If He Comes…What to Do if a Deadly Animal Charges

How to survive a charge by some of the most dangerous animals in the world

“Oh Great…  Now I’m going to have to dig him out of that tangled impenetrable jungle!”  My shot had felt good.  He should have gone down immediately, but he had not.  The shot had been slightly quartering away.  I had held to break his off-side shoulder.  “I should have waited until he turned full on broadside and then tried to break both shoulders!” said I speaking to no one while mentally kicking myself.

Before picking up the blood trail which I could see from where I stood, I made certain my .270’s magazine was stoked with a full compliment of 130-grain shells.  As I did, I thought, “Should have been shooting a bigger caliber and round.” With the old wild boar’s thick cartilaginous shield that covered his vitals, maybe I had not gotten the penetration I had hoped for.

Second guessing myself now did no good.  The big, razor-sharp toothed, near 300-pound boar was wounded by my doing, and it was up to me and me alone to finish “the job”.  As I started on the blood trail, I wondered how I would do if he came at a charge….

As a young hunter I had ravenously read everything I could about hunting big game, especially dangerous game in North America and Africa.  I had often dreamed of experiencing a charge but also wandered how I would react and what I would do when faced with such a serious situation.

There are those among you who probably do not consider being charged by a wild boar as facing dangerous game.  But I can assure you, they can be and are indeed dangerous.  When they do charge they do so with one purpose in mind, and that is to “totally dismantle” their victim.

Entering the thicket following a heavy blood trail, I did so mostly on hands and knees, because I was following the wounded boar through a thick tunnel.

I had gone about twenty yards when I heard limbs breaking, coming my way.  I sat down pointed the rifle in the direction of the oncoming racket which was now squealing loudly, safety off, sighting down the side of my barrel because even with a scope set at 2.5x I knew the action would be too close to use my scope.  Sitting down, I was at the same level as the charging boar.  At the moment I was not thinking about what would happen if I missed or did not stop him with the one shot I might have.  I was also at the same level as the boars long and razor-sharp tusks.

Then there he came! Time seemed to go in to ultra slow motion.  I could see his eyes, filled with hatred, unblinking.  He was 10 steps away closing fast.  By the time he had taken three more running steps I had lined the barrel with his forward thrust nose and pulled the trigger.

The coming fast boar fell on his chin and kept coming, but without his legs working.  With his forward momentum, the now dead boar slid to within a step of me.  As fast as I could I shot him twice more, even though he was no longer moving! One cannot be too sure!

Black Bears can be very dangerous

What would have happened had I missed or hit him in a non-vital spot?  I do not even want to think about it! Fast forward to several years later I was hunting black bear in Alaska.  Again, there are those who do not consider black bear as particularly dangerous.  And, normally I would somewhat agree.  But occasionally sows with cubs or young boars trying to prove how tough they are can and do charge.  Been there seen that, did not get a Tee-shirt, just the experience!

Several years ago I was told by an old grizzly and black bear guide from British Columbia, Canada the difference between the two is, a grizzly will maul you then walk away.  A black bear according to him will not stop until he or she has killed and then eaten you!  Black bears are dangerous! I will take his word on the subject!

I was hunting in central Alaska with Buck Bowden’s Hidden Alaska Guides for a TV show. The company I was doing the hunt for sent an experienced cameraman, John Teeter, to accompany me.  Once at base camp, Buck took us along with a tent and food to a remote area where he had previously seen a really big for the area male black bear.

First night in camp, a 2-man tent literally in the “middle of no where”, I heard “woofing” outside, then I saw a shadow approach our tent.  No doubt a bear.  Not a huge bear, likely three or so years old, wanting to prove he was “tough”!  The shadow sidled up to the tent. I grabbed my single-shot .30-06 handgun and my single-shot .375 H&H Mag, both T/C Encores loaded with Hornady ammo.  “Loaded for bear”, if you’ll forgive the pun…  A long time ago I decided an unloaded firearm in a wilderness setting is just a short club, which probably would not make much of a defensive weapon.

The bear brushed against the tent.  I glanced at my wide-eyed cameraman.  Before he could say anything I raised index finger to lips telling him not to utter a sound!  In so doing I pointed the handgun in the bear’s direction.  I had no intention of shooting, but thought it a good idea to be prepared to do so if required.

The bear brushed alongside the tent then walked away.  Somehow I knew he would be back…

A Black Bear visits my tent

When it finally got dark, although not really dark as is the case in Alaska when darkness never really occurs, I was now laying down in my sleeping bag. I could hear a bear approach once again.  This time rather than brush alongside the tent, he started pushing his nose against the tent’s wall near my feet.  I reached over picked up the .30-06, just in case.  Then scooted on my backside toward where the bear’s nose was poked deeply against the tent wall.  I raised both legs and pulled them toward my chest, then with all force possible kicked the bear’s nose with both feet, rolling him over backwards.  Immediately he started “woofing”, growling and popping teeth.  But he was doing so walking away.

I fell asleep, gun in hand…just in case.

When morning arrived I grabbed Teeter’s arm as he started to stir across the tent.  Then whispered as quietly as possible, “Got a feeling that young boar (which it had to be) is waiting watching our tent.  And as soon as we open the tent flap he’s going to charge.  You can film from inside the tent when I start to crawl out.  I want both guns.  If he does charge, I really do not want to kill him unless I have to.  I’ll shoot right in front of him and hope to throw some dirt in his face.  If that doesn’t stop him, I’ll have to shoot him if he continues the charge.

I positioned both guns where I could quickly grab them, then unzipped the tent.  I spotted the bear, laying watching our tent 50 yards away.  I slid out of the tent sat down with handgun in hand and rifle immediately at my side.  No sooner had I done so, the bear was up and coming directly at me, full charge.  He had covered 30-yards before I could react and shoot into the ground in front of him.  Thankfully I hit some gravel, which blew up into his face.  He slid to a halt. I grabbed the rifle and pointed it in his direction.

The bear laid back his ears stared menacingly in our direction, growled, and “popped” his teeth.  I had positioned myself so I was on the same level as he was if he ran toward me.  That way I had a direct line into him if he came, rather than me standing and having to lead him as he charged.

The stand-off lasted a full couple of minutes, which seemed like at least two hours.  Finally, he turned and walked away. Every few steps he turned to again face me and “fuss”.  I remained sitting, rifle pointing in his direction while instructing Teeter to reload my handgun.

The bear disappeared into a small clump of trees.  That is when I stood up, hoping to see where he was going.  I watched as he emerged from the trees and kept going.  I knew he would be back!

Next day he was.  This time he charged as we returned to camp. I sat down quickly to be on his same level.  I shot in front of him when he was about 30 steps away and coming. Thankfully he stopped.  I quickly reloaded and stayed on him….

He took a few steps then turned and here he came again.  I really thought I was going to have to kill him.  I held fire but picked a spot ten yards away.  If he crossed that line, I would shoot him.  He slid to a halt just short of ten yards, started growling and “popping” his teeth.  If he took one step in my direction, I was going to have to try to kill him even though I really did not want to.  I was hoping to take a bigger bear.

After what seemed like an eternity, he turned and walked away. At that point I walked to the tent, and called Buck on the satellite phone he had left with us in case of an emergency.  I told him we needed to be moved to another area, because I really felt the next time the young boar charged he was not going to stop.

Two hours later Buck showed up on a quad with a trailer.  The bear stood watching us 75-yards away.  Thankfully he did not charge.  We moved to another area.

I had previously been charged by black bear sows with cubs in Maine and Manitoba.  In each instance they thankfully stopped 10 to 15 steps away, there to complain about my presence.  In those instances, I had picked a spot in front of them as the last line of defense. I knew if the bear continued to come they were going to complete the charge.  Thankfully, both times they had stopped just shy of that imaginary line!

One thing I had learned from hunting wild hogs or bears which had charged me is they are extremely fast, running much faster than one can imagine.  Standing and shooting at a charging 300-pound or so animal, one has to be able to lead them as they run toward you, shooting where they will be, rather than where they are.   Sitting at ground level and facing a charge puts you on the same level as the oncoming animal, and makes hitting a charging animal in the vitals a WHOLE lot easier and more assured.

African dangerous game is expected to charge!

Over the years I have spent a fair amount of time in Africa hunting buffalo, elephants, lions and hippo.  During my African forays, I have on occasion had to deal with charging animals. The difference between African animals and big bears and big wild hogs in North America is that only African elephants and bears make false charges. But one has to be prepared if they continue coming! With buffalo, hippos hogs, and most of the time lions there is no such thing as a “false charge”!  When they charge, they do so with the intent to kill you…not scare you!

On my first African lion hunt we had tracked a big male for several hours. We found where he had killed a wildebeest and dragged it through near impenetrable thorn-brush thickets.  We knew we were close. We moved forward slowly on the tracks. Suddenly we heard a deep, guttural roar, and  limbs breaking coming our way…rapidly.  Both my PH and I quickly knelt and pointed rifles in the sound’s direction, fearing a full-on charge.  The near solid wall of thorns immediately in front of us blocked our seeing the charging lion. That was bad, but as it ended up, it was also good.  The lion stopped just on the other side of the wall of thorns, walked back forth a few moments, then growled and walked back to where he had left his kill.

Gathering our wits, we started making a wide circle around where we suspected the lion waited, protecting his kill.  A couple of times while making the circle the PH told me to either kneel or sit down to see if I could see him, so I could look under the canopy of brush.  The third time I did so, I spotted him.  He was laying down next to his kill, but his shoulders and vitals were obscured behind brush.  Using hand signals, I mimed as much. The PH tugged at my arm and moved me to my right. There I could see the blondish mane on the lion’s shoulder.  I felt one tap on my right shoulder, indicating to wait and not shoot.  Not taking eyes off the lion I felt the PH get into shooting position immediately to my right.  Moments later I saw the PH’s big double rifle, out of the corner of my eye, pointed toward the lion. It was then I felt him tap my shoulder twice indicating to take the shot when I was ready.

I squeezed the trigger on .375 Ruger, sending a 300-grain Hornady DGX into the lion’s shoulder.  I had spent considerable time studying lion anatomy and wanted to anchor him on the spot. The lion went down at the shot! I quickly reloaded and shot him twice more. I was in the process of reloading to shoot him again when I heard the PH say, “Larry he’s down. Dead!”  Remember the old African saying, “It’s the dead ones that kill you!” I kept my rifle pointed in the lion’s direction.  Off to my right I heard the PH say, “Excellent!  The best way to stop a charge is to shoot the animal properly the first shot, so it can’t charge!”

Until someone does face a charge, one never really knows how they will react when it happens.  In my rather long career as a hunter, who has hunted a fair amount of many big game species, it always amazes me that when in a dangerous situation, that things seem to happen in slow motion.  When in reality they do not!

I have long taken to heart what the PH said after I shot my lion. Paraphrased here, “The best way to stop a charge is with the first shot, putting the animal down so it cannot charge.” But if that does not happen…shoot, reload, shoot, reload, shoot, reload and shoot some more!