Last month I was fishing in the Alaska bush country and got run off by the bears on several occasions. Tim Skala lives in Anchorage, has a float plane outside his back door and hunts and fishes so much you would not think he had time to practice medicine. I asked Tim what he recommends for "critter control", Alaska style. Here is his response.

David,

It depends on what you want to do. A 375H&H mag is my idea of adequate bear control, but it's not suitable for many applications. A pump 12 gauge with fast slugs is good as long as it has a tube extension on the magazine (mine carries 9 shots). Next, comes the usual handguns...a .44 Magnum is the minimum...and balistically it sucks. You need to have the right ammo for it, preferably machined brass slugs that are fast. I carry one when I hike the hills where the berries are likely to bring bears, but in the plane I have a 454 Casull...it hits with about 60% more power than the 44, but is still only equivalent to a 30/30 Winchester, which is a poor bear gun. We always say that you should file the front sight off your 44 so it won't hurt so much when the bear stuffs it up your ass.

So you see, the jury is out. You should carry as much gun as you can handle (the 454 is brutal to fire) and you should practice enough to be accurate. The best idea is don't shoot the bear if you can help it. I've only killed one bear and it was in self defense over ownership of a moose carcass. It was a black that weighed in at 300# and squared out at 6 ft. It sits about a foot from me as I type. It got one shot through the center with a 375 H&H. It never knew it was shot.

You should have my e-mail on flights to Venezuela already. I am sooo ready, but I still have a lot of silvers to catch. I've been fishing with the bears and will hook on a couple shots of Thursday's encounter. You really should have stayed longer and gone out with me...you wouldn't have believed it.

Tim


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