A Ferndale man convicted last week of illegally poaching three young grizzly bears on his property may be lucky, and not just because he survived the encounter, but because of his choice of weaponry — a .22-caliber rifle.

In one of the three versions of event that he provided to officials, Dan Calvert Wallen claimed he was acting in self-defense when he shot the bears, which had wandered into his yard and attacked his chickens.

Sean Albrite, a firearms salesman at Snappy Sport Senter, was not impressed with the man’s choice of a small-caliber weapon to bring down the big bruins.

“If you’re carrying a .22 for self-defense against a bear, that’s the most ignorant thing I could ever think of,” Albright said. “That’s animal cruelty at it’s worst, but yeah, you can kill anything with a .22.”

Indeed, it has been known to happen, but is not recommended. A .22-caliber bullet typically won’t drop a bear right away, said state Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear expert Tim Manley, and although they may die, it’s usually after a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering.

“A lot of people are surprised by the fact that we’ve had several bears over the years that have been killed by small-caliber guns,” Manley said. “We’ve had other people in the past that have shot a .22 toward the ground, thinking they were going to scare away the bear, and actually have it ricochet off the ground and hit the bear. Several years ago, one hit a bear in the stomach and it died.”

He added that other cases included people shooting birdshot at a bear, hoping to scare it away, but ultimately causing it to slowly die from a serious infection. He added that the sub-adult grizzlies that Wallen shot at last year were only about 150 pounds each, a far cry from a full-grown male, which can weigh over 700 pounds. Two of the killed grizzlies were female, while the other was decomposed to the point where gender was not identified.

When it comes to using a firearm as a defense against a possible run-in with a bear, Albrite recommended, “to give you a fighting chance,” pulling out at least a 10 mm semi-automatic, or perhaps a .44 Magnum revolver. Ideally, you should reach for a 12-gauge shotgun or a .45-70 rifle.

That said, Albrite added, “Without a doubt, bear spray is the best defense against a bear.”

A court ultimately ruled that Wallen had not acted in self-defense, due to conflicting and unreliable testimony. At one point, he said the bears appeared to be charging toward him, while at another time he claimed they had come back to finish off his chickens, which Manley said is not an excusable defense for shooting the federally protected bear.

“In the case of grizzly bears, the only time you can shoot ... is in defense of your life or someone else’s life,” he said. “You can’t just shoot because it’s in your yard and killing your chickens.”

Manley added that he would never recommend shooting at bears to scare them away.

“If they’re around your house, make noise. Bang pots and pans, yell at them from a safe position or set off you car alarm with a remote,” he said.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.