One more time - what the best knife for defense against bears?

I'm pretty confident I could take a bear with a knife. I would want a Busse battle mistress, some Carothers chopper, or a large David Mary knife or similar. At that point I'm reasonably sure that koala is going down...
 
Final update on the bear attack in a mountain national park near Hakodate Japan in late October,The bear attacked 3 people and killed one 22 year old college student.
The 3 were only slightly injured and the secod group of two were firemen. One of them stabbed the attacking bear in the eye and throat.
Afterwards the mutilated body of the college student was found. Then the bear was found dead in a ravine.
An autopsy of the bear showed human flesh in it's digestive system.
And although the size of the knife used by the fireman has not been published, of interest is that the autopsy showed that the knife had severed
the bear's windpipe.
 
In a well-documented and highly publicized incident in 1999, a 69 year old hunter named Gene Moe killed an attacking Kodiak bear with a Buck 110. Stabbing the bear 5 times.

This is the knife. It was retrieved after the incident.

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It's the one always with me so I'd probably use my 125OT.


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If I'm going into bear country knowingly I'll have my Stifle Bowie on my hip as well.
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Well the last few times, Ive only had a folder and they can be fiddly to open, an you'll want to duck n weave while you do it! Since this seems to keep happening, I think I might have go back to my trusty double smachet boot carry rig.
 
I think if I was stuck having to choose a bladed weapon I'd choose a spear like the zombie tools one. While I'm not a big fan of their products, they do seem to be uniquely suited for this task. Trick is you have to get it right on the first attempt otherwise once the bear is on you good luck getting the angle and strength needed to position it blade right to attack successfully again

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Or perhaps one of these
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An unskilled, weak, or novice user. One of these might increase the odds of them coming out alive. Easier to do multiple strikes even if laying on the ground
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But I think I'd want my .458 WSM before a blade
 
Hey I just remembered something.

Any of you guys ever watched the movie "The Edge" with Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin? Remember what they did? They used a small lockback pocket knife. It's a really old movie, but I'm not going to spoil it. You should really watch it if you haven't seen it. It's a classic and it's really good. Definitely worth seeing.

But anyway, if you are ever attacked by a bear, just ask it to wait for a few hours so you can get ready to fight it. ;)
 
The best knife is the one belonging to the person who stands his ground, thereby giving you the chance to haul your as-pirations in the other direction. 😒
 
Choctaw Dan said:
The best knife is the one belonging to the person who stands his ground, thereby giving you the chance to haul your as-pirations in the other direction. 😒
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Ah, yes. As the old saying goes, "you don't have to be fast; you just have to be faster than the person running next to you."
 
gadgetgeek said:
There is a family story of my great grandmother killing a blackbear with a single shot .22lr, however she was in the house and the bear still ran 3/4 of a mile with the slug in its heart, so I'd guess that had it been a real attack, my family tree would be somewhat different (no one remembers which kids were born at the time) Dumb luck is however a genetic trait I think I must have gotten from her.
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I like family lore stories, whether true, embellished or made up. It’s good to imagine these actually happened. 👍🏼

I’m dropping my knife cause it’s less weight while I run faster than everyone else. 😂🤣
 
elasmonut said:
For the last time! Smachet!!
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e: I’m a Fairbairn admirer too. I am the proud owner of Boker Smatchet. As is my curse and pleasure, I took my research to the nth. Degree. I found out that Fairbairn actually designed and built a follow-on improvement to the Smatchet, the “ Fairsword”. Evidently it was produced, in small numbers.

A bit longer than the Smatchet , slimmer, more leaf-shaped and pointier than the Smatchet. IMO, it is also much better balanced. Although I never tracked down an original, I did get a lot of info in a protracted internet search. Long story short, Mineral Mountain Hatchet Works in Arkansas makes a good copy, in 1095. It calls the blade the “ Toothpick “,” Leroy Thompson opined in an article that the MMHW version was a good replica.

I had them make me one, it was a bit expensive, but the result was worth every dollar. Great folks to work with. At my request they even gave me a letter of authenticity. They told me that mine was only the 6th. such blade they had made and that mine was made by their Master Maker. You might want to look into MMHW’s web site. I think you will be intrigued..

Enjoy the journey!
 
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