If you were hunting squirrel and only had a .22 and you had a bear at 15 yards (this is a true story) were would you shoot if it charged you?
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If you were hunting squirrel and only had a .22 and you had a bear at 15 yards (this is a true story) were would you shoot if it
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Hopefully that bear has a thin skull.... Aim for the face, nose/eyes/mouth. Know a story of a woman up north (Yukon or Alaska) was attacked by a bear while hiking and only had a .22-she unloaded that rifle IN THE BEAR'S MOUTH after it pawed her to the ground. Bear died. Still, even at 15 yards, might be safer to shoot in the air and hope to scare it off... shoot it in the head and DON'T kill it, might just make it angry....
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Unless bears elsewhere are different than those in the Rocky Mountains gunfire does not bother them much if at all. In fact grizzlys will come to a rifle shot since it must equate to an easy meal. Most charges are demonstrated with the bear moving toward you with a more or less head down position. They often are closing much faster than you would think possible. Thus shoot for the head, even if you miss maybe you will hit something vital although not likely. Desparate situations call for desparate measures and in North America a bear charge is about as desparate as it gets. An exception might be a cow moose since they tend to be more aggressive than the bulls. I have only been charged once by a bull moose and he was coming at 5 riders and 11 horses. Made quite mess.
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A bears brain is small compared to the size of his head and located in the center of the head between and behind the eyes. Huge jaw muscles on each side give the head it's large rather rounded look. That said, the brain is the only thing to aim for if you hope to stop one with a .22 as the spine is even smaller and more difficult to hit. A hit anyplace else will just piss him off. BTW when you put the skull in a large pot and boil it a few hours those jaw muscles will fall off in 2 large sinewy chunks.
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Right between the eyes or possibly in the eye. Once you are charged the game is up. It's either kill or be killed. And I would turn that 22 around and use it as a club after that. Incidentally how did it work out for the other guy? I had a guy that killed one with number 4s at about 5 steps, after he wiped his drawers the G&F cleared him with a self defense shooting... and thats on a black bear, the nice ones....
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