Shot in the bears eyes

[French Colonial]

In another thread they are discussing the efficacy of shooting a bear in the eyes with shot in order to render him less dangerous while using a small caliber or reloading with a ball to kill the bear, it took me awhile to find it but this actually occurred in our history.

The book Fleur de Lys and Calumet, which is a translation from Penicault's Narrative of French Adventures, on page 37 tells of the adventurers stumbling across a bear at close range while being loaded with shot and shooting it in the eyes and then killing him. It caused quite a bit of excitement in the group.

The book is another great read of the French Colonial time period and also has some great stories of surviving the harsh winters in America etc.

FYI

 

[Woody Morgan]

Bears don't need eyes. They'll smell you out then kill you.

wm

 

[longcruise]

Bears don't need eyes. They'll smell you out then kill you.

wm

Taking a load of shot in the eyes might change the bears priorities

 

[SamTex1949]

Taking a load of shot in the eyes might change the bears priorities

Or just be really annoyed and charge at any / all sounds

 

[rodwha]

Taking a load of shot in the eyes might change the bears priorities

There’s an Alaskan bear guide who tells stories claims they want revenge at all cost, and tells of a time his shooter shot his bear in the brush and had severed the spine. It growled a lot and so they stayed quiet so as not to give away their position, which didn’t last but maybe 10-15 mins and provoke an assault. After a bit they go down and find that it had dug deep furrows in the ground and flipped its body weird in an attempt to get to them. I’ve read that it’s the interior brown bears that are far more aggressive than coastal bears with ample food supplies.

 

[Erwan]

The book Fleur de Lys and Calumet, which is a translation from Penicault's Narrative of French Adventures, on page 37 tells of the adventurers stumbling across a bear at close range while being loaded with shot and shooting it in the eyes and then killing him. It caused quite a bit of excitement in the group.

You know, French stories about hunting are like stories about fishing, and I know what I'm talking about: I'm in France quite often, so I know the French a bit. It's not that they are liars, but they like to embellish reality...

What was the size of your last trout ?

 

[4575wcf]

I think that fairly recent foray into bear country by the now deceased photographer and his girlfriend tell the story. They surprised the bear, he was hungry, so he just incapacitated them both to prevent any escape, and then dined at his convenience. The lady caught most of it on audio by all reports. Nearly two hundred and twenty years after Lewis and Clark, and Old Ephraim is still not to be toyed with.

 

[Sparkitoff]

When we had an exotic animal ranch we had people do all kinds of strange things in the name of experimentation. Some guys set up a doe's head from its carcass and wanted to see if they could "blind" it with shot. I don't know the size of shot but I am pretty sure it was a 12 gauge - didn't care and not interesting to me. Anyway, they shot the deer head on in the face a couple of times at about 10-yards.. Neither eye was perforated by the shot. They did it again from the side and could actually see where some pellets went into the eye, but the eye was intact (and on a live animal it may have functioned at that point). Eventually they had enough shooting this head and moved on to other things. A bear's eyes are much smaller, slightly recessed and surrounded by a thicker socket than a deer. Blinding one with shot at any range would be pure luck at best. Small odds of successfully pulling it off with one or two shots. My guess is after shot #1 the bear will leave in a hurry or come and getcha. I call bull on the "story".... something is exaggerated.....

 

[4575wcf]

Timothy Treadwell Wikipedia
Read it yourself

 

[andy52]

Personally, if I were to have an encounter with a bear that became life-threatening I would just as sone kill the bear then blind it.
A blind bear may run off and kill some unsuspecting person elsewhere.

 

[4575wcf]

Probably best to leave them alone. If you get into one while fishing, and he/she won't let you avoid them, it would be best to be packing a nice big powerful revolver rather than an eagle claw fishing rod. Just my opinion

 

[French Colonial]

For those who have not read the book.....

The adventurers were NOT bear hunting, they were hunting small game, starving, and "Living off the end of their gun"

If you want to criticize Penicaut or call him a liar, I suggest you may be a couple of years to late

 

[The Crisco Kid]

A load of shot might blind a bear but it won't put it down. This was discussed on another forum so I posted this picture of a bear skull I killed many years ago. You'll notice that the eye sockets are on the outside of the skull. I'd be skeptical about killing one by shooting in the eye. What you might end up with is a very ****** off one eyed bear.

 

[Woody Morgan]

I see bears all the time fishing in the Sierra. Those that have fished up there more than two days knows to just holler "BEAR", back away with what tackle you can grab and watch Yogi work his way along the shoreline snacking on everyone's stringers. The bears have learned and so have we.

wm

 

[French Colonial]

A load of shot might blind a bear but it won't put it down. This was discussed on another forum so I posted this picture of a bear skull I killed many years ago. You'll notice that the eye sockets are on the outside of the skull. I'd be skeptical about killing one by shooting in the eye. What you might end up with is a very ****** off one eyed bear.

Polonois was the one who actually killed the bear, he partially blinded it with the first shot and then reloaded with a round ball and killed him with the second shot.

That's what I meant when I said he shot him with the shot and....then killed him, sorry for the confusion.

The point being, has a bear been shot in the eyes and partially blinded and then killed with the second shot as discussed in the thread where people are discussing doing it with a double barrel pistol, yes.

 

[Archer 756]

Boy we seem not to have any ethics, shot first in eye than HOPE to kill with second shoot some ETHICS

 

[GoodRabbitPilgrim]

I think that fairly recent foray into bear country by the now deceased photographer and his girlfriend tell the story. They surprised the bear, he was hungry, so he just incapacitated them both to prevent any escape, and then dined at his convenience. The lady caught most of it on audio by all reports. Nearly two hundred and twenty years after Lewis and Clark, and Old Ephraim is still not to be toyed with.

They didn't surprise the bear, they were in their tent at night when he stalked in. The guy (Timothy Treadwell) went our to scare it off and was killed, the woman took scared to run was next. They were meant to fly our of AK the following day.

He was an idiot though, always getting too close to wild bears with no weapons what so ever to defend himself.

 

[SOLANCO]

Boy we seem not to have any ethics, shot first in eye than HOPE to kill with second shoot some ETHICS

I do not disagree concerning the discussion of hypothetical current day possibilities.

That guy in the boonies a couple of hundred years ago may have had self preservation as his primary ethic.

 

[SOLANCO]

What do you want to do? Kill a bear? At least be ethical enough to "Use Enough Gun" and to know what you are about.
You want to not be bear's fast food? Don't present to him as a Big Mac and don't be stupid about what he is capable of.

 

[ML48]

You know, if you tell a story and it is retold a thousand times....you'll find it's not the same story.