Knife for bears

If a bear attacks , I dont think there would be enough time to be scared. May as well go down in glory.
 
The Ben Lilly story ran in an Tactical Knives article several years ago. If I recall the story correctly he would use dogs to find the bears and as they charged he would stab the bear on one side and as the bear reacted to the side being stabbed he would kill it with another knife. If I recall correctly he died of old age. Wish I could find the article again. Was a very good read. Oh for me the least I would want would be my Ruger Redhawk 45 Colt.
 
ducati said:
The Ben Lilly story ran in an Tactical Knives article several years ago. If I recall the story correctly he would use dogs to find the bears and as they charged he would stab the bear on one side and as the bear reacted to the side being stabbed he would kill it with another knife. If I recall correctly he died of old age. Wish I could find the article again. Was a very good read. Oh for me the least I would want would be my Ruger Redhawk 45 Colt.
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http://www.gilawilderness.com/infopg/benlilly.htm
 
Knife as a last chance, forget it, curl up like a squirrel play dead and hope to God you can still use your knife to survive after the a-- wipping your going to get. No this is not a smart a-- answer either. If you go into the great north country unarmed, well you might wind up like this!!! This is just from a Black Bear around 250#s in my driveway.
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Guy that my brother met killed a 400lbs grizzly that attacked him with a buck hunting knife (Documented in the newspaper), he had stabbed the bear in the neck and got the artery.
Two years ago up near Pink Mountain, BC a bow-hunter killed one by stabbing it with an arrow
 
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Since I really know nothing about bears, I had a look at some gun forums and found that the conventional thinking out there recommends a gun bigger than a .44 magnum to get through the thick hide, tissue and bone. That mean you'll want a .454, .460, or S&W .500 caliber for protection.
That's for large grizzly bears, 44 magnum is probably okay for smaller bears.
 
Thanks for many helpful informations. As far as I understand, some may prefer a blade 6 to 7 inches due to better handling, others may take a knife with a blade 12 inches upward to cause more damage.
So, it´s doesnt matter how long it is, as you have no chance anyhow.
To summarize this, for the moment I think I would carry a knife with the design similar to the CS Laredo Bowie. Maybe tomorrow I´ll have another opinion. Who knows it.
 
So, it´s doesnt matter Sorry, my English isn´t to good.
Once again, I cannot answer the question, why I´m interesting in such a stupid question. So, the only question I like to know is, how long must the blade be to stab succesfully into the heart, while standing the huge grizzly straight in front of you.
 
Guys, OP's English sounds Russian or Ukraine? so maybe the meaning is lost in translation- He never said "I want to hunt bears with a knife" he never said "I think a knife would be great against a bear" What he said was .... There are times he is in the vicinity of large bears and CANNOT carry a firearm.

I still think the spray needs to be carried- even if you had an accident with it. It is a tool and you will need all you can get. On the knife- I would want 10" minimum and I would prefer 14-20"- Wakizasha territory. Something else that is just as easy to carry is a 24" double bit light axe- axe gives you one or both arms swinging power and may crack a skull, badly damage a limb.. I pray you never need them but good luck if you do.
 
I heartily endorse the stabbing to the head instead of trying for the heart. The object isn't to kill the bear . . . it's to kill the bear before he kills you. The only quick killing stabs would be to the brain, either through the eyes or ears, preferably the eyes. Even if the brain isn't reached, strikes to the head/neck area may cause the bear to break off the attack.

Again, these are very, very unlikely to work, but to give yourself every advantage, try to stick something down his mouth to prevent a killing bite.

The chances are still heavily against you getting in even one stab at anything like a vulnerable spot, so if possible carry something more effective, like a shotgun with hardened slugs or a powerful handgun.
 
A brown bear's skull is incredably thick. Not much will penetrate it other than through the eye orbits or the ear openings or the roof of the mouth.
 
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sicily02 said:
Hi all,

A few years back there was couple that were camping up north I am not sure if it was in the boundry waters area or not. Any ways a black bear came into there camping area and the wife was attacked. The hubby came or tried to come to her rescue but all he had was a SAK. He attemped to stab the bear while the bear was still attacking his wife. After the bear recieved some stab wounds it did stop its attack and left the area, the hubby was able to get to his wife and started to leave the area and try to get help. The wife did die while the hubby was trying to get her to medical help.
After that situation happened there was a fellow who heard about that situation. He spent time in the woods and decided that he was going to get and carry a bigger knife than his pocket knife. He chose a knife with a 6" blade and I think it was a Buck 119. Anyways about a year later he is out in the woods and gets attacked by a black bear and I think it started attacking his dog first and he went to help his dog. anyways he killed that bear with his knife.

Killing a bear with a knife can be done YIKES if you have to do. But when you or a loved one is being attacked you will do what you have too. some will run away and some will go and help.

If I was in your shoes. Well actully I do not head into the woods with a knife that has at least 7" for the blade but I use mine for mainly trail clearing. But if I was attacked by something I know I feel better with my longer knife than just a SAK.

I want to say also, I have noticed here lately that when people ask questions there are some real smart assed comments being giving. Think about this every day there is someone in the world starting out in learning about survival and wilderness skills. They have questions and they are basic questions. So instead of giving smart assed comments you EXPERTS out there. HELP teach instead.
Rant over.
This a great forum and a great place to Learn and share wilderness skills let keep it that way.

Bryan
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Just to fill in a few pertinent details, the guy that killed a bear with only a Buck 119 is also a regular on a canoe tripping forum I frequent and reluctantly detailed the entire story. It is a sort of divine irony that he was attacked, because earlier in the year he started a th'd on a good budget "bear knife". A topic that quickly devolved into......well a close copy of this th'd.

It was an older, sick, starving bear that had been stalking him on a portage for twenty minutes, it was undoubtedly a premeditated attack by a desperately hungry bear, a scenario that is becoming frighteningly frequent in N.Ontario. Bells, noise, spray, all the avoidance techniques can't help in that case. Thankfully he didn't heed all the "advice" he was given, used his gut and picked up a stainless 119 that turned out to have saved his life. This season a wildlife worker was attacked in almost the same manner, and the bear was driven off after being mortally wounded by a Buck 119 and the provincial employee survived with relatively minor injuries. That's the third bear attack in Ontario this year.

BTW: Almost all his strikes were to the neck and the bear weakened immediately after the 1st strike, and was dead in less than 2mins. I wouldn't bother with hits to the center mass or head, aim for the neck and all the vital blood passages, windpipe and spinal cord.

So in a nutshell for those keeping score, that's Buck 119 -- 2 Bears -- 0 SAK -- -1
Unless you are willing to pack an extra 10lbs of shotty & ammo everytime you go into the bush, it is not out of line to look for a large fixed blade as a last ditch "just in case" weapon against a predatory bear.
 
Yes you can kill the bear, it has be done in the past and will be done in the future. Now should you meet a bear, even with a big knife, it would be a coin toss. Arguably some people would make a profession out of it which would stack some more chance in their favor but would still be a bet and I'd venture to say that no one in this forum meets that definition.
A solution that work one out of two times (note I'm being generous here) isn't a solution. If you're having problem with bear, you're not solving the problem, just adding a dubious patch while indulging into fantasies.
It's a bit like saying "my car brakes are broken... so I'll learn acrobatics... so in case I've got an accident I can leap through the window", yeah it could sort of work...
 
halbschaf said:
Last June tracking near Kodiak Island I used my bear spray and hurt myself – never will take this kind of defense again. As I don´t carry shooting weapons, I have to trust in a good knife.
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So, what you are saying is that you can, and have, carried bear spray and because you hurt yourself with it, you'd rather carry a knife instead.

Did you practice with the bear spray before you had to use it?

Did you know that there are practice cans for bear spray available? Here's one on the UDAP site: https://store.udap.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=12-I&Category_Code=

My suggestion is to get a can of spray, and get a practice can. Practice until you can use the thing as a reflex. You should be carrying it on the belt or a shoulder strap where you don't have to dig it out to use it, and you should be able to fire accurately with it still holstered. This requires some practice, just like any other weapon. Get the practice time in, and build confidence with the weapon.

That said, you will still want a back up. The stop rate is good at something around 90%, but I think hedging your bet against that other 10% is a good idea too. http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF12/1245.html

I'd heed the advice to attack the neck. You want something that's sharp and long enough to get in and do some damage, and something that'll give you a good grip. The Buck 119 mentioned above is a good knife, and the phenol handle isn't a slippery as some folks say (I've had one for over 20 years.), but you may want an even better grip. The Buck Nighthawk might be a good choice, or a good old fashioned Ka-Bar. Neither will set you back a lot of cash.
 
So, to get a last idea, it would be great if some of you would show a picture of the knife he prefers in that worst case scenario; it doesn´t matter whether he has this knife or only knows which it is.
Thanks in advance.
 
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