Bear Attack

Has anyone in here had unwanted encounters with aggressive bears? I have done a lot of bear hunting and had bears on our deck and at our feeders but these are fairly docile black bears. I plan to do some fishing and hiking in the coming weeks and would not be surprised to see brown bears where we will be. I was considering bringing my sidearm along but I think I may be better off with bear spray, my sidearm option is .45 auto, but I think I will leave it home and avoid the hassle of traveling with it and just buy a can of bear spray when I get there. What have others done and did you need or find one more effective than another?

Brown bears…. As in Grizzly. I think I’d bring the 45. 👍 Along with spray. Almost every attack story there is, says the spray didn’t seem to slow them down once they made up their mind.

I’ve only had one semi aggressive encounter with MN Black bears. Mom with cubs during spring turkey season. She growled, huffed, and raked leaves about 100 yards away. We backed out. All was good.

I have no experience, but would probably go with both. Meateater has an article on the exact topic.

https://www.themeateater.com/hunt/firearm-hunting/ask-meateater-pistol-or-bear-spray-in-grizzly-country

I could be wrong but I think most guides in AK are packing heat. I guess it depends how far off the beaten trail you will get. If going into the bush, I would definitely consider someone in the group carry a firearm.

No but every time someone talks about it I think of this video…..Make sure your sound is on.

What the he11 no picnic baskets?
I’m outta here.

If you put your self in that position why would you not carry a large caliber hand gun just for saftey

onestout wrote:

Has anyone in here had unwanted encounters with aggressive bears? I have done a lot of bear hunting and had bears on our deck and at our feeders but these are fairly docile black bears. I plan to do some fishing and hiking in the coming weeks and would not be surprised to see brown bears where we will be. I was considering bringing my sidearm along but I think I may be better off with bear spray, my sidearm option is .45 auto, but I think I will leave it home and avoid the hassle of traveling with it and just buy a can of bear spray when I get there. What have others done and did you need or find one more effective than another?

Mike,
Just make sure you are with a buddy that is a bit slower than you. Jesse Krook comes to mind.

.45 ACP wouldn’t be my caliber of choice but if that’s all you’ve got… pretty slow. Good excuse to go Gun shopping for a .44 mag or .500 S&W I think I’d even take a .357 over .45 because of the penetration power.

Definitely bring the bear spray. After seeing the episode of alone where the guy tagged a bear running up on him with bear spray and seeing it turn tale, I’m a believer.

If you bring a pistol file the sights off so it doesn’t hurt so bad when the bear shoves it up your a$$ I had always carried a sawed off pistol grip 12 gauge when I lived there and went off the beaten area just a fyi

Reminds me of the old joke.

Did you hear about the guy that survived a bear attack with a 22 cal. pistol?

His friend with the gunshot wound to the knee didn’t make it.

There are 10s of thousands of hippy a$$ hikers on the trails in our american forests among the cougars, bears, wolves and every other scary thing with teeth and claws every single day in the warmer months. Eating vegan granola bars, drinking carbon free water and listening to Joel Osteen podcasts not worrying about a dang thing. And ya know what, they all survive.

Exceptions, sure. But if a bear wants to maul your butt some spray ain’t gonna cut it. Bring a gun, with a single shot, and it won’t be for the bear eating you….

Deuces wrote:

There are 10s of thousands of hippy a$$ hikers on the trails in our american forests among the cougars, bears, wolves and every other scary thing with teeth and claws every single day in the warmer months. Eating vegan granola bars, drinking carbon free water and listening to Joel Osteen podcasts not worrying about a dang thing. And ya know what, they all survive.

Exceptions, sure. But if a bear wants to maul your butt some spray ain’t gonna cut it. Bring a gun, with a single shot, and it won’t be for the bear eating you….

^

I don’t believe in pepper sprays when there’s an overdose of adrenalin. I know I would go through the hassle of checking in a weapon with the airlines if I was going to put myself in a possible bad situation.

It’s really not that hard to fly with a handgun…unless your a felon.

TSA Link

All you need is a clay pot of honey…no bear can resist that.

This is according to my 6 yo but I tend to believe everything she says.

You should check out a Meateater podcast called “The Meat Tree” It is probably one of the best stories out there(they were attached by a grizzly), but they talk about having bear spray and a gun, and why having 2 makes sense.

Why not both?

Bear spray for bears, .45 for big cats or 2 legged predators. And because you can.

I converted my .45acp to .460 Rowland, and I have a 10MM. Those would be my personal choice for potential brown bear encounters, in that order. I think the optimal solution is a 12ga with slugs but I prefer something I could conceal because people get weird about other people carrying long guns and I don’t like to stir the pot if I can avoid it.

I’ve had two brown bear encounters in 3 years out in Montana. In both instances the bear and I came to a mutual understanding that we would both go our separate ways. The first encounter was close… way too close… for comfort. I’ve spent a lot of time around black bears and while I give them the respect and distance they deserve they don’t scare me in the least. The one close encounter I had with a griz left me shaking with adrenaline. A big brown bear staring at you from across a pile of blowdowns is one of those experiences I can do without ever experiencing again. If I don’t have my rifle with me (archery hunting) I will have my 10MM + bear spray along in the unlikely event things go south.

I’ve had two situations on quads. The first I had to drive around a bear on the trail and he charged me when I passed. The second my wife and I were four wheeling and one would not leave the trail to let us pass so I fired a round from my handgun to scare it off.

Normally we go with a guide but we have a couple unplanned days that we will probably try and find some stuff ourselves. The bad part is that I am probably the slowest one in the group.

Start your sprint training.

Pailofperch wrote:

Brown bears…. As in Grizzly. I think I’d bring the 45. 👍 Along with spray. Almost every attack story there is, says the spray didn’t seem to slow them down once they made up their mind.

I’ve only had one semi aggressive encounter with MN Black bears. Mom with cubs during spring turkey season. She growled, huffed, and raked leaves about 100 yards away. We backed out. All was good.

They are quick as hell. They can cover the last 40 yards in a second or 2. So I would say the 45 will do about the same as the spray – not much. I have buddies in AK. One has a 500 S&W and the other a 12 ga with slugs.

They both call a 44 mag a “5 shooter” – 5 for the bear and the last for you when it grabs you. But they also say you will be lucky if you have time to get off one shot.

I carried a 480 Ruger unless I had my 300 win mag in my hands on my 5 trips. Even on the trips to the outhouse. When we shot caribou, one guy was on guard and the other did the butchering.

OR you can just push your buddy down and run. You don’t have to outrun the bear – just your buddy!!!

Fished a river outside of Anchorage the last 2 days. Guy next to me had a 12 gauge with slugs over his shoulder, he never took it off. He said it wouldn’t be much good sitting on the riverbank. He laughed when he saw I was carrying bear spray.
Saw 2 black bears and a brown but they didn’t pose any threat to us. I felt allot safer fishing next to him! If possible I’d bring both a gun and spray with. If things did get serious I think a shot or two into the air would be more helpful then the spray.

Smoker wrote:

Fished a river outside of Anchorage the last 2 days. Guy next to me had a 12 gauge with slugs over his shoulder, he never took it off. He said it wouldn’t be much good sitting on the riverbank. He laughed when he saw I was carrying bear spray.
Saw 2 black bears and a brown but they didn’t pose any threat to us. I felt allot safer fishing next to him! If possible I’d bring both a gun and spray with. If things did get serious I think a shot or two into the air would be more helpful then the spray.

How was the fishing, we’ll be down south of Anchorage.

Draw time is a major concern as well as I don’t have a chest holster, but at least I would have a chance.

The run is petty heavy with pinks with quite a few silvers mixed in before and after high tides now. Cast silver and pink pixie spoons during high tides. Pound a pink or red feathered hook in the deep runs at other times using a fly rod is working well also. All the rivers we hit were very crowded. I don’t think you’ll have much trouble catching quite a few right now.
Have fun

Buy the book Bear Attacks of the Century. A true account of numerous attacks. Good read, 1 thing I took from it wear a backpack.Attacked from behind they go for the pack,it sticks out. DK.

Here’s a quick true story, I was bowhunting in Oct. I decided the morning was over and decided to lower the bow, for some reason I looked at my walk-in trail, and here comes Mr big boar, walking my trail and smelling everything along the way. he comes to the tree, puts a paw on it, I throw down my hat, he sniffs it, looks up at me, and calmly waddles away. What really got me is I was being tracked and he did not give a rats ass I was there. DK. PS, this from a tree climber stand that I use maybe 3 times a year.