Bears have been killed by simple punches to the face. A (in)famous 19th century man would travel to homesteads as a sort of hired gun to eradicate local bears. His modus being a large knife and getting in close, no different than the large european knives for the same purpose.That bears and other species are under pressure is obvious. I just chewed on a T.V. station for airing a shark hunting contest and read the bleak projections for Polar Bear populations in 50 years. But there is hope. A local trophy bride talking on her cellphone and drinking a latte took herself,SUV and a utility pole out last night. She fortuitously left no cubs. " In the next race war I'm siding with the bears.'- John Muir

Falcon, you beat me to the punch line! I was going to say that I thought the thread title had to do with an prop accident on the set of Man vs. Wild.

Reading this story makes me think of that scene from the movie Predator where the Seargent encounters that Lord God Humongous pig at night, and proceeds to perforate him 9 ways to sunday. Kinda amazing what a well trained and conditioned man with a 12" or longer bladed knife can do when provoked.

Still, I believe this fellow here got darned lucky. The sow's big mistake was in giving the surveryor enough time to deploy his weapon. Had she been more experienced, she would perhaps have jumped him more unaware, and then had her way with him. As it is, it sounds like she was tentative until he armed himself and appeared to be more of a threat than she first considered, then she had no choice but to respond ex post facto.

I'd have been scratching my thigh in search of my phantom 44 if it had been me there. A knife would've been an afterthought.