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Post by kevshell on Mar 21, 2024 8:38:16 GMT -5
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Post by bula on Mar 21, 2024 9:13:47 GMT -5
The "take what you got" is right. My uncle had 3 guns. A 1917 Enfield by Winchester in 30-06, An Ithacagun M37 16ga and a Colt PP in 38spec.. THAT's it. It worked.
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Post by hunter01 on Mar 21, 2024 9:22:40 GMT -5
That was a great read. Thanks for posting!
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DutchV
.30 Stingray
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Post by DutchV on Mar 21, 2024 9:35:24 GMT -5
That dude got seriously lucky.
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aciera
.375 Atomic
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Post by aciera on Mar 21, 2024 10:15:49 GMT -5
“Had been out 35 days”
He lliv d same he life for sure. Helluva read.
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Post by contender on Mar 21, 2024 10:38:12 GMT -5
That was a good read for sure.
He knew his .38 wasn't the best gun,, but it was all he had. He tried a couple of shots that may or may not have been effective,, but it was all he had available. He tried hard to avoid it,,, but he also knew his life was at stake. All in all,, he was just lucky that day. And I agree that it's very likely the bear survived,, or survived for quite a while.
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Post by kevshell on Mar 21, 2024 11:37:53 GMT -5
I like this quote too.
“You just weren’t born to be killed by a brown bear,” he said. “Or if you were, the day ain’t arrived yet!”
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Fowler
.401 Bobcat
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Post by Fowler on Mar 21, 2024 11:48:46 GMT -5
Id say a couple of things probably occurred that saved this guy 1: the bear was not committed to attacking him, she was sorting out what he was probably and was dissuaded by the throbbing headache the 38sp gave her because she again wasn't committed to killing him. I think she probably was investigating what he was in defense of her cubs, was he a danger? Was he a potential easy meal? Who knows? 2: He had some brass balls and was very fortunate, the soft lead rounds of the day didnt penetrate the skull, had she wanted to kill him by all logic she would have. When Phil Shoemaker killed that griz with the 9mm a few years back it was with best quality hard cast loads and +P+ power levels and he shot the bear repeatedly till the threat stopped, 6 shots in the chest in less than 2 seconds. Certainly accounting for the different outcome of the 2 similar power level rounds.
Times were different and men were tougher, imagine a 35 day pack trip with today ultra light food and equipment compared to the heavy assed stuff of their day? You just dealt with a lot less stuff like a sleeping pad, maybe rain gear or tent. There sure as heck wasn't a rescue beacon hanging on your pack that could summon help if something went sideways, you broke a leg you were going to be in a world of hurt just to survive getting out, if you could get out. Guys went into the wilderness never to return with some regularity back then, I'm sure bear stories like this happened without the happy ending for anyone involved more often than we really know. Just the guy went hunting and never returned. I don't know how I would measure up to those outdoorsmen of the day, I know Id like to think I could but damn I'm not sure I would deal with the misery they must have endured daily, but then they also didnt know any difference either. Go read Elmer Keith's Canadian hunts in "Hell I was there"...
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fm027
.240 Incinerator
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Post by fm027 on Mar 21, 2024 15:46:54 GMT -5
That right there is a terrific story. Writers today don't hold a candle to the men or the writers of yesterday, not a single one.
Personally, I'd bet significant amounts of money the 38 round that hit her square in the head probably jolted her decision to kill him on that first shot. I see the same with angry protective cows during calving season, when that calf is wet and she's freshly calved they turn instinctively over-aggressive/protective too and if your approach is wrong, she'll pound the life outta you before you can turn to run. Bonk 'em right once with a big stick or rock while that fuse is shorting out in her head though and she's going ape shit crazy, and you'll mute even the nastiest ones instantly. It's like flicking a switch. Then you have respect. What that does is break their mindset from continuing what they originally decided to do and makes them re-evaluate the situation ... most of you will think that's bs but it's not. (So) this guys first 38 bullet when she dropped her head square having made her decision to charge the rest of the way (I'd bet quite heavily) did just that. Broke her train of thought just by splatting square on her brain pan without penetrating right in.
The blood trail he got from the latter shooting was almost certainly sinus blood. And there too, applying it to cattle times a bulls got a broken leg on pasture for example, or some other non-doctorable injury, if a guy misses the brain by an inch too low with a coupe-de-grace, and the bullet doesn't travel deep enough inside to crack the spine as it's driving by, then all you do is blow the sinuses to hell and give that bull a nosebleed. Same precisely as likely happened on the bear in this story. His best shot that he never took when he wrote he was already up that tree was when she walked slowly past him and he mentioned the one he debated to take below her ear... that shot right there is the angle that's most vulnerable on every big heavy animal alive. Even a soft 38 would reach the brain from that angle had he taken it to finish her.
Just sayin is all.
I'm 99% sure that 99% of readers will be able to take something of value away from that and draw better conclusions around what most likely happened in this story. It probably would have gone completely different if he had missed that first shot or not taken it.. may well had been his day to die by a brown bear if he didn't landed it where he did, kill shot or not.
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Post by kevshell on Mar 21, 2024 17:03:26 GMT -5
That right there is a terrific story. Writers today don't hold a candle to the men or the writers of yesterday, not a single one. Personally, I'd bet significant amounts of money the 38 round that hit her square in the head probably jolted her decision to kill him on that first shot. I see the same with angry protective cows during calving season, when that calf is wet and she's freshly calved they turn instinctively over-aggressive/protective too and if your approach is wrong, she'll pound the life outta you before you can turn to run. Bonk 'em right once with a big stick or rock while that fuse is shorting out in her head though and she's going ape shit crazy, and you'll mute even the nastiest ones instantly. It's like flicking a switch. Then you have respect. What that does is break their mindset from continuing what they originally decided to do and makes them re-evaluate the situation ... most of you will think that's bs but it's not. (So) this guys first 38 bullet when she dropped her head square having made her decision to charge the rest of the way (I'd bet quite heavily) did just that. Broke her train of thought just by splatting square on her brain pan without penetrating right in. The blood trail he got from the latter shooting was almost certainly sinus blood. And there too, applying it to cattle times a bulls got a broken leg on pasture for example, or some other non-doctorable injury, if a guy misses the brain by an inch too low with a coupe-de-grace, and the bullet doesn't travel deep enough inside to crack the spine as it's driving by, then all you do is blow the sinuses to hell and give that bull a nosebleed. Same precisely as likely happened on the bear in this story. His best shot that he never took when he wrote he was already up that tree was when she walked slowly past him and he mentioned the one he debated to take below her ear... that shot right there is the angle that's most vulnerable on every big heavy animal alive. Even a soft 38 would reach the brain from that angle had he taken it to finish her. Just sayin is all. I'm 99% sure that 99% of readers will be able to take something of value away from that and draw better conclusions around what most likely happened in this story. It probably would have gone completely different if he had missed that first shot or not taken it.. may well had been his day to die by a brown bear if he didn't landed it where he did, kill shot or not. 100%. And as some have already stated back in a certain day some guys went out hunting or went into the bush and just didn't return. Therefore like the story if this guy hadn't survived he wouldn't have been around to write the story. It's like that line in the parts of the Caribbean movie when the guy said there were never survivors from the pirate ship attacks, and the other guy turned to him and said if there are no survivors then where did the stories come from? Here's so much weird stuff with anatomy and what even premium bullets will do much less old soft bullets. But to your point, almost every non-business book I've purchased in the last 5 years to 10 years have been about frontiersman, trappers, settlers, etc. They're all from an era when people were more resilient - just tough. |
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Post by junebug on Mar 21, 2024 18:10:36 GMT -5
He was very lucky but he made some of his own luck too. By his own admission he was very scared. He kept his wits about him and used his most powerful weapon his brain. He analyzed the situation and plotted his best course of action not loosing his cool. This is what I have, this is what I will fight and win, or fight and die with. Now how do I go about it. He kept his cool and made his shots count, that saved him. I don't know that I could or would have shot her just once and waited for a reaction, though in hindsight he did the right things in that moment in time.
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Post by Ken O'Neill on Mar 22, 2024 7:24:18 GMT -5
Good story. I seem to remember that a couple of years ago James Swidryk posted an old Colt advertisement / story about a guy killing a polar bear with a Colt .38 Special.
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Post by rkcohen on Mar 22, 2024 8:54:37 GMT -5
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Big Bore
.327 Meteor
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Post by Big Bore on Mar 22, 2024 10:30:17 GMT -5
That was an excellent read. Wow. No way in heck I would have trailed a wounded grizzly with cubs.
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Post by revolvercranker on Mar 22, 2024 12:46:13 GMT -5
I remember a long time back reading Outdoor Life I believe where a man was out picking berries. He had a S&W 22LR revolver with him. Along came a black bear so the man went up a tree and out on a long branch. It was high enough the bear couldn't jump and reach him. At any rate the man shot the bear with the revolver and he went off a few feet and fell down. The man was so convinced that he thought surely he couldn't have killed the bear with one shot from a 22LR so he stayed on that branch for 3 hours before he started to think the bear was indeed dead, then came down out of the tree. In fact the bear was dead.
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