Bear spray or pistol?

[Krieg Hetzen]

Guys come on. Just use a hand grenade.

I second that motion with the follow on attack rooster!

Kidding aside, 10mm hard cast rounds are awesome, come in all sorts of sizes from sub compact to way over full size and can be affordable. Revolvers are cool too. Carry both. Shoot what’s the most accurate and comfy for you. Spray if you can, shoot if you can’t. I like a S&W XDm 4.5” in 10mm personally. Just searching for a drop holster that I like so I can run it with a pack.

 

[Deplorable77]

What was the outcome?

I carried a 10mm or 329pd most of the time. A couple of years ago I shot a big bear in the face with my 10 at smell his breath range.



.

 

[Wrench]

What was the outcome?

16" +/- of penetration through the forehead and down the spine. He flopped at the shot.

 

[Wrench]

 

[Rich M]

So there we have it.

Op wants nothing to do w handgun and we've also got at least one response from a bears have rights too person.

You could hunt where there are no bears and avoid them that way.

 

[Trbrincefield]

New guy here. Hunted most places with only small bears, Idaho, Arizona, and where I live, California. I carry a pistol, but when I do venture into big bear country, I will have both.

 

[TC406]

Both for sure. Ideally use they spray first (left hand), circumstances allowing to deter a potential false charge. 44 mag is always coming out in my right hand first though, and is going to be used without hesitation if the situation doesn't allow for a calculated and accurate dose of spray, or to shoot a bear off my buddy lol

 

[1shotgear]

Always always us a pistol maybe five or six years ago I would tell you to use bear spray but a few years ago they had to turn it down a lot. People in Yellowstone were putting it on like bug spray and it ended up killing a few people. I have used the new bear spray and it does work but it takes two or three good sprays to the eyes on the bear. I have never had a problem with a bear that I had to shoot.

 

[jsb]

You could hunt where there are no bears and avoid them that way.

Thanks for the hot take Captain Obvious.

Carry the spray so you don't kill a bear who's bluff charging. Spray is light, handguns are heavy. Properly holstered spray is much more quickly deployed too. Save your handguns for those scary trips to Walmart.

 

[Mike7]

If you really know that a bear is bluff charging, why do you need to do anything at all other than back away? If you didn't have spray but did just have a firearm, wouldn't you just draw your gun, but not fire?

Also, if you only have spray, what do you do then in the case of bear spray failure, which seems to happen every year the past several years?

Unless you are spraying right from the holster, how is spray faster than a pistol?

I know anything can happen in the woods, but how many so called failures have ever occurred with someone with some pistol training and hardcast rounds, who chose to use their weapon instead of bear spray? I have heard of cases where people were attacked while using bear spray instead of their pistol.

 

[Mosby]

Seriously. All these hunters unloading on bears this year has really made me wonder how it's even legal to carry a sidearm when archery hunting. You CHOSE to go sneaking around in griz country. The bear doesn't deserve a face full of lead because of YOUR highly questionable (common-sense wise) choices for recreation. Bring the spray and take responsibility for your choices. Spray has been proven very effective and it's non-lethal. You owe the bear that much respect when you choose to go tip toeing through its house.

Spray isn't effective in a tent or with the wind in your face and you can look up numerous examples where bear spray simply didn't work. The spray may be non lethal for the bear but if it doesn't work, it could cost someone their life. I dont always hunt in bear country. Sometimes I fish, hike, camp and walk my dog in bear country. I carry a gun along with spray and will use either or both, depending on the circumstances. I guess that make me pro-choice. That makes perfect sense to me, common or not and fwiw, I don't sneak or tip toe and bears don't own land, a house or understand concepts like "respect" but I do enjoy them. I just don't want them eating me and mine. YMMV.

 

[wyosam]

Both for sure. Ideally use they spray first (left hand), circumstances allowing to deter a potential false charge. 44 mag is always coming out in my right hand first though, and is going to be used without hesitation if the situation doesn't allow for a calculated and accurate dose of spray, or to shoot a bear off my buddy lol

If I was your buddy, I’d prefer you hose me and that bear down with spray.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mt100gr.]

Thanks for the hot take Captain Obvious.

Carry the spray so you don't kill a bear who's bluff charging. Spray is light, handguns are heavy. Properly holstered spray is much more quickly deployed too. Save your handguns for those scary trips to Walmart.

This was in my brothers yard two weeks ago.

This was was at our shop last week.
This is at a parking lot at a fairly popular campground/hunting access area.
This was in my yard last fall. I have three daughters under 10 years old.
This is where I dumped some elk bones after butchering last month in our hay field less than 12 hours later.
This is one of 5 grizzlies removed from the property next door to our leased farm ground.
This is a friend's front yard, also with young children.

These aren't in the wilderness - not even national forest or very remote. We have an absolute shitload of bears. I will not hesitate to shoot to kill if a bear charges.

Again, I carry spray and a handgun. I believe there are situations where spray could be more effective but if there isn't another human in the line of fire, it's getting big bullets. Honestly not trying to be argumentative - just want to convey my perspective.

 

[Rich M]

Thanks for the hot take Captain Obvious.

Carry the spray so you don't kill a bear who's bluff charging. Spray is light, handguns are heavy. Properly holstered spray is much more quickly deployed too. Save your handguns for those scary trips to Walmart.

Seeing as you are a tough guy, it is always fun to meet a real mountain man who pets his grizzly bear before bed.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Can't decide how to protect yourself, go to safe grounds. Obvious, simple, but sometimes overlooked. What about that guide last year? - oopsie!

Didn't they have a mass shooting at a Walmart? I'm sure the guys carrying bear spray took care of that problem.

 

[Rich M]

Mt100,

Thanks for the reality check. Big critters. Are they as mean as folks say?

 

[mt100gr.]

Mt100,

Thanks for the reality check. Big critters. Are they as mean as folks say?

In my area, with the exception of one sow with a cub, all of the grizzlies I have encountered couldn't get out of sight quickly enough. I mean shittin' and gettin'....but I can't say how long any have been watching me/us before we noticed them. The one sow was above the trail I was using and she just sat down and stared at me. 80ish yards and nothing I did phased her. She let me continue on up the trail and went back to feeding.

In other areas I feel it's different, based only on my experiences. In the SW part of the state, likely due to more encounters with people, bears appear to have a chip on their shoulder a little more. I bugled in a bear this year and at about 80 yards I made it known that I wasn't an elk - stood up, made noise (pulled glock...f.) it kept coming. Not quickly but it wasn't curiosity at this point. It trailed me for about a quarter mile - like it was just making sure I knew to leave. I'd move a ways and find a place to watch my back trail, he'd show up, repeat....

 

[journeyman713]

You can always tell the guys that prefer Spray, look for the chewed up boots in a pile of bear poop that smells like pepper.

 

[SBAHunts]

pepper spray on windy day is just like adding seasoning salt to an upcoming meal

 

[coyoteman]

Seriously. All these hunters unloading on bears this year has really made me wonder how it's even legal to carry a sidearm when archery hunting. You CHOSE to go sneaking around in griz country. The bear doesn't deserve a face full of lead because of YOUR highly questionable (common-sense wise) choices for recreation. Bring the spray and take responsibility for your choices. Spray has been proven very effective and it's non-lethal. You owe the bear that much respect when you choose to go tip toeing through its house.

The game warden that pulled us over in the Gravellys to warn us of the third mauling highly recommended carrying both spray and a sidearm if one is able... what if you use your spray but the bear is already on top of your hunting partner? I guess you can just stand there and scream at it.. I'd prefer to have a second option though.

 

[kid44]

Pretty hard for the wind to blow a bullet back at you.