Practicing bear defense shooting

As a hunter, and more specifically a predator hunter in grizzly country, I always recognize the potential for a bear attack when calling. I try to follow all of the rules for calling safety but realize that sometimes "stuff" happens! This was brought home to me about 4 yrs ago when an adult female black bear in perfect condition came after me in a full predatory attack with my scent blowing directly into her face. Miraculously, I saw her in time to shove the barrel towards her face and shoot her through the mouth killing her instantly. Shooting an animal in self defense is not fun, nor is the subsequent investigation by state game wardens and bear management specialists. Since then I am even more careful with site selection when calling, particularly in heavy timber.
To that end I practice a lot of close range shooting with my rifles and my 10mm pistol. Equally important I mentally practice what I will do in response to an attack.
This weekend I setup a motorized target in the backyard and outfitted it with one of the Alaska State Parks charging bear training targets.



I invited several of my friends over but did not tell them why. They were just told to bring their rifle and sidearm because we were going to do something different.
Everybody got a chance to shoot both their rifle and handgun from a variety of positions.

Click "img" on left side below for video......

I was very happy not to embarrass myself to badly.


Click "img" on left side below for video........

At the end of the day one of my friends said "You know, this may have saved my life". He carries a .357 revolver and after multiple runs he only had one hit (near the top of the back), the rest were clean misses. He was very honest when he said that he had never given much thought to shooting moving targets and will be spending a lot more time practicing.
While I realize most talk of bear guns and stopping power is just recreational mental gymnastics because few of us will ever be faced with the situation, it is a confidence booster to have some experience with shooting at moving targets.

P.S. The motor is a commercial unit from Action Targets in Utah. Variable speed that can probably push 20mph with a light target. We were running it at 10mph due to the uneven terrain. The cart is a homemade device that I use at my Safari Rifle shoot every year. It is also REALLY, REALLY fun! Good Hunting, be safe. JCS

try bear spray, bigger area covered

mtmander said:

try bear spray, bigger area covered

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Where is the manly fun in that!

I just got home from a week up north of Libby. One night I had a close encounter with a moose, who charged and missed me by about 3ft. as I was riding my mountain bike down a logging road. That encounter demonstrated to me that in all likelihood, you'd probably never even get a chance to draw your spray or firearm! I've heard that stated before, that alot of bear attack survivors had a firearm or spray and they never unholstered it. that definitely looks like a valuable skill to hone however. If you did have the luck on your side to be able to see a charging bear and have a few seconds to react, having the confidence to actually hit your target is crucial!

I hope I never have to defend my self against an animal with a pistol. The only thing I am even moderately accurate with is a .40, and even then its pretty sad. I carry bear spray for critters and a .40 for psychos.

Good and fun practice!

Titan_Bow said:

I just got home from a week up north of Libby. One night I had a close encounter with a moose, who charged and missed me by about 3ft. as I was riding my mountain bike down a logging road. That encounter demonstrated to me that in all likelihood, you'd probably never even get a chance to draw your spray or firearm! I've heard that stated before, that alot of bear attack survivors had a firearm or spray and they never unholstered it. that definitely looks like a valuable skill to hone however. If you did have the luck on your side to be able to see a charging bear and have a few seconds to react, having the confidence to actually hit your target is crucial!

Click to expand...

You were in my neighborhood. We had a USFS law enforcement officer killed while riding his mtn bike near Glacier park last summer. He actually collided with a large male grizz. I ride gated roads several days a week and have for years carried my bear (moose) spray in the water bottle holder. Not sure it would have helped in the case of a collision but may prove handy if I have some warning.

Just for fun, here's a tidbit of interesting trivia I've learned from the Law Enforcement and bear guys I've worked with. They have said that for your average shooter, you can take the size of the group shot under a controlled situation and double it for a situation where the shooter is under duress. Seems like a reasonable estimate to me. You do have more margin for error with spray.

Looks like a fun day at the range! We had to do moving targets for firearms quals, and those were my favorite part!

Having spent the majority of my life in law enforcement, hanging around hunters and other "gun guys", I think that only doubling the size of groups fired under stress is pretty optimistic. I would guess that when under a close range attack, most folks will just turn and run or start banging away with un aimed fire. Happily the odds of it actually happening to any of us is extremely remote.

That looks like fun, vids didn't work for me