Bear spray or pistol?

[Praxeus]

What are you using and why? I am going to use a spray as I have no desire to own a pistol. Plus in my mind, I think a spray would be easier to use leaving a large cloud for the bear to enter and the spray has been proven to stop an attacking bear in its tracks, it may not be foolproof but nor would a pistol be. With a pistol even if you were able to keep it together and hit an attacking bear he could still be on you. With the spray, if used right you should have at least a 5- foot cloud of spray the would have to pass through. Just my opinion and I am wondering what your thoughts are. If I had my way, I would be using a 12-gauge shot with buckshot.

Use both. I carry a Glock 10mm and Bear Spray.

 

[mt100gr.]

35 years hiking and hunting in grizzly country bud. You?



Whatever you say genius. Lol



Maybe they "engage" because you stepped on them while they were sleeping? Or crept up on them with their young ones? Not exactly a shocking reaction. What the hell did you think was going to happen?



Wut



Have you paid any attention to all the conflicts in Montana this year? Go back online and read up.

A bear should not have to pay the ultimate price because somebody willfully ignores every single protocol for safe travel in bear country by sneaking around alone. Sack up and carry the spray, even better carry two. Take some responsibility for your risky decisions rather than just shooting a bear because you snuck up on him. It's not the bear's fault, it's YOUR decision making that is at fault.

Like I said, if something tries to kill me, I'm going to do anything I can to kill it first. I don't care if I somehow upset it.

Odds are, you or I won't have to go down that road but if the occasion should arise, I would have zero hesitation shooting to kill an aggressive bear. And that really goes for any wild animal that means me harm - or "domestic". Aggressive animals get no sympathy from me.

 

[JustJustin]

If I was hunting in grizzly country, (I'm like 50 miles outside the grizzly zone) I would take both.... the 45 and the shotgun.

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[trophyhill]

35 years hiking and hunting in grizzly country bud. You?



Whatever you say genius. Lol



Maybe they "engage" because you stepped on them while they were sleeping? Or crept up on them with their young ones? Not exactly a shocking reaction. What the hell did you think was going to happen?



Wut



Have you paid any attention to all the conflicts in Montana this year? Go back online and read up.

A bear should not have to pay the ultimate price because somebody willfully ignores every single protocol for safe travel in bear country by sneaking around alone. Sack up and carry the spray, even better carry two. Take some responsibility for your risky decisions rather than just shooting a bear because you snuck up on him. It's not the bear's fault, it's YOUR decision making that is at fault.

No I have not. I live and hunt in NM. The thread was not about Montana. It's legal to carry and legal to defend yourself against a threat with lethal force if necessary. What part of that do you not understand? Each circumstance is different. Read my earlier post. I did not have to discharge my weapon. Someone else may have reacted different. Hell, I may have reacted different had I saw that bear coming in the first place. Guess it was both our lucky day that day....

And besides, I'm a bowhunter! That's what I do. And most of the time alone. I'd rather depend on myself to defend myself than a protocol defending me.

 

[fatlander]

The “it’s the bear’s home and people shouldn’t be there” argument really perplexes me. Human beings are just as much a part of nature as the bears. Only in our species very recent history have we become comfortable enough to forget that. If a crackhead holds you up at knife point and you shoot them I guess it’s your fault for being in their area too? Should have stayed in upper middle class suburbia where humans first split from their evolutionary ancestors.


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[kiddogy]

35 years hiking and hunting in grizzly country bud. You?



Whatever you say genius. Lol

thank you for acknowledging my intellect being superior to yours. it wasn't necessary but it was appriciated



Maybe they "engage" because you stepped on them while they were sleeping? Or crept up on them with their young ones? Not exactly a shocking reaction. What the hell did you think was going to happen?



Wut



Have you paid any attention to all the conflicts in Montana this year? Go back online and read up.

A bear should not have to pay the ultimate price because somebody willfully ignores every single protocol for safe travel in bear country by sneaking around alone. Sack up and carry the spray, even better carry two. Take some responsibility for your risky decisions rather than just shooting a bear because you snuck up on him. It's not the bear's fault, it's YOUR decision making that is at fault.

them poor wittle bears is just misunderstood.


only good grizz is a dead grizz!

 

[kiddogy]

Like I said, if something tries to kill me, I'm going to do anything I can to kill it first. I don't care if I somehow upset it.

Odds are, you or I won't have to go down that road but if the occasion should arise, I would have zero hesitation shooting to kill an aggressive bear. And that really goes for any wild animal that means me harm - or "domestic". Aggressive animals get no sympathy from me.

same goes for crazy arsed liberals . them folks is coo coo

 

[kiddogy]

The “it’s the bear’s home and people shouldn’t be there” argument really perplexes me. Human beings are just as much a part of nature as the bears. Only in our species very recent history have we become comfortable enough to forget that. If a crackhead holds you up at knife point and you shoot them I guess it’s your fault for being in their area too? Should have stayed in upper middle class suburbia where humans first split from their evolutionary ancestors.


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never stand between a crack head and their crack.it is offensive to them

I pointed out mans right to be in the woods also. all I got from the moron was a ,"wut???"


libs got nothing.

 

[mcseal2]

I carry a pistol when not carrying a rifle. Black bear country it's usually a 357 loaded with hardcast ammo. I have a couple 357's that are lighter and pack easier than my Glock 20. I shoot them well and feel comfortable with them, I've owned and shot them for a long time.

Brown bear country or anywhere I think there is more risk of an encounter with a predator I'll pack the Glock 20. I got all the feeding issues with hardcast ammo solved and it's shooting good. It has night sights, a Streamlight TLR-1 light under the barrel, and a 6" KKM barrel to get all the speed/power I can from the 10mm. I shoot it well, it's a level of recoil I can handle easily, and it's easier to hit with in low light than my revolvers. I can shoot it more accurately for follow up shots than the revolver double action also. I shoot the revolvers more accurate single action than the G20, but in a encounter with a predator I'm not going to be taking the time to cock the revolver after the first shot I figure.

My reasons against packing spray are pretty simple. The wind issue has been brought up repeatedly. The second for me is that I don't want to waste reaction time picking between spray and a firearm. If I only have the firearm, that is what I reach for.

I'm no expert, just my opinion. I have never had a bear encounter that got to serious. I've encountered mostly black bears that ran away.

 

[AaronMColeman]

- We have a couple guys on here basically saying we do not have the right to defend ourselves because our hobby takes us into their country and it's their right to defend themselves. If we die it was because of a voluntary choice we made.

- We have a couple (maybe just one) on here saying only good grizz is a dead grizz.

Look, I'm going to assume everyone on this forum hunts. And in this sub-forum, hunts elk. We all go into the woods and there are dangerous things out there that could kill us. I think we hunters get a bad name because of arguments like this. We are a small percentage of the population and we have plenty of attacks on our way of life from the outside, we need to get along on the inside.

As fellow animals, we have a right to be in the woods. As moral creatures, we have the responsibility to cause the least damage possible, and to protect nature when needed. I think each of us needs to decide what those limits to our rights, and our responsibilities are. IMO (which doesn't mean much at all), we have the right to be in the woods, and in doing the least damage possible we also have the right to defend ourselves against attacks (but not necessarily the right to go out and just kill predators for no reason). But, this is something we should all struggle with a little bit and come to some sort of ethical decision for ourselves.

I'm sure I didn't say this as well as I intended to, but I hope the idea comes across.

 

[kiddogy]

you said it fine .
a rational response to an irrational thread. where's the fun in that??

can't say for sure but from his posts, I seriously doubt jsl is a hunter. at least not for anything but twinkies and cheatoes in mommies basement.

 

[SBAHunts]

I carry both the spray & my 45 auto. I feel safer with the sidearm believing I can deploy it faster

 

[Dave0317]

In black bear country, pistol for sure. I’m confident some close warning shots would scare it as much as spray would deter it. I also trust my pistol way more. I can direct it’s effects much more precisely. No wind blowing it around on me or my buddies. In cases where a bear is not deterred by spray, the pistol is much more likely to work. Displaced enough brain matter or blood, and it will stop.

When rifle hunting I carry...a rifle. I think some guys forget they will have a 30-06 in their hands already, and bring a .44 mag because somehow it is a “better” bear gun.

If I was in grizzly country, I’d probably have both.

I will say, the studies that point to spray being “more effective” are probably heavily flawed. I think a lot of self defense incidents go unreported. If a person fires a warning shot without hurting anything, why would they bother calling it in. Even if a wildlife officer did respond, no dead bear, probably no report. So the only thing on file is really cases where the bear was killed, or a person was injured or killed.

 

[kiddogy]

In black bear country, pistol for sure. I’m confident some close warning shots would scare it as much as spray would deter it. I also trust my pistol way more. I can direct it’s effects much more precisely. No wind blowing it around on me or my buddies. In cases where a bear is not deterred by spray, the pistol is much more likely to work. Displaced enough brain matter or blood, and it will stop.

When rifle hunting I carry...a rifle. I think some guys forget they will have a 30-06 in their hands already, and bring a .44 mag because somehow it is a “better” bear gun.

If I was in grizzly country, I’d probably have both.

I will say, the studies that point to spray being “more effective” are probably heavily flawed. I think a lot of self defense incidents go unreported. If a person fires a warning shot without hurting anything, why would they bother calling it in. Even if a wildlife officer did respond, no dead bear, probably no report. So the only thing on file is really cases where the bear was killed, or a person was injured or killed.

bear spray studies are probably cunducted by the same folks who brought us global warming.

 

[SBAHunts]

in Montana - archery season 4 hunters attacked by griz. In rifle season first week, 3 griz's killed by hunters. Things are starting to balance out......

 

[Deadfall]

I run a test years ago. Sprayed 2 bears. Both bears turned inside out. One bear I sprayed twice. As for the wind thing that's been mentioned, you gonna be moving away from bear anyway. Spray and run. You're going to get a taste no matter what. Better that then mauled.

Problem with pistols as I see it...the bear knows he wanna eat you long before you know it. I know very few hunters that can ACCURATELY get 4-5 shots off in the span of a few seconds to stop a bear. Could use pistol after fact as bear is leaving, but why?
I often wonder how many folks have been charged by GRIZZLY bear. Where I wonder around I know two times where hunters shot a bear in self defense. Both times was with high powered rifle. Both times fish and game had to go track down wounded bears.

I understand the debate and we are all gun loving hunters. Who wants to carry the hippy spray, I get it.

I guide in overly swamped bear country. We find that spray and yelling work awesome. Actually so good that soon as bear hears human voices he is leaving.

I believe most folks underestimate the power, speed, stealth, and most importantly the intelligence of a grizzly bear.

I dont waste weight carrying a pistol. If I was to carry a firearm for grizzly bear protection. It would be a 12 gauge pump shotgun with short barrel.

Pistols are cool but in MOST hands are false security

 

[jmez]

4-5 shots, you'll be lucky if you get off one I think is closer to the truth. I've never been charged. I've talked to three people that got mauled and one that got bluff charged. All were rifle hunting at the time. All four laughed when I asked them why they didn't shoot the bear.

 

[jhm2023]

I run a test years ago. Sprayed 2 bears. Both bears turned inside out. One bear I sprayed twice. As for the wind thing that's been mentioned, you gonna be moving away from bear anyway. Spray and run. You're going to get a taste no matter what. Better that then mauled.

Problem with pistols as I see it...the bear knows he wanna eat you long before you know it. I know very few hunters that can ACCURATELY get 4-5 shots off in the span of a few seconds to stop a bear. Could use pistol after fact as bear is leaving, but why?
I often wonder how many folks have been charged by GRIZZLY bear. Where I wonder around I know two times where hunters shot a bear in self defense. Both times was with high powered rifle. Both times fish and game had to go track down wounded bears.

I understand the debate and we are all gun loving hunters. Who wants to carry the hippy spray, I get it.

I guide in overly swamped bear country. We find that spray and yelling work awesome. Actually so good that soon as bear hears human voices he is leaving.

I believe most folks underestimate the power, speed, stealth, and most importantly the intelligence of a grizzly bear.

I dont waste weight carrying a pistol. If I was to carry a firearm for grizzly bear protection. It would be a 12 gauge pump shotgun with short barrel.

Pistols are cool but in MOST hands are false security

The points you made against a pistol also apply to spray. People act as though spray alleviates the requirement to train with your chosen bear defense tool. My wife and I were charged by 2 grizz (a mating pair) one after the other. It sucked. Like you said, they knew we were there before I knew about them, but because I train with my firearms often and I don't get complacent, I was able to handle the situation favorably. I was very glad the spray was not my tool of choice in this encounter. I've also switched from a 6 shot revolver (fired 5 shots) to a 15+1 460 Rowland because of this incident. I've encountered enough bears to know I'd rather a pistol than some spray even though I've only had one DLP incident. They can usually be dissuaded by yelling at them and making noise. I've seen troopers bitten by dogs even after the dog was sprayed with 10% OC. Bear spray is far less than 10% so I'm not going to trust it.

 

[Huntindog45]

i like both. there are times you will not have the time to get on target with a pistol. a burst of spray may buy you that critical couple seconds.

 

[lyle_destroys]

If rifle hunting then carry spray. If archery hunting then I would carry spray and a pistol. A pistol WILL stop a bear if used properly. Spray MAY stop a bear if used properly. Why are you so against owning a handgun?