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Ray is bear shooting...
Posted by Murphy on Jun 27 2005
Ray,
I think most of your posts on this subject involve the use of handguns to shoot a bear AFTER the bear had scored the first point. And as is evident by the "survivor" telling the story, with only one eye, one arm and half the scalp missing, they must have been successful in saving their own life. So be it. And as I stated in a previous post, good sight alignment is not necessary when you can push the muzzle of your pistol into the deep hair of the bears throat, while he chews away on your upper thigh.
You and others have missed my point. Ed had made the statement that there were many documented cases of an individual using a handgun to save there own life and "skill was not involved". He also went on to mention some of the same cases of "while the bear ate my leg off I raised my trusty pistol and I fired, killing him dead." I have heard many bar room war stores of shooting everything from bruins to bypeds and I always wanted to interview the bears. John Kingsly Heath broke a $20,000 double rifle in half over the head of a lion as it chewed away on his extremities. He lived to tell the story, but it was his tracker who put the muzzle of a second rifle into the lions mouth, that saved our hero. These attacks do make good good stories when the survivor can tell the tale. Your statement; "investigators say some people can be very accurate with a handgun while under extreme stress, especially women" makes no sense. Under the situation above, it is still completely outside the point of what I and others were trying to get across to someone about bear PROTECTION. Bear PROTECTION involves many things only one of which would involve the use of a weapon. What an individual does AFTER they are being eaten by a bear is another story and has little to do with protecting one self from bears. I say again, anyone who survives a bear attack is one very lucky S.O.B.! It is SKILL (Skills, multiple) that will prevent that bear from chewing on you.
I would never advocate an individual carry a gun, handgun, rifle or shotgun until they learn how to use it correctly. A handgun is the most difficult of the trio to master, yet is often carried because of it's portability. It is the same when carried for personal protection (from bad guys), so very few people ever seek any training at all, this I know is a HUGE mistake. Are there cases where "unskilled" pistol packers saved their own life, maybe, but I would say very few, if we speak of "I got the bad guy (bear) before he got me." Can you, or anyone else, come up with a case where an individual, who admittedly, had not trained with (fired) a hand gun but was able to hit a charging bear in the brain and stop him in his tracks. Remember I want to talk to the bear, also.
If what you and Ed contend is true why does the US military, the FBI and countless other law enforcement training facilities, spend so much time and money on training to react under stressful situations?
The Alaska F&G does not endorse the use of heavy caliber rifles, because they are more difficult to shoot.(It takes more training) They don't endorse handguns for bear protection, because they are too dificult (requires more training) to shoot well.
When one is being eaten by a bear and is able to fend off the attack with any weapon, be it a handgun, a pocket knife or an iron skillet, I'm sure they will freely say "I saved my own life" Now ask the questions; Did ya' enjoy that experience? Is there anything you could have done differently, before the bear began to feed, that would have made the whole experience more enjoyable for you?
I will say, in the scenarios you and Ed posted in regard to saving ones life, a handgun came in handy, I'm sure the the persons involved were glad they had it along. Perhaps only being half eaten is better than being completely devoured.
A co-worker of mine uses the word proactive. Ben Franklin spoke of an ounce of prevention. The Duke once uttered the phrase, "let's go break out some Winchesters". My Dad once told me; If you're about to get clobbered, get in the first punch. I want to be able to get in that first punch. I'm going to shoot and shoot some more.
Good shootin'.
Murphy
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