An axe for bear defense?!

In Russia there were hunters which bagged bears with a spear (Russian word for the bear spear is "rogatina" and the hunter is called "rogatchik"). Different people of Russian society from the ordinary peasant up to the noble aristocrat were keen participants of this very dangerous method of hunting, with a few people being professionals. They have to be a brave and strong person, and have to anticipate the unexpected bear behaviour. The great specialist of bear hunting was the main huntsman of the great duke Nikolay Romanov - Mihail Andrievskiy. In the magazine ("Nature and Hunting" 1894) he published a well known and very interesting article about bear hunting with "rogatina". He described every detail and all aspects of this hunting: bear behaviour, psychology and strategy fighting, construction of spear and so on. Vadim painted this picture according to this article and following some advice with bear specialist zoologists.
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VGAP010_Russian_bear_hunter.jpg
 
7.62 shooter,
You said: "There used to be Russians that hunted bears with spears. They had a name for the hunters and I think it was the same name as the spear. I seem to recall that they would instigate a charge from the bear and set the foot of the spear into the ground and support it with their own foot. And pray hard..."

One question...
Was the spear called: DUMB S_ _ _?
 
Using any bladed weapon if firearms are an option doesn't sound like a good idea to me, but if you had to use a bladed weapon a spear has to be the way to go. You really want to keep them as far away as possible.
 
CitizenQ said:
:eek: That's a damn heroic painting, but I'd much prefer a Marlin 1895 45/70.
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You and me both...
I followed up on that picture you posted- http://www.eaglehunter.co.uk/Vadim_Gorbatov_Portfolio/VGAP010_Bear_Hunt.html
Quoted form the web page- "a few people being professionals." Exactly three people being professionals, I bet...

Glock17JHP said:
7.62 shooter,
You said: "There used to be Russians that hunted bears with spears. They had a name for the hunters and I think it was the same name as the spear. I seem to recall that they would instigate a charge from the bear and set the foot of the spear into the ground and support it with their own foot. And pray hard..."

One question...
Was the spear called: DUMB S_ _ _?
Click to expand...
Either that or a WTF were you thinking? Spear
 
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Forget the spear... you will only get 1-2 jabs, and that probably won't kill it before it kills you...
12 Gauge with Brenneke slugs...
 
Well guys, yes We have alternatives but for thousands of years spears were used with enough success that the First peoples of North America are still here ;-))

Regards

Robin
 
But how many of them died trying???

Also, remember this... 'hunting a bear with a spear' is a lot different than 'defending oneself against an angry bear with a spear'...

The same can be said as relates to bears and firearms, too...
 
I think a thrusting weapon that could reach vital organs would be more effective than a slashing/hacking weapon. But I'd much rather have an axe/hawk than nothing!

DancesWithKnives
 
not2sharp said:
Why not? Here are three stories in which an axe is used to defend against a bear attack.

http://thelibrary.org/lochist/turnbo/V6/ST165.html

Let's share a few more.

n2s
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There are some other doozies on that web page :thumbup:
SHOT THE PIG TO RECOVER HIS KNIFE
By S. C. Turnbo​
Mr. Aaron Frederick, formerly a resident of Howell County, Missouri, but when I saw him in the summer of 1906 he was living at the head of the beautiful cave at the head of Coweta Creek in the Indian Territory where he related to me an amusing story of war times. Said he, "When our mill on Jacks Fork of Spring River was set on fire and destroyed by a party of soldiers we were compelled to see other quarters or starve to death and we bid adieu to our old desolate home and moved into Douglas County where we lived on Fox Creek. Soon after our arrival there my father rented a farm that belonged to a Mr. Davis near where Jack Alsup lived. We put in a crop of corn and it did well and we were beginning to get over a part of our troubles when along in the summer after our corn was in full roasting ear a large body of cavalry came along one day and stopped and camp on the farm where we lived and remained here several days. They throwed the fence down and turned their horses and mules into the field and kept them there until the entire crop of corn was destroyed and they used the rails to make fires to do their cooking. The destruction of our crops brought us to distress and destitution again though it was sad to have to give up our crop in such a way which gave us more discouragement, but it was our misfortune and we had to make the best of it. There was a little incident in connection with the ruin of our crop that I never will forget until my eyes are closed in death. One of the soldiers had his camp near our residence and cooked and ate his rations at the fire made of rails taken from the fence. This man was rather old and beyond the prime of life. On one occasion a fat shoat which belonged to us went up near the fire where this fellow was preparing rations for dinner on the hunt for something to appease its appetite. The shoat was a pet and consequently was gentle. when the shoat had got up near the fire the soldier quit work at his cooking immediately and picked up a sharp-pointed knife and struck the pig with it in the side and let go the handle and the pig started off running with the knife hanging to it which was what the man intended. After the wounded shoat got off a few yards with the knife still sticking in the wound the soldier snatched up his gun and shot the pig and killed it. It was against instructions from the commanding officer to shoot fire arms in camp and the patrole guard on hearing the report of the gun went to see what was the cause of the shot and on arriving near the scene the officer of the guard soon located the man that done the shooting and he found him very busy cooking his noon fare with the shoat lying dead nearby with the knife stuck in its side. The officer demanded of the man why he shot and the man very cooly says, "Captain, do you see that dead shoat lying there?" "I certainly do and it seems like you are intending to have fresh pork for dinner," said the officer. "That was not my real intention at the start but I will eat some of it for supper. The reason I killed it was that the derned thing run off with my knife and I was compelled to kill it to recover my knife, " said the man, which seemed to be a satisfactory explanation to the officer for he thought he had done his duty in saving his knife and passed on and the soldier proceeded to dress the pig and divide the meat with the officer for being so kind and merciful to him."
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A HUNTER’S WIFE SAVES HIM FROM A WOUNDED BUCK
By S. C. Turnbo

We have said elsewhere that Jimmie Tabor settled on Big Creek in Taney County, Mo., in 1835 and that he died December the 22, 1895. In an interview with him a short while before his death and in relating reminiscences of the early days he said in answer to a question, "Did I ever get into a fight with a wounded buck? No I never did," said he "I have had chances, but I was too careful for that. I never allowed a wounded buck an opportunity to fight me. I always refused to run to a buck after shooting it down unless I was perfectly satisfied it was not able to injure me, but I have know of a few fierce encounters between them and hunters. The worst one I remember now occurred on Pond Fork. Jimmie Friend, father of John and Elijah Friend, was living on Pond Fork Creek in an early day. One of his daughters was my first wife. Friend’s wife was named Jane but she was always known as Aunt "Jennie." Mr. Friend was a noted hunter and almost every settler in Ozark County, Mo., knew him. On one occasion while he lived on Pond Fork he went out to hunt and when he had went a quarter of a mile from his cabin he saw a fine buck and shot it. The deer fell but struggled and Friend ran to it with knife in hand to out its throat. When he got in a few feet of it the buck attempted to get up and to prevent it rising he caught it by the beam of one horn with one hand and tried to stab it with the knife but the deer in its endeavors to rise on its feet kicked the knife from his hand and it fell several feet distant. The buck was reviving rapidly and a desperate struggle commenced and the enraged brute did all in its power to gore the hunter with its sharp horns. Mr. Friend exerted all his strength to prevent it. It was a furious battle. Though the buck was wounded and loosing blood, but Friend was growing weak from his exertions in contending against the deer faster than his forelegged adversary. Very soon after the knife fell from his hands he grabbed the beam of the other horn and held it with all his strength. Mr. Friend and the deer were both on their feet, but the angry animal surged and pawed so desperately that the hunter come near falling several times. At last he was about to give up for he realized that he could not hold out much longer. He was convinced that the furious animal would soon overcome him. With these serious thoughts looming up before him he thought of his wife, the dear good girl that he married in the southeast part of the state and both of which started to Little North Fork in a few days after they were married to locate them a home. He had just left her at the house. He would never see her again on earth. They had lived together many years and now to be parted in such an awful manner was appalling to think of. Then the thought came into his mind. Let me call for Jennie and she will hear me and come to my aid and kill the buck, and with a loud voice he called once for his faithful wife. She heard his despairing voice and knew something was wrong, and hardly knowing what she was doing she ran out of the house and snatched up the ax and sped off in the direction she heard him hollow. Before she had time to go more than 100 yards she heard him call again and she answered and increased her speed and was soon on the scene. The buck was in the act of goring him for the man’s strength was nearly gone. She took in the situation at once and needed no one to tell her what she ought to do, but with a strength and will saved her husband from death. She dealt it blow after blow with the ax until it fell and kept up the work until it was dead. The old hunter was overcome with joy and exhaustion and fell, but soon recovering he looked at the resistless form of the deer as it lay dead before him, then at his loving and affectionate wife as she stood and held the bloody ax in her hand and says, ‘God bless you, Jennie. How grateful I feel for your timely aid. I never knew how well I loved you until this moment."
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If you are in bear country, go with a partner and talk as you go. Bear who hear/smell you coming are not likely to attack you, they will tend to move to avoid you as you come near. What you don't want to do is surprise one, or make it feel cornered...

Brains will help avoid an issue in the first place most of the time...
 
Pipeman said:
Well guys, yes We have alternatives but for thousands of years spears were used with enough success that the First peoples of North America are still here ;-))
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That's because different tactics than one vs one gladiator-style combat were used.

Snares, archery, teamwork, etc.
 
I'm originally from Alaska. I grew up with Moose in my front yard as I walked out to go to school. There are more moose than people. Yes, a bull moose is something to fear. I have seen a man just waiting for the bus outside of Anchorage, minding his own, with a moose behind him grazing on a tree (we coexist pretty well!), and suddenly, seconds later, its stomping him to death. I've seen on the news a moose hit by a car flip up and pin a guy to his seat with its antlers through the windshield.

Parks and such are closed in the winter when I was little in Alaska. Joggers beware...

I also grew up near plenty of Grizzlies. My family was very outdoorsy. My sister was a rock climber and worked as a ranger in Denali and we would go on summer trips and hike through Denali alot.

When near an agitated Grizzly, you want to establish distance. They have more reach than you, and are tall when they rear up. An axe would serve to make a couple long, barbed spears.
You lay them on the ground if he's charging, and raise up, with your foot on the end to help anchor and use to shank the bear in the mid-section. Immediately get out of the way, to the left or right, never straight back. A second or even third spear to finish him. Use the axe to quarter....

That's the native way. I never had to spear one. I have had several friends shoot them dead in between the eyes and still have them charge. Distance is key with such and animal, a long pair of 'spear-arms' help with that.

In some Jack London books, they utilized spears and clubs to tame the wolf-dogs in the Yukon, to an animal, it appears to be long appendages, and can easily make them change their minds....
 
I read that among a few groups of "First Peoples" (certain Inuit communities), taking a polar bear with a spear was a challenge of passage to manhood, sort of like certain Mesai supposedly taking lions with spears for the same purpose. I don't personally know whether or not it's true.

DancesWithKnives
 
Concerning the use of bear spray as one post suggest, you should read about the attack on a father and daughter a couple of years ago in the western US. They clearly describe a full blast directed into the bear's mouth and face had Zero effect. Years ago I had a confrntation with a stray pitbull. The spray I used also had orange dye in it, so I knew exactly where it hit. A full blast, which covered the entire head had no effect on it. This was a new, fresh bear cannister.
 
When I'm rafting through brown bear country in Alaska, I carry a longarm and a backup sidearm. I don't rely on just bear spray. That said, I believe the majority of the reports on its use show positive results. I don't want to hijack this into a debate on bear spray but I would far rather have bear spray than not have it---especially if I had no firearm.

DancesWithKnives
 
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