Wyoming: Another Successful Handgun Defense against a Grizzly
 

On Monday, June 18, 2018 at 1:31:14 PM UTC-4, Just Wondering wrote:
On 6/18/2018 7:37 AM, raykeller wrote:

On May 31, 2018, about two o'clock in the afternoon, 23-year-old Noah Kolis
was guiding three friends from Chicago. They started at his boyhood home
near Cora, Wyoming. His dog, a Chesapeake-Lab mix, was with them. They were
heading to some rock formations. Noah was carrying his 460V Smith & Wesson
revolver. Two other men in the party were carrying bear spray.

The two men with bear spray had fallen 50 yards behind. The dog alerted on
something. Noah thought it was some sort of big animal. Then he saw the
bears, a grizzly sow and cubs, uphill. He yelled at the dog, but it was too
late. The dog came running back. The sow grizzly charged, moving extremely
fast. His friend from Chicago bolted back down the trail. Noah had his
revolver out, as the bear came to a stop, just a dozen feet away.

As he scanned the ground where the grizzly stood on all fours about a
dozen feet away, the sight of the claws spurred the thought "Those will kill
you." His gut told him a second charge could be imminent. Adrenaline
pumping, "my mind was quiet," he said, as he then calmly pulled the trigger
on his Smith & Wesson Model 460V revolver. The bullet struck the stationary
bear in the cheek, and she fell.

One hiker carrying bear spray had it ready but couldn't spray the bear
because the other man was in front of him.

Bear spray might have worked. It can be effective. In the studies most
cited to recommend bear spray, the researchers refuse to release their data.
Numerous flaws have been found in the methodology. The primary flaw seems to
be in the selection of what cases to include in the data base. Most of the
cases involving bear spray were with non-aggressive bears. In a study of
firearm effectiveness by the same authors, most of the cases involved
aggressive bears.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife is advising hikers to be
on the alert for bears in the wilderness. People are advised
to wear noise-producing devices such as little bells on their
clothing to alert but not startle the bears unexpectedly, and
to carry pepper spray in case of an encounter with a bear.
People should be able to recognize the difference between black
bear and grizzly bear droppings. Black bear droppings are small
and contain berries and sometimes squirrel fur. Grizzly bear
droppings have bells in them and smell like pepper spray.

How many dead bears were found to have died from having a Ruger Redhawk stuck crosswise in their lower intestine? d8-)

--
Ed Huntress