When you're on the menu. What would you do?

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Hibrion

Maker
Jan 11, 2012
1,230
7
Ireland
You can carry it a few ways and very quickly swing it round the back. It's more of a military sling. the idea is you can keep it out of the way but quickly bring it round to a ready position. You'll pick up a cheapo one on ebay for a tenner.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Come on over. I can park you in prime Grizz habitat in about 30 minutes HWY, 30 minutes logging road.
Fantastic camp site, room for 20 families. Big rushing creek for clean water. Flat space and fire pits for everything.

I'll just fade off back down the road, turn in at the 4' x 8' sign which says: Hemmheroid Hotel.
Visit my friends then tootle off home.
 

Countryman

Native
Jun 26, 2013
1,652
74
North Dorset
Not sure who the photographer was but this was his last photo , yes we are lucky in the uk.




I stayed in a hunt cabin in Ontario last year in the middle of a heatwave. It was brutal. My bedroom had a fly screen door and I figured that I would leave the inner door open for some airflow.

The cabin came with a problem black bear. My nightly routine became: Pee, do teeth, get a drink for the night load the .300 win mag, check my torch, check the rifle was in reach.

I think you just adapt to your surroundings.

If I was camped in the Bears back yard I would want to be armed. Wouldn't go for it first off but in a situation like this picture then yes I would.

However in my experience of even black bear, a well placed shot still means a bear has seconds to rip you apart. They are tough animals.

9cb8e4dac73116e131470c6219f43bea.jpg
 
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EddieP

Forager
Nov 7, 2013
127
0
Liverpool
If I was camped in the Bears back yard I would want to be armed. Wouldn't go for it first off but in a situation like this picture then yes I would.

However in my experience of even black bear, a well placed shot still means a bear has seconds to rip you apart. They are tough animals.

This is my concern, killing a bear isn't a problem. The problem is killing it before it kills you, and if it is intent on eating you or just tearing you apart before the encounter starts it's even harder.

Once the adrenalin starts flowing most things become temporarily bullet proof.

I've not hunted dangerous game, but I think I read that many professional hunters try to avoid shooting DG that is aware of the hunter for that very reason.
 

Dave

Hill Dweller
Sep 17, 2003
6,019
9
Brigantia
A fellow I know who has killed two black bears, with a bow [first one tasted great, he stopped after the second one, as he said it tasted awful, because it must have been a 'garbage bear'] told me that when you cut them open, even if their hearts have been completely destroyed by the shot, they still take off, after they have been hit.

European brown bears are nowhere near as aggressive as north american brown bears. We were in black bear country. No grizzlies.

I carried a hand held flare in the canadian bush, [the ones which you fire, can land behind the bear, in which case it runs at you, instead of away from you. :D]

It was always within reach, and Im 99% sure if a predatory bear had stuck its head in my tent, and I set that off, it would have run a mile.

0752162_1


I did hear a large animal in the forest behind my tent one night, moving about. About 4amish. Not far away. But when I stuck my head out with the flare ready, I couldnt see anything. We discussed it the next day. It would have been unusual, for a bear to be out, they should all have been hibernating. Although on the second night, a pack of wolves were howling, a couple of miles away it seemed. Someone said they had probably made a kill. That was a highlight. To hear wild wolves, sitting around the fire in the dark, in the wild.
 
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EddieP

Forager
Nov 7, 2013
127
0
Liverpool
A fellow I know who has killed two black bears,... told me that when you cut them open, even if their hearts have been completely destroyed by the shot, they still take off, after they have been hit.


I carried a hand held flare in the canadian bush, [the ones which you fire, can land behind the bear, in which case it runs at you, instead of away from you. :D]

It was always within reach, and Im 99% sure if a bear had stuck its head in my tent, and I set that off, it would have run a mile.

That confirms my post above.

And I'd not want to be in a tent when someone lit a flare, I'd be running out of there quicker than the bear.
 

Dave

Hill Dweller
Sep 17, 2003
6,019
9
Brigantia
That confirms my post above.

And I'd not want to be in a tent when someone lit a flare, I'd be running out of there quicker than the bear.

Oh, I dont think be too bthered about my tent burning down, when a grizzly came a knockin' :)


What you really want though is one of these bad boys...:D

attachment.php
 

EddieP

Forager
Nov 7, 2013
127
0
Liverpool
Oh, I dont think be too bthered about my tent burning down, when a grizzly came a knockin' :)


What you really want though is one of these bad boys...:D

attachment.php

I've got a friend who was in a tent fire as a kid, she still has problems because of it.

And what bad boy?
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
The bears are not a concern when you are winter camping in Canada.
They shouldn't be coming out of winter hibernation dens until early/mid April.
But, we've had such a crazy mild winter that there have been several bear reports in central BC since the end of February!
 

Dave

Hill Dweller
Sep 17, 2003
6,019
9
Brigantia
The gun I posted is interesting. It was from a post on BCUSA.

Its called the TP-82 cosmonaut (space men) survival weapon.

It was born out of experience, gained by the crew of the Soviet space mission Voskhod-2, which took place in 1965. The landing capsule of the Voskhod-2, with two cosmonauts (space men) onboard, made an emergency landing deep in the winter taiga forest.

Two men spent more than two full days in the middle of the freezing forests, armed only with Makarov PM pistol, which was close to useless for wilderness survival (defense against predatory animals and hunting).

So they came up with this one, which has two barrels and a third rifled barrel underneath.

One of two Voskhod-2 crew members, Alexey Leonov, remembered this experience, and later came up with idea of the dedicated wilderness survival weapon for space crews that made emergency landings far from populated areas.
 
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Adze

Native
Oct 9, 2009
1,874
0
Cumbria
www.adamhughes.net
Not sure who the photographer was but this was his last photo , yes we are lucky in the uk.




Sorry to burst the bubble... but there were likely two photographers and a photoshop artiste involved with the creation of that image. It's been widely touted as the last image of Michio Hoshino, who was a wildlife photographer specialising in brown bears and who was killed by one in 1996 in Kamchatka.

The above image was, according to: https://birdinflight.com/inspiration/experience/final-shots-onlookers.html

"In 2009, as part of a photoshop competition on worth1000.com with the description, “the last picture you’ll ever take…” the last shot of Michio Hoshino was allegedly published. It took off and is now called authentic by many sources."

There's a good write up of what actually happened to Hoshino san here ---> http://blog.tvurce.eu/about-alleged-michio-hoshinos-last-photograph-of-a-bear/
 

Charlz9mm

Forager
Jul 1, 2012
121
0
USA
I lived in Alaska back in the 1980's. I fear bears. I worked on a logging crew. I tended the blasting drill. We were required to be armed at all times. 150 miles south of us another logging crew lost a couple men due to poor camp placement in bear country. Our camp was a raft moored in a cove with two houses built on it. I was comforted by the open water between my bed and hungry bears. I also lived in Colorado up in the mountains. It was 27C in the valley 20 minutes away and 0C at the top of the pass. We decided to stop the truck and stand in snow while in shorts and sandals. Once we left the truck I noticed a giant steaming brown mass on the ground. I could feel the heat coming off that gigantic mass. I quickly realized that a large bear had just unloaded and must be hiding withing a few meters of us. Our departure was swift.
 

Dave

Hill Dweller
Sep 17, 2003
6,019
9
Brigantia
Ive seen demos of different tents being lit, and what happens to them. Luckily, mines fire retardant, and canvas. Why do you ask? Just trolling?

A predatory bear sticks its head in. Its gonna eat you. The only thing you have on you is a handheld bear flare.

What do you do? Tickle its belly and make friends?

No, most sensible people would light the flare, shove it towards its face, and run at the bear shouting, at the top of their voice, trying to make themselves as big as possible. Im sure you'd be out of the tent in seconds.
 
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