I’ve lived in Alaska for more than forty years and have had my share of bear encounters, black and grizzly. I won’t bore you with a lot of stories, but I’ll tell you two of them.
A friend and I were hunting for moose and came upon a fairly young, maybe 3-year-old, black bear sitting in a large patch of blueberries feeding himself. Younger bears are moderately edible so my friend shot him. The bear jumped up, landed on his feet, and ran about 70 yards before he dropped to the ground. When we opened him up to dress him out, we could see that his heart was completely destroyed by the bullet. With NO heart, this guy, from a sitting position, ran 200 feet before he died. That’s a black bear.
A few years later, while scoping a hillside, I watched a grizzly bear clawing away at the ground. Through my spotting scope, I saw him drag a black bear out of his den, kill him, and eat him. That’s the difference between a black bear and a grizzly bear. Whatever type of round you carry into the woods is open to debate. But it might be a good idea to save the last round for yourself. Being eaten alive by a grizzly bear strikes me as a very unpleasant way to die.
