Do you guys carry bear spray in Black Bear country?

[Aluminum Rain]

9mm with hardcast

 

[teamwhitebelly]

no bear spray here but do carry a small air horn. It also serves as a SOS locator if I need to be found. Easier than blowing a signal whistle. Contestants on Alone had an air horn and a bang device in Grizz country.

 

[MallardSX2]

No.

 

[SpringM1A]

Those thing aggravate them sometimes, i stay away from them and carry a .44mag in bear country.

 

[AK Troutbum]

I’ve never been an advocate of bear spray, and I’ve heard that it doesn’t work well on black bears for some reason. IDK if this is true or not, but a few years ago there were two women working in a remote area of Alaska and they were stalked, and attacked by a black bear. They were both very well trained in bear safety and both had extensive experience in the backcountry. The bear attacked them and they were able to drive it away with various means coupled with bear spray. The bear returned shortly afterward and attacked again, further injuring one lady and killing the other one. The injured woman was able to escape and when LE went in to investigate/retrieve the dead woman, they found the bear feeding on the corpse and they quickly dispatched it. The women had used up all of their bear spray in the initial attack. That same year there was a 16-year-old boy, who was running a mountain race on the outskirts of Anchorage, and he was attacked, killed, and partially eaten by a black bear.
The vast majority of the time, when a black bear attacks, it is predatory in nature, and they intend to kill and eat you. It’s my opinion that under those circumstances, you would want to do everything in your power to counter attack and dispatch the animal as soon as possible.


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[Coldtrail]

The bear rule is "Grizzly has the name, black bear has the game", meaning 99.9% of black bears will take off running just seeing you or making a little noise. When they dont, you are in serious trouble because they are stalkers and can be pretty stealthy, they can be quick and quiet. Bear spray has its uses as long as there is no wind and you are close, but a loud bang warning shot from a handgun is an attention getter for a bear that is some distance away but not showing signs of being afraid, with the option of immediately transitioning into save your a$$ mode if the bear decides to show aggression. Personally, im lukewarm on the bear spray idea, I think a pack gun is a better idea not just for bears or other critters, but as an emergency signal device, survival tool, and motivator for idiots to modify behavior in a changing society.....but I respect the decision of those who choose not to carry a firearm, to each their own.

Keep in mind is that lots of black bear get fed either by hunters, do-gooders, or by accident, as a result they associate humans with food, if the bear is hungry and you do not have food, or do have food and dont wish to voluntarily part with it, things get dicey.

 

[Brewski]

From my 20 years of CA black bear experience, the wild backcountry black bears I have encountered are usually very easy to scare off unless it's a sow with cubs. The in town, campsite raider, trash dump and waste transfer site black bears are another story, sometimes very hard if not impossible to scare off. Either way I always have a sidearm or rifle, no bear spray.

 

[Macintosh]

I live in black bear country, we get one on our backyard trail camera about 1x per month, and in the neighborhood about weekly or more. Long ago I worked in a campground where there were human-habituated bears that would take food every single night despite being constantly chased off with rocks, air horns, etc. Apart from northern new england and northern NY where I grew up, I've also dealt with bears in the rockies, pacific NW, California, Western and Eastern Canada and Alaska. I'm guessing here, but simply based on an average number of encounters per year and number of years, I have personally had over 200 bear sightings in the field where the animal was within gun range of me, and probably 30-40 face to face encounters where I had to react or do something about the bear, including several sows with cubs. Enough that I feel like I have a pretty decent handle on what "most" bears will do when they encounter a person. My own feeling is that 99.99999% of black bears are terrified of people and will run off at the slightest sign of resistance from a person. Human-habituated bears may bluff or walk toward you, etc, but as soon as the person clearly stands their ground, the bear backs off in a hurry. Therefore, while I know it happens, I really dont think the LIKELIHOOD of a bear attacking me is very high at all--I think it's extremely small and the odds are overwhelmingly stacked toward me never having a bad bear encounter.

Yet, I believe it is also true that more people are injured by black bears than grizzlies--lots of people live in black bear country so there are a lot more encounters. Clearly, they are still large wild animals with teeth and claws, capable of hurting or killing a person. I've been bitten by a friends dog that is a cuddly teddy bear most of the time, in a case where I unintentionally surprised the dog. If a labrador retriever that knows me can bite me, then I figure a bear has to have greater odds of doing me harm in the right (wrong) case. I believe it is also pretty well established that black bears that have attacked people in at least some cases were doing it not from a "surprise reaction" but from predatory behavior, i.e. they were following or stalking a person for the purpose of eating them. So I have also decided that the CONSEQUENCES of a bear attack are very significant, possibly catastrophic.

Balance the likelihood and consequences for yourself. Likelihood+consequence=risk. If you deem the risk unacceptable, take at least 1 precaution that is proven effective and you are proficient and comfortable with.

 

[Pdzoller]

I don’t carry spray but I always have my 10mm. I have been hoping for the right opportunity to take one at close range with it. A few years ago I did have an issue with a sow and cubs at my camp.
I was cooking some fish and I noticed my dog acting very nervous. I started looking around and saw a sow with two cubs literally following my campfire smoke down the side of the mountain. I yelled at her and shot a couple times with a 9mm in her direction but she just started lip smacking and posturing. She kept slowly making her way to my camp. I didn’t want to shoot her and I’m positive my 9mm would have caused more problems than I already had so I grabbed all my crap in my arms and walked backwards down the trail. My dog took off towards the truck and I shortly followed suit.

I think this was a combination of just coming out of hibernation and being used to/ possibly intimidating hikers to get a free lunch.

 

[Buglebrush]

I was in Wyoming this year, and can honestly say there's only a handful of times spray could've even been deployed. It was constantly windy, and my disdain for spray vs. my 10mm was only increased. Give me a pistol 100%. If you're not proficient with a handgun then that's a different story. Also, I'm carrying no matter if it's Grizzly or Black Bear country. I think the attitude an armed hiker gives off versus an unarmed prevents lots of black bear encounters by itself.

 

[Sourdough]

I trust the Bear Spray that comes in an AR-10

 

[Where's Bruce?]

A lot of posturing bravado here from guys thinking bears fear them. The reality is any one of us could find ourselves suddenly looking at a cub and facing a very real threat a moment later. I would not want to shoot a mama bear with cubs unless my life depended on it. Carrying spray for that reason alone makes sense to me. Your mileage may vary.

VIDEO: Upsetting moment when agitated mama bear charges passing car on Beartooth Highway

www.distinctlymontana.com

 

[Coldtrail]

I've guided lots of bear hunters using hounds, lots of hunters really start to lose it when things get dicey with some trying to hand me their gun & asking me to shoot the bear for them. I've been a backup shooter lots of times with a .35 Remington, 12ga slug, and .357 handgun

I can tell you this, if you have a committed bear charging straight at you & you are thinking that your semi auto whatever handgun will drop it in it's tracks.....I wish you well, because I've never seen it happen. In a hunting situation where you can get a good heart/lung quartering shot you can have good results with the right handgun and bullet, but coming at you head on, close range is tall order for most handguns. Heck even trying to put a deer down with one in the pumpkin at 10' has pretty dismal results with most handguns.

 

[BullsDeep]

No

 

[Behlftball]

I've never carried bear spray for blackies. I feel if there is an open bear season at some point all the bears are pretty wary of people. If there isn't hunting, such as in a national park, the bears are far more curious. Now if there is g bears, I would definitely carry spray.

 

[Tradchef]

I usually have a can in my pack and a sidearm when backpacking but I always leave the can in my pack when archery or gun hunting. As stated above it also doubles as a good crazy person spray if needed. I live in a mixed area of grizz and blacks and more crazies moving here by the day

 

[Sourdough]

My suggestion is if you go where there are bears and you take along a domestic dog or two dogs, "DON'T" bother carrying bear spray.

 

[Coldtrail]

There is a pretty wide variety of opinions here, some of which never considered. For anyone stressing out about anything bear related, a couple fun facts are that you are more likely to die from a bee sting or be struck by lightning that mauled by a bear.....enjoy the woods how you like and carry the tools (or not carry) whatever puts you at ease...but don't overthink it

 

[Sourdough]

enjoy the woods how you like and carry the tools (or not carry) whatever puts you at ease...but don't overthink it

Exception being those who have had many ugly bear encounters.

 

[Coldtrail]

Exception being those who have had many ugly bear encounters.

Correct, if you are having so many dangerous bear encounters that you recommend an AR-10 as an EDC weapon.....nothing stated in this thread will help you.