http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=JP&hl=ja&v=B9t3nejfTXg

hand guns, or any guns for that matter, are not allowed in most any park I climb in Canada.....and I am against them in the wilderness, but have to say....this dude was lucky to have one to say the least.....I have been this close to a sow and cub before, but up wind...without the gun, he was definitely done...a bear banger (which is legal) prob would have had the same effect

the zig zag strategy of the sow with cub in tow reminds me of warthogs in Kenya, some dude tried to convince me they learned that in a short evolutionarily burst of survival to avoid the shotgun blast of Euro settlers....not that I bought it...since antelope do the same thing to try and out run cheetahs.....but to do this on attack...that was intriguing. Rare to get to see this action so close, yet survive and have it on clear film (tripod).

Dow Williams wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=JP&hl=ja&v=B9t3nejfTXg

hand guns, or any guns for that matter, are not allowed in most any park I climb in Canada.....and I am against them in the wilderness, but have to say....this dude was lucky to have one to say the least.....I have been this close to a sow and cub before, but up wind...without the gun, he was definitely done...a bear banger (which is legal) prob would have had the same effect

the zig zag strategy of the sow with cub in tow reminds me of warthogs in Kenya, some dude tried to convince me they learned that in a short evolutionarily burst of survival to avoid the shotgun blast of Euro settlers....not that I bought it...since antelope do the same thing to try and out run cheetahs.....but to do this on attack...that was intriguing. Rare to get to see this action so close, yet survive and have it on clear film (tripod).

great footage; quite impressive

You know who will drool about the video and use it for their argumentation.... I am waiting for the first responses...

SoCalHiker wrote:

Dow Williams wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=JP&hl=ja&v=B9t3nejfTXg

hand guns, or any guns for that matter, are not allowed in most any park I climb in Canada.....and I am against them in the wilderness, but have to say....this dude was lucky to have one to say the least.....I have been this close to a sow and cub before, but up wind...without the gun, he was definitely done...a bear banger (which is legal) prob would have had the same effect

the zig zag strategy of the sow with cub in tow reminds me of warthogs in Kenya, some dude tried to convince me they learned that in a short evolutionarily burst of survival to avoid the shotgun blast of Euro settlers....not that I bought it...since antelope do the same thing to try and out run cheetahs.....but to do this on attack...that was intriguing. Rare to get to see this action so close, yet survive and have it on clear film (tripod).

great footage; quite impressive

You know who will drool about the video and use it for their argumentation.... I am waiting for the first responses...

I can't watch youtube at work. Give me a few hours

Turns out I have the internet on my phone, it's new give me a break. All I can say is I'm pretty sure I would have just shat myself. What a cool video. I'm suprised the bear stopped it's charge just based on the fact it had a cub with it.

Crazy to think how far away that bear was when you could start to hear it's breath.

Oh, and the guy should have killed the bear, the cub, the birds in the trees that bore witness to the shooting, any rabbits he saw while exiting the wilderness, all cars and drivers on the way home...did I miss anything. Just want to make sure I sound like a typical gun type person.

outofstep80 wrote:Turns out I have the internet on my phone, it's new give me a break. All I can say is I'm pretty sure I would have just shat myself. What a cool video. I'm suprised the bear stopped it's charge just based on the fact it had a cub with it.

Crazy to think how far away that bear was when you could start to hear it's breath.

Oh, and the guy should have killed the bear, the cub, the birds in the trees that bore witness to the shooting, any rabbits he saw while exiting the wilderness, all cars and drivers on the way home...did I miss anything. Just want to make sure I sound like a typical gun type person.

that is why I carry a sharp pocket knife at all times, harden up dude

Fending off charging Grizzles with nothing but a knife is a level of hardness I do not care to achieve. I'm just not that much of a man.

It's interesting also that his instinct was to fire to scare mama bear instead of aiming at her. Maybe he figured if she kept charging then he would fire at her. On the other hand, had he hit her, and it didn't stop her cold, she might have become enraged and kept coming. Wow, it's nice to be able to speculate from the armchair instead of having to make heart-stopping decisions in the blink of an eye like he did.

Mountain Impulse wrote:It's interesting also that his instinct was to fire to scare mama bear instead of aiming at her. Maybe he figured if she kept charging then he would fire at her. On the other hand, had he hit her, and it didn't stop her cold, she might have become enraged and kept coming. Wow, it's nice to be able to speculate from the armchair instead of having to make heart-stopping decisions in the blink of an eye like he did.

Well, it seems to me that a second later after he decided to shoot in the air she would have been right at the guy. So, the warning shot had to be successful or else... Interesting at least.

SoCalHiker wrote:
Well, it seems to me that a second later after he decided to shoot in the air she would have been right at the guy. So, the warning shot had to be successful or else... Interesting at least.

I'm sure that's just as likely, that is, that he only had one shot. That's why his decision is so interesting. I could imagine someone with a handgun powerful enough to stop the bear with a head shot taking that option instead given the circumstances. But maybe all he had was a pea-shooter and he figured the noise would be as effective as a round into a charging bear's body.

Im pretty sure I would need a new pair of undies if that was me!!

I'd be interested in knowing how close the bear actually was. This was not your average Joe getting lucky so I assume he had top of the line equipment. No matter how close it came it was a very severe situation but it still could have been quite aways from him.

It's amazing how static the camera view is as the bear charges towards him. It almost seems to have been mounted on something. Maybe he was further away that it seems, but then again you could see the smoke from the shot...

If you read the accompanying article, you can see that the camera was mounted on a tripod and the reason that he shot away from the bear was that he was terrified of wounding it and having a wounded (and angry) bear maul him.

I rarely carry a firearm when I hike in Alaska and I've survived multiple close encounters with brown bears. This encounter, though, included a sow and a cub - a whole different level of danger. He was very fortunate indeed.

I saw this on the news (CBC). Crazy stuff. Beautiful bears, though I wouldn't want to have an encounter like that!

zodis wrote:Would pepper spray work in this type of situation?

Based on my experience, my opinion is no. Sows attack from a defensive posture, motive is much different than predatory which involves some testing by the typical predator bear (vs say a mountain lion). I personally don't carry bangers or spray, prefer to be one with the wild, for better or worst. But I think the banger (or gun in this case), gave her that insecure feeling that she could not protect her cub, it scared her more than the scent. Don't think pepper spray would have done that. She would be right in front of you, feet away, to make the spray effective. At that point, she would be hell bent on neutralizing the risk to her cub (you). This is what I have read in at least one documented case of survival with bear spray engaged. The gun noise became an unknown to her, where did it come from? Was she and hence her cub surrounded? Was it beyond her control? Just put oneself in her paws and you can sense her emotion at that point, we are animals too. Easy to understand so much about wildlife and their tendencies once you are capable of doing that.