The Home of Heavy Artillery... At Home (aka, gun lovers thread)

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The Home of Heavy Artillery... At Home (aka, gun lovers thread)
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flag badbadleroybrown
Posted: May 24, 2018 at 16:51 Quote
togood2die wrote:
Goal this weekend...
Mow so we can walk back and forth from the patio to the fence (the "gun range") without having to take a snake gun with us. Rolleyes

Our view


Our view.

There's lots to mow.
That's awesome... How much of that is yours? That's gotta be, what, 15 or 20 hectare in the picture there?
flag cougar797
Posted: May 24, 2018 at 17:42 Quote
badbadleroybrown wrote:
togood2die wrote:
Goal this weekend...
Mow so we can walk back and forth from the patio to the fence (the "gun range") without having to take a snake gun with us. Rolleyes

Our view


Our view.

There's lots to mow.
That's awesome... How much of that is yours? That's gotta be, what, 15 or 20 hectare in the picture there?

Yah I’m pretty stoked for you. Congrats
flag togood2die
Posted: May 25, 2018 at 5:56 Quote
Everything visible is either ours or the neighbor's, but there's no fence between, so we and they roam as needed. Property extends to the river, so we have about 400 yards of river frontage, but it's completely grown, so there's only one beach head down on the neighbor's bank.
Total of ours is 18 acres including up the mountain behind the house, but the area we can roam freely is nearly 40 acres.

Thanks - T
flag marxthekittah
Posted: May 26, 2018 at 12:47 Quote
So had a good amount of range time today. Got the .308 and .300 RUM fairly well sighted in at 100yrds. Stopped just due to my shoulder was feeling it after 18 rounds of the .300 and about 15 of .308 + 8 or so rounds of 460 and a mag or two from the AK being sighted in.
The .300 does a bit more kick than the .308, but isn't terrible at all. Really had a good time. Need to practice trigger control a bit more, whereas I use less of my finger and more gradual pressure. Was a good time all in all. Think 1 more trip to the range to get the .308 completely sighted in at 100yrds and the .300 at 200, and can just dope everything from there.
flag marxthekittah
Posted: Jun 2, 2018 at 9:40 Quote
So been debating whether to open up about an incident I had on Thursday afternoon, but I feel like I need to.
So some friends and I were taking a little walk/hike out behind our place in the woods. Two of the four had bear spray, and two didn't. My dog found a sow grizzly and her twin cubs, roughly 50 yards infant of myself and one friend. The other two in the group were maybe 50 cards behind us, and had the bear spray. The sow charged my dog, who thankfully got away. While it was charging my dog, it noticed me, spun and was facing off with me, about 12 feet in front of me. Unfortunately I didn't have bear spray, let's blame it on hubris, but I did have my 460.

I remember thinking to myself "Don't make me do this, don't make me do this, don't make me do this", and remember glancing down at it's claws for whatever reason, and then I shot it. The first shot it it in the jaw, and traveled down into its sternum. It dropped like a rock and started rolling down the steep hill we were on. It came to a stop roughly 40 yards down the hill, and was struggling to get up. I shot it again in the stomach, and it dropped, and rolled down the hill another roughly 20 yards. I shot it again in the back. It was still breathing so I had to shoot it in the head.

We gotten contact with dispatch, who sent the game wardens up. They told me after they dropped me off at my house that they weren't pressing charges, because it was clearly self defense after they ran throw the scenario with tracks and all that. They couldn't find the cubs at the time, even though they did go up yesterday. They didn't sugar coat the fact that the cubs will more than likely die.

All of us involved in the incident are fine, my dog has a sprained ankle, and showing some PTSD-like symptoms, and same with me. Been pretty rough 36 hours for me. Felt like I needed to get it out there a bit. Still pretty shook up, and probably will be for a while.
flag ctmtb98
Posted: Jun 2, 2018 at 9:47 Quote
Damn man that is insane! I'm glad to hear you are all ok other than being shook up. That is a crazy experience and definitely makes me think more about carrying bear spray or a bear gun on hikes in bear country.
flag chaserider
Posted: Jun 2, 2018 at 14:00 Quote
Marx, damn dude! That is crazy.
I imagine that I would need a new pair of pants after that experience.
flag marxthekittah
Posted: Jun 2, 2018 at 16:08 Quote
chaserider wrote:
Marx, damn dude! That is crazy.
I imagine that I would need a new pair of pants after that experience.
That's the thing, wasn't scared during the event, and didn't really get an adrenaline dump afterwords. More so after the first shot just got pissed at the whole situation and pretty damn sad that I had to kill her.
Not that I feel good whatsoever about the event, but the first shot was made one handed.
Also, a 460 is really, really, really loud without ear protection. 10/10 do not recommend. I'm just really happy I have practiced shooting my revolver so I'm comfortable with the recoil of it.
flag cougar797
Posted: Jun 2, 2018 at 18:17 Quote
marxthekittah wrote:
chaserider wrote:
Marx, damn dude! That is crazy.
I imagine that I would need a new pair of pants after that experience.
That's the thing, wasn't scared during the event, and didn't really get an adrenaline dump afterwords. More so after the first shot just got pissed at the whole situation and pretty damn sad that I had to kill her.
Not that I feel good whatsoever about the event, but the first shot was made one handed.
Also, a 460 is really, really, really loud without ear protection. 10/10 do not recommend. I'm just really happy I have practiced shooting my revolver so I'm comfortable with the recoil of it.

Sucks about the sow but you didn’t do a thing wrong. Glad you had that hand cannon man. Be safe.
flag marxthekittah
Posted: Jun 2, 2018 at 19:02 Quote
cougar797 wrote:
marxthekittah wrote:
chaserider wrote:
Marx, damn dude! That is crazy.
I imagine that I would need a new pair of pants after that experience.
That's the thing, wasn't scared during the event, and didn't really get an adrenaline dump afterwords. More so after the first shot just got pissed at the whole situation and pretty damn sad that I had to kill her.
Not that I feel good whatsoever about the event, but the first shot was made one handed.
Also, a 460 is really, really, really loud without ear protection. 10/10 do not recommend. I'm just really happy I have practiced shooting my revolver so I'm comfortable with the recoil of it.

Sucks about the sow but you didn’t do a thing wrong. Glad you had that hand cannon man. Be safe.
Thanks man. And I feel the same. Trying to stay positive. I mean, if i hadn't had it, I would have been mauled at least, and the sow would have died anyways.
But I guess so far it has reached USANews, ABC, and the Seattle Times. So at least National news and PNW. Plus all the locals ones. FaceBook comments are going off. Keeping my anonymity as much as possible. I guarantee everyone in my hometown will know it's me by weeks end. I find it sad that the report didn't say we had bear spray. But not getting into in the comments, because then I'm outed, and there goes my reputation, possibly even my job, since I'm a county employee.
flag chaserider
Posted: Jun 3, 2018 at 0:12 Quote
The way I look at it, is that if you had not defended yourself you would not need anything more than a wooden box, cant keep an employment wearing one of those. You ended up in a shit situation and came out on top, tup
Good thing you hade some practice with the 460.
flag cougar797
Posted: Jun 3, 2018 at 7:58 Quote
Don’t fret over that bear dude. When it comes to wild animals outdoorsman always try to do “right” however...... Natural process will prove the mortality of far more bears in your area this year then you shooting just one with good reason. Does someone atleast get to eat her? Waste not want not and all.
flag marxthekittah
Posted: Jun 3, 2018 at 10:14 Quote
cougar797 wrote:
Don’t fret over that bear dude. When it comes to wild animals outdoorsman always try to do “right” however...... Natural process will prove the mortality of far more bears in your area this year then you shooting just one with good reason. Does someone atleast get to eat her? Waste not want not and all.
Thanks man.
And no, the Game Wardens took the head and paws, but left the body. They went on Friday for a couple of hours, I'm assuming to check for the cubs again. Guessing the cubs were back the area munching on her. But she'll get eaten by coyotes, wolves, other bear, etc. Help the elk, deer moose and antelope out in the area i hope.
But I just spent a couple hours writing an editorial. Right now it's just to help me get all the incident on a page. May send it in to the weekly paper in my home town and in Jackson where I work. Still haven't decided. I mean, I know at least in my home town people will know it's me. Hell, got a message from a family friend who use to own the house that the guys were staying in, and she knew it was me already. And I don't think my parents told anyone really outside of my brother and my mom's brother. I'm guessing one of my neighbors who winters in a Seattle and my dad's sister will find out as my parents are in Rainier with them ATM. Called my brother an hour and half ago, and we talked for a long time about it. Got pretty shaky during the conversation when I was running through it again.Like he said, people in the armed forces get trained for situations like this (not a bear per say), and they get shook up afterwards, so it stands to reason so would I. Go back to work tomorrow, we'll see how I feel. If the PTSD symptoms come back as bad as they were the day after, or get worse, I'll probably go see a shrink for a session or two about it. But I think when it's all said and done, I'm processing it pretty well.
Some of the comments on one of the articles on Facebook are pretty funny to me, a) since I was there, and b) some are posted by people you can tell don't go deep into the wild that often.
flag ZenkiS14
Posted: Jun 3, 2018 at 19:30 Quote
Holy shit man, what a story Frown Thankful to hear you are alright, good job being prepared with the right equipment, and having the skill set necessary to use it to protect yourself and others when the need arose. Good on you.

But I feel for you, I'm sorry that you had to do what you did, and that you have to wrestle with the thoughts, images, and sounds of what happened. I'm sure it's tough to close your eyes and not run that through your head. Absolutely brutal man Frown I hope it all calms down, and you can rationalize it in time, and not struggle with it moving forward, but I can't imagine how tough that is. Sorry bro.

But good job keeping yourself, and friends alive.
flag badbadleroybrown
Posted: Jun 3, 2018 at 20:56 Quote
marxthekittah wrote:
So been debating whether to open up about an incident I had on Thursday afternoon, but I feel like I need to.
So some friends and I were taking a little walk/hike out behind our place in the woods. Two of the four had bear spray, and two didn't. My dog found a sow grizzly and her twin cubs, roughly 50 yards infant of myself and one friend. The other two in the group were maybe 50 cards behind us, and had the bear spray. The sow charged my dog, who thankfully got away. While it was charging my dog, it noticed me, spun and was facing off with me, about 12 feet in front of me. Unfortunately I didn't have bear spray, let's blame it on hubris, but I did have my 460.

I remember thinking to myself "Don't make me do this, don't make me do this, don't make me do this", and remember glancing down at it's claws for whatever reason, and then I shot it. The first shot it it in the jaw, and traveled down into its sternum. It dropped like a rock and started rolling down the steep hill we were on. It came to a stop roughly 40 yards down the hill, and was struggling to get up. I shot it again in the stomach, and it dropped, and rolled down the hill another roughly 20 yards. I shot it again in the back. It was still breathing so I had to shoot it in the head.

We gotten contact with dispatch, who sent the game wardens up. They told me after they dropped me off at my house that they weren't pressing charges, because it was clearly self defense after they ran throw the scenario with tracks and all that. They couldn't find the cubs at the time, even though they did go up yesterday. They didn't sugar coat the fact that the cubs will more than likely die.

All of us involved in the incident are fine, my dog has a sprained ankle, and showing some PTSD-like symptoms, and same with me. Been pretty rough 36 hours for me. Felt like I needed to get it out there a bit. Still pretty shook up, and probably will be for a while.
The first life you take never leaves you, regardless of what species it is... everything you're feeling is 100% natural ...and to be expected. I can still remember it vividly, just like you described... praying, please don't make me do this... being mad that I'd had no other choice.

Don't try to rush the healing, there's nothing wrong with a respect for life and being upset that you had to end one but don't let yourself forget the alternative in working through your emotions. Let yourself feel it, but don't let it crush you. You did the right thing. And really, the fact that it's weighing on you says a lot. I'd be worried if you didn't feel a burden. Just remember, you didn't go looking for this but you did what you had to do when the time came.

If you feel like you need to talk some shit through, seriously, feel free to hit me up anytime day or night man... don't let that simmer. You're gonna second guess yourself a thousand times, you're gonna hear all the things every asshat thinks you did wrong or should've done but didn't.

 


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