How close would you let a bear get to you before taking evasive action?

[greylynx]

I know this question is like "What is the best rifle", but I would not mind seeing what your opinions are.

Qualifying statements like, the terrain you are in,or, if you are in a tent, to explain your reason are most welcome.

[Pudelpointer]

To me "evasive action" means avoiding a confrontation. I take "evasive action" every time I step into the foothills or mountains.

If by "evasive action" you mean "lethal defensive action"; when its nose touches the muzzle I am pretty sure I won't miss.

[James M]

Aggression at a car length away he's gonna eat lead. Maybe 2 car lengths.

[stand junkie]

about 6 feet was the cloest one that i had to shoot i was looking for a wounded bear in some thin bush walked over to the creek edge and he jumped up out of the creek at me two from the hip with my defender and he was dead

[bb356]

Originally Posted by Pudelpointer

To me "evasive action" means avoiding a confrontation. I take "evasive action" every time I step into the foothills or mountains.

If by "evasive action" you mean "lethal defensive action"; when its nose touches the muzzle I am pretty sure I won't miss.

well said i agree i just hope i have a change of boxers on the latter !!!!!

Totally depends on the bear and the signs he's exhibiting. Like people, bears are individuals and if you can read the signs, it can tell you a lot about their intentions. For me to kill a grizz in self defence, I'd have to say sub 10 yards. I'd likely be less tolerant of a black bear....less paperwork involved. We had a grizz come in on a kill last year that was certainly less than 30 feet away, more likely 20 and it took three shots to back him off. Sadly, all the bear learned was that he can eventually get a kill from humans. He'll be a worse problem in the future. By all rights he should have died but killing a bear in Alberta certainly isn't without consequences. I've bounced rocks off the heads of two other grizz that were being a pain but were obviously more afraid of me than I was of them. For me, it all depends on the bear. I've killed one black in what I consider self defence.......he was too close!

[wwbirds]

Blacks don't concern me much while hunting or in the bush as they don't seem to go out of their way for trouble.

We all know there are no grizzlies left in Alberta as they are now endangered, a chance encounter would be like lightening striking.
So we walk around the lightening when we see them.

[steve]

Really depends on body language of the animal. I would do everything I could to not shoot a grizz, seems that shooting one is worse then shooting a human when it goes to court.

Had to whack a young tom cougar over the head with a stick the other night, we were unarmed and no dogs were present. If I had a gun I would have shot it. Thankfully no one was hurt and the cat lived.

[albertadeer]

No hesitation to let the lead fly at 10m+ at a full out charge "black bear"

I would let a grizzly maul me cause its not worth the paper work or hassle

Or just shoot the Grizz and throw the radio collar in the nearest river...shhh

...it all depends on the bear though. I have had bears act aggressive towards me more then half a dozen times, everytime i had no firearm. I ALWAYS have bear spray and a knife when im surveying.."im a forestry surveyor"

only one time i would have shot a bear, this was a small black that stalked me for 2 hours and had closed the distance to less then 5 meters, sprayed him with a small burst of spray. He left and came back coming straight at me on a slow stalking walk...one well placed rock between the eyes at 5m he left for a short while. I was then able to make it to the parked helicopter 500m away...man i would still love to find that bear and drift a few slugs in his rear...he was a bad bear..

I run into bears weekly at work or play. I always give these animals all the respect and room they deserve..which is lots! they are spectacular animals and one of the funnest to observe...but they can scare the feces out of you!

[Bassett]

Well me and my dad were at a mineral spring when a bear came crashing in and dad stoped him with a yell at 15 feet away.. we only had our bows.. lets just say if we had a gun, there woulda been a dead bear! thats too close for comfort.

[greylynx]

Originally Posted by Pudelpointer

To me "evasive action" means avoiding a confrontation. I take "evasive action" every time I step into the foothills or mountains.

If by "evasive action" you mean "lethal defensive action"; when its nose touches the muzzle I am pretty sure I won't miss.

Thanks for helping me out with my wording.

Thanks to Pudelpointer, let us include "lethal defensive action".

[flyguyd]

A bear at full charge covers between 25 to 30 F.P.S ,, you had better have quick reflexes under 30 feet.

[pottymouth]

Long stories short.......I've been bowled over by one once (I was standing on his excape route, we never saw each other until it happened) . Had to shoot another one, from the hip, at 3 yards full charge( slapped my sup tag on him, again i believe I was standing on his escape route). kool stories now to tell, but definatly not at the time!

[Lone_Wolf]

It would depend on the body language. The closest I have ever been to a bear was this pasting hunting season. I was laying along a fence line on a crop. I could see a big cinnamon walking down the fenceline towards me. Got my blood pumping. I figured I would let him get to 20 yards and yell to make sure he knew I was there, and if he kept coming I would shoot him. However neither action was required, because at about 30 yards he just drifted off into the trees and never saw him again. I don't think he knew I was there at all.

Originally Posted by pottymouth

kool stories now to tell, but definatly not at the time!

LOL...there's a lot of truth to that!

[deanmc]

[QUOTE=albertadeer;785621

Or just shoot the Grizz and throw the radio collar in the nearest river...shhh

[/QUOTE]
I know this is tounge in cheek......... But thought I would mention that some of those collars have a digital camera in them.

[drake]

while baiting i have had bears at uncomfortable distances (sub 10 yards) several times. You need to stay composed and read the bears body language. I find the little bears are the worst.....I almost killed a little jaw snapping, ground swatting, huffing and puffing two year old the year before last. Every time i would go to fill the drums the little ******* would come in and try to flex his muscle....

[albertadeer]

Originally Posted by deanmc

I know this is tounge in cheek......... But thought I would mention that some of those collars have a digital camera in them.

So your saying they have my picture??





all in good fun...would never harm the rare Grizzly bear. Wonderful creatures

[KegRiver]

I stepped on a live bear once, that's too close in my opinion.
Fortunately neither of us knew the other was there until it was all over.

We ran in opposite directions, I think he was faster but I made more noise, so I guess we wound up even.

Given warning, I would set my comfort range at 50 yards or so. Closer if Mr. bear is climbing a tree or trying to run away.

Most bears that have managed to get closer have not lived to tell the tale.
Charging doesn't worry me, I'll warn them off if that's all they are doing.
But when they fix their gaze on me and start to circle, I don't wait to see what they have in mind. I shoot, and I don't stop shooting until there is no movement.

[elkchaser]

Was bluff charged by a grizz last year that i surprised on rounding a corner on a quad trail . I had it close the distance from 30yards to 30ft in the blink of an eye ! All i had enogh time to do was raise my gun & hit the saftey off. Bear stopped bounceing on its front paw snaping its teeth snorting . I slowly backed up around the corner & high tailed 700 yards back to my truck . Hounestly I wasnt brave or strong ! I WAS SCARED TO DEATH ! Not sure why i didnt shoot or even if i could have even had a chance to chamber another one if i had ! In all was in shock for a few hours after & gave me a whole new outlook on life . I am thankful the way things turned out for both the bear & me . But I think things could have gone wrong in second if i i had shoot or my kids where there .

[savage7mm]

it depends on the situation, ive heard of some old farmers who have problems with bears in there yard, some will buy a light birdshot for there shotgun and shoot it in the backside, if it comes back then they will shoot it to kill it, but ive never encountered a bear while hunting so i guess it would depend on his body language.

[guywiththemule]

I have had a few upclose and personal encounters with both black and grizzly bears over the years. The two that got within 10 yards(my personal space); An older boar up at the Ya Ha Tinda that I had to escort out of camp. He was checking the camp out and looking for oats I think. He wasn`t in a hurry to leave and acted like an univited guest to a good party.(he never came back that year, but looked over the camp from a distance the next year). The 2nd one was a black sow with a current year cub and two yearling. I was broke down while baling greenfeed and she decided that I should leave. I declined and decided she should leave. She slopped her jaws a couple of times and didn`t like the decision but she slowly left after she made sure the cubs were on their way into the bush. I had a hammer and used a lot of choice cuss words in our discussion(looking backrobably not a good idea !) Neither bear really pushed the issue by their body language at this distance but I was ready to resort to lethal force if they pushed any further.

[bisonhunter]

september 2007 i was hunting moose/caribou in the mackenzie mountains (canol heritage trail) when i was charged by a grizzly. i had seen a smaller bull and cow moose by a creek about 20 yds wide earlier but had elected to keep looking around as it was still early in the week. when i was coming back by the area i decided to try my calling skills for a giggle, and see if i could bring them out of the bush.
i was standing right beside the creek, and on the very first call this pumpkin head pokes up above the willows about three hundred yards away, then starts out at full speed straight at me. it took about 7 seconds for that bear to cover the distance between us, and to this day is the most impressive thing i have ever seen in my life. i put one shot over his head, yelling and waving my arms as he closed in. i was in plain view and he didn't slow down or even blink at the shot. finally i put the gun to my shoulder and when he got all four feet wet i let him have it. it was less than 50 ft and he was still at full speed. fortunately 300 grains of .375 h&h was enough, and only one shot was needed.
i was amazed at how calm i was during the whole episode, but for the next few hours afterward i was shaking like a jello tree in the wind, and sweating like i just ran a marathon. check out the look on my face, i chuckle every time i look at it.

i had a resident once in a lifetime only tag for a grizzly with me just for such a situation, so there was no paperwork involved. if it happens again i would do the same thing, i know that bear was all business on that day.

[Justanotherbuck2]

I was once, close to six feet from a huge grizz standing up and roaring at me, I jumped up as quick as I could. Still shaking and weak knee'd just sitting back typing the story. I fortunatley escaped by jumping over the arm of the couch and changing the channel...damn that Bart the bear..RIP.

[cacty]

If I can lean over in my stand and touch him with an arrow and arm extended he is too close and it usually just takes a whistle or a stomp of the foot and he/she is gone. As 4 grizz I couldnt say, never seen one.

[Bushmaster]

Very much depends on the body language....and that can change quickly.
These 2 bears climbed into my truck while baiting...there's another one hidden in the top left of the pic....I shouted at them to get the hell outta my truck and this is the response I got. So I got down outta the stand, snuck to the hood of the truck and arrowed the bigger black bear, who was now laying beside the truck eating a bone. I literally had to chase the brown one out of the truck and the clearing. I heard the black one expire, so I laid down my bow, grabbed a gun, just in case and proceeded to track the black. When I found him, the brown one had circled around and was laying partially on the black, with both front paws up on him. As I approached, the brown laid back her ears and started snarling, menacingly at me! I was only 20 yards away at the time and wasted no time in shooting her. It was the last day of the season in a 2 bear zone....

[Alberta Bigbore]

Awesome reads guys.

[LiegeRiver]

A few years ago, I was out setting up a camp for an early fall bear hunt, north of Ft. McMurrary. My partner wasn't due until the next day, so I was by myself. Anyway, I had the kitchen tent up, and had just finished my supper. I saw the willows across from the campsite waving around, and thought, " There's a bear in there". He poked his head out ,and I chased him off. He came back a few minutes later, and I chased him away with yelling and rock-throwing. All this took place at about 20 - 30 feet. I still had a few things to do around camp, so I grabbed my shotgun, stuffed it full of 000 buck, and went about my business. About five minutes later, Mr. Congeniality shows back up, in the door of the kitchen tent, popping his teeth, ears laid back. I yelled, he turned broadside, and I gave him a Federal 3" 000 load behind the shoulder at about 20 feet. Bang-flop, DRT. His skull is on my bar.

LR

[Tracker34]

Originally Posted by albertadeer

So your saying they have my picture??





all in good fun...would never harm the rare Grizzly bear. Wonderful creatures

Head for the Rio Grande and get across quick. (It always gets the bad guys away in the ol' western movies)

[Redfrog]

As some have said, it is a matter of body language. I have had close encounters with both blacks and Grizzlies. As soon as I suspect a problem, I take evasive action. I don't want to kill a bear that I'm not hunting, but would shoot in a heartbeat without any consideration for the paperwork.