Source.

A 72-year-old Montana man shot and killed a grizzly bear after it attacked him while he was alone picking huckleberries, according to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The man was hospitalized after the encounter, which happened Thursday evening near Columbia Falls on Flathead National Forest lands, the agency said in a news release.

FWP’s wardens and bear specialists referred to the incident as a “surprise defensive encounter.”

The man reportedly shot the bear with a handgun after the adult female grizzly charged him, the release stated. FWP responded to the incident and confirmed the bear was killed.

Neither the article or the press release says what make, model or caliber the handgun was. We would like to know this information.

It’s likely the man is alive because he quickly deployed a handgun rather than following the stupid advice to try bear spray first.

At Ammoland.

We have found 9 cases where .45 acp pistols were used to defend against bears. 6 against black bears, 3 against brown bears. All were successful.

I’d call that an overall good success rate. I’d still say carry 450 SMC with a 22# spring.

Source.

In a press release, the RCMP explained that the father and son “had been tracking a bear with dogs” when the adult grizzly suddenly attacked the son. The two men were hunting on a steep mountainside south of Elkford, which lies in the Canadian Rockies just west of the Alberta border. Both men were locals, according to the RCMP, and the son lives in nearby Sparwood. “The man suffered serious injuries,” the RCMP said, “including broken bones and lacerations to his body during the attack.”

At some point during the attack, the son was able to shoot the bear with the firearm he was carrying. Neither the RCMP nor the BCCOS have shared any details about the firearm used, but it was likely the same rifle or shotgun he would have been using to hunt black bears; Canada has strict laws prohibiting hunters from carrying handguns unless they have a special license or explicit permission from the government.

Presumably he used a long gun to dispatch the bear. I would rather have a long gun than a handgun, but the advantage of the handgun is rapid deploy-ability.

Assuming you have the long gun in low ready, I would have to surmise that this is just a failure to respond to get off a shot before his father was wounded by the bear.

It would be interesting to know the style and make of the long gun.

This is certainly an interesting interview by Ron Spomer.

I found it insightful that Phil says that the sound of the spray leaving the nozzle is what scares a bear when using bear spray. But he also says that if a charge is legitimate and not a bluff charge, he’s shooting.

I’m not sure how it became conventional wisdom that one has to decide to use either bear spray or firearms, rather setting the context as a both-and query.

I’ve never carried bear spray and I’m not sure that I ever would. If a bear is charging me, I will assume that it’s not a bluff charge. This is especially true given that a hiker is interested in shaving grams of weight off of his load (not just ounces or pounds or kilograms).

But then, I’m not a professional bear hunting guide who gets charged multiple times every season and has a license to maintain either.

I’d be interested in your thoughts on his experience using 9mm against the brown bear. As to his advice to carry what you’re comfortable shooting, I am comfortable shooting .45 ACP and 450 SMC, so I’d rather have either of those two rounds than 9mm.

If you do a search on Phil Shoemaker, they don’t even advertise their rates. I’m sure it’s rather expensive to go on a hunting trip with Phil. I’d like to, but I know I can’t afford it.

I really like Dan Becker, and I especially like his faith commitment to Christ.

However, I think he got sold a bill of goods by interviewing someone who claims to have the last word on the gun versus bear spray debate.

It’s no debate in my book. I will never go into the bush without a large bore pistol. End of story. And all of what this “expert” claims are potential pitfalls of use of a firearm aren’t really pitfalls in my book, and I also think he ignores the potential pitfalls of the use of bear spray. If you’re worried about your ability to use a firearm under pressure, carry a revolver in a shoulder holster. A revolver is simple to use.

For my part, I’ve carried a .44 magnum wheel gun, but if I am carrying 450 SMC ammunition, I’ll carry it in a 1911 (with an enhanced recoil spring, i.e., 22#), with a round chambered and on safe, which is an advantage with the 1911 design. It’s easy to sweep the safety off while raising the pistol. A Hill People Gear kit bag worn on my chest puts this within hand’s reach of being able to deploy it.

Dan, if you’re listening, if you want another perspective on this by someone who has compiled the largest, most well-researched catalog of bear attacks and how well firearms do, contact Dean Weingarten (who writes at Ammoland).

This even occurred in Wyoming in 2010, and Dean Weingarten uses a FOIA to get the details.

So chalk another one up for the .44 Magnum.

Source:

BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho elk hunter shot and killed a grizzly bear that charged at him, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game said in a news release.

It’s the second incident in one month in which hunters killed federally protected grizzlies in self-defense.

Rare, that’s what we’ve been continually told. As long as the grizzly remains protected, incidents of aggressive contact will continue to rise.

According to the news release, the man was hunting northwest of Henrys Lake on the evening of Sept. 30 when an adult female grizzly emerged out of the brush nearby. Officials said the man yelled to warn his hunting partner of the bear’s presence, and the animal charged at him.

The man reportedly shot the bear several times with a sidearm, killing the grizzly before it made contact with either hunter, Fish and Game said.

[…]

At least one other Idaho grizzly has been killed in self-defense in recent weeks. Archery hunters near Island Park Reservoir, roughly 20 miles from Henrys Lake, shot and killed a male grizzly on Sept. 5 after it charged at them.

That area of eastern Idaho has been the nexus of grizzly- human conflicts in the state over the last several years.

Always carry a large bore handgun. This report has no info on the caliber used to kill the bear, which we’re always interested in.

First.

On the evening of September 30, a sow grizzly bear charged an elk hunter in thick timber near Henry’s Lake, Idaho. According to an Idaho Department of Fish & Game (IDFG) press release issued this morning, the hunter yelled to alert his partner about the charging bruin before firing several shots from his sidearm that killed the bear “only a short distance way, before it was able to make contact.”

“The hunter immediately called the Citizens Against Poaching hotline to report the incident,” the press release states. “Idaho Department of Fish and Game responded to the call and conducted a thorough investigation. It was determined that the hunter acted in self-defense during a surprise encounter with the bear from a very close distance.”

This is incomplete reporting because we aren’t informed of the handgun make and caliber.  But at least the outcome is clear.

Second.

A 73-year-old woman was mauled by a bear while walking with her husband and their dog in Montana near Glacier National Park on Sunday, officials have announced. The woman’s husband used bear spray to get the beast off his wife and they were able to make it back to their vehicle and drive to a location where they could call emergency services at around 3 pm.

Between bear spray and a large bore handgun, you know which one I’d choose.

Source.

A hunter in Montana killed a grizzly bear in self-defense last week, officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks report. The hunter was targeting black bears on a remote parcel of private land in the Madison Range backcountry when he was charged by the grizzly. He shot and killed the oncoming grizzly bear with a pistol on June 5 and notified MFWP that same day.

[ … ]

Looking beyond the northern Rockies, Alaska Wildlife Troopers reported another self-defense killing, this one involving a brown bear, over the weekend. Saturday’s incident involved 34-year-old Nicholas Abraham, who was hunting hares in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge when he was attacked by a brown bear sow with two cubs. Abraham shot and killed the bear with a .44 handgun and then drove himself to a hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.

I had seen these two reports over other news outlets, and in none of them was the specific handgun and/or caliber mentioned for the first incident.

At least we know the round used in the second incident – .44 magnum.

Source:

Wyoming dentist, Dr. Lee Francis, 65 years old, was hunting elk with his 40-year-old son, in the area near Rock Creek, in the Sawtooth Mountains, east of Bondurant, Wyoming.

In this video from KSAL-TV, he gives an interview and explains what happened. Dr. Francis is an avid hunter and outdoorsman. He successfully collected a large grizzly bear with a bow and arrow in 2013. Several attempts to contact Dr. Francis have been unsuccessful.

Dr. Francis had separated from his son when he unintentionally stepped in front of the entrance to a bear den. He saw the fresh dirt, had drawn his Glock 10mm, chambered a round, and was backing away when the bear charged at him out of the den from 10 feet away.

The best interview about the encounter appears to have been in an article at cowboystatedaily.com.  The article says Dr. Francis used 130-grain hardcast bullets in his 10mm Glock.

“He came right at me, and he came on full blast,” the elder Francis said. 

Counting the cartridge already in the chamber, he had 14 rounds loaded with 130 grain hard cast bullets in his Glock. 

“I just remember shooting three or for times, right before he hit me,” he said. “Then I went down on my back.”…

Hard cast bullets will punch through a bruin’s body, instead of rapidly expanding and expending their energy in massive, shallow wounds
the way that hollow point bullets do, he said. 

“Hollow points are meant for stopping people, not bears,” he said, adding that it was also fortunate for him that his weapon was loaded
with hard cast bullets. 

“A hit from a hollow point would have probably just exploded my whole foot,” he said. 

He also said he favors the high-capacity, semi-automatic Glock over magnum revolvers.

130-grain hardcast bullets for a 10mm would be unusual. Perhaps it is a typo or misreading of notes, where another weight of bullet was intended.  Buffalo Bore has a 220-grain hardcast bullets loaded for bear in the 10mm.

More at the link and the CowboyDaily link has good details as well.