[Koanbred]

This event took place in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, back on May 31, 2008:

Pete Mohen decided to take his 15 year-old son, Chris, out hunting for the last day of Bear Season, in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. Since Chris drew a bear tag, he was quite excited that his dad was going to lead him to his trophy bear on the last day of the season.

Pete and Chris, started early in the morning and had been stalking a black bear for several hours. Finally, they spotted a black bear over a hundred yards away. Pete advised his son to steady his aim after placing his .338 magnum rifle upon the tripod. Chris took steady aim and fired! The shot hit the bear right behind the shoulder. They knew that they hit it, because they observed steam exit the wound immediately afterwards. They were both certain that when they walked over to the next ridge of the Cascade hills, they would find their kill. However, after thoroughly searching the area, they found no bear and not even so much as a sign of blood loss.

Since they were both convinced that Chris hit the bear with magnum force from the .338, they decided to ask a friend with greater hunting experience than they had, to track the bear for them. They therefore, ask Aaron Wyckoff, a 33 year old native of Glide, Oregon, who was an avid Elk and deer hunter. The old friend, and now new bear tracker, often hunted in those very same woods of Oregon, in the Cascade Mountains. After only a few minutes, Aaron and his hunting partner, Justin Norton, find the blood trail of the bear. Aaron and Justin, lead Pete and Chris on a small path, just below the ridge of the mountain, following the bear's trail. However, the trail mysteriously disappeared. Aaron was certain that the bear had to be somewhere nearby. Justin wasn't convinced. Therefore, Aaron walked up the ridge upon a bluff, to get a better view, leaving his tracking party, below.

Aaron hears what sounds like leaves rustling and then a short grunt. Aaron turns around and immediately realizes that the bear has circled around unnoticed. The bear was now steadily moving towards him, stalkingly. Aaron, being the cool and experienced hunter that he is, very calmy and deliberately drew his Llama .45 auto pistol and fired a round directly into the black bear's head. It had no effect! The bear quickened the attack. Suddenly, Aaron found himself covered in bear as he continued to fire three more rounds near the head area of the bear. The bear began biting into Aaron's blocking arm, as he continued to go for Aaron's face. Aaron just kept sticking the pistol (that now won't fire) into the bear's mouth in an attempt to save his face. As Aaron tried to fire his Llama pistol, he realizes that in his panic, he he has inadvertently hit the clip release, while trying to fire. He felt the clip fall onto his chest seconds ago!

Aaron then decides that he will just have to fight the bear off by hand until he can somehow escape. Aaron, then manages to pull himself on top of the bear. While beating the bear from the top, he attempts to dive away to roll down the bluff. However, the bear quickly reaches out and grabs Aaron by the calf and snatches him back underneath, just like a wide receiver retrieving a pass.

Now, Aaron can no longer escape or fire his weapon. He now feels that his only salvation will be his friends, at the foot of the heavily wooded mountain. Therefore, out of sheer desparation, Aaron begins to yell for help.

Justin Norton, his hunting partner, rushes up and fires his .44 into the bears stomach. The bear fails to respond. Justin then, fires his .44 cal behind the bear's ear and directly into the bears head.

Finally, the bear collapses and slowly rolls halfway down the mountain side.

After dressing the 260 lb. bear, it was determined that the .44 caliber round to the head along with one of the .45 cal. rounds, both remained in the bear's head, even after being fired upon at point-blank range.

Let's see, a .338 magnum round just behind the shoulders, four .45 cal. rounds (one directly into the head), and two .44 cal. rounds (one to the belly and one to the head). If my arithmetic serves me correctly, that's seven rounds in the bear. He's still taking vengeance out on Aaron before the seventh round. I can't just believe that! Only after the seventh round head-shot, does the bear finally conclude his attack.

Aaron survives the attack to track bear again, the following season.

Somewhere, there's a lesson in this story....

I just feel like saying,..."Deja Vu!"

What's up with some of these bears?

Reference:

http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20080611/news/696532934/


(Double-Click to get a better image of Aaron and his .45 auto. Llama)

 

[shane256]

Seems like the lesson is don't shoot a bear like you would a deer (behind the shoulder). Seems like you'd want to anchor it with at least a shot through the shoulder, hopefully breaking both front legs in the process.

Also, if that story is from somewhere else, you should probably include a link to it for attribution, at least, and not cut-n-paste the story (I think the guys that run this site recently added a 'no cut-n-paste stories' rule to the Posting Guidelines).

 

[Koanbred]

Seems like the lesson is don't shoot a bear like you would a deer (behind the shoulder). Seems like you'd want to anchor it with at least a shot through the shoulder, hopefully breaking both front legs in the process.

Also, if that story is from somewhere else, you should probably include a link to it for attribution, at least, and not cut-n-paste the story (I think the guys that run this site recently added a 'no cut-n-paste stories' rule to the Posting Guidelines).

Yes, Shane!

I agree, a well-placed shoulder shot to the bone should cripple it enough to at least have an opportunity to squeeze another shot off!

PS.

I performed a search on Aaron Wyckoff and nothing related came up. I think I'm alright here, today!

 

[Saskshooter]

What's up with some of these bears?




It's not about bears or calibers; it's about shooting well and understanding what kills things as opposed to what stops things. Failure to understand what causes death from gun shot wounds is one of the main reasons hunters have come to think that huge cartridges are essential. They've seen too many TV shows where people/zombies/beasts drop dead at the shot. If you don't break its skeleton down so it can't move, or make a CNS shot to the brain or spine, an animal will live several seconds during which it can do serious damage, or run long distances. That is what's up.

 

[Greg Koziol]

lesson is, bring the right tool for the job. Too many deer hunters go bear hunting with their deer rifles... it's just not a big enough bullet. For bears i wouldn't messa round with a .338 or .375, i'd want something in the .40-.50 caliber range nice big 400 or 500 grain bullet will do a lot of damage and leave a big exit hole, versus a tiny .30 caliber bullet.

 

[jwp475]

.338 mag Not Enough for Vengeful Bear...

Title of this thread is very misleading. Shots into the chest cavity are not guaranteed to be instantly fatal even on Deer. Shot placement is the #1 criteria, # 2 the Bullet all else is rather moot

 

[Old Grump]

Grew up in the north woods many many moons ago and I still review where I want to target my game before I go out. My 32 Win spcl is plenty big enough so I would say its not the bullet but the shooting.

Nothing wants to die so its up to the shooter to do it right. It's also why I carry a 44 mag revolver in the woods and why a revolver is on my night stand even though I am a 45 ACP man by training and by choice for everything else

 

[dmsbandit]

I guess the shooter should study bear anatomy better and carry a real bear gun. The 35 Whelen with 250 grains of death in each cartridge has been killing BIG bears for over 80 yrs.

 

[beartracker]

Yep, he hit the bear in the wrong place, he needed to put the bullet through the griz's shoulder, would have saved a lot of trouble and some hurt.

 

[broom_jm]

Please...not another one of these threads! Bears are big and scary and it takes a big and scary bullet to put them down quickly. We get it. If you're going to make a thread out of every guy who went hunting and got attacked and injured by the critter he was after, we'll have to bring several more servers on line!

 

[Water-Man]

My .35 Remington has been successful for many years dispatching black bears. Used plain old 200gr. Core-Lokts. I guess some bears are tougher than others or maybe some hunters don't shoot as well as others.

 

[MikeG]

Yes the same topic getting beaten to death is getting wearisome.

 

[kdub]

Yup - this topic is already covered in the previous thread. I'm beginning to think it keeps getting reposted just to stir the pot, which is strictly a no-no on this board.

 

[BarkBuster20]

Koanbred, a few days ago you posted a thread suggesting a .375 H&H was not enough gun for grizzly, now your suggesting a .338 WM is not enough for black bear, Think about what message your sending with your posts, if you want ANY credibility.

The 15 year old boy most likely could not handle the recoil of a .338 WM, and pulled it to the left, missing all vital organs. It was mentioned that the boy and father left, and enlisted the help of a more experienced hunter, this had to have taken more than enough time for that or any other bear to expire from a double lung shot from anything .243 and up.

Thread should be locked, is misleading from the title on.

 

[Koanbred]

Koanbred, a few days ago you posted a thread suggesting a .375 H&H was not enough gun for grizzly, now your suggesting a .338 WM is not enough for black bear, Think about what message your sending with your posts, if you want ANY credibility.

The 15 year old boy most likely could not handle the recoil of a .338 WM, and pulled it to the left, missing all vital organs. It was mentioned that the boy and father left, and enlisted the help of a more experienced hunter, this had to have taken more than enough time for that or any other bear to expire from a double lung shot from anything .243 and up.

Thread should be locked, is misleading from the title on.

Hey there Barkbuster!

Since I have been trying to organize a bear hunting trip in Alaska for 2012, it seems that I've been obcessed with these bear stories. I guess it's because, bears are such huge, intimidating, and potentially dangerous creatures. I mean it's like, if you're hunting Elk or moose, one doesn't think of things going quite that south due to the type of animal that you're hunting. Most hunters aren't thinking," if things go south, I could get killed by this Elk or moose!". However, this thought is ever so prevalent when deliberately stalking a bear. It remains posted in the back of your mind and raises the stakes on the event. I believe that this bear was running on pure adrenaline!

Actually, just being aware that you're in bear country is exciting enough all by itself. Then to be camping, fishing, or hunting another species in bear country just adds to the excitement of the event.
I enjoy nature and wildlife. Bears to me are quite possibly more fascinating than any other North Amrican creature. I've hunted bear before quite a few year before. That was most probably the most exciting thing that I've ever done. It was on that hunt that I actually gained the respect and adoration
that I have for bears. I'm fascinated by them. They're one of god's greatest creations. I will always try to write about what I think is an interesting bear story. Especially, the ones where we don't win so easily all the time. I will never find a fatal attack upon a human, interesting or fascinating.

The essential information is all within the story left referenced above. There was no misalignment or jerking off to the left or right. It was a direct hit "behind the shoulders" and there were shots to the head, just like in the original story. That you can very on your own. It's only your doubt that should be locked up!

The title is anything but misleading. You've got to be kidding me! This bear was shot six times and was still in the attack mode!- What's misleading about the title, that fact that I omitted the other times it was shot! Yeah, right!

PS.

Of course, I'm quite possibly the greatest doubter of most things myself. However, in this case you get blame due to the fact that I've included the reference for verification, just in case I'd run into someone like me!

 

[jwp475]

As Aaron tried to fire his Llama pistol, he realizes that in his panic, he he has inadvertently hit the clip release, while trying to fire. He felt the clip fall onto his chest seconds ago!

 

[Koanbred]

Yup - this topic is already covered in the previous thread. I'm beginning to think it keeps getting reposted just to stir the pot, which is strictly a no-no on this board.

Sir, please!

What pot gets stirred here?

A lively discussion about the caliber one uses to dispose of a bear and the most vital part of the bear's anatomy to target on a bear is anything, but controversial. Nobody within these or other threads have been disrespectful or even argumentative to say the least.

What people are IMHO, is interested in bears! It will always be an interesting topic because they are so huge, fast, deadly, and awesome.

So there's absolutely no attempt at "stirring the pot" here.

PS.

I'm now wondering why you would suggest such a thing...

 

[Koanbred]

Please...not another one of these threads! Bears are big and scary and it takes a big and scary bullet to put them down quickly. We get it. If you're going to make a thread out of every guy who went hunting and got attacked and injured by the critter he was after, we'll have to bring several more servers on line!

I think that if I had waited a week, the story would have been just a tad more interesting. However, it doesn't matter. I enjoyed reading the account and thought that others here who are just as fascinated about bears as I am would enjoy it as well. Apparently others did find the story amusing, judging from some of the comments.

I will never turn a good bear story down when folks don't get killed! Some of us are just bear people!

PS.

One server will do just fine. Thank you very much!

 

[Koanbred]

Yes the same topic getting beaten to death is getting wearisome.

Hey there MikeG!

I just love bears! I think they're just awesome creatures!

 

[Koanbred]

Bears are fascinating creatures. In many ways they demonstrate similarities between themselves and humans. However, there is one characteristic that remains singular only unto them. They are truly ferocious! Sure man can be ferocious too, but we need a weapon to become ferocious to a large mammal such as a bear. Heck! If most other mammals were aware as to the actual depth of our frailty, we'd get many more challenges from many more prey.

Bears are generally large, always potentially dangerous, and usually unpredictable. Whenever hunting, we have to remain aware of this one constant about bears. Bears who may be in the area, though they're not the actual prey being hunted, are always a threat. To me, this always increases the stakes about the entire hunt. This makes the entire event, more interesting.

Cub-protecting sows, are a whole different story. I'm certain that we've all heard of stories about how the pregnant mother is witnessed lifting a small car off of her screaming child. Then when asked to perform the same act upon a later date, they can't even do it for money! There is something about mothers and especially pregnant mothers who commit all kinds of heroically daring feats while under the influence of motherhood and HORMONES. Just like most of our mothers, bears too do amazing and seemingly impossible things when both sow or cubs feel threatened. Even enraged male black bears are difficult to put down when charging.

A charging male Kodiak bear is like a freight train moving at full speed straight towards you. If bullet placement doesn't address severing bones or somehow interrupting the CNS, you're most probably in very serious trouble. These creatures are just difficult to put down any other way. It really doesn't matter that much about the caliber of the round, as long as it is at least a medium to large caliber and enough to break or splinter bone.

If these bear stories don't tell us anything else, they tell us to number one, be prepared at a split seconds notice to shoot while in bear country. These stories make us increasingly aware of the significance of bullet placement. No longer is heart and lung the sole primary targets. Emphasis should also be placed upon critical bone-structure, as well.

PS.

I hear that bear spray works too! However, I think I'd prefer to spray 'em with bullets first!