My favorite bear tale was in a booklet published by Colt about 1934. Jeff Cooper mentioned it an an article and I found a copy at the old Jackson Arms gun store near SMU in Dallas.
Only copy that I've personally seen, and I bought it maybe 30 years ago. It's probably collectible.
In it was a story about a rogue bear (not the "rouge" bear in a post above
. Black bear: mean, nasty local reputation.
He attacked some hiker who had been plinking with a Colt Government .45 auto. He fired the three rounds in the gun, not having reloaded, then fumbled in his pocket for four more rounds, which he loaded as the slide locked open after each single shot. Killed the bear, which was known as Old Patch.
Moral: reload after shooting your gun, and carry spare loaded magazines for autos.
Another favorite story involves a Canadian on Vancouver Island. You may have seen him and others discussing cougar attacks on Discovery TV a few years ago. He was badly mauled, but saved himself with a lockback Schrade copy of the Buck Model 110 knife. I think the Schrade version was the LB-7.
I think this man is named Anderson. I called him after seeing a report of this, and got an interview which appeared in, "Knife World", where I was then a contributing editor. He was still pretty shaken up and was refusing calls from the media, but I talked his wife into letting me speak to him by pointing out that I was not mainstream media, but from an outdoors-oriented title. He very kindly gave me some 20 minutes of his time, and was modest about his success in staying alive with half of his scalp pulled off and suffering other grievous injuries.
The cougar jumped him from behind as he hiked a trail near his home, and she made a mess of him in short order. He explained that part of his problem was keeping her teeth from his throat as he struggled to get his knife out and open it. Finally, he cut the cat's throat and staggered to a nearby logging camp. Men there thought that he had been in a fight and called the RCMP.
Fortunately, he survived and surgeons in Victoria were able to reinstall his torn scalp.
I talked to Schrade's PR lady about the incident, and she offered him a new knife, as did others. I don't recall whether he ever got his own back. If he did, I bet it took some thorough cleaning!
Next, let's look at Game Ranger Harry Wolhuter, in South Africa's Kruger National Park. A pair of lions startled his horse, and it threw him, taking off with his rifle in a saddle scabbard. One lion grabbed Wolhuter by the shoulder and started dragging him off.
The stunned ranger managed to draw his sheath knife and stab the cat several times in the heart. It staggered off and died, leaving him in the bush with no help in sight. His African "boys" finally found him and got him to hospital, where he survived, at the loss of some of his arm's use. (The shoulder was a mess, and he never fully recovered.)
The lion's hide and the knife were displayed for years at the park office. The I. Wilson knife resembles the Green River Dadley pattern, and has just a six-inch blade.
Finally, did any of you see the item in, "Outdoor Life" maybe 20 years ago, where a black bear was stabbed in midstream by an angler that the bear attacked? Rangers found the remains of about eight other men nearby in the bear's food cache. Remember: most PREDATORY attacks by North American bears are by black bears.
