Survival Skills of Bears

[brotherbear]

Man Meets Grizzly by Young and Beyers.
All accounts agree, however, that a wounded grizzly is a horror in fur and claws. He can be ravaged with bullets and still plunge forward attacking again and again, as in the case of the Wyoming bear that was riddled by fifty-four shots before dying.
Yet, W.H. Wright thinks the vitality of grizzlies has been considerably overstated and the bear lore maintaining that a wounded grizzly is unstoppable, that he cannot bleed to death, and that a shot must penetrate a vital organ, preferably the brain, in order to kill is untrue. Many stories attest to the indomitable fury of the wounded bear, but all bullets that hit take their effect, though perhaps not soon enough or to a sufficient degree for some hunters' needs. For instance, while on the Powder River Expedition of 1865, Captain H.E. Palmer reported the destruction of a monstrous grizzly on the eastern slope of the Big Horn Mountains. This bear had taken shelter in a little plume patch. The trainmaster, a daring man, baited the bear by riding up to within a few rods of the patch. When the bear rushed out after him, the man would turn his mule so quickly the bear could not catch him. The men of the camp then poured a volley from their Sharp's rifles into the bear. The bear withdrew into the plum patch, was teased into the open again, and again was fired upon by the men. When the grizzly was finally downed they found his hide perforated with twenty-three balls. They estimated he weighed about 1,800 pounds. Reply