Not so friendly Encounter at the range.

[robertbank]

Let tell you of my range experience this afternoon. I fihished shooting my .30-30 in Ranch Dogs postal match. Fired off all 30 rds of my Lyman 311041 boolits.

I then went over to the pistol range to do some clean up work at the back of our center pistol bay. While there I noticed a wooden stand used by some to place targets on was laying flat on the ground as opposed to being up on the slope like it was yesterday when I was shooting. Thought it strange and while placing it back on the slope noticed, what looked like bear tracks going up the slope thence into the woods.

Well I continued on with my minor clean up work and at some point got that feeling I wasn't alone. Looked up and there not 15' from me was a 300 lb Black Bear staring right at me, ears back, sort of frozen. My empty 30-30 was in my truck in the other pistol bay.

I drew my Norinco 1911, bush gun and racked the slide. I had seven rounds of 200 gr LSWC between me and the bear.

Since the bear hadn't moved, I thought it might be a good idea if I did. So with all the decorum of a drunken sailor I lurched slowly backwards, all the while having the sights aligned with his nose. (Actually thought of the IDPA Qualifier at that moment - crazy eh!). As I slowly retreated the bear moved left to my right and horizontal to me. I reached my truck after, what seemed to be an hour( actually about one minute maybe two). The bear followed me into the 2nd pit then walked slowly over to the rifle range and beyond.

I will report this bear to the CO's and they might set a trap for him later today. Good thing I ddn't have to shoot the darn thing. Had I I would be knee deep in paper work defending the reason why I shot Winnie the Poos cousin. Never felt for a minute that I didn't have enough gun in my hand but would have preferred my Mossberg or my '94.

Take Care

Bob
ps The bear never made a sound. Nothing. Had I not looked up Felix would have been telling you this story.

[redneckdan]

bears deserve a lot more respect then we give them. I had a close encouter this winter, the determination was that my .357 is not enough gun for up here in the woods. I started carrying my 20 gauge with me, now that I have my AR in .300 whisper I'll probably start carrying that.

[trickyasafox]

scary stuff, glad your ok, and happier still we don't have bear by me

[JeffinNZ]

HOLY CRAP! The most I will likely encounter at my range is a disgruntled hare.

[LarryM]

I almost stepped on a copperhead on my range a couple of weeks ago. (of course my revolver was empty) I think I'd rather have the snakes...

[nvbirdman]

I guess I don't feel too left out, I had a coyote running around my house for about a half-hour this morning.

[9.3X62AL]

Bob--

A very similar occurence in Summer 2002 prompted the purchase of the 9.3 x 62. A belt-fed variant would seem appropriate at such times, but one's objectivity is skewed a bit.

[flhroy]

Al do you remember about 15 or so years ago when a blackie wandered out of the San Gabriels into a hot tub in some ones back yard. I think it was in Monrovia or Azusa. The bear looked like he found heaven lying there soaking in that hot tub.

[jdhenry]

well your a lucky one not everyone sees a bear outside of a cage:)

[Buckshot]

Al do you remember about 15 or so years ago when a blackie wandered out of the San Gabriels into a hot tub in some ones back yard. I think it was in Monrovia or Azusa. The bear looked like he found heaven lying there soaking in that hot tub.

............Betcha he left a helluva ring :-)!

............Buckshot

[Boz330]

............Betcha he left a helluva ring :-)!

............Buckshot

Probably, but who is going to make him clean it up:mrgreen:

Bob

[Duckiller]

The bear was Samson, died of old age in Orange Co. zoo. Still have bears coming out of hill to take the waters and eat avacados. Does wonders for the coat and provides a good fat layer for winter. Long term residents don't talk about them much. New people (flat landers) tend to call police,Sheriff,Fish and Game. When brought to there attention they tend to carry on a bunch, and try to move bears back into forest. Bears are smart, they know where food is and if you don't bother them they have caused very little problem. City is Monrovia. Dan was .357 being too small a mental thing or did something physical happen?

[9.3X62AL]

Yeah, I recall the Hot Tub Bear too. When I worked in the Banning area, we used to get a couple "bear in the back yard" calls in Cherry Valley or the north end of Banning. The idea was to stay in the car and "bump" the siren--that would usually flush them back into the surrounding hills. A couple of the bears found their way into swimming pools, and YES it left one h--l of a ring.

Our local bears can be real jerks. For a number of years up to the late 1970's, the Park Service used to transport the pest bears from Yosemite and Kings Canyon into our local forest (San Bernardino NF), dumping them in Whitewater Canyon, Pipes Canyon, or other areas adjacent to the San Gorgonio Wilderness. The popularity of SGW skyrocketed in the late 60's, so bear/hiker conflicts prompted a policy change against bear dumping locally. Add on a moratorium on bear hunting in the late 1980's, and we basically have gangbanger bears in our surrounding mountains--arrogant, ignorant, lazy, unafraid, and violent.

[robertbank]

Pretty much sums up what is slowly happening up here on the Left Coast of Canada.
We have a pretty active spring Black Bear hunt but the tree huggers have adopted the Grizzly it seems. I think more of the latter get shot by RCMP/Co's then by hunters every year opps (I mean moved to another location).

If I hear "If it saves just one life" one more time I think I could be enticed into taking "just one more life".:mrgreen:

Take Care

Bob

[lathesmith]

A Black Bear that has lost its natural fear of humans is probably one of the most dangerous critters out there. A quiet, sneaky bear is very dangerous. I am glad you survived in one piece RB, though I am sure much shaken. Facing down a big dog is one thing, but staring face to face with what probably is or will become a man-eating bear is quite another!
Lathesmith

[waksupi]

A neighbor called a few years ago, stating there was a bear in thier hot tub, and what should they do about it? I told him to add some spuds, onions, and carrots, and call me on Monday.
I don't care for the FS dumping bad griz in my bowhunting area, but I guess they have to go somewhere. It adds spice to the hunt.

[9.3X62AL]

They can go "somewhere", all right--into the ground. Shoot--shovel--shut up.

[dubber123]

About 4 years ago we had a run of problems with bears reportedly relocated from other areas. These really didn't seem to have a whole lot of fear of humans. We had them on the front lawn, on the porch, at all times of the day. I tried putting a 44 about 2 inches in front of ones nose while he was prone on the front lawn, followed by 3 fast shots over his back as he ran. 2 days later he was back. At that time the wardens told us to shoot them, and no they didn't want to be called after. Now there is a 500$ fine for shooting them even if they are destroying your property, a direct result of the tree huggers wailing after a bunch of problem bears got shot in one year.

[MT Gianni]

They can go "somewhere", all right--into the ground. Shoot--shovel--shut up.

The shut up is definetely the hardest of the three.

[357tex]

yep shut up gives most people problems:coffee:

[BruceB]

Those big black varmints are very common in the Yellowknife area of the NWT. The local Golf Club and the shooting range are within earshot of each other, and both places see Midnight Tournaments on the weekend closest to summer solstice, the longest daylight of the year.

Both the BIG black varmints (bears) and the SMALL black varmints (ravens) present unique difficulties to golfers, particularly. In fact, it wasn't uncommon to carry a 12-gauge as one of the "clubs" in one's bag, at least up 'til the time we left the area ten years ago. Ravens would steal the golfballs, and bears....well, bears will be bears, y'know. It was serendipity, that a birdshot load would eliminate a raven, and also chase off all but the most determined bear. A few slug loads in the golf bag or magazine covered the worst possibilities.

Even bears far from human contact have presented very nasty situations to me. As mentioned, they also aren't very impressed by loud noises. I confronted a big male outside my cabin one day, high noon, and when I walked out he stood upright about six feet in front of me. His eyes were above my eye level. I put a 429244 max load (Super Blackhawk) right between his feet, and he never even blinked. He thought about it for a few seconds, dropped to all fours, and sauntered off in the most leisurely manner imaginable. I took my eyes off him just for a second, and when I looked again, he was coming back! Three more .44 rounds just over his back (15-20 yards) convinced him to leave, but again, no hurry.

We had to fly into town that afternoon, and on returning the next day found that the SOB had torn through the cabin wall and trashed the camp. GRRRR!

I've also told of the time I killed a bear at muzzle-flash range , and this one as well was a wilderness bear, at least a hundred miles from human contact.

It's a very risky game, trying to predict bear behavior. Sometimes they're the biggest wimps in creation, but OTHER times....LOOK OUT! Plus, it might be the SAME bear exhibiting the different behaviors.

[Newtire]

Al do you remember about 15 or so years ago when a blackie wandered out of the San Gabriels into a hot tub in some ones back yard. I think it was in Monrovia or Azusa. The bear looked like he found heaven lying there soaking in that hot tub.

That black bear was in a yard in Los Gatos, just a few miles from San Jose. It was due to a fire in the Big Sur area.

About a year ago, the F & G (or local police maybe) shot a cougar out of a tree in someone's backyard in a San Jose subburb about a block away from an elementary school.

I overheard a conversation in a local Santa Cruz Outdoor World store between a salesman & an elderly couple. The salesman was telling these people how this .177 pellet pistol would be just what they needed to scare away the big cougar that was in their yard & that had already eaten the neighbor's cat. "They hate being stung and this would chase them away." or something to that effect.

I used as much political correctness as I could to tell the older couple that they had a right to shoot the thing.

According to the Fish & Game lady I talked to on the phone, you were within your rights to shoot a lion in your yard but you had better be ready for a mountain of paperwork.

[robertbank]

It has to be that we live along the PacificOcean. Between the tree huggers and the do gooders who think Cougars are just big house kittys. I swear I would like to have them take a day hike along our most remote salmon streams around mid-July armed with bells & bear spray. The latter would give us a good indicaton what happened to them.:mrgreen:

Take Care

Bob

[Boz330]

According to the Fish & Game lady I talked to on the phone, you were within your rights to shoot a lion in your yard but you had better be ready for a mountain of paperwork.[/QUOTE]

That is where the 3Ss come in.

I had a bow hunter on a dirt tank in a blind several years ago while I went and watched another one about a mile away for elk. As I was headed back to the truck at dark I heard all this hollering and screaming and my name being called. When I got to the tank the hunter dives into the bed of the truck and starts sreaming go,go,go. Well it seams that a bear came into the tank for a drink and he ran him off, because he thought that it would scare the elk away. The bear went up wind a little bit and then came back down his scent trail. When it started huffing and popping his jaws it scared the hell out of him. Fortunately all of the screaming and hollering scared it off. Turned out that, that was the 2nd hunter that bear had intimadated. He took a picture right before he ran it off and it was a big bear and the coloring was unique so the other hunter identified it. The hunter didn't want to be left alone after that.

Bob

[robertbank]

Probably easier to deal with the 3s advice if you were to dispatch an animal in a remote area that threatened you. Shooting one in your backyard might pose some other problems. The paperwork is a PITA but being charged with shooting a bear/cat out of season (assuming there is even a season) might land you in more hot water if you were to hide the evidence and then be found out. The wink wink , nod nod approach depends a lot on how much grey hair the CO/Deputy might have. A young Sargeant hopeful might not be so forgiving.

Take Care

Bob

[Boz330]

You have a good point there, but I'm a little cynical after seeing a couple injustices at the hands of over zelous COs. I'm not pointing a finger at good COs but there has to be some common sense in the enforcement of the law.
We don't have a bear season in KY and they are protected. A year or so ago a guy shot a bear that was trying to get into his house or something like that. He called F&G and they came out and arrested the guy and brought all sorts of charges against him. The only thing that save him was the public outcry. It turned into a publicity nightmare for F&G.
For the most part our F&G Dept has done an outstanding job at bringing back deer, turkey, elk and small game in KY. Hunting opportunities are better than they have ever been.

Bob

[robertbank]

I should add, fortunately if the facts are you shot a bear that was 15' from your position and you claimed it was moving towards you the paper work might be onerous but you would not be charged. Now if the rounds entered his backside only, there might be more questions asked....in my case had I found it necessary to move to lethal force I would have dealt with the paperwork. only because it is difficult sometimes to hide a dead 300lb bear and it would be the right thing to do in any event. Yo have to believe the system works fairly despite the occassional apparent hicup.

Take Care

Bob

[lathesmith]

I remember reading that story in the national news about that KY black bear. It was indeed a PR nightmare for the KY Fish & Game people, and they deserved every bit they got, judging from the ignorant quotes the news attributed to them. They were trying to pretend that a 300 pound bear that is unafraid of people is just a big cuddly teddy bear, cute and furry, and wouldn't hurt no one. Just 'cause he trashes your house, threatens your children, and charges at you is no reason to shoot the poor fella, they were paraphrased as saying. Let the professionals like us handle it, they advised. Fortunately, I believe rationality eventually prevailed in this case, but it sure did cause the man who was forced to shoot the bear a lot of unnecessary grief and expense.
Lathesmith

[nelsonted1]

A nieghbor in MN emailed me a few months ago they had been to their friends home on the Wisconsin side just north of St Paul. SHe wrote they'd watched a sow and a couple cubs spent time in their yard and would hang out on the deck- they thought it was soooo cute!

I really got on her. How about when the bear swipes through the screen and enters the house. How about if they get between the sow and her cubs. She'll be really cute when she explodes in deadly violence. I suggested getting out the Mossberg and emptying a few rounds of birdshot into the sow and get rid of her. People just can't seem to respect nature!

TED

[Ranch Dog]

Great story Bob, what did the five match targets look like? :drinks: