GunnyGene
Hawkeye
This guy was very lucky!
Escape from a charging polar bear
- Thread starter GunnyGene
- Start date
contender
Ruger Guru
The guy was lucky.
But Colin failed to recognize something. I think the snowmobile was already running. I see what I believe to be exhaust condensation or smoke before the guy gets on it. He didn't drop the rifle until he was just about to get on the snowmobile.
But the guy should not have tried a warning shot. Unless the local laws prevented him from actually shooting the bear. But since he was carrying a rifle and out there,, a charging polar bear would not get a warning shot from me.
But Colin failed to recognize something. I think the snowmobile was already running. I see what I believe to be exhaust condensation or smoke before the guy gets on it. He didn't drop the rifle until he was just about to get on the snowmobile.
But the guy should not have tried a warning shot. Unless the local laws prevented him from actually shooting the bear. But since he was carrying a rifle and out there,, a charging polar bear would not get a warning shot from me.
OP
GunnyGene
Hawkeye
Up in the Arctic in winter, you never turn your vehicle off unless it's indoors in a heated garage.
I was reading a law enforcement manual many many years ago and it discussed "warning shots" and the answer was absolutely not, at least when dealing with a human... the real issue is if a shot to the bear would have stopped it long enough to save the guy... I've 'heard' that many a man killed a Grizzly but it killed him before it died and those big white bears I think are pretty close to them.
Rat76
Blackhawk
looks like his shot was with a pistol. Didn't touch the rifle until he was running away.
contender
Ruger Guru
Good point Rat76,, about the handgun. I missed that.
That could have been a 12 gauge single shot shotgun loaded with bird shot. If I was so armed and being chased by a polar bear, I’d drop it like a bad habit and haul ass on my snow machine too.
Of course, trying to scare a polar bear off while armed with an inadequate weapon is pretty foolhardy.
Of course, trying to scare a polar bear off while armed with an inadequate weapon is pretty foolhardy.
I think ALL bears are underrated. I've taken three black bears in Manitoba while bow hunting and I can attest that I've never seen an animal move like a lightning bolt over a short distance like a black bear that has just realized that razor tipped arrow has pierced him.
This photo has been on the internet for several years now and indicates the relative size difference between a black bear, a brown bear, and a polar bear.
This photo has been on the internet for several years now and indicates the relative size difference between a black bear, a brown bear, and a polar bear.
Same with a Grizzly .... there was a bar here in town for a while, "John Paul Armadillo Company". and when you walked in the front entrance the first thing you saw was a stuffed Griz... something like 10-12ft tall. I don't think anything short of a 50 cal belt fed would stop something like that in time.
OP
GunnyGene
Hawkeye
To a polar bear, everything that is meat is a meal. Unlike other omnivorous bear species, a polar bear is a pure carnivore at the top of the food chain. Life is hard on the ice.
I think if I were somewhere where I had to worry about polar bears showing up I would want to carry a Mac-10 or something similar. 30 rounds of 45acp should be enough to stop even a polar bear.
I'm in the use what you know best category. As long as it's chambered for an appropriate caliber. I've taken a decent sized black with a bolt action 30-06. But this was hunting and the bear had no idea I was there.
But, a critter several times that size, already infused with adrenaline, I am going to want something faster and in a more potent cartridge.
On out Jeep trip to Alaska many, many moons ago I took a 1911 and the same bolt gun mentioned earlier.
But I am not really likely to ever face a big bear, polar or brown because I don't live where they do. So maybe my choice is terrible.
Still, I have had an automatic rifle quit on me. So, I still like something I manipulate. Today my choice would be an 1895GS.
But, a critter several times that size, already infused with adrenaline, I am going to want something faster and in a more potent cartridge.
On out Jeep trip to Alaska many, many moons ago I took a 1911 and the same bolt gun mentioned earlier.
But I am not really likely to ever face a big bear, polar or brown because I don't live where they do. So maybe my choice is terrible.
Still, I have had an automatic rifle quit on me. So, I still like something I manipulate. Today my choice would be an 1895GS.
Everyone knows the 9mm will get the job done. All those handgun calibers don't make any difference, or so they say LOL
A more pertinent question would be: What kind of oil should he be using in that snowmobile?
I think if I lived there, I would be toting one if these around. Cal 505 gibbs.
Yaworski
Hawkeye
From what I've read, Polar bears make Grizzlies look like golden retrievers.
Colion (not his real name), as usual, is talking through his hat. The guy dropped his rifle because he was focused on getting onto his snowmobile and holding onto the rifle would have complicated the issue.
I ran into some mathematical problems on the ice when hunting White Bruins. Subzero temperatures, Sea Level Elevation, and a 20 inch barrel takes many calibers out of a 300 yard point blank shot. While there are many reasons to use calibers over .35 on critters in the White Bruin category, it ain't like the temps & elevations on the Ice Pack match those on the Velt on Safari! Yet it's much easier to get close up and personal on safari than it is on the ice, once you are the hunted things can get exiting.
epags
Single-Sixer
Durnig my assignment to the Alaskan Air Command, one duty was to go to Point Barrow, Alaska....Google the location some time.
While there, I was a guest of a native Alaskan family. Outside there was a polar bear hide curing.......I know, given the year, there were no 50 cal belt feed weapons among them.....a 30-06 probably. At any rate the villagers had havested at least one....probably more. Dang, knowing what I know now, I wish I had offered to buy it.
FWIW, I did buy some baleen, a hand woven baleen basket and a fossel ivory carving (Siberia origin I was told).
The strip of baleen is hanging from a ceiling beam in the living room and is occasionally noticed when a visitor looks up (which many people fail to do....bad situational awareness, but thats another topic for a thread.
I was stationed @ Elmendorf AFB, Anchorage, Alaska and an number of the tourist stores had mounted Polar Bears in the standing position, as did the Alaskan Air Command Headquarters.....they (the polar bears) were/are HUGE.
Story time: I was out at Cold Bay, AK in a pickup truck and we were driving along and saw the rear end of a coastal grizzly (AKA Alaska Peninsula brown bear) digging into the hillside for some critter. As we drove closer, it heard the truck, backed out of the hole it was digging, stood up on its hind legs.....we turned that truck around and made tracks. It could have opened the truck up like a can of sardines.
Actually, 338 & 308 fall into the same category. Things improve with the 35 Whelen or .358 diameter. Scroll down to Velocity and read until Diameter. Got to admit I'm a 9.3x 62 fan.
https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/Effective+Game+Killing.html
https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/Effective+Game+Killing.html
I read a thread on another forum years ago. The person that posted it had killed a Brown Bear with a Ruger Alaskan chambered for 454 Casull. It was in Alaska he reported the shooting. The bear was charging when he realized it was behind him. It was a DLP shooting so he did not get into trouble. I went back later looking for the thread & managed to find it again but the pictures were gone. The pictures were mind blowing. They are massive.
A Cree woman that was trapping in Canada killed an at the time world record grizzly with a rifle chambered for .22 Long back in the 50's. If you do a search you can probably find the article. Her name was Bella Twin. The author of the article was Dean Weingarten IIRC. It was a world record bear at that time.
Edited to correct location.
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Not when it comes to energy.... not even close. And the .35 Whelen is just a .30-06 necked up - still a .30-06
“A Cree woman that was trapping in Arizona killed an at the time world record grizzly with a rifle chambered for .22 Long back in the 50's. If you do a search you can probably find the article. Her name was Bella Twin. The author of the article was Dean Weingarten IIRC. It was a world record bear at that time.”
Thinking it wasn’t in Arizona:
https://www.ammoland.com/2017/06/be...-take-the-1953-world-record-grizzly-and-more/
Thinking it wasn’t in Arizona:
https://www.ammoland.com/2017/06/be...-take-the-1953-world-record-grizzly-and-more/
So I guess those folks expounding on the side of .22LR for Griz hunting they regularly go out with a .22LR? What velocity (at impact) is your Projectile traveling at? Projectile diameter makes a difference creating Hydrostatic Shock. I wonder how many unsuccessful hunters haven't been reported using a .22LR on Coastal or Polar Bears? 
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Up until about 10yrs ago the Canadian Rangers were still using 303 British cal Lee Enfield rifles.
It may have been more than ten years ago that you couldn't hunt Polar Bears on American soil Shipmate? But I'm not sure about that?
"So I guess those folks expounding on the side of .22LR for Griz hunting they regularly go out with a .22LR?"
Expounding on the side of .22LR?
More like reporting.
I've never been grizzly hunting and if I did go I sure wouldn't use a .22LR. If you read the article I linked, you would see that Bella Twin used the weapon she had available when it became apparent that the bear was about to find her. Somewhat surprisingly, it did the job.
Expounding on the side of .22LR?
More like reporting.
I've never been grizzly hunting and if I did go I sure wouldn't use a .22LR. If you read the article I linked, you would see that Bella Twin used the weapon she had available when it became apparent that the bear was about to find her. Somewhat surprisingly, it did the job.
There used to be a bar in Berkley, MI (a northern suburb of Detroit). The entrance was a small dark alcove, and when you entered the only light source was a large glass case housing a very large standing taxidermied Polar Bear. I'm 6'4' and I'm not used to looking waaay up anything, but that scared the crap out of me for a moment. Oddly enough there were two Polar Bear mounts in the same small town at that time. About a mile from there is the Detroit Zoo that still has a wonderful Polar Bear environment, complete with pedestrian glass tunnel to watch Polar Bears swim over and around you. They are impressive animals. Would not like to encounter one in the wild.
