Bear Attack Survivor Interview

Bar

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Very lucky, but he did all the right things. Maybe the gun instead of the spray on that 1st attack would have been better.
 

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I missed that if it was. I thought he said he went for the spray, because he was used to doing that in his work. I thought that meant he could have gone for the gun.
 
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This type of thing just further strengthens my opinion that bear spray is useless in a charge situation where the bear is intent on doing harm. It sounds like he is very competent with a pistol, it's too bad that reaching for it wasn't his first instinct, he my have been able to get off a shot or two and end the whole attack before it even got started. Glad to see that he still was able to survive the mauling's.


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A grizz in full charge that close wouldn't have been easy to stop with the handgun either.
 
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I haven't listened to the interview yet... I dunno, it seems that along the Montana Rocky Front the wind is always cranking. I'd rather have a large bore rifle. But that's not practical so I carry a Smith 69 44. Yeah I'm pretty sure that even if you get charged either way you're going to the hospital. But I want that bear to have a similar experience. Anymore I kinda stay away from the Front. Too many griz and people. But now where I go there's moose, which I have a lot of respect for!

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frankrb3

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A grizz in full charge that close wouldn't have been easy to stop with the handgun either.

I agree that the shot would be difficult to make but I look at it this way, He said he nailed the bear in the face with a solid blast of pepper spray and it kept coming. If he would have used his handgun and had the same results (hit to the face) the bear most likely when have been incapacitated due to a magnum round to it's T-box. Reason why I always carry both the spray and my .44 magnum on my body where I can always reach them. Spray goes on my bino harness, model 69 goes on my belt. Anytime I have ever been startled in the woods my instinct has been to reach for my gun, not my spray. Stay safe gents, they're about to de-list grizzlies from the endangered species list.
 

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If you can hit the bear in that situation with a gun. It's a lot easier to hit it with spray. Even an experienced handgun hunter hasn't faced a charging grizz.
 
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With bear spray being so effective in detouring a charging bear, I don't know why anybody would even consider carrying a firearm into bear country. Just last week we had two biologist mauled by a bear, both had bear spray (as their sole means of bear defense), the spray was deployed into the bears face at close range, both bio's were mauled and one was killed. Upon further investigation it was found that this bear had been stalking them and the attack was predatory in nature.


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I just poached this quote that was recently posted on another site in regards to the two bear mauling fatalities that happened earlier this week. Nice to see that I'm not the only one with this opinion.

Boy after these incidents it would be a fool that carries bear spray. "Brad Benter, an Alaska biologist who ironically happened to be at the scene of a separate predatory bear attack only a day before the Pogo incident, said “I’ve sprayed two different black bears at close range, both times with little to no reaction. "
 
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