Years ago, I read about a guy who was attacked by a bear. He ran, the bear chased. He climbed the tree, the bear climbed right up after him. (Most people don't know that a bear can climb a tree straight up faster than a human can sprint on level ground.) The bear finally got close enough and grabbed the guy by the heel of one boot. At that point, the guy leaned around and put a small revolver up against the the bear's eyeball. He then fired one .22 short into it's brain, killing it instantly. The window of opportunity is very small, but a .22 through the eye or straight into the ear canal can even drop a polar bear. The Inuit are known to hunt polar bears in deep snow with a .22 rifle. On show-shoes they're faster than the bear. During the chase, they eventually maneuver around and stick the barrel of the gun in the bear's ear. Then it's one shot, one bear. Or it's mistake one and bear won.
On the OP. I've no experience with bears but feral hog. Those with Russian genes are here in our AO. 3-4 hundred pounds worth of bad news when confronted. Still no comparison with angry/hungry bear I know. My thought is if all you have is a .38 snubbie and it turns out you confronted the one and only bear that wasn't a "coward" you probably better off to put that one round in your OWN eyeball. Easier shot. Still gonna get eaten but,at least, you might not get eaten alive. Oh yeah, youngest son got charged by a small (285 #) boar when he had only a 9mm Glock. He got it down in time but the next week he owned a Marlin in .45-70 as his brush hog gun. And new underwear.
Based on your long history of being in survival situations, right? Yeah, bears in Cleveland are goofs...not so much when you get a bit west of old man river. As far as east Cleveland...it ain't half as bad as it was in the 70s...when some dipstick put one one them little snubby revolvers into my belly and told me to give him my wallet. I loved the look of surprise on his face after I told him to go fk himself and he tried to pull the trigger...only to discover that it's kinda hard to pull that trigger when someone has their hand holding the cylinder and the hammer. Whoopsie. My daddy being a Cleveland cop didn't prevent ME from being charged with assault and battery for kicking the crap out of that wannabe thug...and given the choice to either join the service or go to jail. I used to spend a lot of time in the metroparks honing my bushcraft skills...back when all those paved multi-purpose paths were nothing by bridal paths and game trails and park rangers were pretty much confined to the toboggan runs .near Strongsville. Be careful with that pop gun in your pocket...Cleveland is a commie town in a commie state that requires a license to carry concealed. I never bothered with the permit...but figured I'd warn you bout it before one of CPDs finest puts you in the can...which is worse than the east side ever was for hipster white boys. As far as Griz in Colorado...while I won't say the bear you saw wasn't a griz, odds are it was just a brown bear. There ain't been grizzlies in Colorado...especially in the Denver area, for decades. I remember someone swearing they shot them a grizzly near Steamboat Springs back in 97 or 98...but it turned out to be a brown bear too. Every year I was living down in the Trinidad/Raton area, there would be reports of grizzlies, especially in the Vermejo country and Carson National Forest, but none ever proved out.
lol @VisuTrac the us gov disband them in Wyoming in 1972, couldn't afford the hazard pay and medical bills =)
How to tell what kind of bear it is by the tree 1. If your chased by a bear and climb a tree and it climbs up with you it's a black bear. 2. If your chased by a bear and you climb up a tree and it shakes you out it's a grizzly bear. 3. If you chased by a bear and go to climb up a tree and there no tree to climb it's a polar bear.
When I lived at the mountain house, the original owner leveled the land. Behind the house was a 6' flat and a retaining wall. At the far side the deck was elevated about 10'. A bear would walk up the driveway, behind the house, under the deck then downhill into the forest. One night, I pulled in and behind the house was a bear. After that, I left the kitchen window open and when the dogs growled; I'd look. If I saw a bear, I'd light a whole package of lady finger fire crackers and watch him go flying downhill to the forest. After a while, no more bears... Trust me, after watching them run, there is no way one will out run a bear in high gear..
We used to get bears in town all the time when I lived in Raton. Once found one with his butt hanging out of dumpster while he was rooting through the trash and shot him square in that butt with a rubber slug...he just looked at me like "f you, I'm eating here".
According to Yellowstone wildlife fishing game a grizzly bear can do 40 miles an hour or can maintain 25 miles an hour for up to two miles. You are not going to outrun him on foot.
You mean my Swiss army knife won't save me? I watched the nature channel once. I'm a pro. Besides they just want a hug. When I step into the wilderness, me and the animals sing Kumbaya. It's all rainbows and unicorn poots I tell ya.
Here's a little something I happened to remember. Wyoming Man Killed Bear with his Bare Hands and Teeth - Inside Ben's Brain And another: Ex-Marine Kills Bear, Saves Sons I have read several of guys defending themselves from grizzly bears with 9mms. One from alaska(I think) a few years ago used a snubnose .454 casull. I'm not posting any of this to support carrying a cap gun instead of a hand cannon. Some people get lucky, many do not. I think we have a certain amount of luck at any given time and it's best not to tempt fate by using it all up.
This is funny. My old neighbor at the mountain house worked for the state. They'd set traps for feral hogs with corn. The state said when they went to lunch; they'd better drive their own vehicles. One day they came back from lunch and he noticed something in the bed of his state truck. He figured it was someone being a wise guy. So he walked up to the truck figuring and yelled Yaa.. Well it was a bear!! So he ran to his bud's truck and jumped through the window. His bud went from saying WTH are you doing butt hole to closing the window and flooring it in reverse.
Only time I ever saw an animal take possession of a vehicle was during mating season for Bobcats. They claimed this guy's truck as their mating ground. Lucky he had another vehicle. Mating season done, they were gone.
