Alaskan Brown Bear Almost gets the Hunters

[Vince]

Hindsight is 20/20.
I’m glad they were able to survive and learn from the experience. I try to learn from the mistakes of others so I don’t have to repeat the ass hattery.

Vince

 

[Charlie-NY]

I was very surprised to see the guy take a shot at a brown bear that was still in its (snow) cave. Everything only went downhill after that.

 

[PJGunner]

"Hard to imagine an AccuBond not doing more going through the shoulder, but obviously it happened.
Glad they learned a hard lesson and are still able to tell the story."

The AccuBond is a good bullet but at the distance of the first shot has pretty much lost a lot of steam. I've only shot one animal with the AccuBond and that shot was around 100 yards at a cow elk. The elk ran maybe 30-40 feet and expired. We looked for the bullet which apparently did not exit but never found it, Personally, I think it, a 165 gr. 30 caliber was a bit too light for elk but the scope on my .35 Whelen had turned toes up and the 06 was the back up rifle. It has a slower twist rate barrel and will absolutely not shoot any bullets heavier that 165 grains.The rifle is a commercial FN Mauser with a 24" custom barrel, supposedly with a 1 in 12" twist. A 1 in 12" should stabilize 180 gr. bullets but this one will not. I suspect the twist rate might be slower than the 1 in 12" specified. anyway, the AccuBond did the job and the meat was excellent.
Paul B.

 

[JD338]

I was very surprised to see the guy take a shot at a brown bear that was still in its (snow) cave. Everything only went downhill after that.

Yup exactly. I guess that's why he was hollering at the bear so he would show more vitals. Down side is he gave the bear his location.

JD338

 

[Blkram]

Caliber and bullet in this instance are fine, and not the issue. They would work well on these large bears, at recommended distances and shot presentations. I wouldn't hesitate to use these on a brown bear hunt...but as I have other rifles in other chamberings, that I shoot well and have complete confidence in, I would use them first with factory ammo or my book handloads in new cases (e.g., 9.3x62 with 250 gr AB, 376 Steyr with 260 gr AB, or my 416 Taylor with 350 gr TSX).
His mistake was the distance, as already mentioned, as well as the the shot presentation when he chose to shoot. And from there it was shot placement. While the original shots did hit some vitals, the placement wasn't accurate enough to produce a quick, clean kill. And to top it all of, his hot loads produced problems that resulted in a jammed and useless rifle. He is lucky that he had a sufficiently powerful revolver for back up that finished the job. (I agree that there should have been a properly chambered rifle as back up too.)

The bear was still mostly in its den and the vitals were mostly blocked, and not in their normal placement as would be the case on a standing, broadside bear. (Reason why most experienced guides won't allow shots on animals that are laying down...the vitals are positioned differently in such a presentation, and proper placement to ensure maximum damage cannot be assured.)

 

[1100 Remington Man]

Well if any thing they own up to what happened were Honest about it. That was one tough Large Bear. Now how many here are going out to buy a hand cannon ? And what will you use ? While I like my reloads I only use factory loads for my handgun self defense loads and If I ever get the chance to hunt a Grizzly I will use factory loads as well. Bob Hagel was also in the camp of no long range shooting of the Big Bears.

 

[Blkram]

The handguns that I have now that would be suitable for bears would be my 41 Rem Mag using Winchester 240 gr Platinum Tips or the 10MM using Buffalo Bore 200gr Hard Casts. If they can cleanly take cape buffalo with this Buffalo Bore ammo, and break both shoulders and come to rest under the hide in the off shoulder, it should work just fine on big bears! And the 41 Rem Mag gets higher velocity with heavier bullets.
Always thought that the 454 Casull was a pretty cool cartridge, but now that we can longer acquire new handguns in Canada, should I ever get a 454 Casull, it is going to have to be in a lever action rifle.

 

[Alaska]

Big Bear hunting in Alaska most try to keep their shots 200 yards and under. A lot of guns less than the magnums have killed big bear as the 308 Win and 30/06. But the 300 Range is where I feel comfortable with my 300 win mag. with the big costal bears the range can be very short in dense cover a lot prefer the 375 HH and 416 Rem. As the terrain opens up the 300 Win Mag with 200gr AccuBond / Partition / A Frame is fully capable. The same bullets in 180gr is not bad either. For interior Grizzly much smaller I would not feel undergun at all with my 308 Win and 180 Nosler Part. or 165gr Fail Safe for Grizzly. And I often carry it on float hunts here local. For Moose season where my shots are long and the target is huge I am a big fan of 338 RUM and 338 WM both with 225gr.
We can bait Grizzly here and the good ole Marlin 45/70 with 350 Speer FN handloads
is deadly and popular for a tree stand gun.
For handguns my 629 SW 44 mag in 4” with 255gr Hardcast Coated and Glock 20 in 10mm with 220gr Hardcast is my carry pistol. Over the last 20 years the G20 gets the most carry time. Picture is a Serviceman from Fort Richardson and his brown Bear taken with G20 in self defense kill getting his moose bow kill out ! His Underwear is hanging in the tree behind him.

 

[Alaska]

Well if any thing they own up to what happened were Honest about it. That was one tough Large Bear. Now how many here are going out to buy a hand cannon ? And what will you use ? While I like my reloads I only use factory loads for my handgun self defense loads and If I ever get the chance to hunt a Grizzly I will use factory loads as well. Bob Hagel was also in the camp of no long range shooting of the Big Bears.

Bob Hagel what a great classic hunter !

 

[Alaska]

"Hard to imagine an AccuBond not doing more going through the shoulder, but obviously it happened.
Glad they learned a hard lesson and are still able to tell the story."

The AccuBond is a good bullet but at the distance of the first shot has pretty much lost a lot of steam. I've only shot one animal with the AccuBond and that shot was around 100 yards at a cow elk. The elk ran maybe 30-40 feet and expired. We looked for the bullet which apparently did not exit but never found it, Personally, I think it, a 165 gr. 30 caliber was a bit too light for elk but the scope on my .35 Whelen had turned toes up and the 06 was the back up rifle. It has a slower twist rate barrel and will absolutely not shoot any bullets heavier that 165 grains.The rifle is a commercial FN Mauser with a 24" custom barrel, supposedly with a 1 in 12" twist. A 1 in 12" should stabilize 180 gr. bullets but this one will not. I suspect the twist rate might be slower than the 1 in 12" specified. anyway, the AccuBond did the job and the meat was excellent.
Paul B.

The 180gr AccuBond .308 is a very well respected bullet for Moose hunting in Alaska . In the 338 Dia the 225gr AccuBond have yet recovered one from 8 moose kills. Great results for a bonded bullet.

 

[35 Whelen]

Quote:
What has happened to old fashioned woodsmanship and stalking skills, coupled with the ability (ethics) to NOT take a risky shot?

Great question, sadly it has taken the same path as the DoDo bird.....
Today the modern hunter is much more likely to show up with a big MAGNUN rifle ( he can't shoot well) some new boots ( he won't be able to walk in after first day) a new GPS he isn't firmilar with, and no Compass .
Real woodsmen; are as scares as hens teeth, and maden heads.......
Welcome to the new generation of American hunters.
I had a Pennsylvania hunter show up here to track a big Whitetail few years back, He worn nothing but wool, was a crack shot with his Dad's 35 Remington, always knew how to get home , he shot a beauty running hard, we get very few like him anymore.
Real old fashioned woods hunter.

E

 

[Alaska]

Quote:
What has happened to old fashioned woodsmanship and stalking skills, coupled with the ability (ethics) to NOT take a risky shot?

Great question, sadly it has taken the same path as the DoDo bird.....
Today the modern hunter is much more likely to show up with a big MAGNUN rifle ( he can't shoot well) some new boots ( he won't be able to walk in after first day) a new GPS he isn't firmilar with, and no Compass .
Real woodsmen; are as scares as hens teeth, and maden heads.......
Welcome to the new generation of American hunters.
I had a Pennsylvania hunter show up here to track a big Whitetail few years back, He worn nothing but wool, was a crack shot with his Dad's 35 Remington, always knew how to get home , he shot a beauty running hard, we get very few like him anymore.
Real old fashioned woods hunter.

Here in Alaska
Sad thing a lot of out of state hunters get take advantage of. They book a moose hunt and instead of a fly in to productive areas they get taken to local hunting areas where success rate is much lower. If they do their homework they can moose hunt here much cheaper and have a great time.