A Fellow Who's Fortunate to be Alive

***Warning, this post contains pictures of a dead bear, please skip this thread if that bothers you***








This story was passed along to me by a trainer at out at Gunsite by another trainer. In any case, I figured you guys would like to hear of it.






This is the brief testimony of the attack victim or should I say near victim.





"Have I got a story for you guys!

King season is over, and since i had a day off before silvers start, i thought i would go for a walk! this occurred at 11:16 am this morning (Sunday), just 2/10 of a mile from my house, ON OUR ROAD while walking my dogs (trying to get in shape for hunting season, ironically!) for the record, this is in a residential area-not back in the woods, no bowhunting, no stealth occurring...

I heard a twig snap, and looked back...full on charge-a huge brownie, ears back, head low and motorin' full speed! Came with zero warning; no woof, no popping of the teeth, no standing up, nothing like what you think or see on TV! It charged from less than 20 yards and was on me in about one-second! Totally surreal-I just started shooting in the general direction, and praise God that my second shot (or was it my third?) Rolled him at 5 feet and he skidded to a stop 10 feet BEYOND where I was shooting from-I actually sidestepped him and fell over backwards on the last shot, and his momentum carried him to a stop past where I fired my first shot!

It was a prehistoric old boar-no teeth, no fat-weighed between 900-1000 lbs and took five men to DRAG it onto a tilt-bed trailer! Big bear-its paw measured out at about a 9 1/2 footer!

never-ever-thought "it" would happen to me! its always some other smuck, right? well, no bull- i am still high on adrenaline, with my gut in a knot. feels like i did 10000 crunches without stopping! almost puked for an hour after, had the burps and couldn't even stand up as the troopers conducted their investigation! totally wiped me out-cant even put that feeling into words, by far the most emotion i have ever felt at once!

No doubt that God was with me, as I brought my Ruger .454 Casull (and some "hot" 350 grain solids) just for the heck of it, and managed to draw and snap shoot (pointed, never even aimed!) from the hip! Total luck shot!

All I can say is Praise God for my safety and for choosing to leave the wife and kids at home on this walk! Got a charter tomorrow, so gonna TRY to get some sleep now!

talk to ya soon, -greg"













This was the response from the guy at Gunsite, who I don't personally know, but I know his friend.


All,



This has been going around for a week or more, so don't know if you have seen it. The person involved is Greg Brush, an Alaskan professional fishing guide. He was carrying a snubbie Ruger Alaskan in .454 Casull with heavy loads. It's a brute of a gun to shoot, especially with these loads, but designed for exactly this specific purpose. This is one of those cases where the perfect tool was available when it was really needed. Mote that he had less than one second to act. These things happen FAST.



Here at Gunsite we preach about being armed all of the time. Be it a bear or a two legged predator, we need to be equipped to handle a life threatening emergency, anywhere and at any time. Mr. Brush lives in an environment where this is very obvious to him and he was able to save his life because he took this seriously.



People tend to want to play the odds rather than accept that they must be responsible for their personal safety. They rationalize that it won't happen today, or where they are or where they are going. After all, we know you don't need to be armed at work, at school, in the car, in a store, at church, on vacation, or a thousand other justifications.



Just yesterday, an elderly couple in Georgia were killed by a pack of dogs. Did you know that 30 or more people in the U.S. are killed by dogs every year, and that thousands more are seriously injured? You are probably more likely to face a life threatening dog attack than a bear attack or an attack from a gang banger, but how many people do you know who do not carry a firearm with them when hiking, biking, taking the dog for a walk, and so on? Personally, I have shot and killed attacking dogs on a number of occasions. But dogs are just one small example.



Anyway, I despair of trying to get people to get this, and never go anywhere they can't be armed. Even Gunsite staff and instructors go unarmed frequently, so I doubt we will ever get this across to our clients. As Jeff said, PRINCIPLE: You do not ever surrender your personal weapons anywhere, anytime. To do so is to place yourself in the physical power of others whose intentions can never be known to you in advance.



He also wrote once, in his newsletter: If you are reading this and your pistol is not within reach you have not learned the lessons we teach at Gunsite.



Rant off,




Ed







I've personally have some bad experiences with dogs and a black bear. My hunting friend had a very similar bear experience to mine about 2 years before me. If I didn't have a weapon, I don't know what I would have done had things gotten worse. Just a good reminder to be prepared folks, even if it minimally.

Wonder if rangers should be instructed to dart/shoot bears that have lost considerable numbers of their teeth. As their teeth rot away they become in constant pain and desperate. Making them an increased danger to humans. At least that`s what I would assume. Lucky you were prepared :thumbsup:

Definitely a good read! :thumbsup:

Quite a story. Thanks Patriot.

Geoff

That's a wild (and somewhat terrifying) story! He's very lucky his shot took the bear down; otherwise, it's play dead and hope for the best. All bears are scary, but brown bears are especially so.

Any way to find out where in Alaska this was? As an Alaskan, I'm kind of intrigued.

Interestingly enough, I've read a number of studies that say bear spray is actually more effective than a gun against a charging bear.

Of course, that may just be what they tell us folks who don't own guns...

- FITP

Badbeams3 said:

Lucky you were prepared :thumbsup:

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I just wanted to make it clear that it wasn't me....thankfully.

Just a well he was 'loaded for bear'! Looking at those pictures is exactly why I'm so happy when I'm walking in the bush back in New Zealand the only thing you have to worry about is the weather!! (no snakes, no large mammals etc)

FlashInThePan said:

Any way to find out where in Alaska this was? As an Alaskan, I'm kind of intrigued.

Interestingly enough, I've read a number of studies that say bear spray is actually more effective than a gun against a charging bear.

Of course, that may just be what they tell us folks who don't own guns...

- FITP

Click to expand...

I'm almost positive that it was somewhere very near Soldotna, AK.

I've also heard strong evidence that spray is far more effective at close ranges, simply because it requires much less skill under stress to deploy and it works on the bear's most sensitive sense, his nose. They even stop sows with cubs dead in their tracks most of the time. It's what I carry in hunting areas with high bear densities (only black bears here).

This one to be exact. Which can also be fired from the holster even without undoing the velcro. You only have to pop the safety clip off which is fast and intuitive and reinstall-able. That way you can practice it a few times before going out.
http://www.defensedevices.com/bearpepspray.html

I also carry it in suburban areas where dogs sometimes run loose. The spray is my first weapon, the handgun is my second, and my knife is my last instrument.

And to think there are people who don't believe in doing speed drills and shooting from the hip! oo:

I wonder how many pounds his trigger was set at? :devil:

that bear is huge, he could have covered 20 yards in a single stride....thats some fast thinking and faster shooting, great story! /goes to oil his guns again just in case

great story


old bear must have been desperate for a snack,picked the wrong guy

has he seen his dogs ... or did they bolt LOL

INSANELY HUGE

Don't want to start a pro-guns/anti-guns discussion but I don't see why taking such examples to make a point about bearing a gun. You could find as many stories of things going south because of a gun or tragedies directly linked to the presence of a gun. Pro or anti gun either way I don't think it makes a point to pick a given story because there are many, both positive or tragic.

That's a huuuuuge bear! It looks all skin and bone though, maybe ill/malnourished. Maybe that could have something to do with it attacking like that.

The other flip side if the guy didn't have a gun, he would have died quickly from the attack.

Sgt. LED said:

I wonder how many pounds his trigger was set at? :devil:

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My experience is that it's difficult to find a good gunsmith who will work on a Ruger DA trigger. I had MagnaPort do the trigger for my Ruger 454, it was significantly improved from the usual (which was not good) to adequate, probably as good as the Ruger DA trigger can be. :shrug:

FlashInThePan said:

... Any way to find out where in Alaska this was? As an Alaskan, I'm kind of intrigued. ... - FITP

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Happened August 2, around 11am...Here's the local paper link...as far as bear spray goes - seems it does have good stats behind it, but every bear/situation is different. One needs to know how to spray it as well (just like one had better know how to shoot the gun!).

I used to carry the .44 down at the Russian River all the time, then backed off to the bear spray. We've run into brownies & blacks as well many, many times down there (once at arm's length from a black bear we almost collided with on the trail! He turned & booked pretty fast...don't remember if we both crapped ourselves or not?! ). I just give them their space!! HOWEVER, I do like what Ed from Gunsite wrote!!!

Almost "gives me an excuse" to add the .454 to my little armory! Could go for a .500 S&W too?!

Some of the large frame Rugers can have double action pulls near 20 lbs but I can guarantee that the trigger weight wasn't even noticed in this case.

Tino_ale
Don't want to start a pro-guns/anti-guns discussion but I don't see why taking such examples to make a point about bearing a gun.

You could find as many stories of things going south because of a gun or tragedies directly linked to the presence of a gun. Pro or anti gun either way I don't think it makes a point to pick a given story because there are many, both positive or tragic.

Click to expand...

I have no objections as long as the conversation remains cordial.

The commentary from the firearms instructor came along with the email that I received as that person was commenting about the responsibility of personal protection in general. Additionally I'm sure it was a heart felt concern because the attack victim was a friend of his. Hopefully that will put the commentary inclusion into better perspective.

With regards to the facts of exercising armed personal protection vs. not. No doubt you're correct that you could indeed find more stories "going south" as compared to bear attacks being stopped, especially if you're watching your local nightly news channel. Unfortunately, that's looking at things from a very limited perspective. The actual number of "defensive guns used" or DGUs in the US alone ranges anually from 800,000 - 2.4 million instances on the liberal side, to 108,000 to 370,000 instances on the conservative side. The truth is likely somewhere between 370,000 and 800,000 of well documented cases. From the true persepective, a number of say, half a million, far outweighs any negative that's associated with defensive firearm use.

The firearm is the best tool for the task of protecting life and property and it's the only weapon that when handled skillfully can allow a 90lb woman to be on equal terms with any natural threat, whether man or beast. To say that there is more danger to being armed than to not be is a fallacy which is backed up by real world data.

This link may help. It's just one of thousands of sites that show the facts without the folly.
http://www.gunfacts.info/

The Forrest service recommends carrying bear bells and pepper spray when you go hiking in the woods to warn the bears in the area of your presence. That way you let them know your coming so they don't get startled.

The also have some pictures on their website showing the difference between black bear and grizzly scat so you can identify what kind of animals are around you in the woods.

Basically, the difference is the black bear scat looks like regular bear scat while the grizzly bear scat is sort of like regular bear scat with little bells in it and it smells like hot peppers!!!!