Bear Encounter

[Guy Miner]

Last night I heard again from a gal I taught to shoot a couple of years ago. She has some adventures! She's out of town a bit, with a few acres, a house and a barn. Does some animal rescue work and puts all the animals in the barn every night then walks back to her house 50 - 60 yards away.

Two years ago, no more than three months into the shooting world... She put her critters in the barn. Closed the door, started walking to her house - and there's a cougar! She pulls out her 9mm Glock and shoots it twice, killing it. Good job. That was the funniest call from her! My wife and I were listening "Guy! Guy! Guy! I shot a mountain lion!" She was so excited. She had no cougar tag or hunting license, but the Fish & Wildlife guys let her keep the cougar. They wrote it up as threatening her livestock - which seemed accurate to me.

Last night Annie Oakley puts the animals away, and is walking back to her house in the dark when she sees her brown alpaca just ahead of her and is thinking "I just put him in the barn, how'd he get out?" Her dog is going nuts barking and growling at the alpaca which is unusual for him. He likes the animals. She's just about to reach out and latch onto her alpaca when the dog jumps in front of her and goes after it... Umm, it's a bear!

I told her she needs a good headlamp, or glasses, or both.

Dog ran the bear off. Got extra scoobie snacks. She had her 9mm - but I'd cautioned her that it's a little light for bear.

She has more danged animal adventures. Thought you guys would get a kick out of the stories.

Guy

 

[remingtonman_25_06]

Good stuff! One must always be prepared while living in the country with animals that can eat you...I think its time for her to graduate to at least a 357 magnum for bears. I'm actually a bit surprised the 9mm took the cat in 2 rounds myself...357 is the minimum I would carry for such things, and my 44 is even better. Although I think a 44 mag is a little to much gun for most women to handle. My wife shot my 7.5" SBH once with full house 240s and she was not a fan. Her arms went back behind her head haha.

 

[Guy Miner]

She was pretty funny when she decided to get guns a couple of years ago. Fortunately she knew a retired State Trooper who is a "gun guy" and he sold her his Glock 9mm and his AR-15, so she went from no guns to a couple of pretty doggone no-nonsense firearms.

But she had no firearms knowledge. She heard I did firearms training, and called me. She was asking questions and wasn't sure if her Glock was loaded or not... I didn't like the idea of hearing a "bang" while I was on the phone with her, so I drove out to her her place and made sure her guns were unloaded, then gave her a firearms safety class right there in her driveway! She started shooting with me shortly after that and got pretty good. The only time she's shot since training with me two years ago, were the two shots that hit and killed the cougar!

She's quite the gal, and has decided to come shoot some more with me.

Guy

 

[6mm Remington]

Good stuff Guy! Nice to see you helping her to be safe. We've had several black bear sightings at the University of Montana Campus here recently. We live about a miles out of the U of M and our neighbor put out a trail camera near his house and has already captured a black bear on his camera!

 

[Guy Miner]

Near the university?

Sure it's not just a shaggy professor? :wink:

 

[DrMike]

Neat story, Guy. Not terribly surprised. Sounds as if she is living in the right area for such encounters. The presence of her rescued animals would only make the possibility of an encounter more likely. Glad she took the training.

 

[Guy Miner]

Yes - she has a large creek running along the edge of her property, it's a natural travel corridor for animals. The population of mountain lion and bear in the area is significant.

And she knows she's got a barn full of protein.

Guy

 

[Thebear_78]

It’s funny how much a bear can look like something else when your not expecting a bear. I booted what I thought was my neighbors black chow mix one time that was getting into my trash can. Turned out to be a black bear. I’m not sure which of us was more surprised.


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