E-Mail 'Into Bear Country- Part 2, by George Fox' To A Friend

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1. I hunt and spend many days every year in Grizzly country. I have had bait sites and hunted and killed Black Bears with a bow, and many Grizzlies came into my bait site, I always carry bear spray and a Hi-Cap 45. I weighed the fact of do I want to carry my 44 Magnum with 6 rounds OR the 45 ACP with 14 rounds. I decided to go with the .45 ACP. Bear spray would probably be my first choice but I for sure will have my sidearm. Grizzlies just like Wolves need to be managed, but one thing about having the big predators around, it gives wilderness a whole different feel, so I love having them here but I’m always prepared. Trekker Out

2. This Gentleman is giving you all some very good advise. “Just remember advise freely given is seldom taken.”
   ON building “Bear Boards”Several of my friends started using “Deck Screws” that stuck up an 1 3/4 to 2 inches out of the board. They work’s most of the time. One fellow told the story about a bear stepping on the bear boards and that really P. O. the bear. Needles to say he broke in the window after ripping off the shutter and proceeded to destroy the interior of the cabin. You never know what a bear will do. Just avoid them where ever possible.
   Gman

3. All of the guides I spoke with carried at least a 12 ga pump shotgun loaded with slugs. I didn’t know any carried buckshot as well, but I suppose that can be used for effect as well.

   Too bad there’s no cactus in Alaska. I’d plant prickly pear and spanish dagger all around a homestead up there if it would grow. Bears don’t seem to care much about briars. Bear boards and electricity seem to be the most effective homestead deterrent. Fire also seems to work well, but is hard to manage remotely. I could imagine a naked pissed off bear running through the woods with his tail on fire, though. What a sight to behold, as long as he didn’t see me, LOL

4. OO Buckshot has been proven Ineffective on bears. Slugs have been superior every test I’ve ever read. 32 cal lead balls opposed to 1 OZ slug, think about it.

   1. Close counts with round ball. Low ballistic coefficient, velocity drops like a rock in the first few yards. You are correct–any multi-ball load is going to need to go into a soft spot to be effective. A properly-aligned hit to the oro-nasal cavity, throat, or side of the head is most likely to accomplish something.

5. Great article! I like the triangle analogy.

   There are some inconsistencies with Bear Spray. First, the concentration of capsaicin is lower in Bear Spray than in human pepper spray. Bear spray is about 2% and pepper spray is about 10%. There is not an exact ingredient match so we cannot compare them exactly, but from my reading Bear spray is supposed to be an irritant and not disabling like pepper spray. You can do your own research.

   The second piece is regarding the effectiveness of Bear spray. It should be mentioned that there have been multiple case studies presented whereby Bears charge right through bear spray at a human. In my mind studies are inconclusive. That said, so are firearm encounters to some degree (based on mindset of bear and human and skill).
   As such I always carry both and practice with both.

6. I am not opposed to bear spray per se. Perhaps for children or little old ladies it is a good option. But IMHO it’s use was prescribed by those who do not want any wild animal killed for any reason. Those same people would be the first to respond to a lethal bear mauling by saying that after all you are in their territory, as though that somehow makes it better. So if you cannot or will not carry a gun then I guess bear spray is a decent compromise. Expect though that it won’t prevent a bear from killing you. It is ineffective until the bear is really, really close. It is ineffective in windy or stormy conditions. It is ineffective in thick brush. But it is better, maybe, than laying down and playing dead. But my personal opinion is that bear spray is over hyped and a dirty trick played on you by those who would prefer that the bear live even if that means you die.

   1. My opinions have changed a little since i wrote this article a couple years ago. I think if you know how to be safe and handy with a firearm, that should be your first choice. I still think bear spray can be a safer option for people with minimum training. Also, bear spray can be good for light weight applications or as a back up.

   2. This is the best comment that I have ever read in all my years here at SB!

   3. Zactly!

7. The best two loads in a bear shotgun is #4 shot to take out his eyes, then slugs to kill him.

8. I wrote this article a couple years ago, and my opinions have changed a little since then. I mostly carry just a .454 Casull in the back country in a chest harness. While I’m not against bear spray, but I don’t think i could draw it as fast. Plus the wind problems just make a pistol seem better. One nice thing about a big pistol in a chest harness is that you can always have it with you. A shotgun may be an armslength out of reach when you need it! Also, carrying a long gun in your hand through heavy brush can be a pain.

   Since I moved back to Alaska a couple years ago, I’ve noticed people carrying Glock .357 Sigs a good bit. This might work, but it seems silly to mess with thr tried and true formula (.44mag revolver or bigger). Some guys even use .500 S&W. Just make sure you can control one if you carry one for , they’re a very painful firearm to shoot.

9. Please guys, we come to SB for facts, not tall tales of fireside lore. Seems some entertaining but not so believable whoppers being shared here. The biggest whopper is sticking a shotgun into a charging bears mouth. You guys take your campfire horror stories elsewhere please. The adults here expect better.

10. When I flew my airplane to Alaska and back to the lower 48 a number of years ago, Canada required that I have a survival weapon on board. Of course, handguns were illegal, but any long gun was okay. I was amazed by the wide variety of guns that pilots provisioned for survival. On my return trip from Alaska, I encountered an RCMP pilot in Fort Nelson, who asked what I was packing for a survival weapon. When I told him a Remington 870 with slugs and buckshot, I was surprised when he said “perfect, but you can get rid of the slugs.” We discussed the matter extensively, and the bottom line was that your objective is to aim for the bear’s face to blind him. Any other chance, in the heat of the moment, is slim compared to blinding. So now you know what the experts in Canada use for survival against bears.

11. Well here’s a campfire story for you. A couple of years ago I had a neighbor that was moving out of state and he had a can of old bear spray and ask if I wanted it, so I took it and not knowing how effective it was I decided not to use it as my primary defense, but I had built a ground blind 30 yards from a bear bait site for bow hunting and since I didn’t have a tree stand, I always had my sidearm as well as spray, to make a short story long I decided to just hang this old can of spray on a staub on the tree where I sit in case I forgot my usual can of spray. Anywho it was the last day of the season and when I sit down in my blind my eyes started burning and my nose was running like crazy and I was hacking and spitting and coughing and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong, so I figured I just as well leave cause there wasn’t no bear coming in with all that racket, so when I got up to leave I saw where all the contents of the can of spray that was hanging on the tree had run down the side of the tree, which was what caused my problems and I just figured the can had ruptured but when I got back to the truck I removed the holster which you carry it in and I saw where a bear had bit through the can. Sure bet he got a big surprise, I know I did. Trekker Out. TWB And That’s A Fact.

12. When I first got to Alaska the only knowledge I had of bears was what I saw on TV. Of course I thought that I had to have a 44 mag (There’s so many of them in the store it must be the right thing). When I brought up getting one our resident Alaska old timer at work said “Best to get one with a short barrel and file the front sight down really smooth that way when you shoot one and it takes it from you and shoves that pistol where the sun doesn’t shine it doesn’t hurt so bad.” (Not his exact words but close.)
    Everyone laughed but he said after that the best bear defense is to not do dumb things that attract them, make noise so they hear you, and if it’s thick bear country have a shotgun with slugs or a rifle.
    That was pretty sound advice and honestly the bear encounters I’ve had since have luckily ended with “HEY!! GIT!!” No need for guns or spray. Others like to carry and who am I to argue with them? Might just save their lives.

    If anyone does come up to Alaska please put your pistol on as soon as possible because you have to go through the most dangerous part of Alaska first. Anchorage.

    George Fox this was a really good article. I like how you stuck to a no BS method of saying it without all the maneater urban legends that swirl around this place (Thanks Discovery.)

13. One Point. I have never had to look a charging bear in the eye, and like most people on this site being a little Macho I always thought give me a gun in a bear encounter, and my thoughts have changed on this subject. That being said, whether bow hunting or just hiking in the wilderness we don’t always carry a long gun and many handguns might put down a Griz with a well placed shot, but under pressure I would bet the average person would have a lot better chance of being effective with bear spray. Trekker Out

14. On my way up to Alaska for some prospecting. We will be using electric fencing around the camp as we will have to camp on our food. We’ll be running a 5 foot ungrounded fence of 8 strands 2000′ total connected to a 50 mile 12V charger backed by solar. That should have enough power to make that bear wish he was somewhere else!

    I would not try barbed wire or concertina wire as the bear will get tangled in it or break it. Think of what kind of mess you’ll have when you have an enraged bear ripping up that wire and dragging it all over and getting even more angry every time it catches on something and digs barbs into him. You’d have to shoot the bear at that point.

    Firearms will be underfolding AKM’s with 8M3 ammo. I would have chosen Saiga 12’s, but they’re not as compact.

15. I have experienced a charging brown bear. Stopped at about 35 ft. I had a ,338 and was scared to death. The thing that surprised me the most was the noise level . Prior to spotting the bear I thought I was hearing a chain saw. Fortunately me and the bear both retreated.

16. Get yourself a couple of Akita’s and let the fun begin. They are like “Old Yeller” on steroids. Its quite a site.

17. The bear mauling in”The Revenant” was probably the most realistic on film. Spray might deter a false charge but a committed attack(sow and cubs) probably only stopped by a brain/spinal cord injury.

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