# Wild Animals



## Startrupper (10 Dec 2015)

How are combat related trades like infantrymen, combat eng, armored, etc, trained to deal with wild animals when it comes to self-defense?


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## LightFighter (10 Dec 2015)

CoA 1 avoid them
CoA 2 run faster than the next guy/girl


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## Humphrey Bogart (10 Dec 2015)

Startrupper said:
			
		

> How are combat related trades like infantrymen, combat eng, armored, etc, trained to deal with wild animals when it comes to self-defense?



Use common sense, only training required.


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## McG (10 Dec 2015)

I have seen Rangers used in the north for polar bears, and I have seen shotguns deployed in other places where there was a particular concern.  However, generally we just avoid the animals and maintain clean bivouacs.


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## cavalryman (10 Dec 2015)

I recall quality time in Gagetown in my mis-spent youth chasing members of the Royal Bear Regiment out of our bivouac with thunderflashes.


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## Pusser (10 Dec 2015)

cavalryman said:
			
		

> I recall quality time in Gagetown in my mis-spent youth chasing members of the Royal Bear Regiment out of our bivouac with thunderflashes.



The Air Force has been known to use "bear bangers" at mess dinners.  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/trial-ordered-in-bear-banger-case-1.261068


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## The Bread Guy (10 Dec 2015)

MCG said:
			
		

> I have seen Rangers used in the north for polar bears, and I have seen shotguns deployed in other places where there was a particular concern.


Those are pretty tough Rangers if you use them instead of long arms against polar bears  ;D


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## Lumber (11 Dec 2015)

milnews.ca said:
			
		

> Those are pretty tough Rangers if you use them instead of long arms against polar bears  ;D



I don't remember the details very well, but a guy on my basic who was remustering from the army (medic or supply tech can't remember) said that when he was posted up North (Alert? details fuzzy...) there was an occasion where he or someone else (again, details fuzzy) encountered a polar bear, and it "attacked" them. They had their C7s with them for just this potential eventuality. He said they had to unload an entire magazine before the Bear went down. 
anic: :mg:


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## RocketRichard (11 Dec 2015)

Lumber said:
			
		

> I don't remember the details very well, but a guy on my basic who was remustering from the army (medic or supply tech can't remember) said that when he was posted up North (Alert? details fuzzy...) there was an occasion where he or someone else (again, details fuzzy) encountered a polar bear, and it "attacked" them. They had their C7s with them for just this potential eventuality. He said they had to unload an entire magazine before the Bear went down.
> anic: :mg:


That just may be a 'CF Arctic myth'. I've heard the same story except with FN's in the 70's. The entry and exit wounds would be much larger...


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## Fishbone Jones (11 Dec 2015)

I was a safety man up north during a deployment in the mid '70s. I carried a FN with 20 rounds of Dominion .308 Winchester soft points. My ROEs were simple. If I brought one down, it better have powder burns on the fur.


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## Michael OLeary (11 Dec 2015)

Startrupper said:
			
		

> How are combat related trades like infantrymen, combat eng, armored, etc, trained to deal with wild animals when it comes to self-defense?



*Short answer*: They're not.

*Long answer*: Read all the foregoing. (tl;dr: CAF members get trained to use a rifle, and issued ammunition and told to shoot if and when a credible threat may exist, which will never happen for most members.)

*Mall ninja answer*: Watch relevant and non-relevant Youtube videos, convince self of superiority over potential threat due to being a thinking and tool making primate, and buy a really fucking big anti-tank knife.


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## McG (12 Dec 2015)

Or this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WWiPiks1sU


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## OldTanker (12 Dec 2015)

We did a Northern Viking (?) sovereignty exercise in Arviat in 1988, and since the C7s were not considered adequate defense against a polar bear each of our patrols had Rangers with .303s. Good thing we never considered going to war against the polar bears . . .


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## kkwd (12 Dec 2015)

The mosquitoes are what you should really worry about. As Willy P said to me, "I need more bug juice, the mosquitoes out there will carry you away."


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## Pusser (14 Dec 2015)

A general rule with all bears is don't shoot them in the head, it just pi$$es them off.  I can't imagine a C7 5.56mm round would have enough kinietic energy to seriously slow down an angry polar bear quickly enough.  The FN's 7.62mm round would have a better chance.  In either case, be prepared to shoot a lot and keep moving.


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## Oldgateboatdriver (14 Dec 2015)

As I have been told by an Inuit elder in the Rangers, if confronted by a polar bear, always run and break to the left, by and large polar bears are right handed, and that way you will survive at least another 15 to 20 seconds more.

 [    :subbies:


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## Journeyman (14 Dec 2015)

Wild animals are dangerous in their natural habitats (Legions, Country bars), so avoid them. If you somehow get dragged home by a cougar, know that they can be particularly vicious when you're leaving in the morning and you recognize her daughter in the kitchen. In that situation, your only hope is to run;  playing dead will just set you up for a mother/daughter ass-kicking.   :nod:


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## Danjanou (14 Dec 2015)

kkwd said:
			
		

> The mosquitoes are what you should really worry about. As Willy P said to me, "I need more bug juice, the mosquitoes out there will carry you away."



t thought they did carry you off? You disappeared once on FTX and it took me weeks to do all the paper work before DW would issue me a replacement


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## Eye In The Sky (14 Dec 2015)

Jees, I can't believe no one has said the "whack the person in your section/troop/det you hate the most in the kneecap" technique yet... ;D


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## Danjanou (14 Dec 2015)

Eye In The Sky said:
			
		

> Jees, I can't believe no one has said the "whack the person in your section/troop/det you hate the most in the kneecap" technique yet... ;D



Also referred to by TWD fans as "pulling a Shane."


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## Bruce Monkhouse (14 Dec 2015)

Startrupper said:
			
		

> How are combat related trades like infantrymen, combat eng, armored, etc, trained to deal with wild animals when it comes to self-defense?



Wear a condom....


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## Michael OLeary (14 Dec 2015)

Oldgateboatdriver said:
			
		

> ..., and that way you will survive at least another 15 to 20 seconds more.



So, just enough time to update my facebook status.    [


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## PPCLI Guy (15 Dec 2015)

Journeyman said:
			
		

> If you somehow get dragged home by a cougar, know that they can be particularly vicious when you're leaving in the morning and you recognize her daughter in the kitchen. In that situation, your only hope is to run;  playing dead will just set you up for a mother/daughter ass-kicking.   :nod:



I actually have a story about that......


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## Journeyman (15 Dec 2015)

PPCLI Guy said:
			
		

> I actually have a story about that......



_Amazingly_ .....I'm not surprised.    ;D       op:


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## dapaterson (15 Dec 2015)

PPCLI Guy said:
			
		

> I actually have a story about that......



I call BS on that.







I'm betting it's stories, plural.


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## PPCLI Guy (15 Dec 2015)

It was, of course, during my "in between wives" years.

I sure miss Cornwall.


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## medicineman (15 Dec 2015)

dapaterson said:
			
		

> I call BS on that.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



What he said.

About polar bears, I was on a job off Baffin Island and a Federal Conservation Officer shows me what he uses - a 37mm baton gun.  I looked at the dude and laughed - he asked why.  Says I: "A polar bear is the top of the food chain in North America and you're part of it.  So you're going to shoot a 1200lb animal that can run faster laughing than you can scared and really pi$$ it off...have fun with that.  I'll stick with my Inuit guy with the Russian hunting rifle."

MM


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## Pusser (15 Dec 2015)

Oldgateboatdriver said:
			
		

> As I have been told by an Inuit elder in the Rangers, if confronted by a polar bear, always run and break to the left, by and large polar bears are right handed, and that way you will survive at least another 15 to 20 seconds more.
> 
> [    :subbies:



The Russian ones only break right on the hour.  Crazy Ivan...


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## Colin Parkinson (15 Dec 2015)

More people I know who spend a lot of time in the bush are moving to 45-70 as their bear gun, 300gr going fast will penetrate and it's all about penetration with stopping these big fellows. 

my choice out in the bush was 3" Magnum brennke slugs and bear spray. One person carried the spray , the other the gun. Most black and Grizzly charges will be false charges, the guy with the spray can discourage the bear, the gun is to deal with those that don't stop. Also carried some rubber slugs in case we had a bear that we just wanted to discourage but not kill.


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## prairefire (20 Dec 2015)

In the late 70's I was in one of the Arctic Patrolling exercises. We were crossing the arctic tundra with 3 Rangers when our Platoon Commander left with 2 of the rangers and we were told to stay with the other ranger. Some 40 minutes later we here one shot ring out and then the Platoon warrant took all of us back down our track to find one dead polar bear. According to the Rangers he had been tracking us for the last three days and was moving closer to us each day. The Ranger took him down with one shot. We then made camp and called back to base on the radio and some 3 hours later about 20 skidoos with sleds showed up from the nearest Inuit village. They had that bear skinned, dressed, paws and head cut off and bagged and on the way back to their village in no time for a big feast. It was explained to me that Conservation would get the paws and head for testing?? and that the Rangers had standing orders to kill any Polar Bear that ventured too close to the various patrols. 

Back then we had FN's and SMG's and I would probably been able to stop it with an FN but only the Rangers carried live ammunition. We also were told that only the Rangers had the authority and discretion to decide when a Polar Bear was a threat.


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## BinRat55 (22 Dec 2015)

We just purchase cases of bear spray. Not sure if it actually works never had to use it. Shot at hyenas over in Africa (I don't know if they were laughing hyenas or laughing at me cuz I was a pretty horrble shot...) It's the glowing eyes in the dark, see...

Oh oh oh... and we mustn't forget the wild baloney commonly found in the training area in Petawawa. I was lucky enough to see one once through NVG... what a f***ed up heat signature!!

Yep. Bear spray.


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## medicineman (22 Dec 2015)

When I was up in Eureka, we were shown how to use bear spray and were then told it hadn't actually been tested on polar bears...our FPF were 2 x 12G shotguns with buck and slugs, but only one person seemed to be allowed to carry them.  He "was a hunter" but apparently the rest of us weren't allowed to pick one up - despite one guy being ex-SOF, others from units where we had used them and I (as the Station Safety NCO) brought up the factoid that if they were using "hunting" as a qualification, then I should be able to use it simply because I shot trap and skeet.  All I got from the SSM and OC were that 4 headed alien look and that they'd get some of us up to Alert next time their SSM ran a shotgun PWT  :.

MM


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## Loachman (22 Dec 2015)

Maybe I should have put my Meat Grenade concept into production...


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## Haggis (22 Dec 2015)

PPCLI Guy said:
			
		

> It was, of course, during my "in between wives" years.
> 
> I sure miss Cornwall.



That bar burned down a few years ago.  You can go back to Cornwall now.


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## Journeyman (22 Dec 2015)

Haggis said:
			
		

> You can go back to Cornwall now.


Actually, I don't think he can; I imagine there's still those pesky restraining orders...   op:


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## caocao (25 Dec 2015)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FEQKQXmoC4

If it works for Grizzlies i assume it's good enough for Polar bears.


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## sandyson (13 Mar 2016)

During New Viking (1970's) there was at least one rifle with soft point with each patrol, but most effective was the M113 that always accompanied troops about Churchill.  Bears did hunt troops.  You'd see one at two o'clock, then 10, ... and moving in closer each time until the carrier would come in and drive it off. The rule was you may not shoot polar bears, BUT you could if you had ttwo rifles.  You threw one at the bear and then you could shoot it in self defence.


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