Funny you should mention that- just a few years back, a feller was walking up a trail, rifle on his back. Just about the time he smelled a rotting animal, he got knocked down by a grizzley and chewed on. This happened only about 65 miles west of here. He managed to get his short (long for this column) 6" blade out of the sheath and after multiple stabs, etc, he finally got the bear to drop him & it walked off. His rifle was gone - didn't know where & could hardly see for the blood in his eyes. It's difficult to crawl, arms ripped up, holding the flap of skin off your eyes, I guess. He crawled out of the bush and was found at his truck, trying to get in - taken to hospital and received over 400 stitches to close his wounds. He didn't even know he was ripped in the legs until he found he couldn't walk. The game branch went in to kill the bear and found it dead about 25yds from where the fight had been, right next to it's 1/2 burried moose kill.
: The autopsy found the 6" blade was about 2" too short of killing the bear within the first few stabs. He was making the lungs, but not the heart, as his blade was just a bit too short. None of his neck attempts hit the corotids. That man now packs a BIG knife with him, and carries his rifle in his hands- no slings.
: The Bear-Aware Course Speakers in this province who lecture government employees who work in the bush, now recommend no shorter than an 8" blade for a belt knife in grizzley country - just in case. The preferred gun is a 12 bore pump with slugs. Buckshot just doesn't work on big bears. : Yeah, I know, the macho deal is to carry a blade no longer than absolutely necessary to skin or butcher an animal & some company's go so far as to sell blades only 1 to 1 1/2" long, saying, it's all you need. I use a minimum of a 6" blade, and can do a mature bull moose in about 12 min. if on flat ground. I know guys who use small blades, no longer than absolutely necessary, spend hours getting their moose ready to pack out. Bloody waste of daylight. i dont'like packing in the dark- so I use a big blade. I guess that makes me a tenderfoot or beginner or something to be sneared at, but I'd rather get it cool and into the truck than spend all day up to my elbows, practising being an expert, using a short blade. Actually, around here, it's the other way around. The beginners are the ones who pack inadequate tools and 6th fingers andother gimmicks. I'd rather pack a blade & get the job done, just as I was taught.
: Another bear story- about 2, maybe 3 years ago, now, a couple guys out Black Bear hunting with shotguns loaded with buckshot got jumped by a grizzley in the same geographic area as the previous attack. They just about cleaned the skin right off that griz's head, yet nothing entered the skull nor penetrated the neck bones. One of the guys, some 6 shots later, reloaidng, finally killed him with a Fed 1 1/4 ounce slug.(max 3 shells allowed per gun-federal law) Apparently, the point-blank facial blows were knocking him down, but he'd get right up again. THAT would be disconcerning, wouldn't it.
