midwest's Link
Here's my prediction if he brings a pistol adequate for bear protection. The first couple days he wears a hogleg looking like Dirty Harry when he leaves camp. After two days of hiking with a 4lb. .44 mag on his hip, he decides to take his chances with a bear and his rifle. The pistol stays in the pickup the rest of the hunt.
Makes a whole lot more sense to pack 12 oz. of UDAP bear spray and leave it right on your pack the entire time. If you see a griz and have time to prepare you have your rifle in one hand and the pepper spray in the other. The vast majority of charges are bluff charges and pepper spray is documented to have a much better chance of turning a charge than a pistol. Hunter and the bear are safe and saves the hassle of going through an investigation and the possibility of FWP deciding a shooting is not justified.
If its a full on charge without warning, none of the above will matter anyway. He'll either have time to shoot the bear with the rifle in his hand or the bear will get him.
I live in Wyoming and only carry pepper when in grizzly country.
IMO I think people over react to the bear thing at times. Maybe they read to many bear attack stories.
When I bowhunt here in western WY, it's pepper spray. When gun hunting, one round from my .300 WinMag will be more effective (and more accurately placed) than a whole cylinder from my .44.
And, yes, I also don't go to the gas station without a pistol.
I think that's the whole issue right there. Where & When I grew up, we ALL carried, all the time, practically, and man, oh man were we quick on the draw. Only trouble is that when you've just started a fresh roll of caps, there's not a huge priority on precise aim for the first 5-6 shots....
But the point is.... Familiarity.
I don't have anything to do with handguns anymore because I live in a state where you can't take one to a range - or anywhere else - without a rather expensive carry permit. But for me, getting a SA revolver off of my hip, cocked and leveled at a target is pretty well wired-in. By comparison, a can of bear spray is an awkward, unfamiliar object which requires unfamiliar actions on my part in order to make it work, and FWIW, I'd bet that a big-bore handgun going off with an enormous Ka-BOOM and a clean miss, a spray of dirt/gravel/water in the face, or any kind of a hit whatsoever is a far more effective deterrent than a whole big can of UDAPP that never gets off of the user's belt.
So I get where the Hog-leg advocates are coming from, even if I'm not quite ready to go there.
Personally, if I had 10 seconds or more to work with, I'd go for the spray.... Though I'd be real happy to have a buddy with a hand-cannon ready to go while I was fiddling with the safety.
And I think anyone who is concerned enough about his safety to pack Heat should also be willing to pack a can of hot sauce to be used as a first line of defense, should the situation permit that. And that goes for "around-town" carry as well.
I suppose there are Carry Class instructors who will disagree, because while the Defense can offer that carrying both is clear evidence that someone really wanted to use the firearm only as an absolute last resort, chances are that the Prosecutor/Plaintiff's counsel will argue that using the firearm was not truly necessary given that not all other options were exhausted before resorting to deadly force.
You just can't win...,,
I'm a .44 carrier myself, but I've never hunted in Grizz country. In the lower 48 you might get away with that, but if you've never seen a coastal Alaskan Grizzly, take the biggest bear you've ever seen and double it, and you might be getting close; they are HUGE! I'd carry a JIC shotgun, or an Alaskan .50 if I was hunting up there.
Lets all quote wikapedia: " Treadwell studied grizzly bears during summer seasons for 13 years, before being killed by one of them. According to his book, Among Grizzlies: Living with Wild Bears in Alaska, his mission to protect bears began in the late 1980s after surviving a heroin overdose. He claims in his book that his drug addiction grew from his alcoholism.
A lover of animals since he was a child, he traveled to Alaska to watch bears after a close friend convinced him to do so. He wrote that after his first encounter with a wild bear, he knew he had found his calling in life, and that now his destiny was entwined with that of the bears. He attributed his recovery from drug and alcohol addictions entirely to his relationship with bears."
You want people to Kill a bear unjustified, when bear spray can turn them away from an attack and that attack came from your unjustified actions or your lack of ability. We have a new presidential candidate!!!!!!
But if I run out of spray, I have the gun. And if he's on top of me, I have the gun. And if I need help, I can shoot the gun 3 times.
Either way, I'm not sure why you'd pull a pistol when you have a rifle in hand. The foot-pounds don't even compare... even the lower end of calibers that some use for elk.
From: GF Date: 13-Jul-16
But the point is.... Familiarity.
But for me, getting a SA revolver off of my hip, cocked and leveled at a target is pretty well wired-in. By comparison, a can of bear spray is an awkward, unfamiliar object which requires unfamiliar actions on my part in order to make it work, and FWIW, I'd bet that a big-bore handgun going off with an enormous Ka-BOOM and a clean miss, a spray of dirt/gravel/water in the face, or any kind of a hit whatsoever is a far more effective deterrent than a whole big can of UDAPP that never gets off of the user's belt.
The problem is, as hunters, we shoot animals with arrows or bullets. And bullets cause more trauma and initial damage. On the other hand, I have never used pepper spray, and still find it amazing that a can of pepper spray could turn a 600 pound animal, hell bent on making you pay for whatever it is that it thinks you owe for.
Anyway, what's not to like about pepper spray, if it truly works. I would much prefer to carry less weight, and not to have to deal with game and fish, etc. It is simply a matter of what we are familiar with and have had experience. Nothing about being cool or manly.
I think that Treadwell guy did irreparable harm to those bears by changing the way they acted around people, but that's just me, and I'm not a biologist. And I watched the show about him, he was a lunatic, so...
Yeah, laying down a 2900 ft/lb of force rifle to use a 900 ft/lb pistol is......
IF the SHTF you know who will get shot with the pistol, right?
Mad_Angler's Link
If (and it is a big if), he would have hit it in the face with bear spray, it would have left. Bears might be used to pain. But they are not used to incredible pain and being completely blinded.
Semi-seriously, when I bow hunt in bear country I carry heat and spray. If I had a rifle I wouldn't bother with the pistol, although I might practice getting the rifle off my shoulder in a hurry. Definitely no cross-shoulder carry.
The statistics on results of bear - spray encounters are pretty good. People bring up a good point about practice - it would be nice if there were a can of practice propellant set up like the bear spray canister.
One thing for sure, if a bear is in a full-on charge it is going to be QUICK! The one griz I saw in an all-out sprint reminded me of a greyhound wearing a shag carpet - it really was that fast.