Defense against grizzly bear

Joined
Oct 20, 1998
Messages
301
Where can I find that great old topic about the best knife for defense against grizzly bears? I have tried the search engine without results.

------------------
Tea drinker and hellraiser from Northern Sweden, above the arctic circle.



[This message has been edited by Cousin Cinnamon (edited 11-08-2000).]
 
You have got to be kidding!
biggrin.gif


Any knife... Kill yourself with it, so you don't have to feel the pain of the big bad bear.
biggrin.gif


------------------
us_marine_corps_md_clr.gif
BC... For those who fought for it, Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know... Semper Fi
 
There was an article in an old copy of "La Passion des Couteaux" in french about that issue. It was about the knives the zaristic russian soldiers/hunters used to hunt russian brown bears with. They often did it in a 1/1 man to bear fight, only with knives.

In the middle ages it was common practice to hunt bears with bear lances which were about the same weapons, maybe a bit more solid, as boar spears, called "Saufeder" in german or "Epieu de Chasse" in french. There are a lot of museums in europe showing off these hunting spears. I made one, too. You can see it here:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=575309&a=4202329&p=19398460

Achim

 
I remember a guy who held off a grizzly with a buck 110 until he could get to his gun. I think he ended up stabbing it 5 times. If this is what you're looking for, do a search in the Buck forum. If you're intending to go one on one with a bear armed with just a knife, make sure to make your last post here a good one, because I wouldn't expect to hear from you again.

------------------
Jason aka medusaoblongata
-----------------------
"I have often laughed at the weaklings who call themselves kind because they have no claws"

- Zarathustra
 
This may not be the great old one you're thinking of, but it was the most recent. http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum18/HTML/000794.html

Searching "brown bear" in the wilderness survival forum also brought up a few related posts.

Also here's an older thread that might be helpful regarding using biomechanical biting as a defense. http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum35/HTML/000674.html ...for those of you who want something a little more sporting than a knife
biggrin.gif
.

Perhaps it's time to petition Vampire Gerbil and Ron Hood to collaborate on some Micra anti-bear techniques
smile.gif
.

Switchback
 
I wasn't really needing advice in the question of how to defend myself against bears. Just needed a laugh and remembered that amusing thread about someone who wanted to know which knife to choose
smile.gif

I would not like to face a bear armed with anything less than a 30-06, unless it is behind bars on a zoo.
------------------
Tea drinker and hellraiser from Northern Sweden, above the arctic circle.



[This message has been edited by Cousin Cinnamon (edited 11-08-2000).]
 
Originally posted by medusaoblongata:
I remember a guy who held off a grizzly with a buck 110 until he could get to his gun.
A story like that was in latest Knives Illustrated. I don't have the magazine in hand just now, so I don't remember what kind of bear it was, but anyway...

 
Originally posted by Cousin Cinnamon:

I would not like to face a bear armed with anything less than a 30-06, unless it is behind bars on a zoo.

Some years ago, Central Park Zoo, New York City: man put his arm into bear's cage, bear chomped it, police had to shoot the bear dead to save the stupid man.
 
I remember a Jean Shepard column in Car and Driver magazine back in the 1960s about a trip he took to Alaska. He went fishing with a young man who took a .44 Mag. S&W Mod. 29 along as a bear gun. When they got back, the young man's mother gave him Hail Columbia for going out with such a puny choice! She reminded him of a recently deceased friend of his who had used a .44 Mag. She said that he was never, ever, to go fishing in bear country w/o at least the .375 Mag. rifle! Now, how's that for a mother?

Cousin Cinnamon, I know that there are still some brown bears in Europe. Are there any left in Sweden? Or are they all in Russia?

------------------
Walk in the Light,
Hugh Fuller
 
The best knife for a grizzly attack (as I said once before here) is a SAK taped to the stock of a .416 Rigby, or barring that a 12 gauge loaded with slugs.
 
I wouldn't need that big a knife at all. Just one large enough to hamstring my hunting partner.
 
I read an interesting article about how to defend oneself from various predators. The part I liked dealt with mountain lions.

The article said there was basically no defense, because of the hunting skill of the animal. Basically, by the time the action starts, the lion will have been tracking you for several miles.

It attacks from behind. So you only become aware of the attack when it hits you and you're most likely history.
 
What do you think my chances are with a 5" bowie knife against a brown/black/grizzly bear or large growling (not purring
smile.gif
) cat?

BUSH! BUSH! BUSH! BUSH! BUSH! BUSH! BUSH!

If Gore wins...

...I can kiss my sig good-bye (maybe).

------------------
Amendment II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the
right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
 
Crap, is that mountain lion post true? I go hiking though a preserve behind the berkeley campus, following really narrow animal trails through the bush. I'm usually by myself since nobody else likes to do all the crawling, jumping and falling involved. I usually only cary a cheap kukri since that is the only tool that can get me through some areas of super dense vegitation. There are also mountain lions in that area according to signs on the road, and I've come face to face with two bucks on different occations. Can you show me where you found that information on mountain lion attacks? The warning signs in the area just say to make a lot of noise and fight back if you get attacked. Not enough info for me, and if I do get mauled I'm several miles off the trail that people normally use. I just assumed mountain lions would not attack if I made sure I was noisy enough to not startle them. Now I find out they like to hunt us? That sucks.
 
generallobster,

The article about defending oneself against predators was in Mountain Biking magazine a couple of years ago. The article seemed quite serious and the writer well-informed. The mountain lion has been making a come back recently in numbers and more and more people are venturing into its territory, so there have been more 'encounters.'
The part about their hunting abilities sounds plausible. I've watched my house cats move, and they are very fast and silent.
I'm not sure how many people have been killed by Mountain Lions in the past few years, probably just a few.
You are in a lot more danger driving your car I imagine than walking the trails.
 
Back
Top