I have personally delivered 7 well placed shots from a USGI M1911A1 .45ACP into an oncoming razorback hog. The first 5 rounds were into the chest, and succeeded in upsetting said beast more than he already was. Rounds 6 & 7 were head shots and finally put him down. Rounds 1 - 5 never penetrated the bone and gristle of the front chest plate area.

I hate Arkansas...

Preparations for large animal attacks hold a place somewhere between preparations for lightning strikes, I keep meaning to mount that lightning rod on my boonie hat but haven't gotten around to it, and preparation for alien abduction, where not changing my underwear for a month might just turn the trick.

I'm not going to hump around five to eight pounds of iron to protect me from the one in a couple of million chance I might catch the eye of some large animal. Particularly when other methods, like staying aware of your surroundings, looking big, and making noise, are effective and shooting at a charging bear is a low odds game.

Those in Alaska and some wilderness areas of the west may face a somewhat higher risk. Even in those locations there are literally thousands of people who go into the woods without any practical means of inflicting lethal force against a bear and the vast majority of them emerge from the wilderness areas unmolested by potentially dangerous animals.

I agree in principle, Art. The odds of a lot of things happening are pretty low. When the worse of them happen, though, it's good to be prepared.

Let's face it, a large animal attack is a dramatic event. On pretty much any forum, it's a guaranteed conversation starter. Big animal attacks make great stories, after all.

None of us really expects to, nor I hope wants to, star in our own action movie. I think this group is pretty level-headed.

But this is a forum dedicated to what to do in situations that are, by definition, not routine. The rarity of the event may dictate priorities, but it's an even that does occur, now matter how seldom.

There's plenty of reading material available on the web about the subject, yet every time I read one of these threads (on any board, not picking on ETS), it's pretty clear that a lot of folks haven't taken the time to dig up said info. So, it doesn't hurt to share.

There is a lot of nonsense on the web too, I come here because of the expertise of the posters and because Ritter oversees the board so I know I will be getting good advice.

Jim: What's up with the .22? A .22 won't stop a bear.

John: Who said anything about shooting the bear?

A couple of good books, if you can find copies of them are "Man-eaters of Kumaon" and "The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag", both by a British civil servant named James Corbett. The first man-eater Corbett killed had claimed over 400 victims in Northern India and Nepal (which earned Corbett a footnote in the Guinness Book of Records).

Corbett believed that a "sixth sense" was simply a case of being so attuned to your surroundings that you subconsciously notice tiny clues without being consciously aware of them. Many others have since stated this as though it were an established fact but I believe Corbett was actually the first to say it.

In "The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag", he described walking alone along a path, returning from a deserted village which had been devastated by the leopard. He had every reason to believe that the leopard was many miles away, so was taking no particular precautions. As he came over a crest in the path, he stopped dead and every hair on the back of his neck stood up, and he *knew* that the man-eater was up ahead lying in wait for him. He unslung his rifle, and walked sideways the entire length of the path, facing downwind (knowing a leopard would never attack from upwind). He never saw so much as a rustle in the bushes, but as soon as he was around the next bend, he immediately doubled back and retraced his steps. There in the soft earth, right where he expected them, were the marks of the man-eater he had been stalking.

Being constantly aware of your surroundings, and knowing the habits and attack characteristics of any wild animal that might pose a threat, are the two most important lessons I would take from that story.

Well now Art, humour is always appreciated, but I bet you still hesitate to go golfing in a lightning storm.

I don't carry a rifle every place I go in the bush, but there are times and places where I certainly have a rifle or shotgun in my hand.
I do mean "IN my hand" quite literally too. I don't mean in my pack, leaning on a log or stuffed behind the seat in the truck.
There are also places where I simply don't go alone if I can help it either.

However I can't be bothered taking the slightest care or precautions about crocodiles or cottonmouth attacks because to me they are very unlikely.
In spite of that I do not make fun of you southern people who take crocodiles and cottonmouth snakes more seriously, and I would never consider making a comment about alien abductions which equated you to the tinfoil hat paranoid crowd.

Exactly. While Art may find the danger associated with lightning strikes negligible it's a really bad analogy. Over here in the mountains we tend to have at least a few fatalities every year due to lightning strikes. It's NOT something to be taken lightly. That's why every seasoned hiker/climber pays attention to the weather. Getting caught in a summer storm while you're all exposed on a barren mountain ridge is a bad idea and could easily cost you your life.

I guess the same goes for everything else. If you hike in an area where bears or cougars are seldom seen the threat may feel very remote. If you happen to be some place where the concentration of potentially dangerous wildlife is that much higher though it gets less academic fast.

NightHiker,

That's exactly it. Depending on where you're going and what you're doing you have to decide what a necessary course of action might be.

For example, A .375 H&H would be out of place if hiking through Central Park, but not if you're planning on trekking around Kodiak Island.

It comes down to weighing the odds and taking well calculated risks. It's simply impossible to be prepared for everything at all times.

NightHiker,

That's a very well-thought out, articulate, and comprehensive post; I don't recall anybody mentioning bear bangers or electric fences on the forum, nor bringing up range cattle as a potential threat.

Though they may not be a factor in your personal risk analysis, for the sake of completeness I'd add moose to your list of potential threats.

The BLM has a report on deterring bears from work areas and facilities (BLM-Alaska Open File Report 97 Deterring Bears from Work Areas and Facilities) which is largely about electric fences.

The BC Ministry of Forests and Range has this to say about moose:

"However, charges from moose, particularly from a cow moose protecting a calf (spring) or from an ornery bull or a bull in rutting season (September) are not uncommon. Although large and of ungainly appearance, they can be extremely quick. If you come in close contact with a moose it is best to back off slowly and detour around it, keeping a nearby tree in mind if a quick escape is necessary.

In relatively densely timbered areas, injury from an attacking moose has been avoided by keeping the body between two trees spaced about one foot apart, i.e. too narrow a space to permit access by the moose because of the wider spread of its antlers."

from Safety manual: mineral exploration in Western Canada, 2002.