44 Special for Grizzly?

[CraigC]

Since you are so adept at making the case for handguns and dangerous game...WHY do professional folks that go into dangerous game and bear country, prefer to carry a rifle to backup shooters...when all they need is a bigbore handgun?

Several reasons. Firstly, most hunters do so with rifles. Most of them are completely ignorant of how effective handguns are and surely never bothered to become proficient with them. Secondly, that proficiency requires commitment. Heavy recoiling handguns are difficult to master. Rifles are much easier to make a solid hit with.

The US is bad but the hunting industry in Africa is extremely stuck in the past. Things are just now starting to change with regards to the rifle ammunition used for dangerous game. It's an extreme uphill battle just to get these folks to understand that a flat nosed solid is more effective and penetrates straighter than 100yr old roundnose technology. Get folks up to 21st century reality with regards to handguns? Forget it. Not to mention all the legal pitfalls regarding handguns on the dark continent.

Then there's all the utter BS about kinetic energy and it's easy to see where the nonsense about handguns being ineffective comes from. It is borne of ignorance and preconceived notions.

And, BTW, the fact that a 120lb deer can tote off a heavy handgun or rifle caliber shot is just more evidence that more is probably better with an even LARGER animal. So, you make my point.

You're not paying attention. Making a double lung shot on a deer has nothing to do with breaking down a bear.

I always enjoy these posts,,,, until they get ridiculous or when they get ugly to one another.

Just like so many similar topics,,, there is NOT one end all be all answer. Way too many variables. So I guess all the discussions will continue long after we are all gone.

The problem with these discussions is that they are always rife with misconceptions and uninformed opinions. 80yrs after Keith first started writing about killing big game with handguns, we're still arguing about whether or not they're effective. Mostly with rifle shooters who have never even tried and don't have a clue what they're talking about.

 

[Naphtali]

. . . I'm pretty sure the bear reconsidered possibly coming after you knowing that the door was locked.

Fear can trigger bizarre actions.
***
I notice severe thread drift. The original query concerned 44 Special ONLY.

 

[CraigC]

The original query concerned 44 Special ONLY.

The original query was nothing but pure troll bait.

 

[k22fan]

The original query concerned 44 Special ONLY.

The original query was nothing but pure troll bait.

I wish I had trout bait that was as reliable! Actually, trolls are not so bad. I enjoyed reading this thread and some of you liked it enough to spend your time posting here. Some day we should have a thread retelling our favorite bear stories.

 

[eveled]

I haven't seen the revenant yet, but saw Brad Pitt fight off a griz with a knife. In a movie once, apparently you should try to cut off one of its toes.

 

[k22fan]

I assume a grizzly knife needs lots of bark on its stag handle, but is a stockman pocket knife enough for a quick toe amputation?

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

A 3" blade won't get it. It needs to be at least 4".

 

[CraigC]

Anybody can use a knife, a real man would just bite it off!

 

[whichwatch]

Different story, but might fit in here.

Live in "burbs" where although not city,not country either ,1/2 to one acre properties.

{This was a dozen years ago....lol}

Local biker "GROUP" lived 2 properties away.
They decided livestock was a good idea...and goats,and chickens,and pea hens,etc....lol
Built a "barn" fenced off the yard, cattle showed up..

FEMALE cattle...bread for meat....not milk,not friendly, are those COWS?

They had 5 of them,got loose 2 times,bikers asked for my help rounding them up.

EVER BEEN CHARGED BY FREED,YET SCARED CATTLE, was not fun...
Bikers paid me for my efforts with their chicken eggs....

YUP trashed those eggs....lol

Getting to the point.....They bought a BREEDING BULL!!!
Every time I walked in my back yard... That BULL made F.U. sounds.....HATE in it's eyes.


It never got loose,,but this post reminded me ......
Screw a Grizzly...that bull, my .44 magnum was far from enough!
My Military shotgun...with 00 buckshot and Foster slugs would not save my ass!!!
WELL, maybe the shotgun would, but only cause a ton of trees to hide behind while shooting and STAINING MY PANTS!

"44 Special for Grizzly?"

Have you NOT watched the Grizzly scene in "The Revenant" YET.... :lol:

WTF are you even talking about?? This post makes absolutely no sense.

 

[jpickar]

Same old opinions by the same old people that have no experience and live east of the Mississippi. :lol: :lol:

John

 

[CraigC]

Same old opinions by the same old people that have no experience and live east of the Mississippi.

You still an expert because your son killed a small bear with a 20ga???

My uncle has killed more grizzlies than 99.9999% of Alaskan residents and he lives in Florida. :roll:

How much game have you taken with a handgun?

 

[BearBio]

'My uncle has killed more grizzlies than 99.9999% of Alaskan residents and he lives in Florida. :roll:

How much game have you taken with a handgun?"

1. How much game is not the question. How many BEARS are, is! I have killed hundreds (literally) of ground squirrels with a handgun. That's irrelevant. I HAVE killed more wild hogs with a handgun (while working as a guide) than I remember=hogs and bears are much more similar, especially after the skin is removed. I have also tranked over a dozen bears. Again, those have no relevance to the topic.

2. What you SAY "your uncle" has done is hearsay. Have him put his opinion forth in the first person! HOW MANY bears has he killed? One acquaintance of mine has killed 28 in one year (They were brownies, BTW; NOT grizzlies; he was a wildlife bio at Kenai Fiords NWR). Where do you get your statistics to say how many bears 99.9999 have killed.

BTW: 738,432 (August, 2015 population of Alaska) x 99.9999% (YOUR "figure") =738,431.3. 738,432-738,431= 1 (actually less). So, only one person in Alaska has killed more grizzlies than your uncle? I'd like to hear his background, number of bears killed, circumstances, etc.
Otherwise, I call "B.S."!

 

[BearBio]

Same old opinions by the same old people that have no experience and live east of the Mississippi. :lol: :lol:

John

Right On!


:lol:

 

[skip]

In mprotection, possibly for hunting under the right circumstances. I am g 4 season of hunting brown bear over I carry a .45 Colt with 335 grain hard cast at about 1100 fps and a lh Buffalo Bore 430 gr. bullets. I feel very confidant w

 

[CraigC]

'My uncle has killed more grizzlies than 99.9999% of Alaskan residents and he lives in Florida. :roll:

How much game have you taken with a handgun?"

1. How much game is not the question. How many BEARS are, is! I have killed hundreds (literally) of ground squirrels with a handgun. That's irrelevant. I HAVE killed more wild hogs with a handgun (while working as a guide) than I remember=hogs and bears are much more similar, especially after the skin is removed. I have also tranked over a dozen bears. Again, those have no relevance to the topic.

2. What you SAY "your uncle" has done is hearsay. Have him put his opinion forth in the first person! HOW MANY bears has he killed? One acquaintance of mine has killed 28 in one year (They were brownies, BTW; NOT grizzlies; he was a wildlife bio at Kenai Fiords NWR). Where do you get your statistics to say how many bears 99.9999 have killed.

BTW: 738,432 (August, 2015 population of Alaska) x 99.9999% (YOUR "figure") =738,431.3. 738,432-738,431= 1 (actually less). So, only one person in Alaska has killed more grizzlies than your uncle? I'd like to hear his background, number of bears killed, circumstances, etc.
Otherwise, I call "B.S."!

How much game one has taken with a handgun is directly relevant to one's opinion of the viability of handguns for large game. No game = no perspective.

The note about my uncle is in response to the absurd comment that one must live in bear country to know anything about killing bears. I would've thought that point was obvious.

Also very obviously to all but the most obtuse, the 99.9999% figure is an exaggeration. However, how many Alaskan residents do you think have killed a single brown bear? Does being an Alaskan resident, having killed ZERO bears, make one's opinion greater than that of one that does not live in brown bear country, yet has killed several? No, it doesn't.

A grizzly is a brown bear. You should know that.

You have killed ZERO brown bears, let alone with a handgun. So how is your opinion more valid than those of us who have killed a lot of game with handguns? You want us all to take you more seriously because you're a wildlife biologist but the truth is, you don't know any more about killing bears than anyone else. Your expertise is simply not relevant to this discussion.

You, like jpickar and everybody else, submit ZERO evidence to support the notion that a big bore revolver is a poor choice for bears. Just opinions, some less informed than others.

 

[BearBio]

'My uncle has killed more grizzlies than 99.9999% of Alaskan residents and he lives in Florida. :roll:

How much game have you taken with a handgun?"

1. How much game is not the question. How many BEARS are, is! I have killed hundreds (literally) of ground squirrels with a handgun. That's irrelevant. I HAVE killed more wild hogs with a handgun (while working as a guide) than I remember=hogs and bears are much more similar, especially after the skin is removed. I have also tranked over a dozen bears. Again, those have no relevance to the topic.

2. What you SAY "your uncle" has done is hearsay. Have him put his opinion forth in the first person! HOW MANY bears has he killed? One acquaintance of mine has killed 28 in one year (They were brownies, BTW; NOT grizzlies; he was a wildlife bio at Kenai Fiords NWR). Where do you get your statistics to say how many bears 99.9999 have killed.

BTW: 738,432 (August, 2015 population of Alaska) x 99.9999% (YOUR "figure") =738,431.3. 738,432-738,431= 1 (actually less). So, only one person in Alaska has killed more grizzlies than your uncle? I'd like to hear his background, number of bears killed, circumstances, etc.
Otherwise, I call "B.S."!

How much game one has taken with a handgun is directly relevant to one's opinion of the viability of handguns for large game. No game = no perspective.

The note about my uncle is in response to the absurd comment that one must live in bear country to know anything about killing bears. I would've thought that point was obvious.

Also very obviously to all but the most obtuse, the 99.9999% figure is an exaggeration. However, how many Alaskan residents do you think have killed a single brown bear? Does being an Alaskan resident, having killed ZERO bears, make one's opinion greater than that of one that does not live in brown bear country, yet has killed several? No, it doesn't.

A grizzly is a brown bear. You should know that.

You have killed ZERO brown bears, let alone with a handgun. So how is your opinion more valid than those of us who have killed a lot of game with handguns? You want us all to take you more seriously because you're a wildlife biologist but the truth is, you don't know any more about killing bears than anyone else. Your expertise is simply not relevant to this discussion.

You, like jpickar and everybody else, submit ZERO evidence to support the notion that a big bore revolver is a poor choice for bears. Just opinions, some less informed than others.

:lol:

 

[Jimbo357mag]

You don't have to know a thing about bears or hunting to know what would be a good gun for Grizzlies. You do need to know something about firearms though.

...for self defense against bear, a big handgun that you can draw and shoot. To hunt bear, a powerful rifle. Simple.

 

[jpickar]

'My uncle has killed more grizzlies than 99.9999% of Alaskan residents and he lives in Florida. :roll:

How much game have you taken with a handgun?"

1. How much game is not the question. How many BEARS are, is! I have killed hundreds (literally) of ground squirrels with a handgun. That's irrelevant. I HAVE killed more wild hogs with a handgun (while working as a guide) than I remember=hogs and bears are much more similar, especially after the skin is removed. I have also tranked over a dozen bears. Again, those have no relevance to the topic.

2. What you SAY "your uncle" has done is hearsay. Have him put his opinion forth in the first person! HOW MANY bears has he killed? One acquaintance of mine has killed 28 in one year (They were brownies, BTW; NOT grizzlies; he was a wildlife bio at Kenai Fiords NWR). Where do you get your statistics to say how many bears 99.9999 have killed.

BTW: 738,432 (August, 2015 population of Alaska) x 99.9999% (YOUR "figure") =738,431.3. 738,432-738,431= 1 (actually less). So, only one person in Alaska has killed more grizzlies than your uncle? I'd like to hear his background, number of bears killed, circumstances, etc.
Otherwise, I call "B.S."!

How much game one has taken with a handgun is directly relevant to one's opinion of the viability of handguns for large game. No game = no perspective.

The note about my uncle is in response to the absurd comment that one must live in bear country to know anything about killing bears. I would've thought that point was obvious.

Also very obviously to all but the most obtuse, the 99.9999% figure is an exaggeration. However, how many Alaskan residents do you think have killed a single brown bear? Does being an Alaskan resident, having killed ZERO bears, make one's opinion greater than that of one that does not live in brown bear country, yet has killed several? No, it doesn't.

A grizzly is a brown bear. You should know that.

You have killed ZERO brown bears, let alone with a handgun. So how is your opinion more valid than those of us who have killed a lot of game with handguns? You want us all to take you more seriously because you're a wildlife biologist but the truth is, you don't know any more about killing bears than anyone else. Your expertise is simply not relevant to this discussion.

You, like jpickar and everybody else, submit ZERO evidence to support the notion that a big bore revolver is a poor choice for bears. Just opinions, some less informed than others.

I am here to help the uniformed people that might be reading this so they can see there are other opinions out there besides yours. :roll: So they can make a better decision than just from your post here.

We, bear bio, and others have given you experienced situations and you blatantly refuse to acknowledge them. IE "ZERO evidence" is a very ignorant statement.

I will repeat again the the Alaskan Fish & Game uses a 12ga. with slugs. They work. Like has been said nothing short or a RPG would make me feel good in a bear attack situation.
I have had several encounters with bears this last fall and now have more real life experience.

I will make my offer once again. You and other quick draw types can come out to my house next fall and guard my apple trees. When and if you can draw your gun without slipping on the manure running down your leg and maybe get off a shot before the bear eats you. I will tape it from the relative safety of my house and post it here with your eulogy. :lol:
John :wink: bear bio

 

[steve8261948]

I'd say I'd rather have this than a Case pocket knife?
Steve

 

[BearBio]

USFWS also uses 12 ga with slugs (Brenneke 2 3/4 magnums). That's for 28 bears killed in defense of life or property in one year in Kenai NWR or surrounding area.

steve8261948: Welcome Brother from a Son of the Widow!