Five Year Old Granddaughter’s View of Defense Against Bears

While visiting my daughter, her husband, and their children, my five-year-old granddaughter, Elizabeth, presented Grandpa with the picture of defense against a bear. She had created it just for Grandpa on the morning of the day after I arrived. The picture is on ordinary 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper. The bear in the picture, with fearsome teeth and claws, appears to be about fourteen feet tall, as compared to the human figures in the lower right corner. The humans consist of one man and two women shooting handguns at the bear.

Elizabeth informed me that the woman on the far right has a handgun in her hand, but it is hidden by her long hair. Elizabeth said that after the people defend themselves from the bear, they will have bear steak.

My grandchildren have loved to have me tell them bear stories. Instead of the usual Goldilocks story, I have told them stories from the research on pistols used in defense against bears or other stories about bears that I came across in my research. They love for Grandpa to play at being an attacking imaginary bear. When they shoot imaginary handguns at the imaginary bear, it falls down and stops attacking. The children have learned to shoot more than one imaginary shot. It is not surprising that Elizabeth chose the theme of people defending themselves with handguns against a bear in the woods.

Elizabeth knows meat comes from animals, and people eat bears. The grandchildren have asked if Grandpa ever ate bear meat, and Grandpa has truthfully told them he has done so. Grandpa has also pointed out that deer are good to eat, and beef comes from cows. While the children can sometimes be picky eaters, they are not vegetarians.

Grandpa has taken two of the older children to the North Woods, where they meet cousins and other relatives. There, they learn about growing crops and gardens and making maple syrup. They learn mink kill chickens for fun.  Deer and rabbits eat crops. They learn gardens must be weeded and protected from pests. They learn that foxes will grab an easy meal of a free-range chicken when they can.

Black bears have wandered through the yards of some of their cousins, and wolves menaced their Grandpa’s brother. They see mounts of whitetail deer, skulls of bears, and pick wild berries. Together, they run and play in the yards, fields, woods, and rivers with few restraints except for some adult supervision when required. All of them are given basic lessons on firearms safety and allowed to shoot suppressed .22 firearms under very close supervision. Seeing people carrying firearms during their everyday activities is a common occurrence for them. They see people comfortable with firearms who own and use many of them. They learn of people who came before and the Old Copper Culture of the North Woods.

Elizabeth will get her turn, God willing. Cell phones, video games, computers, and television are not completely banned, but their use is severely limited. Those things, collectively becoming known as “screens,” are easily available in the city. Fields, forests, streams, and relatives are not, making time in the North Woods rare and valuable. Grandpa and his relatives have experiences and skills few in the city have. Some of the children may find some of those skills worth having.

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 retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.