Arizona -(Ammoland.com)- In a tragic story from Wyoming, Mark Uptain, a hunting guide, was killed by a grizzly bear on Friday. His client fled the scene after throwing Mark a pistol. The two were retrieving an elk that had been wounded the previous day while they were bowhunting. The men were processing or packing out the elk when they were attacked by two large bears.
It is difficult to categorize this as a defensive use of a firearm when no attempt was made to fire the handgun. The handgun was reported to be in a pack when the attack started. It has not been recovered at the scene as of this time. From jhnewsandguide.com:
Chubon, a Florida resident, was injured and flown to St. John’s Medical Center in Jackson on Friday, but was in good enough condition to have caught a flight out of the valley Saturday afternoon.
Chubon told investigators that he threw a pistol to Uptain before successfully fleeing and phoning authorities. Initial reports indicate that the second bear was present at the time of the attack, but did not engage either Chubon or Uptain.
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Chubon reportedly was able to toss a handgun to Uptain before he ran from the attack scene, but authorities have so far not been able to locate that firearm.
(snip)
“Chubon was able to run to his pack gear a few yards away and retrieve a pistol but was unable to safely fire a shot at the bear that first struck Uptain,” the release said. “The attacking bear then spun, charged Chubon, grabbed his foot, and dragged him to the ground. He sustained injuries to his leg, chest, and arm, but was able to throw the gun to Uptain and get loose before running from the scene to phone for help.
Some commenters indicated that throwing a pistol to someone who is being attacked by a bear might not be an effective strategy or tactic.
No information has been released on what model or caliber of pistol may have been involved. The incident will be added to the list of bear attacks where a pistol was involved, for informational purposes.
The most cited study about bear spray effectiveness does not count incidents where bear spray was at the scene but not used.
In the most cited study about the efficacy of firearms for bear deterrence in Alaska, incidents, where the firearm is not used, are not considered.
We excluded incidents from our analysis where firearms were available but no attempt to use them was made.
It does not appear that an attempt was made to use the handgun accessed in this incident. If the client had thrown a can of bear spray to the guide, that would not have been a use of bear spray.
For this reason, the incident does not qualify as a failure in a pistol defense against bears.
This is a tragic case. One man was killed by a grizzly bear. One man will be haunted for the rest of his life by wondering if he should have acted differently. The story illustrates the wisdom of having defensive tools on your person and ready to use, instead of in a pack.
Handguns, when used to stop an attack, do so fairly reliably.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
A friend of mine got mauled by a Grizzly about two years ago and survived. It was the same situation in which they killed an Elk late in the day and the next day they went to get the Elk. Again, the friend went by himself giving his rifle to his B-in-Law. After speaking with some Guides the hunters should never have went to retrieve the Elk without a LARGE caliber sidearm. Within an hour after the shot a Grizzly will be at the kill scene. ALWAYS carry a sidearm when out in Grizzly land. Maybe there needs to be… Read more »
Both guide and bowhunter should have went over these steps before going out. I cant believe the hunter didnt know how to use the pistol and from the get go why he left right away …did he take his head and antlers? My god that man will at least get to live with himself over this the guide doeant get that option he never even tried to help him he just ran…..
I don’t understand why you would throw someone a weapon or why the hunters flew out of state as soon as they returned to town. Throwing a weapon???? How accurate is that and how does the receiver take time to concentrate enough to catch a 4-5 pound weapon and defend himself while being mauled by a bear? This is not the movies. The gun battles I have been in did not involve playing catch with a large handgun or rifle. There are so many questions in this incident. I hope they are checked out since it is a federal case… Read more »
I was always told that I only had to faster than the other guy when running from Bears
Maybe he tripped or even shot the guide in order to get away from the rampaging Grizzly Bear
The Jackson Hole News & Guide has an article on this and the comments are worth reading.
Sometimes You Eat The Bear And Sometimes The Bear Eats You
Publish the name of the guy who threw the gun so no one will ever hunt with him again.
I think there is far too little info out at this point to draw conclusions. I would be shocked if an elk guide in that area didn’t have both bear spray and a ready back up since bear encounters are multi-daily and several hunters get mauled every year but who knows. As far as throwing the pistol and running away…I guess I can just speculate that guiding hunters from Florida is a bad idea in Northwest Wyoming. Those who wonder about the wisdom of leaving a kill don’t know what they are talking about. Its getting dark and the smell… Read more »
I spent one of the best decades of my career as the Teton Wilderness Manager and Outfitter-Guide permit administrator. Much of that time was spent in the field. The comment about being prepared is spot on. To this day I carry pepper spray on my pack or fanny pack even when simply taking the dog for a walk or daily hike. Back then, I carried pepper spray when I walked the quarter mile to work from my dwelling to the ranger station every morning. I often needed to work alone in the TW and was quite thankful for the border… Read more »
The sorry thing is that a man lost his life! The other thing is that they were BOW hunting and wounded the Elk the day before, This would mean that these men were not prepared to be out trying to find the Elk. My son lives in Alaska and has been there for several years and has given up Bow hunting as it is to risky with the number of large predator bears roaming up there, he said that when he went his pistol was a 44 but always felt he wanted his rifle instead of the Bow! There are… Read more »