When do you switch from Spray to Gun ??

[goathunter]

Spray for hiking, gun for sleeping

 

[TheWhitetailNut]

So you are in bear country. A bear makes it known you are either dinner or interrupting their dinner and it becomes clear you will need to employ measures to make sure you survive. You are carrying both bear spray and a sidearm for just such an occasion.
So you first use your bear spray. How do you decide that the spray is not going to cut it and fall back on your gun ??
Stats say 98% of bear encounters where spray was used ended the attack. I see some stats say the results From using a gun are not as good. Stats can be manipulated to support whatever opinion you want.
So how and when does one decide to use a gun instead of just spray ??

A bear attack is fast. You carry one or the other. This isn't golf where you switch clubs for a different application or ponder what to do. If you think there is more than 2 seconds between realizing there is a problem and coming to terms with how you handled it you should prob stay home. If you go forth anyway....

Spray is more effective. This is mostly because 99.999999% of people cant reliably hit a kill zone on a paper target @7 yds with a handgun and have zero chance of hitting a fast moving small target.

 

[rope]

There are great examples of successful defense with spray. I live within 100 miles of 2 of the below attcks and 175 from the other. There are other examples from a quick google search. I have had to put 2 bears down that were nuisance bears, one black and one grizz. I personally don't own bear spray.

Whatever you are the most comfortable and competent using should be your choice. Ultimately the end user will reap the reward or pay the price for their decision. Lets all hope we make the right decision and can tell our own story.

Hunter mauled by brown bear near Eureka

A hunting partner shot and killed the bear.

www.adn.com

Fatal Pogo Mine-Area Black Bear Mauling Remains Under Investigation, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Fatal Pogo Mine-Area Black Bear Mauling Remains Under Investigation; Alaska Department of Fish and Game Press Release.

www.adfg.alaska.gov

Hunter killed by bear in Wrangell-St. Elias died in ‘surprise attack’ while field-dressing moose, officials say

The National Park Service said a 22-year-old Ohio man was salvaging moose meat when he was killed in the national park’s first recorded fatal bear mauling.

www.adn.com

 

[GAHunterJim]

Terminal ballistics for handguns are absolutely pathetic. I carry bear spray. Including while packing moose meat in grizzly country.

Yes, that's true compared to a rifle but I'll take a 10mm auto with Buffalo Bore Outdoorsman every day over spray (I carry that too). Famous Alaskan guide Phil Shoemaker killed a mature brown bear with a Glock 9mm and Buffalo Bore ammo, he was guiding fishing clients when the spooked a sleeping bear at point blank in high grass, the pistol saved a life that day! I believe it's the only time he has had to kill a bear in DLP in over four decades.

 

[GAHunterJim]

The wrestlers in WY last week all had spray, the attack happened too fast for them to deploy, the one who saved his buddy could have benefited from a gun as he was trying to pull the bear off his friend.

 

[73 Wood]

I have a lot of black bears where I ride my mountain bike. While they're not particularly aggressive I do carry a small pistol in my fanny pack (mostly for cougars). But I think my best defense is my $20 bluetooth speaker on my handle bars. It plays just loud enough to warn anything in front of me that I'm coming - a startled black bear is unpredictable. If that doesn't run them off, I'm going straight for the pistol.

 

[MattB]

Terminal ballistics for handguns are absolutely pathetic. I carry bear spray. Including while packing moose meat in grizzly country.

They are, and yet the best evidence we have indicates they are very effective in saving lives during bear attacks.

 

[ih784]

So you are in bear country. A bear makes it known you are either dinner or interrupting their dinner and it becomes clear you will need to employ measures to make sure you survive. You are carrying both bear spray and a sidearm for just such an occasion.
So you first use your bear spray. How do you decide that the spray is not going to cut it and fall back on your gun ??
Stats say 98% of bear encounters where spray was used ended the attack. I see some stats say the results From using a gun are not as good. Stats can be manipulated to support whatever opinion you want.
So how and when does one decide to use a gun instead of just spray ??

When he doesn’t go the other way.

 

[jhm2023]

We'll just read about you getting mauled in some article due to you not being able to make the decision / transition between spray and firearm fast enough during an actual charge. Good luck.

 

[Wire_reaper518]

Lol bear spray. I’m going straight to shooting if the bear even looks at me funny. But I live in Alaska and there’s bear everywhere, honestly have too many.

 

[mtmiller]

Interesting opinions. I always enjoy were some experts live geographically.

All in fun.

 

[GAHunterJim]

Interesting opinions. I always enjoy were some experts live geographically.

All in fun.

For those of you who live in the west, I can understand how you might feel about your home turf. I live in FL and I can pretty much avoid snakes, gators and sharks but I summer in MT, WY, AK and CO and really don't where is safe and where is not so I always carry a 10mm and spray just to be safe. I will outside Glacier NP this summer so I'll be packing.

 

[mtmiller]

I will outside Glacier NP this summer so I'll be packing.

Glacier bears are tame bears. This one was on the edge of the Park. I was getting out to take whiz when we made eye contact. I got back in the pickup pronto. She did give me a good shot, but too close for the lens I had. No crop on this one.

 

[GAHunterJim]

That's a fantastic photo, my last trip to Yellowstone I used my iphone, I now have a decent camera but could use a quality lens, at least I'm better off than I was with the IP.

 

[fatrascal]

I do not live in bear country and never have. But it seems to me that there are a couple of down falls to be considered when depending on spray.
#1. If the wind is blowing in your face and a bear is charging you are going to get sprayed. You may or may not get the bear. Once you are sprayed, you are a sitting duck.
#2. What if there are more than one bear? Is one can of spray going to be enough? How many cans do most people carry?
#3. If you spray a bear and deter an attack, how long does it take for a bear to recover and if you have multiple miles to hike to get to safety is the bear going to attack again?
4. A gun shoots upwind, downwind, crosswind etc.
5. Its easier to carry more bullets compared to more cans of spray.
6. More bullets means protection from multiple bears or multiple attacks.

As an inexperienced bear man i feel that there are more positives with a gun over a can of spray. If i could carry both i would. If i had to choose between the two i would choose gun.
I grew up in the city in Jacksonville, Florida. Some neighborhoods are sketchy. In those situations i again choose gun over spray. For all the same reasons.
Fatrascal.

 

[tkhuntsman]

I carry both. The spray is in my hand if I'm going through areas where I think I might encounter a bear. If I have to react fast and the spray isn't in my hand already then the revolver in the chest holster is the first thing I'll grab. That's the scenario I've been walking myself through since I started carrying while bow hunting.

If I've got a bear actively charging me I'm going for my gun every time. If I see a bear approaching or acting non aggressively I will draw my spray and have it ready. If that same bear becomes aggressive I will drop the spray and have my gun ready. If I have a bear investigating my camp during daylight he's gonna get sprayed regardless. If a bear comes in close to my tent in the dark the gun will be at the ready. No offense but I damn sure am not valuing that bears life more than mine and usually I have one of my kids or friends along and I damn sure don't put that bear above them either. I have sprayed 2 bears that were to interested in my camp and I have drawn my gun on 3, 2 we're bluffs and didn't have to use it and one was coming from a long ways and turned after a shot was fired at his feet.

 

[Bull_n_heat]

#1. If the wind is blowing in your face and a bear is charging you are going to get sprayed. You may or may not get the bear. Once you are sprayed, you are a sitting duck.

Shoot some bear spray out of a canister sometime and tell me that it's moving too slow to buck the wind.

I carry spray for 4 reasons: 1) it's more effective (no "lying with statistics" required); 2) its easier to be accurate; 3) it works in the dark; and 4) I've never wound up putting myself or my buddy in the hospital with poor shooting of bear spray. More people hurt each other or themselves with guns trying to fend off bear attacks than people with bear spray not being able to defend themselves.

I'd say 99% of the time if someone tells you that carry a gun for bear protection, it's because they want to carry a gun, and not because it's more effective.

 

[tkhuntsman]

I carry a can on the bottom of my bino harness for two reasons. The first being if Im getting mauled I have a much better chance of reaching to my chest and squeezing the trigger to fog myself and the bear than reach for my pistol and make effetive hits. The other is incase a partner has a bear on top of him. The hesitation trying to not shoot my buddy undernthe bear isnt worth it when I can light them both up with spray. If that doesnt work plan B involves a 12rnd magazine.

I read a story about a guy that shot a brown bear that was on top of his hunting partner. The bullet deflected and went straight down into his buddy. He killed them both.

Have you ever tried to make effective hits under extreme duress while suffering from the effects of blood loss and pepper spray. I've had law enforcement and riot training where we were sprayed and had to shoot under the effects and it's not effective. Couple that with shock and blood loss and your in trouble.

 

[fatrascal]

Shoot some bear spray out of a canister sometime and tell me that it's moving too slow to buck the wind.

I carry spray for 4 reasons: 1) it's more effective (no "lying with statistics" required); 2) its easier to be accurate; 3) it works in the dark; and 4) I've never wound up putting myself or my buddy in the hospital with poor shooting of bear spray. More people hurt each other or themselves with guns trying to fend off bear attacks than people with bear spray not being able to defend themselves.

I'd say 99% of the time if someone tells you that carry a gun for bear protection, it's because they want to carry a gun, and not because it's more effective.

Bull n heat, thanks for the reply. There were two guys hunting elk close to Yellowstone in 2022. They both had spray and they both had guns. One of them shot spray towards a bear that was charging and actually had this very thing happen. The wind changed in their story and he got covered in bear spray but the bear did not. It kept charging and the other guy shot the bear. So yes, it can happen. Like i said in my post, i am not going by experience, but instead going by what i think is common sense.

 

[fatrascal]