Bears

[Mac66]

I was sitting on my porch (at my house in the woods) last evening @ 8:30 pm when a rather large black bear walked by about 50 yards away. I see them on the trail cams all the time but that's only the second bear I've seen live on my property. I did happen to have a 9mm on me at the time. Tonight I'm sitting here with a 44 mag.

In the bear's defense, they are pretty skittish and avoid contact whenever possible.

[David]

Yep, that would give you pause to consider the caliber of the gun you had at the time.

[tom mac]

One of the reasons I switched from carrying a 9mm to a 10mm on the AT trail in Va

[Erich]

Whatever makes you happy, but I have come to have a different perspective. I've yet to see the black bear that a 9mm ball round wouldn't through-and-through. And, personally, I can shoot a LOT of controlled and targeted 9mm rounds in the time it takes me to empty a 6-round cylinder of .44 Magnum.

I live in what's been called Bear Canyon since the Spanish Colonial days - I almost always carry a 9mm when hiking (and I'm up in the National Forest behind the house almost every day). But it's good you do what's right for you.

[tom mac]

Changing from the 9mm to a 10mm was a good excuse to the bride...
really tho, fiq since they both had same capacity, if I hit with 1 or 2 on a moving target, I rather hit with the more powerful.
In my 5 encounters with black bears... 1 ) they weren't overly large 2) 4x they ran away after some noise ( 1x the bear stood her ground , in spring , so fiq there was a cub nearby, we backed up and took another path around )
Never really feared an issue from them. ( but there also are some STRANGE people out there on the trails )

[Mac66]

Didn't even realize it but my wife showed me a cell phone pic she took of the bear from the porch. As I said the black bears around us are very skittish so I'm not worried. It was however an excuse to dig the 44 out.



A very pregnant doe showed up the next night. I got pictures of her on my camera but I forgot to bring the SD card home.

[Bmyers]

No bears, but we have seen a few bobcats on the farm. Neighbor got the picture of this one that they put in the local newspaper.

6142333646-Bobcat.jpg (90.19 KiB) Viewed 7040 times

[Mac66]

I see bobcats on my trail cameras all the time. Only saw one in person. I was hunting the food plot a couple years ago and there was pile of logs next to it. A bobcat came out of the woods and started rooting around in the pile. Pretty soon he came out with a woodchuck in his teeth.

[Bob]

I bold yell with arms raised might get a black bear to skoot.

If not...I tend to agree that as long as you can hold your nerve, 10 rounds of 9mm to the face/eyes region is going to be a strong persuader, especially as it closes.

That said, I'd be wearing my Ruger Blackhawk with Hardcast Buffalo Bore...

[Bmyers]

I think the problem is the holding your nerves while being charged at. AS long as I don't have to hold my bowels, I might be okay.