DISCLAIMER: This isn't the typical sort of DGU story that you see on here, but it does involve drawing my concealed weapon in self-defense, so I thought I'd share it with you good people all the same. Also, full disclosure, my CHCL is currently in the mail, should arrive in the next few days. I'll be sure to make the customary "Look at my permit" post when it arrives, but in this particular case, I was legally carrying when I had my incident.THE SETUP: This morning, I decided to go squirrel hunting now that the temps have finally dropped in my part of the country (Arkansas, which allows constitutional carry). As I mentioned, I'll be receiving my CHCL later this week, and I've been looking forward to using the kit I've purchased in preparation. I would be hunting in a nearby state park that allows both sidearms and squirrel hunting, so I took along my .45 ACP 1911, my Beltman belt, and my Galco IWB holster. It would be the first time I'd wear the kit for an extended period.I arrived around 7:15 and it was a beautiful morning. My squirrel gun is a scoped Henry Golden Boy .22 rifle. I slung it over my shoulder, equipped my Galco IWB with the 1911, and took off past the trail-head. The forested trail is a 2-mile loop, and at the back end, a stream flows past. I don't prefer to spook fellow hikers, so I don't hunt close to the path, even though it's legal to hunt as long as you're more than 50 feet off-trail. I walked up the stream away from the pathway a quarter-mile, then took a right and followed a drainage that empties into the stream. The drainage is pretty steep with a ridge on either side, but I've found it's a great place to hunt squirrel because they love crossing the limbs above the gully, and I can walk quietly on the smooth rocks by the water.After a few minutes of creeping along, a squirrel started barking off to my left, about halfway up the ridge. I stalked up the slope, keeping trees between me and my quarry. He was profiled on the left side of a tree trunk, about four feet from the ground, with more ridge slope behind him as a backstop. It was a 30 yard shot, which is a bit longer than I like, but I didn't think I could sneak much closer without getting busted. I laid down, placed my crosshairs on his skull, and fired. I must have jerked the trigger because the squirrel didn't drop, but instead scampered up into the tree canopy. I waited for a few minutes to see if he would come back down to the ground, but no dice. I walked up the slope and checked the tree. Just as I thought, I shot about an inch to the right and grazed the tree.THE INCIDENT: Right after taking that picture, I noticed some movement about 20 yards past the tree on the top of the ridge. It was a black bear. And not a cub. Looked to be around 200 pounds. Now, I've seen black bears in the woods before, but usually from a canoe or in a car. But I haven't ever been this close without a river or car door between me and the bear. He hadn't noticed me at this point, and was moving right-to-left across the top of the ridge toward the bottom of the drainage before walking on out of sight. At this point, I'm actually pretty excited that I got to see something like that. I'm a believer in the old adage that the more hours you spend in the woods, the more exciting things you will witness.At this point I wasn't sure if the bear was alone, so I look around to see if there are any others. I go ahead and draw the 1911, chamber a round, flick on the thumb safety, and aim it at the ground in front of me. I plan to carry with a round chambered when I have my CHCL, but I'm still getting used to having a firearm on my hip, and I honestly didn't expect to have to use it on this hunting trip--I just wanted to see how it felt to carry it for a few hours. I'm trying to decide if I should go ahead and keep moving up the drainage to look for more squirrel, or if I should head back to the car. The problem is the bear is now between me and the stream.I stand there for a few minutes, thinking it over, when I notice the bear is coming back from down the ridge. He must have scented me, because he's walking directly toward me, directly downwind. He's sniffing the air, and he's about 30 yard away now. It's crazy, if I didn't look at him, I wouldn't have heard him. They are stealthy bastards. I know that most black bears are scaredy cats, and attacks on humans are very rare, so I do what I've been told to do--I start shouting at him. "Hey! Hey, bear! Get on out!" He's stops about 20 yards away, looking at me and sniffing the air. I expected him to leave immediately, but after about 30 seconds of shouting, he's not leaving. I kick the brush around my feet. Nothing. I start getting nervous at this point. Not going to lie, boys, my heart starts to pound and I can feel my arms and legs tingle. Finally, after another loud yell, the bear ambles off in the direction he came.The bear is still between me and the trail, and I'm still a bit spooked, so I stand there and think about my options. After a few minutes of me looking around in every direction, I see the bear again, this time he's circled around and he's walking toward me from the other direction, further up the drainage. Well, he's not between me and trail anymore, but he's certainly interested in me, and I don't like that. I have to wipe my hands on my pants they are so sweaty. He's sniffing the air, moving toward me again, once again about 30 yards away. I don't want to fire the weapon unless I deem it absolutely necessary, so I yell again. He stops and just looks at me. After another tense 60 seconds or so of hollering, he turns around and walks away. I eventually holster my 1911 and fire a few .22 rounds from the Henry into the ground in an effort to encourage his exit.I shoulder Henry, unholster the 1911, and slowly walk down the gully, back to the stream, and make it back to the trail. My head is a swivel the whole trip, and I'm taking special care not to stumble as I walk down the steep trail. But I won't lie, I didn't want to turn around and see that ol' bear coming to take a taste of me without the reassuring weight my piece in hand. Once back at the trail, I felt safer and walked back listening for more squirrel calls. I hate going home empty handed. I get back to the car and process the incident.THOUGHTS: Now, for all you woodsmen, out there, I think the bear was just curious, and I don't think I was ever really in danger. You're probably laughing into your coffee mugs about this young, novice hunter getting scared of an ol' black bear. But that bear wasn't much afraid of me, and I was a 30 minute hike from the nearest road. Laugh all you want, but it was pretty nerve-wracking in the moment. But man, am I glad that I had that 1911 with me! I don't think the Henry would have done much damage if the bear decided to rush me, but I felt pretty confident with those .45 ACP hollow-points in my hand gun. I was much more jittery and shaky than I thought I would be in a situation like that. I can't imagine how bad it is when you're dealing with a real person.LESSONS: For one, I need to spend some time at the range shooting my Henry. Jerking the trigger is unacceptable, especially when hunting game. For two, I need to carry the gun with a round chambered and practice drawing while flicking off the thumb safety. I realized that I was staring at the bear the whole time it was visible and didn't have the situational awareness that I thought I did. The tunnel vision thing is real.Here's a picture of the bear that I snapped on his first walk-up. I have a video of him during the second walk-up if y'all are interested in seeing it. If you've read this far, feel free to tell me what I did wrong so that I can get better at these sort of situations. Thanks for reading! via /r/CCW https://ift.tt/2NrRICq
No comments:
Post a Comment