Another bear spray fail

Mosby

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RIP to the guide

Can I just say, That article lacked critical details:

So the guide had spray, and the trigger lock was off.....

OK? Well did he use it or not? Was the can emptied, full or used at all? Sheesh.... thats an important point dont you think?

I agree. My guess is he used the spray or at least tried to use it, it didn't work and they aren't going to confirm it. Maybe the wind was going in the wrong direction..who knows. The last thing they are going to do is give us a reason to think bear spray doesn't work. Hopefully the family will figure it out. I would want to know.
 

mlob1one

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Mar 18, 2015
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The guide was hit from behind by the best. Because the boar hit him from behind he couldn't effectively deploy it. As the boar attacked his back, he crushed the guide's vertebrae. He somehow was able to make a call to 911 before he passed out. Ranger's assisted and got him treatment, but his wounds were catastrophic. Sad deal. From what I was told, I don't think a gun may have been able to save him. He had his eyes on the water in front of him and not the bank behind him.

This was my buddy's best friend. Tragic.


UPDATE: Carl had spray residue on his clothes, but couldn't determine how much he discharged.
The griz was 450#.


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Mosby

WKR
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Jan 1, 2015
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The guide was hit from behind by the best. Because the boar hit him from behind he couldn't effectively deploy it. As the boar attacked his back, he crushed the guide's vertebrae. He somehow was able to make a call to 911 before he passed out. Ranger's assisted and got him treatment, but his wounds were catastrophic. Sad deal. From what I was told, I don't think a gun may have been able to save him. He had his eyes on the water in front of him and not the bank behind him.

This was my buddy's best friend. Tragic.



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Awful. Wasn't anything he could do. Prayers for him, family and friends.
 

22lr

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This is a tragic story. But if we're making this about bear defense, it doesnt look like a pistol wouldn't have saved him here.

Carry what you want, but you only win every bear attack if you avoid em everytime. Sometimes you can't avoid it, and sometimes spray works, sometimes pistols and rifles work. Sometimes spray doesn't work, sometimes pistols and rifles don't work. Never modify your plan or kit off single events. Look at trends, and common themes. There are tons of case studies for why spray is better, and tons for why guns are better. But, most successful bear defense stories have a common theme, they saw the bear. If you start off by not seeing the bear until its charging, spray or gun, your probably gonna have a bad day.

Most case studies show in a surprise situation, most people seem more able to draw and deploy spray more effectively. This is not a hard rule, if you practice then pistols might make sense. But for the general population that doesn't even practice shooting 9mm's at the range under a zero stress situation, drawing and firing a 44mag or 10mm against a charging bear is just gonna get em killed. Know your skill level, and be real with yourself. If you can't draw, aim and fire by the time a grizzly can cover 15-25 yards, then run a drill and see if you could deploy spray any faster. Carry what your fastest with. I have a hard time with this debate because its that simple. Carry what your fastest with.

Handguns do give you longer range options, but so do rifles and shotguns. Its all a tradeoff. This is not a 1 size fits all solution.
 

Rob5589

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The guide was hit from behind by the best. Because the boar hit him from behind he couldn't effectively deploy it. As the boar attacked his back, he crushed the guide's vertebrae. He somehow was able to make a call to 911 before he passed out. Ranger's assisted and got him treatment, but his wounds were catastrophic. Sad deal. From what I was told, I don't think a gun may have been able to save him. He had his eyes on the water in front of him and not the bank behind him.

This was my buddy's best friend. Tragic.



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Horrible. RIP
 

Rich M

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People who don't live around bears year round seem to push for bear spray
They place the life of the bear over that of the person. It's pretty crazy.
 
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Most people cannot effectively use a handgun in the event a fight or flight response happens.

It works on humans because humans in the animal kingdom are wimps.

A 600 lb grizzly bent on mayhem is not a wimp.

As mentioned, best to be aware of your surroundings in grizz country as you are not the apex predator...
 
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Marbles

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Tragic. Sounds like a gun would have end in the same result in this case though. My prayers are with the family.
 

damxam

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Bad deal all around, doesn’t matter what he was carrying. That boar didn’t want anyone around it’s kill and was angry. Charged the group of feds and got filled with lead from multiple firearms and still made it to under 20y. A solo guy in a surprise attack had no chance. Condolences to all that knew him, RIP Carl
 

ewade07

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People who don't live around bears year round seem to push for bear spray
Do you live around griz year round? Have you ever had an encounter? Have you ever had to discharge pepper spray or fire a weapon at a charging bear? These are all honest questions.

From the looks of it, it sounds like the deterrent/defense mechanism wouldn't have mattered in this case. Any way you look at it, its a sad story.
 

Pacific_Fork

Well Known Rokslider
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So sad, RIP and condolences to his family and friends. Happened close enough to where my best buddy lives and hunts and where we will be this fall.

Frustrating, to say the least, that anyone writing the articles or anyone in F&G feels the need to justify killing a grizzly and claim they tried to haze it away first. Grizzlies have to fear man in the lower 48 sooner than later or we are going to start seeing more and more maulings and death to hikers not just hunters.
 
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Bad deal all around, doesn’t matter what he was carrying. That boar didn’t want anyone around it’s kill and was angry. Charged the group of feds and got filled with lead from multiple firearms and still made it to under 20y. A solo guy in a surprise attack had no chance. Condolences to all that knew him, RIP Carl
Agree, just sucks. The only wildlife concern I ever even play in my head is walking up on a kill site with the critter on it (I don’t live around grizz, just black bear and lions) that’s always a wildcard... a bear with Cubs is almost always avoidable ime, but walking up on a kill isn’t, it’s likely a silent scene relatively hidden, when you realize what it is, you are already too close.

I had it happen with a lion, had her little tiny cub sitting on the dead deer’s neck, she obviously packed the cub there, it was too small to get there on its own.

luckily it screamed at me, I looked up and it was crouched and quartered to me, ears pinned, every muscle bulging and letting out a deliberate popping growl, she actually turned and fled, and left me 5 yds from her cub and kill... had she attacked rather than screaming then fleeing, my only chance would have been shooting her while she was on me, I would have never seen it coming... that encounter was instrumental in me packing a pistol, I hadn’t up to that point... at least maybe have a chance in a freak encounter that will probably never happen again.

it’s easy to armchair QB these scenarios, but I think the guide just met his fate that day, I doubt anything would have changed the outcome, just a horrible deal for him and his loved ones... bums me out.

this doesn’t seem like a spray fail, just seems like a tragic event that couldn’t have been stopped with Anything... I still would pick a pistol over spray every single time, but that’s just where my confidence is, not because it’s a clearly better choice
 

damxam

Lil-Rokslider
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Agree, just sucks. The only wildlife concern I ever even play in my head is walking up on a kill site with the critter on it (I don’t live around grizz, just black bear and lions) that’s always a wildcard... a bear with Cubs is almost always avoidable ime, but walking up on a kill isn’t, it’s likely a silent scene relatively hidden, when you realize what it is, you are already too close.

I had it happen with a lion, had her little tiny cub sitting on the dead deer’s neck, she obviously packed the cub there, it was too small to get there on its own.

luckily it screamed at me, I looked up and it was crouched and quartered to me, ears pinned, every muscle bulging and letting out a deliberate popping growl, she actually turned and fled, and left me 5 yds from her cub and kill... had she attacked rather than screaming then fleeing, my only chance would have been shooting her while she was on me, I would have never seen it coming... that encounter was instrumental in me packing a pistol, I hadn’t up to that point... at least maybe have a chance in a freak encounter that will probably never happen again.

it’s easy to armchair QB these scenarios, but I think the guide just met his fate that day, I doubt anything would have changed the outcome, just a horrible deal for him and his loved ones... bums me out.

this doesn’t seem like a spray fail, just seems like a tragic event that couldn’t have been stopped with Anything... I still would pick a pistol over spray every single time, but that’s just where my confidence is, not because it’s a clearly better choice
My thoughts exactly
 

Deadfall

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People who don't live around bears year round seem to push for bear spray
Uh, not completely true. Some of us live around bears all year. Spent 15 years guiding (summer and fall) in some of the most heavily bear populated country in the lower 48. Consistently have bears in town either getting shot or trapped. I'll take spray over pistol all day. Would prefer shotgun over anything. Personal preference, from personal experience. In case like this it would not have mattered what he had. Sad deal.
Good on FWP giving details about how and why they shot it. Maybe use this to help open eyes, since most libt@#$ fish. Considering the 3 states working on delisting and hunting. Hopefully something good comes from this.
 

SoNV

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Apr 22, 2021
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Uh, not completely true. Some of us live around bears all year. Spent 15 years guiding (summer and fall) in some of the most heavily bear populated country in the lower 48. Consistently have bears in town either getting shot or trapped. I'll take spray over pistol all day. Would prefer shotgun over anything. Personal preference, from personal experience. In case like this it would not have mattered what he had. Sad deal.
Good on FWP giving details about how and why they shot it. Maybe use this to help open eyes, since most libt@#$ fish. Considering the 3 states working on delisting and hunting. Hopefully something good comes from this.

This will change nothing, the wolf and grizzly idiots don’t understand proper wildlife management and anyone who doesn’t understand them is wrong and bloodthirsty.

I love having them both on the landscape as I’m sure most of us do.... but there are so many with no fear of humans it’s not natural.


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