Quote:
Originally Posted by beagleye
Very grounded advice, I appreciate that. Yes, I definitely understand that they are very rarely aggressive, this part I know from experience. I see em all the time and usually when I see them they are already running away. And I make noise, I yell frequently and often walk brusquely. But not always. I did once wander quietly between a mother and a cub. I became aware of the cub when he saw or smelled me and took off away from me. I turned and checked behind, momma was foraging about 50 yards behind me, hadn't caught wind, I was right between them completely unaware. I slunk away. I think the wind saved me that time. But I think it was too many experiences like that, happy lucky endings that have lulled me into danger. Seeing the big guy was a wake up call.
I live just a short distance from the smokies, and while there is a lot of bear hunting in the area, the piece of the Pisgah National Forest that my land is adjacent to is a bear sanctuary, so they are even more concentrate here. So while getting attacked is very unlikely, the odds have to stack up with so many encounters.
|
Sounds like your frequency of encounters is a good reason to be prepared. And sounds like you have a great sense of how to try to avoid them but it does happen. I’ve only had three. One mountsin lion, 1 large male black bear and one mom with cubs. Never had to shoot, but I was very close with the mom and cubs. I would have hated to do it, but similar situation. The little ones ran up a tree and I was very close to them and she was further away. She did see me and was pretty upset. They were calling to her with kind of a cry and she was chomping her teeth huffing and did do one short charge and stopped after a few steps. I realized where I was headed was not nearly so important. Backed away facing her my old 44 super Blackhawk ready and went back the way I came from. As soon as I got a bit away, the cubs came down and she came over to them and they ran off. I wasn’t comfortable until I got back to the cabin looking over my shoulder the whole time.
I’d suggest getting a 44 you like and start practicing. You said you have shot 44specials a lot. That is what is good about the 44magnum. You can shoot specials or if you load can make some lighter loads to get used to the gun. Then work your way up to practicing with the full power stuff.
Once you have the grip, trigger press and recoil control down, start working on speed with acceptable accuracy. A quick but deliberate draw with a good first shot. Then as many as you can get in 2 seconds following up with acceptable sight picture. Also suggest using earplugs and muffs. I found most people don’t really have an issue with the actual recoil it’s more the blast that gets them flinching. Having really good ear protection really helps with this.
It’s a lot of fun, good practice and you will be amazed how accurate those big bore handguns are. If I had to do it over again, I’d probably buy a readhawk since it’s double action. But had my Superblack hawk for almost 35 years. Just can’t give that up. Been my constant companion at the cabin for a long time.