No Round Chambered:

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No Round Chambered: Hunter and Guide Defenseless Against Grizzly Bear Attack
"He couldn’t make the gun work."



A bear attack in Wyoming last year strongly illustrates the need for folks to keep firearms ready to function at a moment’s notice — and this means loading a round into the chamber before you even carry it.

A Wyoming hunting guide and a hunter from Florida were working on a dead elk when they were attacked by two grizzly bears, a mature sow and her 150-pound cub. Only the guide had a firearm — it was an archery hunt — but he was not wearing the gun at the time of the attack. He’d taken off his chest holster and shirt while dressing out a dead elk.

"Game and Fish and OSHA gave the following account of the incident. Chubon arrowed the elk in the evening of Sept. 13, Hovinga said. But the two couldn’t immediately find the mortally wounded animal. The next day, they discovered the elk carcass at the end of what Hovinga said was ‘a pretty good blood trail.’

There was no evidence, he said, that a bear had yet been to the elk carcass. Nevertheless, ‘I’m certain it was coming to the scent,’ at the time of the attack, [Wyoming Game and Fish Regional Wildlife Supervisor Brad] Hovinga said.

Before the two began field dressing the elk, ‘the guide removed an automatic pistol that he carried in a chest holster as well as his shirt and left them with the two men’s packs a short distance up the hill from the carcass…’ OSHA wrote in its fatal alert.

‘They had removed the intestines and all the guts and were quartering it up,’ Hovinga said, Uptain was sawing off the elk’s antlers when the two heard rocks rolling ‘and turned and discovered the bear coming,’ Hovinga said. ‘It just came to them immediately … at full speed,’ over rolling terrain across which there was only a broken line of sight.

The bear hit Uptain as Chubon went for the pistol. ‘He said he had [the Glock],’ Hovinga told WyoFile. ‘He had a hard time trying to find a clear shot.’

Chubon tried to shoot the bear, Hovinga said. ‘He grabbed [the pistol], was unable to make it fire,’ Hovinga said. ‘There was not a round in the chamber, so the gun was empty. He couldn’t make the gun work.’

After hitting Uptain, the grizzly quickly turned and bit Chubon in the ankle.

‘He swung me around in the air,’ Chubon told WKMG Television in Orlando, Florida, near where he lives. That’s when Chubon threw the pistol toward Uptain.

It was ‘a matter of seconds’ during which the bear attacked Uptain, turned on Chubon and then returned to further maul Uptain, Hovinga said.

But the Glock, ‘it didn’t make to Mark [Uptain],’ Hovinga said. ‘The hunter fled.’

Chubon mounted a horse and rode to where he had cell service and called for help."

"I’m not quite sure how he did that, because there’s no cell service out there at all,’ Carr said. ‘That’s something we could not duplicate when we were there on the scene."

If only he’d known how to run a semi-automatic pistol as well as he worked his phone that day. Apparently he didn’t know how to chamber a round, and of course no gun can be fired without ammo in the chamber. The pistol and magazine were found in different locations, but it’s unknown whether the magazine may have been released by Chubon in his urgent attempts to make the gun fire — he may have been searching for a safety — or if it separated from the handgun when he threw it down and fled.

There’s no way to know whether a round in the chamber would’ve prevented the attack, or even the death… but if the guide had been wearing the pistol with a round in the chamber when the charge began, it’s likely that things would have been much different. Even a five-minute lesson between guide and hunter about how to run the Glock might have saved Uptain’s life, and his five children may still have their father around.

Moral of the story? Load your gun — all the way. And keep it where you can lay your hands on it in an instant.

I may one day be found mauled in the woods with an empty gun at my side, but I sincerely hope that I will have fired every round from it, rather than carrying an essentially useless item with me into harm’s way.

Prayers for Uptain’s family and friends.

[Rebel SS]

As always happens when the poo hits the fan and you don't have a round in the chamber....
People think you can chamber one, or click the safety off....doesn't work. If yer gonna carry and know what yer doing, have the gun ready to fire!!!! If you aren't comfortable doing that, then don't carry. That's how I see it.

[Jerkbiat]

I would have to agree with ya Rebs.

[Rebel SS]

I encountered a situation on one of my first outings as a rookie cop....had to draw weapons after forcing an escaped felon off the road who had just murdered and raped a girl. Was reported armed and extremely dangerous. I jumped out of the passenger side, grabbed the shotgun out of the rack, and with all the cops, sirens, and adrenaline raging, I couldn't get a round jacked into the chamber....and it was the same model gun I hunted with all my life. Yer arms feel like licorice whips and nothing seems to work right. I used to keep the safety on when I carry (Which is all the time) but since I rotate the guns I carry, I now keep the safety off, as it's different on each gun. Since I use a locking retention holster, no worries about it falling out or shooting my foot off.

[Bobberineyes]

What a sad deal, no bear spray was even mentioned  in the article. Ya just cant go into grizzly country unprepared or unprotected.  Trailing a blood trail the next morning in that wilderness with one gun?? I like my chances Downtown Chicago over tgat..

[Rebel SS]

Good point, Boob! And he's a hunting guide?!

[mike89]

Good point, Boob! And he's a hunting guide?!

was..............

[Jerkbiat]

And me as a hunter carrying a bow I would have been carrying also.

[Steve-o]

No doubt this guide was inexperienced and paid the price.  When the article kept mentioning Glock, I hoped he was carrying something heavier than 9mm.  And then there it the school of thought that under the right circumstances, bear spray can be more effective than firearms.

All that led me to this article.  Yes, there is no telling what the outcome of this encounter might have been had he kept the gun on his person with a round on the chamber, but this article suggests the odds might have been in his favor.

Defense Against Bears with Pistols: 97% Success rate, 37 incidents by Caliber

I was surprised to see that folks often survive encounters when all they have is a 9mm to defend themselves with.  Not ideal, but better than a sharp stick in the eye.

[Reinhard]

That is a sad story.  In hunting films I have always seen the guides with rifles strapped on their backs while their client hunted with a bow plus a strong handgun.  I have seen this while folks were fishing for salmon in Alaska also.  I carry all the time as well and have a round in the chamber.

I have told this story before but this story reminded me with my ordeal with a pack of wolves.  It was two years ago during muzzy season.  It was around 11:30 am and I was getting ready to get off my stand to meet up with my brother for lunch, which we do all the time.

I started to hear a pack of wolves coming towards me from a distance.  Then they got louder, and then they were right under my stand.  One of them looked at me and started to make grunting noises and showed me his teeth and started to mash the teeth together making a clicking sound.  They were not there long and left.  I think they were chasing a deer.

So I got off my stand and took out my handgun, a 380 at the time.  Walked out on the trail I walked in and the wolves tracks were right on the trail.  Made me wonder what would have happened if I was walking out as they were coming in.

Went a bought a .45 this year.  good luck.