The "Bear" Necessities?

Musings on bears.

I don't really live in bear country unless one wanders out of its normal range. I've seen a few javelina, and bobcats have been sighted in the area.

In keeping with the "right to keep and arm bears" I've always wondered if the bear rhyme was true or just made up:

If it's black, fight back.
If it's brown, lay down.
If it's white, good night.

Meaning black bears can be scared off, brown bears you should play dead and hope it doesn't decide to investigate you too closely, and if it's a polar bear, then you are bear poop already.

Truth or Old Wives' Tale?

I've always admired those brave enough to hunt bears. Knowing what happened to Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend I would think you wouldn't do much traipsing in bear country without taking some heavy artillery.

The question regularly comes up as to whether .357 is enough for bear. The answer is usually "No", and this article illustrates it very well:

http://snubnose.info/docs/grizzly_357.htm

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First, Id like to offer a bit of history on the building of the .357 Magnum legend. Back in the 30s when Smith & Wesson introduced the .357 Magnum, they wanted to demonstrate the great power of the cartridge. To this end, they hired professional hunters and equipped them with large N-frame revolvers with 8 barrels. These guns were loaded with the largest bullets and hottest loads they could handle without blowing up. With their loads, bullets, and long barrels, these revolvers produced awesome terminal ballistics. These expert hunters went into the field with these supercharged handguns and took elk, moose, and bears. A legend is born. The .357 Magnum will bring down a grizzly bear.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause.

A note on grizzly bears: they are smart, strong, mean, bulky, motivated and fast. The grizzly bear is the one predator in North America that truly inspires terror in my heart. No matter what you can do, he can do it better. He or she can be merciless in defending turf or litter, and may just kill you for kicks.

Because Smith & Wessons expert hunters with their hard-hitting revolvers were able to bring down bears with a .357 Magnum, does that mean that your Scandium framed 2 snubnose with wussy off-the-shelf loads will be able to do the same? Probably not. The expert hunter stalks the prey and takes the shot from the optimal range and angle. Ideally, the bear does not even know hes in danger. If you are hiking a trail and come upon a bear unexpectedly, you will not have the advantages of position, concealment and surprise. You will be drawing quickly and trying to get a shot off against a rapidly moving animal that may weigh 800 lbs. or so, and with a gun having considerably less power than the revolvers upon which the legend was built. In this scenario, the chances of getting a rapidly disabling hit on the bear drop to next to nothing. Unless you are extremely lucky, the bear is going to win this one. The .357 Magnum has the penetration to reach vital organs in the bear, but what are the chances of making that shot in an emergency?

In this observers humble opinion, the .357 Magnum is marginal at best for protection against bears.

Many years ago I read a hilarious response to a letter asking about .357 and grizzly bears.

I can't link to it because it was a letter to a printed gun magazine from about 25+ years ago, but here's how I remember it.

I reader wrote in to ask if .357 magnum was enough to hunt grizzly bears.

The editor who answered the letter politely and discreetly replied:

"Sir, if you do decide to hunt grizzly bears with a .357 magnum I suggest you smear the gun with bacon grease and hope the bear stops to lick it while you run away." :haha:

Lastly, here's a story from the Twilight Zone:

http://time.com/5514103/casey-hathaway-bear-missing/

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North Carolina Boy, 3, Found After Missing in the Woods for 2 Days. He Says He 'Hung Out With a Bear'

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The child, Casey Hathaway, was playing outside his great-grandmother’s house with two other children on Tuesday, when he apparently wandered off into the woods, according to a report by local news channel WITN.

Hundreds of people, drones, helicopters and search dogs searched more than 1,000 acres for the boy, but were unable to find him, according to the channel. Over the next few days, the area experienced freezing temperatures and heavy rain, and some began to fear the worst.

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EMS transported Hathaway to a local hospital. Hathaway was cut up and bruised, but seemed otherwise to be unharmed, according to WITN.

Hathaway’s aunt, Breanna Hathaway, wrote on Facebook that her nephew seems to be fine.

“Casey is healthy, smiling and talking. He said he hung out with a bear for two days. God sent him a friend to keep him safe,” Breanna Hathaway wrote.

My take: It seems unlikely that a 3-year old who is alone and facing death by exposure would make up a story like this, yet, it seems unlikely he would "hang out with a bear."

How did he survive? Was it actually Bigfoot or some other animal that watched over the child? Would a child that age have mistaken an animal the size of a wolf for a bear? And even then it's unlikely a wolf wouldn't simply have eaten the child. So how did the child survive?