got as close as that grizz did.

Needless to say, we got the hell out of that draw that morning.

Good luck, Robb

Everyday when she gets home from work.

The only two personal experiences I have, the grizz either ran or bluffed. So I am no expert on this subject. However, the data seems to imply that when/if the bear fully intends to harm you, you will be harmed. "Most" of the time it's a bluff.

I'm not sure if this helps with your research but here is my story and it wasn't me but my guide as I only had a bow:

When the grizzly charged it came at us at us unbelievably fast and stopped at 10 yards popping it's jaws and growling. After a few seconds the bear turned away and we thought it was a bluff charge. After about 3 steps of going away she changed her mind and came back at us this time not stopping. The guide shot the bear with a scoped rifle in I think .325 SWM. Due to being very close the shot barely hit the bear. The grizzly turned to run away and after a few leaps turned back around and came back at us. The second shot spined the bear and dropped it in it's tracks.

So my only take away from my experience is an open sight rifle is better than a scoped rifle at 10 yards.

Can't imagine this being a very long list. Also can't imagine you're shooting anything more than instinctive in a charge situation. Sights, or scope be damned. I've shot jackrabbits running at me down a windrow just shooting down the barrel because that's all you can really do at close range with a moving target. It works.

You would think that with as many Bowsiters who constantly chime in on threads with opinions on "the best firearm for grizzly protection" that there would be dozens of them who have actual experience!

Pete

You'll pay for that Rut! Ain't seen nuthin yet.

My hunting partner and I got charged in Wyoming about 5 years ago. We were in an area not known for grizz so we had bear spray. We were in the process of recovering my elk and we approached with wind at our back and making a lot noise as we approached. Once we could see the elk it was too late, roughtly 40 yards away. A sow with 3 cubs saw us and started huffing and chomping. To our right was a 5th grizz about 50 yards out. We already had spray out just in case a wolf or black bear was on the carcass. The sow and cubs charged and for some reason I threw my bow at her. It bounced and hit her nose. We were both about to squeeze our bear spray as the bow hit her nose and they all spun around. Not sure what happened to the 5th grizz as we did a high speed escape. We called the local bear biologist and he informed us that she was a trouble bear up near Cody and they relocated her. He also told us it was most likely a bluff charge since the cubs came with her.?? It sure felt real in the moment! Now we pack 10mm and spray anytime we are in Wyoming Grizz country.

I got one that I think I’ve posted on here before. I think I included some pics of the aftermath in that other post. The gist of the story was that I was bow hunting, but also carrying a shotgun loaded with slugs. It was dark and I was walking out a dry creek bed when I heard something behind me. It was a 2 yo cub. The cub took off when I dropped the bow, but his momma came out about 40 yards away, stood on her hind legs, locked onto me and she came. By the time I got a shell jacked in she was almost to me- I shot once at point blank range and she ran by me. Then she came at me again and knocked me down before I got another shell in. I was able to keep her mostly off me using my feet while I loaded another and shot her right between my legs as I laid on my back. The shot was so close that the hair on her chest was on fire and while she bit at the new chest wound I shot her again. The first two were in the chest and the last was a butt shot. The first shot went in at the breastbone and bounced out to smash her shoulder which is why I was able to keep her off me since she only had one front leg working. The second was fatal - right in the middle of the chest. She ran about 15 yards into the brush and died- which I didn’t know until the next day. After regaining my wits, I checked for any wounds needing attention and was lucky to find a number of punctures on my legs that hadn’t hit anything major. I was able to walk back to my wheeler and ride it to my work camp where someone took me to the hospital. Lots of details left out of this story to try to keep it brief. To the OP’s question- they are tough when jacked up on adrenaline. I’ve been bluffed a few times at bow range or less and never had to shoot at the animal but this was different. I could tell there was no bluff from the start. I believe every situation and bears are different but genuinely believe the bear spray proponents are pumping up the effectiveness rate by including bluff charges in their statistics. In this case, I don’t think bear spray would have been enough deterrent. That said, I no longer carry the shotgun for protection. I found myself not as willing to carry it and often left it behind when out hunting/fishing because it was just too cumbersome. I do carry a 10mm on a chest holster that doesn’t get in my way as much. I, like Trevor, feel a little outgunned with just a pistol out there but at least I know I’ll have it if I ever need it. Plus, if a bear is on top of you it’s tough to pull a long rifle or even that short shotgun I had. My thoughts on the subject anyway. Take the advise for what you paid for it. Sorry for the long post.

Turbo, I believe I know that sow. Problem is there are still a couple still around here that have triplets.

I have only used spray and it has worked well. They went the other way.

Now I carry a Glock 20, and although it’s been pulled many times, fired plenty of close range warning shots, I have yet to actually defend myself with it. The one time I needed it and would have been firing it for real, it was on my pack a few hundred yards away. I’ve changed my carry system and it’s never off my hip now. Same bear, same situation, the bear would’ve had as much lead it it as I could fire.

I suggest deciding exactly what your plan is beforehand is important. What distance do you decide to shoot at? Have a plan and know it by heart. Be as prepared as possible. After a brutal 3 hour climb into sheep country in WY a ew months ago I got set up to glass for sheep I had spotted the day before. I immediately saw a griz hunting moths in the rocks 150 yards away. I was not leaving (only accessible sheep I saw in a week) so I got ready (just in case) and rehearsed my plan just in case. It fed away but it was nice knowing I had a plan (that I had made years before) and was not second guessing what I would do. Luckily nothing happened but it was good having a plan before the poop hit the fan.

JohnMc, you ain't right. ;0)

Curious if anyone has knowledge of a documented attack by a grizzly where a person survived by playing dead as is sometimes recommended? Thornton seems to be planning much better so as to never come to something like that.

Keep'em coming. Good info on the guys that have experienced it. The guy that lives there and owns the boat we'll be using has a grizz tag, so apparently they won't be hibernating? This is what I've got, and a couple of various .45 handguns, but I think I'll buy another Ruger in .44 mag with a 4" barrel. The .357 seems to be marginal on a pissed off grizz, but I did see Tia Shoemaker carrying one on Facebook last year. That being said, shes probably seen hundreds of bears get shot seeing as she and her dad are some of the best bear guides in Alaska. Not to mention, her dad is one of the only documented guys to off a grizz with a 9mm. Im still undecided on the 10mm, as it has similar ballistics to the .357, and the .357 has some documented failures on bears from what ive read. My hunting buddy is like me, and likes to cover ground. Last year we covered 9 miles walking in one day, so no telling what we'll stumble across especially we're packing a buck out.

Northern BC grizzlies can be cranky, but I now believe that WY has the worst of the worst. It sounds like they get up every morning and go looking for trouble!

I've had a few run ins, all in AK. Ive seen bears in WY, but was never charged.

The first I was sheep hunting in the Brooks and saw a really large boar about 2 miles off and 1500 feet below me grazing on berries down in a bowl. After not seeing bears for several days and being alpine, I'd left my pistol at camp and was carrying spray. I ended up spotting a ram who had popped over the edge of the bowl and I raced to the other side to try and get in behind him. As I got close, the boar had switched drainages too and as I'd moved down and towards him, I unluckily ran into him as I came over a rise, there he was with us walking right into each other. He was about 150-200 yards off and immediately came galloping, but not the all-out run that makes you crap yourself, so I always thought it was a bluff. I yelled and pulled my spray and got it ready. I had a pretty strong cross wind and hit the spray too early when he was about 30 yards out. The spray made a big cloud and he stopped right before it and we both watched the cloud float off to my right with the wind. It never hit him, but he'd seen enough and ran off to my relief since I was down to BHs and a Havalon.

The second was the scary one; I was moose hunting on a float trip on the Omar river, which is known to have a lot of bears due to a very large chum salmon run. It was the end of the hunt and I was floating out and only about 5 miles from where I was meeting the plane and I came around a bend in the river and saw a big bear (although not as big as the previous bear) walking towards the river, obviously intent on crossing it, which would put us right in contact as I was floating his way and the Omar flows very quickly. I'd been seeing bears this entire hunt and yelling at them and them running off, so I figured I'd yell at this one to avoid the first time him seeing me being as I floated right by him.

I yelled and he immediately charged with that full speed charge that is really intimidating. He was about 200 yards away when I yelled, but they run fast and I was floating towards him in a quick-moving river. Anyways, he hit the river straight away which slowed him down significantly as it was about waist deep on me, but he was parting the Red Sea and water was flying. The problem was that it was raining and I had my pistol on my hip and was wearing chest waders and a rain jacket. Sitting in the raft to try and get out of a wind in my face to speed up, I couldn't get my rain coat unzipped all the way and when I reached into my chest waders, I could only get the very tip of my fingers on the handle of my gun, which brought a little feeling of helplessness (I was yelling/cursing). I had to lay down in the raft to be able to reach it and when I sat up, he was at about 20 yards, but deeper in water. I chambered a round and fired a round right into the air before even aiming and then fired two more, which I will not say if they hit him or not publicly.

He stopped and I floated right up to him as the river moved at the speed of a slow jog and I steadied myself to aim for a better shot because I was only going to have time for 1 more. But I didn't take it because he turned to his right as I came up on him to his left and the raft, now sideways in the river, was going to hit him and I was trying to decide if I wanted to flip the raft or what to do. Anyways, he sort of turned to his right and the bow of the raft went right up to his butt and brushed it, which turned me upstream with the bear now upstream of me. I could hear him panting and he started walking after me as I continued to yell and steady myself for a head shot, but in a second, the river had me rapidly floating away from him. It all happened so fast. Once I got to like 20 yards, he turned around and ran the other way.

That was the only time I really thought I was going to get chewed on.

The 3rd time was year before last when I was sheep hunting in the DCUA. I was camped on a knife ridge and had just gotten out of the tent in the AM and was toilet paper in hand about 10 yards from the tent headed to do you-know-what, when I saw what I thought was a 2 year old black bear coming over the lip of the depression I was camped in. I thought that because the year prior, a 2 year old blackbear had come into my camp and ran off with one of my gaitors. But when it turned sideways, I saw instantly from its forehead that it was a grizz, and that meant it was a 2nd year cub. Another cub ran up just as I figured that out and I thought, "oh shit." They were about 60 yards away. I didn't even bring a pistol on this hunt because I was bivvy hunting on a long hunt and didn't want the weight. Before I saw mom, I bolted for the tent and grabbed my spray.

I had a slightly quartering-to wind in my face, which is why the bears didnt scent me and I popped the safety and got ready as mom came over the lip. There was no where to go as the ridge was only about 40 yards wide and there was a very steep cliff on each side.

I was expecting an instant charge as the two cubs were between me and mom, but I stayed calm and let her sight me as I sort of cowered behind my tent with the spray ready and pointed her way. She woofed and the cubs ran back to her. She stood up for a better look and was sniffing the air, but couldn't catch my wind. She did the "3-bound-stomp" bluff charge a few times and I started yelling at her. I really had no way to go as they needed to go right past me.

This went on forever, probably 15 minutes. She was intent on not going back the way they came, but I had no where to retreat to. She never acted very threatening and only ever did the 3 stomp charge thing, but she kept doing it over and over and trying to get around me. After seemingly forever, they finally turned around and ran off the other way. I gave them a good 2-3 minutes and when I peeked over the lip, they were nowhere to be seen.

So I've sprayed once, fired once, and nearly sprayed a second time. I've not killed a bear and I'm not certain I would have been mauled anyways on any encounter. I've seen bears in Wyoming more than a dozen times and I've come across grizzys in AK while bird hunting another dozen times that all ran when I went after them with slugs in my shotgun. I've also yelled off another dozen or so bears moose hunting and they usually just run the other way, scared. Except in WY, where they just walk off like you're a squirrel in a tree.

In my experience, an effective defence is to urinate in your own sleeping bag. Just kidding - well kinda.

I’ve never fought one off, but did have one sniffing my boots just outside my tent. The sound of the huge boar sniffing at about 18” from my head is something I’ll never forget. I had no gun, and my bow was hanging in a tree 20 feet away - not that it would have been any help. The bear just walked away - no harm, no foul. Saw him on the slide the next morning, and I peed again :).

For those that reach out to me.

Here is a pic of my son, Robbie holding the .454 the day we got it back from getting the scope mounted on.

Good luck, Robb

I remember a thread here about a fella and his dad hunting elk together in Wyoming I think it was.

The son was attacked by a grizzly and his dad came to his aid and hit it with his bow and then I believe they were able to kill it/shoot it? It was a couple years ago and there were some pics of his wounds.

It was a great read, especially since it had a happy ending (not fatal).

Hopefully someone else will remember or the fella will see this. I tried to look for the thread but can't find it.

One thing we learned in tactical training was that the huge majority of civilians in a "shooting" situation empty their weapons in the general direction of the threat without aiming.

That's why, for most people, the broad pattern of spray has a much greater chance of connecting with the target in a panic situation than a handgun.

I know one guy who ended up under a grizzly during an elk hunt. His hunting partner shot at the bear from point blank. 3 in the bear, one in Wilf’s knee. No bueno.

FOC: I just watched that on Net flix (I think that was the channel) - called "I was Prey".

I think this is how it went down - if my memory serves me right. They were looking for a wounded elk. Came across some bones of a deer. Heard a noise and the griz was full charge very close and was on the guy before he could swing his rifle around.

The griz hit him full charge in the stomach - his rifle went flying one way and him the other - the griz was on top of him and as it attempted to bite his face the guy pushed his hand into the griz's mouth. He was screaming for his son-in-law to shoot it.

The son-in-law missed with the first shot, hit the griz with the with second shot (unknown where), the griz moved off and bit at where the shot hit it, back on top of the guy, the guy was kicking at it and still screaming for the son-in-law to shoot it again. The son-in-law then hit his father-in-law in the knee, his third shot.

The griz was still on the guy and him screaming to shoot it again. The son-in-law was screaming he was out of bullets. He found the other gun (30-06) and shot the bear again and as he tried to reload, he couldn't due to he was right handed and the guy was left handed with the bolt on the other side.

He finally was able to get another shot into the bear, it got off the guy. Now this gun was also empty - the guy reached into his shirt pocket and handed him 2 more bullets. The son-in-law loaded and shot it 2 more times - it walked off.

They were able to get cell service and call for help. The guy had his son-in-law call his wife - he said his good-byes to her then called his daughter and said his good-byes to her as well. The guy lived but took a long time untill he could walk again.

Shot over a Brooks Range, Alaska grizzly's head with a borrowed (from the charter pilot) Ruger Mini-14 loaded with a 50 shot clip full of armor piercing military ammo. Grizzly was rapidly coming in on Trackman and I. Stopped the advance as he stood up to try to figure us out. The grizzly rapidly circled us until he got our wind, then left. We each had a big revolver, but the pilot wasn't impressed with handguns so loaned us his airplane rifle. Not a charge but dang exciting never the less.

On two occasions I've had night-time Alaskan grizzlies sniff the backpack tent inches from my head. Scares the hell out of you but I'm still here and still hunting big bear country in BC, with bear spray on my belt. And what worries me the most is wandering into a gut-pile or carcass from and earlier kill that has a bear on it, with a sow with cubs in a close second place. I've seen an Alaskan grizzly run two wolves about 200 yards chasing them off my moose boned out carcass. They don't screw around.

That said on an Alaska hunt Randy Giesey, Ron Pittsley and I watched one lone wolverine chase a sow grizzly and her 2-year-old cub off a caribou carcass. All I can say is wolverines must really be bad -sses!

Told this before. Near pump 3 on the Sag we had a grizzly charge camp. The gun was in the tent so I jerked my jacket open and ran at it yelling as loud as I could. The bear turned at about 15 yards and went back in the willows. Brother showed up with the gun. Bear came back a half dozen times and we ran it off while trying to get the wall tent down and packed out.

Warden asked why I didn't kill it and I told him I didn't want to skin the bear and clean the skull only to give it to him. He just laughed.

I remember the story that Supernaut refers to and agree that it is a great one but can't remember the name to get to it. There is another great grizzly account of guide Ed Wiseman killing a grizzly with a hand held arrow. It was said to be the last grizzly killed in Colorado. It can be found on the internet,. .....MY EDIT, you can also find the story Supernaut refers to on Utube by searching the following:(Ron Leming, father and son attacked by grizzly), Badbull.

Just watched a short video on a guy named Charles Mock that stumbled on a grizz while fishing Yellowstone in 21'. He had bear spray, but it didn't work. Bear ate him.

Article says the bear was only 420 lbs that killed him. 8 people killed by bears in the park since 2010.

badbull, thanks for finding the link....That was going to drive me nuts!

I gotta say that this pisses me off. I guess if there’s dolid evidence that this guy was approaching the moose carcass to get pictures, but there’s nothing expressly mentioned….

But to suggest that he was “at fault” for (perhaps) just stumbling upon the carcass just rankles.

I was bluff charged by a sow with two cubs in the Chugach two years ago. It was fast and unexpected. She came to about 15 yards and stopped. If she had kept coming you wouldn't be reading this.

All the above, my wife back up and off after realizing seeing my fetal position.

My guide has hunted Kodiak since 1968 and has only had to shoot one bear that was charging him, got lucky and blew the top of its heart off or else it likely would’ve got him first even though it was shot with a .338. He said it was the saddest he has ever been because it was a sow with cubs. He had been false charged numerous times and has had to put down a few wounded bears that charged, though.

Penetration is key, remember that when buying your pistol. 44 has more ft lbs than the 10 mm , however, the 10 is easier to control and put rounds on target. With the right load and 15 rounds you should be able to,handle a griz if need be. If your able to fire multiple 44 hot loads with accuracy than by all means take it. The only other thing to do is practice, a lot with your chose pistol, ot only shooting but drawing. God luck!

My experience with game has been more lost to bears than loaded up on the plane out even being cautious and trying to get loaded up and out of the vicinity.

The birds can be quite an attraction for bears. I counted 23 bald eagles and 2 owls not to mention the magpies the morning after working a deer and packing it out except the gutpile. I had arrowed 2 bucks and the first one I was unable to locate, then I ran into the second one heading back. I did not want to go back to the valley but wanted to make a respectable effort to locate the first deer I arrowed which I was able to find using the spotting scope and saw a magpie away from the activity where the bird show was happening on the gutpile …. I was able to recover the buck early that next morning but was on high alert for bears the whole time. My experience has been that if you leave it overnight it is not going to be there the next morning like it was in this case.

We’ve been bluff charged and had bears at night around the fence and tent. To be honest I don’t know if the fence actually works on bears but we certainly don’t ever have our game anywhere near camp and pretty much use multiple ziplocks and airtight compression bags to store freeze dried meals and other sealed food items.

The bears can definitely smell the blood and scent from our goats and deer handling on our camo as well as toothpaste and coffee but the encounters and run ins have been packing out and returning to recover the next day. It’s no fun breaking down an animal and packing it out in the dark. Once at the beach getting meat and capes in game bags inside of contractor trash bags then submerging it to get the air out before tying and submerging it under rocks works great. I’ve had bear tracks along the bank where game was submerged in this manner and not bothered. It’s been raining or snowing usually in November and the cold helps once you have game stashed.

Yup

Hi Pat , someone's got to ask ? Because we see your recurve in the pic . @ a full charge what did you shoot " him " with a hand cannon ? Just need to know . Lol Thanks for posting that ! .....

Also, bears don’t hibernate hard on Kodiak. There’s pretty regular bear sighting there year round, especially if there’s a big winter kill on deer they tend to stock up on food

Um, Vaquero..,

Am I just imagining that arrow stuck in that bear???

I don’t suppose there’s an old link with the full story somewhere??

Thanks CL , I took a closer look and my old eyes see it .

Good shot Pat! Saw the video years ago and heard the gun go off. Still a bummer but better than you shredded.

I'm still not sure which video is more memorable... the bear charge or the Mamba cuddle.

“ I took a closer look and my old eyes see it .”

LOL, Bud! I missed the recurve the first time and that’s when the arrow poked me in the eye…

I’d love to see the video on the bear charge, though….

Philosophical Question: If you have to deal with a grizz that’s charging you because you have Poked The Bear and pissed him off…. Does that still count as “Defense”, or is there a separate category for Offense Gone Bad?

Can we get a link to this bear video?

I’d say mamba would be scarier….certain death….you can survive the bear potentially lol

INSHart … yes, that’s the same story. The guys is a taxidermist out of Cranbrook. He mounted my lion a couple years before the grizzly attack.

There was another one here a couple years ago. Black bear goes up the tree and pulls an archery elk hunter down out of his stand. Buddy fights the bear, climbs back up and gets pulled down again. They continue their hand to hand fight as he makes his way back to the truck, eventually getting there and driving off. He spent several weeks in the hospital having his leg reconstructed - most of his calf was given up as bear food.

Now, just a damn minute!!!

A guy was up a tree with his bow at hand and probably an arrow on the string…. and he got pulled down off of his stand???

I don’t get it. What part of a bear coming up your tree trying to eat you doesn’t constitute a DLP shooting???

I could see it happening. By the time the bear is coming up the tree it might be too late to shoot. I heard he was poking it with an arrow which didn’t have much effect.

We can’t carry handguns, btw.

That was back when Pat shot a "real" bow...8^)))

(Just joking fellas, just joking...8^))

FYI on handguns, suggest taking the trigger # pull down to 3.5# pull, it will make a difference of accuracy. Many new handguns are set at 6#+, seen this at CC proficiency test, the groups are usually all over the place with unhappy looks on the owner's face.

I knew a gent that was the head of Ruger's production and he told me why the heavy pull # is do to lawyers.

This guy got half eaten and lived to tell about it. He said he found his ear, lips, and goatee laying on the ground and the "clip" to his pistol after she chewed on his head and face. One of he eyeballs was hanging out.

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