The Facts: Just got back after 1 week trip, 70+ year old in-laws (from the city) looking after the kids Left them a bucket of nuts and bolts to make noise to get bears off the property if they come Got home the night before and noticed bent over mountain ash trees/broken branches, bear poo full of mountain ash berries, craters in the lawn In the morning, dogs were barking and noticed bears by the tree (no fruit since it was already all picked) that the kids climb in every day Went and loaded 12g shotgun with 3 birdshot shells with the intention of shooting in the air to scare them away (family told us they had been coming back regularly since we had left and they weren’t scared of noise) Went outside, from underneath the deck, shot once in the air, and sow started charging so I ran back inside the house She then started walking her cubs away and took that as a sign of submission, then went outside again and when she got 65 yards away, I shot in the air again to keep pushing her along After that shot, the sow turned around and looked at me and I yelled at her to keep moving her on Then in an instant, the sow turned and charged, head down, ears back, and hair flat I knew this was a serious charge and I only had one shot left (of birdshot), and having worked with bears for 30+ years on the river with Fisheries, and gone through repeated bear training with a shotgun, I knew that if I turned and ran, there would have been contact I didn’t want to blind her by hitting her in the face so aimed at her right side to hopefully trip her up to buy me enough time to run inside the house I waited as long as I could, until she was just across the driveway and then I hazed her, which did trip her up so I turned and ran inside the house She kept coming towards the house with her mouth open, ready to bite me, and I slammed the door, the last thing I remember was gravel hitting my truck as she turned and ran back (four limbs working fine) and took her cubs away I later tracked her and her cubs a ways off our acreage; there was no blood, no hair and I know she’ll be sore but she’ll now think twice about approaching people I talked it over with the local COs, showed them the video, and they said I was totally justified in defending myself and family. I’m just glad it was me and not the kids out there." "only one shot left and it was number 6 trap load, not a slug.......the kids just about saw their dad ripped to shit or killed ......head down ears back and fast .......so glad the gun went off......glad it was me and not the kids... apples were all picked and they were digging in the field for roots and eating the wild mountain ash berries.... the kids climb those trees every day... this valley is now a bear viewing zoo......the bear population is growing and the bears are not scared of people anymore.... bad mix......."
