I have shot many bears in the head with everything from a 222 to a 7mm mag. I have never had a bullet bounce off, what a load of crap spread by a bunch of old wives around the kitchen stove.
I wonder if the shooter was level on the ground with the bear and the bear was looking slightly up. I don't know...I think the jury is still out on the bullet possibly being able to deflect without penetration.
Here's a lengthy article I purchased for $2.95 from the Great Falls Tribune archives. Not conclusive about a bullet glancing off but some evidence.
November 23, 2002
Section: A-Section
Page: 1A, 3A
Hunter dropped charging grizzly with shot from hip
Michael Babcock
Staff
Great Falls Tribune
Bear recovering evidence points to self-defense
By MICHAEL BABCOCK Tribune Outdoor Editor
The grizzly sow shot in the head in a dramatic encounter with a hunter earlier this week was on the move with her three cubs Friday, heading deeper into the Rocky Mountain backcountry west of Dupuyer, possibly toward her den.
Bear managers are elated.
Her improvement "is exactly what we were hoping for," Fish, Wildlife & Parks grizzly bear biologist Mike Madel said. "She can travel and care for her cubs, so their survival looks very good."
Friday, the gripping story of the incident emerged.
Apparently, Missoula hunter Rodney Roberts had crawled through heavy brush to within 10 to 15 yards of the four bears before realizing they were not deer or elk.
As he fell backward in the face of the charging mother bear, he fired from the hip, dropping the bear a mere 10 to 15 feet away.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent Kim Speckman continues to investigate the shooting under the Endangered Species Act, but said Friday that the evidence seems to point to self-defense.
"The scene supported what he told me," Speckman said. "And he was very remorseful and extremely cooperative.
"It is not a done deal yet: If the sow ends up dead, there will be a necropsy. What I could see in the field is consistent with what he told me," she said.
The bear was shot shortly after 1 p.m. on the Greg Duncan ranch about 10 miles west of Dupuyer. Roberts and Dick Swingley of Great Falls were hunting on the TRM Ranch, also known as the Boone and Crockett Club ranch, but apparently had strayed on to the other ranch.
According to reports from investigators, bear biologists and hunters, this is what happened:
About 1 p.m., Roberts and Swingley spotted a group of elk. They didn't have elk tags, but Roberts wanted to get another look at them. The men separated and moved along a timbered hillside about 75 yards apart.
Roberts followed the contour of a ridge through the thick brush and timber. He approached a rise, and through the brush he saw something brown that he thought were deer or elk, and he began to sneak up on them.
He crawled forward until he got very close, then stood partially up. It was then he realized that, in fact, he was nearing four grizzlies.
The wind was blowing hard from the bears to the hunter, so they couldn't smell him. But when he stood up, the sow stood up and faced him - they were 30 to 45 feet apart.
He turned and ran the bear ran after him.
Realizing that running was the wrong thing to do, Roberts turned to face the bear, and as he backed up, he tripped. As he fell, he fired from his hip, hitting her in the face. The bear, now 10 to 15 feet away, went down.
He saw the three cubs running toward him and the sow, but thought they were the sow's cub and another sow and cub.
He ejected the spent round from his .270-caliber rifle, and eventually made his way out of the brush and into a clearing, where he fell down, expecting to see the bears charging his way.
Swingley heard the shot, but didn't know about the bears until Roberts alerted him on a handheld radio.
They went back to the Boone and Crockett Ranch, but no one was there. Eventually they used a cell phone to contact Fish, Wildlife & Parks game wardens, who called Madel and Speckman.
The USFWS is investigating the incident because grizzly bears are protected under the Endangered Species Act. There is an exemption for shooting a bear in self-defense.
A conviction for unlawfully shooting a grizzly carries a maximum $10,000 fine and six months in jail.
Roberts was not carrying bear spray, although it probably would not have helped since he was facing into the strong wind.
"He didn't yell or anything," Speckman said. "All in all, it was not a good situation.
"I, too, have been charged by bears," the investigator said. "There are those who may have not reacted like he did. But nobody can armchair quarterback what somebody would do if they were within 10 to 15 feet of a sow with three cubs running toward them."
PHOTO CAPTION
A female grizzly that was shot in the head Tuesday moves with her three cubs Friday through underbrush west of Dupuyer toward her traditional denning site in the Birch Creek drainage on the Rocky Mountain Front. PHOTO BY MIKE MADEL, GRIZZLY BEAR MANAGEMENT BIOLOGIST, MONTANA FWP
