Preliminary planning for AK flight

wrote in message
ups.com...

Alaska regs no longer require you to carry a firearm, but they highly
recommend it (as do I). I took a 12-gauge with slugs.

Hmm, never hunted brown bear, but my gut instinct is that I'd go with
buckshot in that use case. I'd much rather hit Yogi with one pellet of 00
than whizz a slug right past him. Maybe load a slug or two first and then
2-3 rounds of 00 and hope you never need them.

If you're talking real survival you might want to carry a box of birdshot
too to use for hunting. Hit anything smaller than a deer with a 12ga slug
and there isn't going to be much meat left.

-cwk.

Colin W Kingsbury wrote:

Hmm, never hunted brown bear, but my gut instinct is that I'd go with
buckshot in that use case. I'd much rather hit Yogi with one pellet of 00
than whizz a slug right past him. Maybe load a slug or two first and then
2-3 rounds of 00 and hope you never need them.

I did a photo trip with L.L. Rue once, and he described going after bears in
Alaska. He said the outfit that flew them in provided them with short shotguns
for defense. IIRC, he said the first two shells were buckshot and the last was a
slug.

He and his son were trying to get in a good position, and one of the bears
started heading for his son. He said that after the bear moved off, he didn't
know until the film was processed whether he had reached for the camera or the
shotgun (turned out it was the camera). His son didn't seem to be real pleased
with that story.

George Patterson
I prefer Heaven for climate but Hell for company.

Colin W Kingsbury wrote:

wrote in message
ups.com...

Alaska regs no longer require you to carry a firearm, but they highly
recommend it (as do I). I took a 12-gauge with slugs.


Hmm, never hunted brown bear, but my gut instinct is that I'd go with
buckshot in that use case. I'd much rather hit Yogi with one pellet of 00
than whizz a slug right past him. Maybe load a slug or two first and then
2-3 rounds of 00 and hope you never need them.

An 00 pellet would just make a brown bear really mad. I'd definitely
stick with the slugs. Personally, I'd prefer a .338 Win Mag or larger,
but a slug at close range would like be effective.


If you're talking real survival you might want to carry a box of birdshot
too to use for hunting. Hit anything smaller than a deer with a 12ga slug
and there isn't going to be much meat left.

Yes, that is one advantage of a scattergun ... you can carry a variety
of ammo. Personally, I'd probably be just as happy with my Super
Blackhawk. It is much more compact than a shotgun and you can get shot
loads for the .44 Mag as well that are adequate for small game.

The .44 is marginal for bear, but better than a stick!

Matt

On Sat, 05 Mar 2005 13:23:22 -0500, Matt Whiting
wrote:
An 00 pellet would just make a brown bear really mad.

That was my reaction, too.

Personally, I'd probably be just as happy with my Super Blackhawk.

I have one of those, too, that I've used for deer hunting, but I took
a 12 ga. pump and slugs on my Alaska trips. Handguns are forbidden in
Canada; but I'd have carried the shotgun in any case.

A fellow I know hunts bears (successfully) here in PA with a .44, but
our bears aren't grizzlies. Besides, he was a member of the USMC
pistol team. (I wasn't.)

you can get shot loads for the .44 Mag as well that are adequate for small game.

I have no evidence, but I'd guess that's an extremely short-range
weapon.

vince norris

The guides up there all carry 12ga slug guns.

Mike
MU-2


"Colin W Kingsbury" wrote in message
ink.net...

wrote in message
ups.com...

Alaska regs no longer require you to carry a firearm, but they highly
recommend it (as do I). I took a 12-gauge with slugs.

Hmm, never hunted brown bear, but my gut instinct is that I'd go with
buckshot in that use case. I'd much rather hit Yogi with one pellet of 00
than whizz a slug right past him. Maybe load a slug or two first and then
2-3 rounds of 00 and hope you never need them.

If you're talking real survival you might want to carry a box of birdshot
too to use for hunting. Hit anything smaller than a deer with a 12ga slug
and there isn't going to be much meat left.

-cwk.