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Knife to carry in Bear country
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scdub
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I always try to take people at their word and not assume they’re trolling, etc. Glad to hear you were asking a serious question as I figured.
I agree your F1 is not a good bear fighter - so as has been asked above - what do you think you’ll get???
"By some estimates there are around 3,000 brown bears in Japan, all of them in Hokkaido. This is about four times the number of grizzly bears found in the continental United States. They occasionally eat livestock and kill people. Mushroom hunters and fishermen have been mauled but mostly the bears keep their distance from people. For a long time brown bears were viewed as pests in Japan. Only fairly recently have they been embraced by animal lovers and conservationists. Brown bears are threatened by loss of habitat to farming and logging and human control of salmon rivers."
BEARS AND BEAR ATTACKS IN JAPAN | Facts and Details
factsanddetails.com
The population of these bears dropped continuously due to hunting/pest termination for about a century, 1890-1990.
Then in the 1990s wildlife conservation groups pushed to reduce bear hunting on the grounds that they were becoming
endangered. But now 30 years later the population has fully come back. And with the increase in human population, loss of habitat and closer
contact between people and bears, we are seeing more incidents than ever before.
Since last year with the pandemic, there have been far less people out in tourist locations which may be connected to the number of bears
that are wandering out of the woods and mountains.
Not sure yet. Anything that at least makes me feel a bit more "secure" than a 4 inch blade I guess...lol
Yes, they do get big.
"The Ussuri brown bear (Ursus arctos lasiotus), also known as the Ezo brown bear and the black grizzly bear,[2] is a subspecies of the brown bear or population of the Eurasian brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos). One of the largest brown bears, a very large Ussuri brown bear may approach the Kodiak bear in size."
Ussuri brown bear - Wikipedia
ps Ezo is the old Japanese name for what is now called Hokkaido.
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On a serious note I spent a lot of time in Bear country on fly in drop off backpack hunts
I’ve seen 36 grizzly in the wild and been stood up and looked at within 30 yards or so
One of the most intense moments in any trip I’ve done and I’ve scared myself following wounded Cape Buffalo a few times was a trip to the Yukon, We. Had set up a spike camp about 3 days horseback ride from the main camp. In the mornings we would ride up basins tie horses lightly to a branch they could easily break and hobble them. Bear country you want them to be able to get away if need be. We would climb high and glass for rams. Finally one day we climbed high and found a band of rams in a basin on the next mountain over. More climbing and a long shot and the lead ram was on the ground. The fellow whom I was with was Yukon born and bred and they called him the Jack Pine Savage. He was a good guy. By the time we climbed to the ram and got him completely skinned and and broken down we were loosing light and heavy fog was rolling in we deboned as much as we could but still had some quarters and loaded that into the Jack Pine Savages pack and I took the entire skin head horns and hooves attached (i like full mounts) and stuffed it in my pack.
A big ram weights 300 pounds take away 30% for guts and split the rest between two guys and that was our pack weight plus what we had to start sleeping bag, rain gear, spotting scope, binos, knives, gun etc made them heavy packs and a long way back to a river bottom that was encased with a thicket and on the other side of that nasty thicket was hopefully some old grizzly scared Yukon horses lightly tied to a twig. Wtf
Obviously you can see are urgency to get back to are hopefully still there ride. We climbed higher and farther and we never thought we would be gone so long. Now these were working horses and even if they pulled off they would go to the last spike camp where two other guys were hunting out of and hobbled they usually don’t go to far but than we would have a few hour walk with these heavy packs so we needed those horses to be there
So here is the fun part those that have packed heavy weight will tell you uphill sucks but down hill makes uphill look good. Your knees scream and this is all in the dark with 20 year ago headlamps
So I was in the front with Jack Pine in the rear as we made the decent. The pack straps seemed to be tearing through my shoulders we both fell a lot in general it sucked.
I got ahead of him and he told me to keep going and lucky me was the first to hit the thicket. At the time I didn’t think about it but he definitely wanted me to go first Now mind you this is grizzly country. These are not park bears these are working bears and the bears live in the thickets on the rivers eating the same blueberries the sheep eat. These berries grow on the slopes and every now and than they get lucky when a sheep drops down for a drink after some nice berries and grass and a bear gets some rack of lamb. Well I basically was covered in sheep skin and blood cologne crawling through a thicket on my hands and knees My rifle that was scoped would not do me to much good in a dark thicket at night while crawling on my hands and knees was strapped to my back while I crawled. So before I crawled into that thicket I took an old BAGWELL Stag Handled Bowie knife in a sheath with a stud out of my pack and shoved it to the stud into my pack waste strap in a cross draw position and I crawled through that thicket and it was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. Don’t get me wrong I know that Bowie would not of done shit in the dark in that thicket against a big bear thinking he was hitting a 300 pound ram but the thought was at least I might get one lick in on my way out.
Luckily the horse were there and after dropping that pack and burying my face in the river we made 3 hour ride in the dark back to the spike camp on kiddish horses ……. They don’t like bears and when they smell them they get real nervous we got back to spike camp and crawled in a sleeping bag and passed out. Slept a few hours crawled out to work on the skin rinse the hide and salt it and than soaked my knees in an ice cold brook
So what I choose to carry besides a rifle was that old BAGWELL , a small 3 inch fixed blade caper made out of carbon steel that I can touch up quick on a jewelstix and a leathermen. The jack[pine savage carried about a 6 inch fixed blade and a leatherman. On his horse he had a real sharp axe and a 12 gauge pump with slugs
For me the little caper was my do everything knife as in eat and most if not all of the skinning and the leatherman was a pliers most days while the BAGWELL was a big camp knife and mental pacifier. Not traveling with a handgun etc to keep close and only having a bolt action scoped rifle the big blade was a comforting thing and once even saved me days of hiking with another heavy load in BC where I got to make a choice either walk a few days or make a makeshift runway on a gravel bar to get picked up by a bush plane with tundra tires. That knife helped me hack out a runway and saved my knees some wear and tear and I did sleep better with it next to me in many a tent at night and many a strange street while traveling
BC
I’ve seen 36 grizzly in the wild and been stood up and looked at within 30 yards or so
One of the most intense moments in any trip I’ve done and I’ve scared myself following wounded Cape Buffalo a few times was a trip to the Yukon, We. Had set up a spike camp about 3 days horseback ride from the main camp. In the mornings we would ride up basins tie horses lightly to a branch they could easily break and hobble them. Bear country you want them to be able to get away if need be. We would climb high and glass for rams. Finally one day we climbed high and found a band of rams in a basin on the next mountain over. More climbing and a long shot and the lead ram was on the ground. The fellow whom I was with was Yukon born and bred and they called him the Jack Pine Savage. He was a good guy. By the time we climbed to the ram and got him completely skinned and and broken down we were loosing light and heavy fog was rolling in we deboned as much as we could but still had some quarters and loaded that into the Jack Pine Savages pack and I took the entire skin head horns and hooves attached (i like full mounts) and stuffed it in my pack.
A big ram weights 300 pounds take away 30% for guts and split the rest between two guys and that was our pack weight plus what we had to start sleeping bag, rain gear, spotting scope, binos, knives, gun etc made them heavy packs and a long way back to a river bottom that was encased with a thicket and on the other side of that nasty thicket was hopefully some old grizzly scared Yukon horses lightly tied to a twig. Wtf
Obviously you can see are urgency to get back to are hopefully still there ride. We climbed higher and farther and we never thought we would be gone so long. Now these were working horses and even if they pulled off they would go to the last spike camp where two other guys were hunting out of and hobbled they usually don’t go to far but than we would have a few hour walk with these heavy packs so we needed those horses to be there
So here is the fun part those that have packed heavy weight will tell you uphill sucks but down hill makes uphill look good. Your knees scream and this is all in the dark with 20 year ago headlamps
So I was in the front with Jack Pine in the rear as we made the decent. The pack straps seemed to be tearing through my shoulders we both fell a lot in general it sucked.
I got ahead of him and he told me to keep going and lucky me was the first to hit the thicket. At the time I didn’t think about it but he definitely wanted me to go first
Now mind you this is grizzly country. These are not park bears these are working bears and the bears live in the thickets on the rivers eating the same blueberries the sheep eat. These berries grow on the slopes and every now and than they get lucky when a sheep drops down for a drink after some nice berries and grass and a bear gets some rack of lamb. Well I basically was covered in sheep skin and blood cologne crawling through a thicket on my hands and knees My rifle that was scoped would not do me to much good in a dark thicket at night while crawling on my hands and knees was strapped to my back while I crawled. So before I crawled into that thicket I took an old BAGWELL Stag Handled Bowie knife in a sheath with a stud out of my pack and shoved it to the stud into my pack waste strap in a cross draw position and I crawled through that thicket and it was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. Don’t get me wrong I know that Bowie would not of done shit in the dark in that thicket against a big bear thinking he was hitting a 300 pound ram but the thought was at least I might get one lick in on my way out. Luckily the horse were there and after dropping that pack and burying my face in the river we made 3 hour ride in the dark back to the spike camp on kiddish horses ……. They don’t like bears and when they smell them they get real nervous we got back to spike camp and crawled in a sleeping bag and passed out. Slept a few hours crawled out to work on the skin rinse the hide and salt it and than soaked my knees in an ice cold brook
So what I choose to carry besides a rifle was that old BAGWELL , a small 3 inch fixed blade caper made out of carbon steel that I can touch up quick on a jewelstix and a leathermen. The jack[pine savage carried about a 6 inch fixed blade and a leatherman. On his horse he had a real sharp axe and a 12 gauge pump with slugs
For me the little caper was my do everything knife as in eat and most if not all of the skinning and the leatherman was a pliers most days while the BAGWELL was a big camp knife and mental pacifier. Not traveling with a handgun etc to keep close and only having a bolt action scoped rifle the big blade was a comforting thing and once even saved me days of hiking with another heavy load in BC where I got to make a choice either walk a few days or make a makeshift runway on a gravel bar to get picked up by a bush plane with tundra tires. That knife helped me hack out a runway and saved my knees some wear and tear and I did sleep better with it next to me in many a tent at night and many a strange street while traveling
BC
Triton
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- 35,930
Holy crap you had bears chase you on motorcycles?! I'm not sure what sort of knife you can use to fend off motorcycle riding bears with.These threads always turn towards righteous indignation at the thought of having a knife as a last ditch backup.
But I'd rather have a long, sharp knife than nothing but harsh words.
Many wild predators are killed by desperate men and women with very little ss far as weapons goes.
I've seen Cougar killed by a 110lb woman with first aid tweezers. The cougar was actively trying to eat her. She requires hundreds of stitches. Seen this repeated with other items like small pocket knife. Etc.
Saw a news report where a man killed a bear with a large stick from the fire pile with a blow to the head. (He was fined for having food out, not in bear proof containers).
Ex-Marine Kills 300-Pound Bear With Log
abcnews.go.com
Man with a 2 inch pocket knife fought off a grizzly... the grizly was actively taking large bites out of his leg, gnawing on the bone when the mountain biker stabbed it in the neck with the 2 inch folding knife.
Pocket knife saves Canadian man during grizzly bear attack
Colin Dowler ended up in a life-or-death struggle with a grizzly bear in British Columbia.www.google.com
Hunting knife vs grizzly...grizzly died.
Hunter Fights Off, Kills Grizzly With Knife
Hunter Fights Off, Kills Grizzly With Knifewww.huffpost.com
Fight to the death with a black bear using a knife.
Mauled: A Fight to the Death with a Black Bear
Shortly before midnight on Sept. 27, 2014, Brandon Johnson, 44, was helping a friend blood-trail a 525-pound black bear when it charged.www.fieldandstream.com
Grizzly in CO killed with a stab from a hunting arrow (no other wounds to the bear, hunter mauled..did not get a shot off wirh his bow..while being mauled he stabbed it with a loose arrow).
The man who killed Colorado’s last grizzly bear
Forty years ago, Ed Wiseman killed the last known grizzly bear in Colorado. “It still amazes me the attack fascinates people,” Wiseman told The Durango Herald in an interview over the phone...www.the-journal.com
Black bear killed with an axe
This Man Was Attacked by a Black Bear. He Killed It with an Axe.
The harrowing story of a too-close encounter with a Canadian black bearwww.outsideonline.com
Buck 110 vs grizzly bear (killed)
Black bear killed with a stick by smashing it in the head again and again (man had whole back of his head torn up).
'Bring it on, sweetie': Man kills bear with stick (and he's got the scars to prove it)
A man who was attacked by a black bear while walking his dogs survived only after crushing the creature's skull with a stick.www.dailymail.co.uk
Black bear killed with a rock. By a longer.
It happens all the time...it makes news stories then it fades away.
I've spent a decent amount of time in bear country, where I am not allowed to carry a firearm. I've had bears try to climb into my rig, chase me on motorcycles....
Come out onto the dock and force me off....
No one is trying to fight a bear with a knife...but having a large strong fixed blade
would not be amiss.
I like knives...I'm going to carry knives anyway... even when not in bear country.
I'm totally going to look into being a tactical tweezer dealer though. Who knew?
Bigfattyt
Gold Member
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- Jun 23, 2007
- Messages
- 19,215
A mamma bear chasing you on a tight trail where top speed of your dirt bike is meaningless is pretty scary...
Riding along.....see a slight movement...oh crap....bear cub.....then momma bear lights off after you....
Even scarier was a bear who saw me on a dock and came out after me (as a 10 year old alone, wondering if diving off dock, and swimming under the next dock over to hide will work). That bear was shot with a compound bow by the neighbor a few feet away from our front porch...later that night. He had been causing trouble all week, and the tribe just told the neighbor to shoot him, and call them after to come get it.
Hiking, fishing, picking huckleberry.....always with the possibility for a bear incident...
Riding along.....see a slight movement...oh crap....bear cub.....then momma bear lights off after you....
Even scarier was a bear who saw me on a dock and came out after me (as a 10 year old alone, wondering if diving off dock, and swimming under the next dock over to hide will work). That bear was shot with a compound bow by the neighbor a few feet away from our front porch...later that night. He had been causing trouble all week, and the tribe just told the neighbor to shoot him, and call them after to come get it.
Hiking, fishing, picking huckleberry.....always with the possibility for a bear incident...
Last edited:
The True North
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What a bunch of incoherent, uninformed drivel.
The True North
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Excellent post. I would definitely prefer a knife to nothing. All tired jokes about “outrunning my buddy” aside.These threads always turn towards righteous indignation at the thought of having a knife as a last ditch backup.
But I'd rather have a long, sharp knife than nothing but harsh words.
Many wild predators are killed by desperate men and women with very little ss far as weapons goes.
I've seen Cougar killed by a 110lb woman with first aid tweezers. The cougar was actively trying to eat her. She requires hundreds of stitches. Seen this repeated with other items like small pocket knife. Etc.
Saw a news report where a man killed a bear with a large stick from the fire pile with a blow to the head. (He was fined for having food out, not in bear proof containers).
Ex-Marine Kills 300-Pound Bear With Log
Man with a 2 inch pocket knife fought off a grizzly... the grizly was actively taking large bites out of his leg, gnawing on the bone when the mountain biker stabbed it in the neck with the 2 inch folding knife.
Pocket knife saves Canadian man during grizzly bear attack
Colin Dowler ended up in a life-or-death struggle with a grizzly bear in British Columbia.www.google.com
Hunting knife vs grizzly...grizzly died.
Hunter Fights Off, Kills Grizzly With Knife
Hunter Fights Off, Kills Grizzly With Knife
Fight to the death with a black bear using a knife.
Mauled: A Fight to the Death with a Black Bear
Shortly before midnight on Sept. 27, 2014, Brandon Johnson, 44, was helping a friend blood-trail a 525-pound black bear when it charged.
Grizzly in CO killed with a stab from a hunting arrow (no other wounds to the bear, hunter mauled..did not get a shot off wirh his bow..while being mauled he stabbed it with a loose arrow).
The man who killed Colorado’s last grizzly bear
Forty years ago, Ed Wiseman killed the last known grizzly bear in Colorado. “It still amazes me the attack fascinates people,” Wiseman told The Durango Herald in an interview over the phone...
Black bear killed with an axe
This Man Was Attacked by a Black Bear. He Killed It with an Axe.
The harrowing story of a too-close encounter with a Canadian black bear
Buck 110 vs grizzly bear (killed)
Black bear killed with a stick by smashing it in the head again and again (man had whole back of his head torn up).
'Bring it on, sweetie': Man kills bear with stick (and he's got the scars to prove it)
A man who was attacked by a black bear while walking his dogs survived only after crushing the creature's skull with a stick.
Black bear killed with a rock. By a longer.
It happens all the time...it makes news stories then it fades away.
I've spent a decent amount of time in bear country, where I am not allowed to carry a firearm. I've had bears try to climb into my rig, chase me on motorcycles....
Come out onto the dock and force me off....
No one is trying to fight a bear with a knife...but having a large strong fixed blade
would not be amiss.
I like knives...I'm going to carry knives anyway... even when not in bear country.
not2sharp
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Bigfattyt
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Sounds scary.
n2s
Funny you should post that. One outing, we spotted a young bear...not a tiny cub, older, but not full size or adult. Me, my dad, and mom in an old 1974 FJ40 Landcruiser.
The bear tried to climb in my mom's window... old, stiff crank closing windows don't roll up very fast!!!! I nearly got in.
Then if followed us down the trail for half a mile or so...
BD_01
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tony281sc2
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A knife? Probly not…
but you think a .44 or even a .357 wouldn’t save your life in that situation?
afishhunter
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Depends on were you hit the bear. In the eye and into the brain? Sure. That'll do the trick.
Other than that ... Nope.
Bear are tough. A lot tougher than a deer. There are verified/confirmed accounts of bear not being stopped by multi hits of 7mm Mag and .30-06 rifle at close range, and of bear taking a full cylinder of .44 mag at close range before killing and eating the poor guy who shot it, and attacking others hours later.
I have heard this. In fact that apparently is the reason why Bear Spray is often considered more "effective" than firearms. Because it causes the bear to no longer attack you, as opposed to trying to stop it as it continues to attack you.
I took a deer with a 357mag once. Must have spent an hour following the blood trail. I can easily imagine hitting a charging bear and still gettting eaten.
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