pretty kewl An armed 11-year-old walking to a “fishing hole” with his family in Hoonah, Alaska, saved his uncle and cousin by shooting a brown bear that came out of the woods and charged the group. Armed 11-Year-Old Saves Family from Charging Bear
The Young Man needs to talk to a elder & feel good , It takes time to speak & understand with a elder who's there always !!!! S
I never ceases to AMAZE me, how screwed up the story can get, after it has been thru two or three different So-called NEWS OUTFITS.... This happened 17 miles from here..... At Game Creek, near the Game Creek Commune... About the only thing these Bozos got right, was the kid was 11 years old, the Names of the people in the Fishing Party, and it was a shotgun, with the first shot being Birdshot....
Why would you even carry with birdshot in the bear woods? All that is going to do is make a pissed off bear., maybe blind pissed off if you are lucky but pissed off nonetheless.
You carry the Birdshot, in the Pipe, so that you are NOT going for the KillShot right off.... You give the critter the opportunity to decide to go the other way, and when he does, you dust his A$$ with Birdshot, to get him motivated... Also, it is real Hard to kill a Spruce Grouse, that you just scared up, for supper, with 00Buck or Slugs.... Once The BirdShot is expended, THEN it is time to get serious, and DO IN the Critter... This is a very common, Standard LoadOut, for a Shotgun, That is used as Bear Protection, here in Alaska.... In this incident the Bear came from out of the Brush, just few Yds from the lead person on the trail, and went thru the first two, Really Fast... Both were armed with BIG Bore Rifles but they were slung, and by the time the Bear got past them, the Kid, who was carrying his Shotty, just had time to Aim and Fire... The Birdshot Slowed the Bear's charge and the next shot (Slug), went thru his Nose, Brain, and down the Spinal Cord, then the Kid emptied the rest into the critter, to make sure it was DEAD.... The day before the Kid had talked to his Dad, about removing the WaterFowl Plug from the Shotty, and they did that... So he had One in the Pipe and four in the Tube.... Trooper Andy (My Trooper) did the investigation and took the Report....
The Bear was likely a 3-4 Year Old Coastal Brown Bear, and was hungry because the fish had not showed up in the stream quit yet...
Want to tell me that an 11 year old facing a full grown Kodiak Brown Bear with nothing more than a shotgun isn't a Combatant? Yup, you ain't placing your life or any others on that bet. JMHO.
Why the sam hill do you keep asking the age of the combatant? He is listed as eleven (11) years old in about half a dozen places, not counting the links. Reading challenged, perhaps? More, he was NOT the first line in this case, he was third in line. AK folks believe in defense in depth.
And you think they speak louder than words? Facts are merely facts, tales are told that become more than just words. JMHO.
That is how my Mossie 590 shotties are set up as well.....bird-shot and then 00buck and slug alternating (9 rounds overall).... first round is the warning.....then it gets real hot.