Wayne in BC
New member
The shock of the scene sent an adrenalin rush through me instantly, my mind was sorting through "what to do" kind of things as the Browning came to my shoulder with the safety flicked off and i stood there with the iron sights on the mass of bear, settling on the near shoulder. It seemed longer of course but maybe a second later the Grizzly turned to look directly at me and i also shouted.....get out of here you ###tard! The bear instantly spun, to his left and head down, charged toward me! Amazing how many things can go through your mind in a split second, i was wondering where and when to shoot as he covered half the 150 odd ft distance toward me in a heartstoppingly short time!
I had one round in the chamber and only two more in the clip, this was in part of my mind as i made the decision to shoot and, only a tiny fraction of a second before i fired, a gout of snow flew up in front of the Bear and the blast of Toms 30-06 registered on my mind. Knowing Tom to be an unusually cool and sharp young guy, it took only another fraction of a second to realise that he had fired to shock the Bear and confuse him into breaking his charge. It worked for me as the bear skidded to a halt, snow flying, skewed around and headed for Tom, hardly breaking stride!
I knew i had to shoot now, and quick, this Bear was definitely not bluffing as i had hoped, the angle toward Tom would grow shorter very rapidly and i had very little time to fire before i would be pointing towards Tom! I swung the front sight through and ahead of his shoulder, the recoil took my eyes off target for a sec, the next moment there was a cloud of snowdust as the bear did an endo and i was back on target just in time to see hair fly off his hump as he roared and tried to get up, but missing all the bones in his left shoulder and from the shock of the impact, he flopped around. The blast from Tom's rifle seemed to come in the same instant, his shot, in the "hump" (that was the hair flying) and though not fatal, knocked the big beast down again and my second shot, as he thrashed in the snow went through the base of his neck. I had been aiming at the shoulder again, for insurance, but got a bit too far ahead, it did the job though as the Bear collapsed twitching slightly.
Two more quick shots from a very excited but cool Tom, made more hair fly from the area of the Grizzly's head but did not bring any more movement from our "nightmare" and i yelled to Tom to stay put! Approaching after reloading quickly......(too badly spooked to take any chances), i was prepared to shoot all four legs off if he showed any sign of movement, he remained lifeless and we began to come down off the "rush" as we stood looking at the beast.
After some excited conversation, Tom said, wow! He sure was protecting that kill! I said, huh? What kill? And he explained to me that he had seen a couple of Ravens fly out of the patch of brush the Bear had been in, so had angled in that direction, knowing there must be something dead and with the curiousity of a natural hunter just had to take a look. With his riflescope he had spotted the leg of an Elk sticking up and was going to go look closer when the Bear stood up and Whuffed threateningly at him, which was the sound i heard. Tom had started slowly backing away but the Bear began coming toward him and he was trying to change its mind when i showed up.
The Bear weighed about 550 lbs, not huge but plenty big. It is not common for them to be a lot bigger than that, except on the northwest coast of Alaska and the Yukon (Alaska brown bears are actually a type of Grizzly) Most people can not help but overestimate their weight and size due mostly to their reputation.
It is quite rare to have a Grizzly actually charge, i have had them bluff and growl at me a couple times. When they are protecting a kill at that time of the year things can go bad real fast though. That is what killed a hunter in Alberta last fall, blundering into a Grizzly on a kill! "Our" Bear was one with a bad attitude and though we were sorry to kill him, it was necessary and a hell of a day! Interestingly, we had another Grizzly incident/experience in that exact same area two years later, involving Tom, me, and my youngest daughter on her first deer hunt. I will tell the story when i can.
As an afterthought, i suppose lady luck was smiling as i inadvertantly took the .338 that day and i still believe that big heavy bullet had a lot to do with saving our butts
Wayne
I had one round in the chamber and only two more in the clip, this was in part of my mind as i made the decision to shoot and, only a tiny fraction of a second before i fired, a gout of snow flew up in front of the Bear and the blast of Toms 30-06 registered on my mind. Knowing Tom to be an unusually cool and sharp young guy, it took only another fraction of a second to realise that he had fired to shock the Bear and confuse him into breaking his charge. It worked for me as the bear skidded to a halt, snow flying, skewed around and headed for Tom, hardly breaking stride!
I knew i had to shoot now, and quick, this Bear was definitely not bluffing as i had hoped, the angle toward Tom would grow shorter very rapidly and i had very little time to fire before i would be pointing towards Tom! I swung the front sight through and ahead of his shoulder, the recoil took my eyes off target for a sec, the next moment there was a cloud of snowdust as the bear did an endo and i was back on target just in time to see hair fly off his hump as he roared and tried to get up, but missing all the bones in his left shoulder and from the shock of the impact, he flopped around. The blast from Tom's rifle seemed to come in the same instant, his shot, in the "hump" (that was the hair flying) and though not fatal, knocked the big beast down again and my second shot, as he thrashed in the snow went through the base of his neck. I had been aiming at the shoulder again, for insurance, but got a bit too far ahead, it did the job though as the Bear collapsed twitching slightly.
Two more quick shots from a very excited but cool Tom, made more hair fly from the area of the Grizzly's head but did not bring any more movement from our "nightmare" and i yelled to Tom to stay put! Approaching after reloading quickly......(too badly spooked to take any chances), i was prepared to shoot all four legs off if he showed any sign of movement, he remained lifeless and we began to come down off the "rush" as we stood looking at the beast.
After some excited conversation, Tom said, wow! He sure was protecting that kill! I said, huh? What kill? And he explained to me that he had seen a couple of Ravens fly out of the patch of brush the Bear had been in, so had angled in that direction, knowing there must be something dead and with the curiousity of a natural hunter just had to take a look. With his riflescope he had spotted the leg of an Elk sticking up and was going to go look closer when the Bear stood up and Whuffed threateningly at him, which was the sound i heard. Tom had started slowly backing away but the Bear began coming toward him and he was trying to change its mind when i showed up.
The Bear weighed about 550 lbs, not huge but plenty big. It is not common for them to be a lot bigger than that, except on the northwest coast of Alaska and the Yukon (Alaska brown bears are actually a type of Grizzly) Most people can not help but overestimate their weight and size due mostly to their reputation.
It is quite rare to have a Grizzly actually charge, i have had them bluff and growl at me a couple times. When they are protecting a kill at that time of the year things can go bad real fast though. That is what killed a hunter in Alberta last fall, blundering into a Grizzly on a kill! "Our" Bear was one with a bad attitude and though we were sorry to kill him, it was necessary and a hell of a day! Interestingly, we had another Grizzly incident/experience in that exact same area two years later, involving Tom, me, and my youngest daughter on her first deer hunt. I will tell the story when i can.
As an afterthought, i suppose lady luck was smiling as i inadvertantly took the .338 that day and i still believe that big heavy bullet had a lot to do with saving our butts
Wayne
nope he is too smart for that, but maybe something in his "carpetbag"? Right Art?
