House-Breaking Bear Shot by Florida Gun Owner

Lady Lake, FL – I’m a lifelong Florida resident, and we have a bear problem here. Some folks find that hard to believe, thinking that Florida is nothing but palm trees, roller coasters, and water slides. But we have a lot of wildlife – far too much of some species, as in the case of black bears. Anti-hunting pressure put a stop to bear hunting in Florida decades ago, and the population has since exploded in many areas.

For example, in Lady Lake, a resident by the name of Victor Peters was forced to defend himself by killing a bear inside of his home. It was the second time the bear had come inside of his “sun room,” and it was not deterred when he yelled at it.

Mr. Peters found a whole section of windows torn out and a big mess inside the room attached to his mobile home. He thought at first that he’d been burglarized, but evidence suggested that a bear had busted in to get at some dog food and garbage stored in the room. Peters moved that stuff elsewhere in his home, but the bear returned to the scene of its crime.

Rifle in hand–a Marlin lever action apparently chambered for 45-70, a near-perfect short-range bear gun–Victor Peters was eye to eye with the large animal as it stood inside his home. He hollered at it, but the bear wasn’t fazed. On the contrary, it began walking towards him. That’s when he very reasonably raised his rifle and fired.

“I shot him in the front of the head,” he said.

Good move.

The bear was estimated at 500 pounds and 7 feet long. That’s more than powerful enough to kill people.

Peters noted that it was fortunate this happened in his house rather than that of a neighbor: “Lucky for all my neighbors. I mean, most of my neighbors are in their 70s, and very few of them have guns.”

I think they would be wise to get some.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.