Around here, all you're gonna do with a 22 is piss off the bear.
Not just a saying - I've witnessed same.
Many moons ago, my dad decided to run off a bear that had meandered down off the ridge
to his woodshed - and then even close to the house.
All my dad had loaded at the moment was his restored 22LR Winchester pump, which he proceeded
to pop the bear with in its' haunches...
Now, all of this is going on unbeknownst to me, of course - until I got a rather frantic phone call
from my dad, as I sat on my front deck cleaning my Dan Wesson 44mag, incidentally.
(It's important to the story to know that Pops' place was all cedar siding and his main entrance was actually
sliding glass doors around back going into the kitchen, facing the ridge.)
Pop is raising hell on the other end of the line, hollering something about "COME GET THIS DAMN BEAR OFF
MY HOUSE BEFORE IT COMES THROUGH THE WALL!"
Well, there's a call one doesn't get every day.... ;-)
More curious than anything else, I grab the 44 and a couple speedloaders and head off to Pop's....
When I come up his drive, I'm greeted to the sight of a pretty fair sized black bear at Pop's back door -
well,
next to his door, anyways - having a party biting and clawing away at the house siding and genuinely
raising hell.
If ever a bear has had a hissy fit, I was witnessing one right there and then.
(Ok, I admit it now....I waited a moment in the truck to regain my composure after laughing my fool head
off for a bit). I chucked 6 into the Wesson, put the other speedloader in my pocket....
Eventually, I got out and slowly approached the back of the house, whooping and hollering with my hands up
in the air, "making myself big" as the "experts" tell you to do, trying to get Mr. Bear's attention and to run him
off.
Well - he wasn't impressed. He saw me but didn't even bother to really slow down the destruction work on
Pop's house, which was now showing some insulation inside the wall where the bear had ripped some siding
off.
Hmmm. Ok then - perhaps a little
more noise was needed here....
I lit off a round from the 44 straight up in the air. Dang thing even startled me - and I knew it was coming!
The bear froze solid, then slowly got back down on all fours and turned towards me, catching its' breath
and trying to sort out what to do next.
Oh ****....I hadn't counted on
that reaction...
ASSUME DIRTY HARRY SHOOTING POSITION!
The bear instantly had lost all interest in the house and now was all about ME.
My instincts told me that I had foolishly gotten too close to outrun the thing, so it was FIGHT time.
The plan? One more warning shot, a lot closer to him this time - followed immediately by the other
4 right at him if that didn't work.
Please, God...
Fired shot #2, right over his shoulder
- and he stopped his approach, hesitated...
Then turned tail and ran.
Thank you Lord!
Pop, having watched all this through the door, comes be-bopping out the door with that 22 pea shooter
and fires off another round at the fleeing bear in defiance.
I told him if he didn't put that damn thing down, I was gonna choke him with it...
So no.... a 22LR is not a good choice for a bear, unless you want up close and personal interactions with one.