I, on the other hand, have shot several squirrels with my Sears Single Shot .22. They were not records, but they were tasty.
They saw a large grizzly bear coming toward them. Wishing to avoid an encounter, they hid off the side of the cut.
But the bear kept coming closer and closer. The bear got so close that Bella Twin thought it less risky to shoot the bear than to not shoot it. It was probably only a few yards away. Some accounts say 30 feet. Perhaps she saw it stop and start to sniff, as if it had caught their scent. We may never know.
She shot at the side of the bears head. Knowing animal anatomy very well (she was an experienced trapper, and had skinned hundreds, perhaps thousands of animals) she knew exactly where to aim to penetrate the skull at its weakest point.
She shot, the bear dropped. It was huge. She went to the bear and fired the rest of the .22 long cartridges that she had, loading the single shot rifle repeatedly, to “pay the insurance” as Peter Hathaway Capstick said. She made sure the bear was dead, and not just stunned.
My dad and I encountered a brown bear on a trail, it put its' head in the air, sniffed and took off down through the bush.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a bear story, but I do have a JC Higgins .22 single shot rifle. I got it while I was a sophomore in high school. I shot rabbits, skunks, chipmunks, squirrels and a few birds with it.
ReplyDeleteWow, thanks for the story. I have that exact model Cooey that was a gift from my Dad on my sixth Christmas. My Dad, brothers, BIL's , and I have taught hundreds of kids basic firearm safety & skills with it. Now it's illegal in Mass. as it has no seriel number.
ReplyDeleteNothing replaces shot placement… nothing…
ReplyDeleteIn another telling of this tale, mention is made of the fact that there is a soft spot between the eye and ear of bears (I presume all, as no specifics are pinpointed) and that she knew to shoot there.
Delete-JLM
The temple is pretty much the weakest point of any mammalian skull.
DeleteIf you follow thelink there is a picture of the bear skull with numerous small holes in it.
Deletemy old Winchester 22 single shot rifle has no serial numbers on it as well.
ReplyDeleteI think it was made in the early 1950"s maybe. it was a damn good rifle for squirrels while I could still see. say late 30's or so. after hitting 40 something I needed a scope. replaced it with a Savage mark 2 with a good 3x9 scope and it brings home dinner every time. now that I am pushing 70 hard, I don't go hunting as much as I did when I was younger. still like to get out there once or twice a season if I can though.
i know the feeling, i'm 70. recent rotator cuff surgery. they done already told me dove and duck season are out. maybe, late goose. hang in there dude.
DeleteI have my grandfather's Ted Williams magazine fed bolt action 22LR that I have had for 45 years. I learned how to shoot with that rifle when I was 8 or 9 years old.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I have never felt quite so alive as when hiking around in Grizzly country. It does something to your awareness level. I carried my lifelong companion Smith Wesson Model 19 .357 mag with some special loads in a horizontal shoulder holster. Everyone said "you need a .44 mag". Probably true but I can hit with my Model 19.
ReplyDeleteYears and years ago, I read a report of a bull elephant being killed by a .22LR.
ReplyDeleteAn African hunting camp was stampeded in the middle of the night by elephants. One hunter as he left his tent grabbed the first rifle handy to try and scare them off. He shot several rounds into the air and went back to bed when the last of the herd left.
The next morning, they found a large dead bull at the edge of camp with a bullet wound in an eye that went on to enter the brain…
I was born that day, It was Mother's Day BTW,
ReplyDeleteI have my step dads model 54 30-30 that he killed three brown bears with in B.C. in the 1940's while prospecting for gold
ReplyDeleteI have a whole bunch of Mossberg 22s from the fifty’s early sixties time frame with no serial numbers. Wasn’t mandatory until 68.How can something like that be illegal now? Wait….nevermind.
ReplyDelete