.22 and bears

Sure it's possible, if it can be killed, you can probably kill it with a .22. HOWEVER you would need to be amazingly lucky, or pull off a perfect shot. Neither of which are likley, making the .22 a pretty bad choice for killing a bear.
 
these kinds of threads always freak me out on going camping/hiking in the sierras...i'm thinking i need to pack some heat (at least .22) next time i plan a trip...
 
I think if I was confronted by a bigazz bear,while carrying a 22, I would take one well placed shot.
In MY temple.......:p
I killed a bear once. It was hit by a car and a bunch of morons were within 20 feet of it. Including one moron with a 38 and a badge.
It's front end was disabled and he was shoving himself back and forth with his rear legs.
I jumped out of my truck and ran up next to the idiot with the badge and dropped a 240 out of my Redhawk into it's skull.

Needless to say the sheep were freaked and the hall monitor near crapped his pants.
 
Yes it can definately be done,I have done it Black bears that is.Raise the BS flag if you care to.Bears do not have a thick skull
When in my 20's I bought the trapline that I still work today.Back then I was much into the outdoors and outdoor reading.I had read a story about a couple guys on a prospecting canoe trip in the 30's depression time.These fellas had ran into a native hunter who had been chasing/tracking a black bear for a number of days hoping to shoot it.A successful hunt made the difference between life and death to him and his family for they were starving.He only had a single 22 shot for his gun and was waiting for the best opportunity for shot placement.The other reading I had been doing at this time was about the African hunter Karamojo Bell and his ability to regularly drop elephants with a 256 Rigsby(if I recall the caliber correctly)basically a 6mm.
Being young and armed with such knowledge.I came around the corner one day while out on the 'line and came pretty close to a black bear.Not the biggest of specimens mind you but still a sizable bear.Armed with a Cooey singleshot 22 and 2 lrs held pointed down between my fingers African hunter style,I proceeded to get close to the bear.He went down with one shot to the side of his head.
Years ago when I 1st started trapping blacks were classified as a furbearing animal and we were allowed to take them with a trapping licence.We used to foot snare them.You do not release a bear from a foot snare alive unless tranquilized. So the 22 after my first experience with that caliber.
Would I do it today?Not likely can it be done -Yep
Dan'l
 
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To be honest, I'm more worried about the growing wolf population around here than I am by bears. The very few instances that I've encountered bears (black bears) they have been pretty non-confrontational and seemed less interested in me than the grass they are scrounging in. I now carry a 9mm with +P loads and two extra mags. It adds considerable weight but at least it gives me more of a warm fuzzy feeling to have 48 rounds of something with some heat.
 
If I recall the story correctly the .22 has an African Elephant to its credit.Appearently a British Royal holidaying in a treehouse in Kenya heard a noise in the night, thinking it might be a leopard he fired a .22 through the floor in order to scare it.Next morning the found an elephant dead beneath the treehouse.It seems the round hit the spinal cord.
Definately a fluke , but it shows bullet placement can be vital .Oh and IIRC it was a .22 short!
 
I thought my country Australia had the biggest range of scary wildlife, but after reading the above posts about bears and wolves, I stand corrected and in awe! :eek:
Back on topic, many years ago I shot a big feral boar (with a .308, I'm not silly enough to go pig shooting with .22) and when skinning him, I found two flattened soft lead bullets between his skin and skull just above his eyes.
One, believe it or not, looked like a musket ball, no rifling and about .50 cal in size, the other was a mashed up up copper jacketed bullet. No way to tell how many years His Porkiness had been carrying these around.

Just adds to the general consensus that shot placement is probably more important than calibre.

Wolves and bears? Gimme a Ma Deuce. :)
 
Munky88 said:
Theres a confirmed story about a man in Alaska getting chased by a polar bear with one shot left in his .22 and no where to run with the bear closing on him. Shot blindly over his shoulder while running, hitting the bear in the eye and killing it.
Click to expand...

This is the story that came to mind when I read the OP. Talk about luck! :eek:
 
Slaughtering animals - a 22 is usually used but it doesn't kill the animal -you don't want it to !! It simply knocks it out then you slit it's throat to bleed it out. If it were dead it wouldn't bleed out and would not be very palatable !
22 rimfire is also considered very dangerous because it changes direction in the body very easily ! Pres Reagan was shot with a 22 which hit a rib and bounced off and penetrated his lung. I shot a woodchuck with a 22 RNL which killed the chuck but then deflected 45* and exited the chuck.
 
You can kill anything with any gun if you want, unless there is some info on where the kill shot was the bullet could have went through the spine for all we know. I would agree the kid had a whole lot of luck on his side but its not a far fetched story...... remember those crazy Russians that hunt bear with just a knife?
 
I have read that many inuit hunters.. use .22 rounds as there only fire arm sometimes using them to take polar bears with well placed headshots as they climb through ice holes..although I have never seen this... It is very possible to kill a bear or most anything else with a .22 but I would not rely on it... what is mor unlikely than the power of the round is the ability of the shooter to consistantly put several rounds into the skull of a charging bear...
I'd take a pump shotgun full of slugs any day..but I'd charge hell with a bucket of water if I had to.. so if a bear came after me and all I had was a .22 you could bet I'd start shooting.. after all the possibilty of getting mauled is better than definitely getting mauled.
 
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Yep I read this too: It is about a man who live in Point Hope Alaska. He put this up on this blog. http://majikimaje.com/WordPress/?p=28

"BILLLY WEBER WAS OUT ON THE OCEAN ICE; and a polar bear came around the corner and ran towards Billy at full speed.
Billy turned and ran. he had a .22 rifle with only one bullet left. he took off running, he had no choice but to run.. that bear was gaining on Billly as he ran for his life. Other hunters out on the ice saw this event unfold, but were too far away to offer any assistance. There is only one place to shoot a polar bear to kill it.
that one vital spot is in the ear. While running for his life, with that bear quckly gaining on Billy he merly pointed that rifle back as he ran and took the shot.. .. ..
.. .. Billy lived to tell about this and everyone up here knows of this famous event."
 
More game has been killed with a 22LR than any other round from deer to seals carabu bears many many more speices out there. eskamos use 22LR almost exclusive. But after decades of hunting with the 22lr they know where to put the shot. I would not use a 22lr to tackle a bear of any size. Glad to hear the story end will.
 
Garrett Schmidt said:
To be honest, I'm more worried about the growing wolf population around here than I am by bears. The very few instances that I've encountered bears (black bears) they have been pretty non-confrontational and seemed less interested in me than the grass they are scrounging in. I now carry a 9mm with +P loads and two extra mags. It adds considerable weight but at least it gives me more of a warm fuzzy feeling to have 48 rounds of something with some heat.
Click to expand...

Not trying to hijack the thread, merely curious. Are there any recorded cases of wolves actually attacking humans? I'm not talking about coyotes in packs, which we know will attack people, but wolves.

ETA: I just did a little quick research, and I guess there have been wolf attacks, but, in North America, at least, they're exceedingly rare. Here's a quick read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_attacks_on_humans
 
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Never underestimate the humble .22. In my time playing with wepons of all sorts, I have seen a few things that left me scratching my head. Like a .22 penatrating the firewall of an old truck (1950ish) and a .44 mag bouncing off of it. The thing of it is, surface area. think about it.......you can take an ice pic and push it through a 1" pine board with your bare hand. try that with a 20 penny spike. That being said, do I want to hunt large dangerous game with a .22 or a .44 mag? There is a real good chance I'll chose the big gun, but if all I have is a .22, I'll use it in a heart beat. What have i got to lose at that point?
 
When it comes to defending yourself from a bear, killing it may not be enough. You have to disable it NOW! A dying bear can still kill you. Therefore, even though a .22 can kill a bear, if defense is my concern I'm going to carry something quite a bit stouter.
 
My Great-Uncle killed a black bear with a .22lr many years ago. He used to do all his hunting with a 22, so when the bear came up to their home, that's what he had handy. He said it was a single shot through the eye, which as mentioned above, seems like you'd have to be a hell of a marksman, and lucky too.
 
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