Henry Rifle Forums

Newest addition to our Henry herd - 44MAG All Weather. This will be the official working "farm gun". The wife wanted something to wave at the Black bear who occasionally comes around to visit her miniature horses....

Congratulations, it is a nice rifle for the black bear.

Looks real nice.

Reminds me of a story, although you may have intentions of just scaring it off.

A Black Bear came to my friend's farm one day and was making his cows "jumpy". He shot and killed it and didn't know what to do afterwards. He called the county and the game warden came down and arrested him.

Cowboy Gun Fan wrote: Reminds me of a story, although you may have intentions of just scaring it off.

A Black Bear came to my friend's farm one day and was making his cows "jumpy". He shot and killed it and didn't know what to do afterwards. He called the county and the game warden came down and arrested him.

Interesting story. I guess there weren't any calves with his cows and the warden thought the bear was never a threat. If he wanted to get the warden involved, he probably should have talked to him before shooting the bear. In our county (Rockbridge) if the animal control officer sees any dog go after livestock, he is required by law to shoot it. Don't know about bears. What county are you in?

I'm in Bedford.

I've also heard that a farmer can shoot a dog that is chasing his stock, but I believe a bear falls under different guidelines.

In his case, he shot it at the quick opportunity. He had no idea that he would be in the wrong. But I wanted to run it by you, just in case I could save you any possible headaches. The best thing to do would be to check with your local authorities to see what and what not would be allowed.

I've shot at things to scare them off at times. A stray dog showed up once bothering my outdoor cats and would not leave.

I pointed my shotgun at him and he got the message. As he was running away, I gave a blast of 16 Gauge near him, but safe enough away and I never saw him again, lol.

Thanks for the heads up. I did a little research on this and I think your'e right - it doesn't say anywhere that you can legally shoot a bear going after livestock in Virginia. I guess you have to watch the bear eat and then call the Game Warden so they can try to trap and relocate him - probably to somebody else's farm. I think if a bear ever started taking calves here in Rockbridge the local ranchers might handle this situation in a different way, though, and the Game Warden probably wouldn't know about it....

Bears are protected in CT, too; Bald Eagles are also off limits. But, most other animals that threaten people, poultry, or livestock can be terminated, including roaming domestic dogs. Firearms regulations are still always considered in those cases.

I'm thinkin' any self respecting bear that sees a Henry is gonna be scared and head the other direction.

I thought all you guys had the right to Black-Bear arms?...

RanchRoper wrote:I thought all you guys had the right to Black-Bear arms?...

You misunderstood.
They have the right to bear black arms...

I like the all weathers but I think if I was to do one it would be be 45-70. Al

Mgderf wrote:

RanchRoper wrote:I thought all you guys had the right to Black-Bear arms?...

You misunderstood.
They have the right to bear black arms...

Darn fine print!

BigAl52 wrote:I like the all weathers but I think if I was to do one it would be be 45-70. Al

I really like the 45-70 all weather and almost got one, but the wife wants to learn how to shoot this rifle and I think that big old 45-70 would be too much for her.

She needs one of those Quigley rifles in 45-110; that'll dispatch those bears for her....

tractortad wrote:

BigAl52 wrote:I like the all weathers but I think if I was to do one it would be be 45-70. Al

I really like the 45-70 all weather and almost got one, but the wife wants to learn how to shoot this rifle and I think that big old 45-70 would be too much for her.

good choice .... we have both a 44 and 45-70 .... out of the box they are in two different worlds .... make sure you use good hearing protection because they both have a strong bark .... I'd rate the recoil of full power hunting 44 mag ammo as being less than the recoil from Cowboy Action ammo in our 45-70 .... with 44 special ammo, the recoil is literally not worth mentioning .... one issue for my wife is the weight of the rifles .... she physically can't fire them off hand

tractortad wrote:

BigAl52 wrote:I like the all weathers but I think if I was to do one it would be be 45-70. Al

I really like the 45-70 all weather and almost got one, but the wife wants to learn how to shoot this rifle and I think that big old 45-70 would be too much for her.

All the more reason to buy another one Tad get one for her and one for you in the 45-70. Al

Good point on shooting a problem bear. In our state, they are a game animal and if you shoot one without tag or out of season, you are in violation of the law, period. Wildlife officials know darn well that, for this reason, a lot of people who shoot black bears in defense of their lives or property don't report them. We get black bears in our yard, on occasion, as do our neighbors, but the truth is there are very, very few instances where you should have to resort to actually shooting a bear. I've had to fire a shot in the air, once, but that was enough to send the bear running. All of us like having bears for neighbors. Wouldn't be the north woods without them.

JEBar wrote:I'd rate the recoil of full power hunting 44 mag ammo as being less than the recoil from Cowboy Action ammo in our 45-70 .... with 44 special ammo, the recoil is literally not worth mentioning .... one issue for my wife is the weight of the rifles .... she physically can't fire them off hand

Yea - that's kind of what I thought. I bought a box of 44 special with the rifle - the plan is to start her off with that so she can get used to the rifle without any recoil, then have her try some 44MAG.

BigAl52 wrote:

tractortad wrote:

BigAl52 wrote:I like the all weathers but I think if I was to do one it would be be 45-70. Al

I really like the 45-70 all weather and almost got one, but the wife wants to learn how to shoot this rifle and I think that big old 45-70 would be too much for her.

All the more reason to buy another one Tad get one for her and one for you in the 45-70. Al

That's a great idea - if I could get a grizzly to put his footprint down by the wife's mini-horse paddock, I bet we'd have one the next day - hmmm....

Henry V - a regal name for a very Regal looking rifle.

If the black bears aren't afraid of that ..... they should be.