https://www.wideopenspaces.com/that-was-close-man-shoots-charging-grizzly-in-his-front-yard-with-a-shotgun/
Posted by John McAdams
This British Columbia man had a terrifying confrontation with a charging grizzly and shot it from mere feet away.
Grizzly bears are known for being aggressive, tough, and incredibly fast. Lawrence Michalchuk of Bella Coola, British Columbia recently got a firsthand lesson about how quickly things can go wrong with those bears when he tried to scare a sow and her cubs off his lawn with a shotgun.
The bear did not appreciate his actions and he ended up having to shoot the charging grizzly when it was a few feet away from him.
Michalchuk, who works in fisheries, had just returned home from a trip when he received news that a grizzly bear sow and her two cubs had claimed his lawn as their own. Apparently, the bears were acting aggressive towards his family whenever anyone would leave the house and resisted all efforts to scare them away. That's why he went outside with his shotgun to confront the bear and hopefully scare it away.
Unfortunately, things went south very quickly. His wife took the video below of his confrontation with the charging grizzly bear.
Warning: this is a pretty graphic video.https://youtu.be/wj7Z5oMWuIUWhile a shotgun is a great choice for a bear-defense gun, Michalchuk stated in an interview with CBC afterwards that he did not intend to kill the bear, which is why he shot the bear with birdshot.
Indeed, that explains how the bear was able to get up and run away so quickly after taking a shotgun blast at close range. A slug or a load of buckshot would very likely have killed or crippled the bear.
The bear did eventually leave the property, though it's unclear how badly injured it was.
British Columbia no longer has a hunting season for grizzly bears. However, people are allowed to use deadly force to protect themselves from a bear attack. The British Columbia Conservation Officer Service is currently investigating the situation.
