Who actually carries a rifle when hiking in bear country

We have black bears in MN so carrying on my farm isn't technically a "must". Although a black bear with cubs can be dangerous. I carry here at the farm because of some stupid mutt that appears on the property now and again.

kayak-man said:

Does anyone actually carry a rifle when they are hiking bear country? I've got a Marlin Guide Gun which I bought with that intention, but I've never actually carried it outside hunting season.

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The only place I've seen people carrying rifles for bear defense (as opposed to hunting) is in certain parts of Alaska.

We had a black bear in our neighborhood last year, but haven't seen signs of it this year. I carried my S&W M&P .45 often, but more likely to carry a .243 Win, Tikka T3 Lite, so I'll be ready to shoot a coyote at some distance. The rounds I use would be fine on a black bear, should I "need" to shoot it. Blacks around here aren't usually in attack mode, but I almost surprised one in a blackberry patch a few years ago. Stepped in some really fresh droppings, with bushes all around me. It was a rare occasion when I didn't have a gun with me and I felt pretty nervous, so got out of there quickly and noisily!

Bear spray and a Glock 20 here in the PNW. No point in taking a rifle that would never actually be used.

After one unarmed encounter during the salmon run on the Kenai, I would be inclined to carry a rifle. I would prefer an armored personnel carrier.

I do sometimes, but only light rifles if hiking.

kayak-man said:

Sounds like most people don't carry a rifle for bear. Now I'm curious, does anyone every bring a rifle "just because you can?"

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I have done. M14SA, M1 Garand, AR, shotgun. Basically, I learned that carrying a long gun (for me) isn't a lot of extra effort. But it is enough of an inconvenience to not want it on popular or particularly strenuous trails. And not neccessary....thus far. But then again, none of my defensive firearms have been necessary thus far, for which I am glad.

I used to work around black bears a lot. Most of them have been hunted and haul ass when they see a human. Nat'l parks is a different story. When I was hiking in nat'l parks you couldn't carry a pistol so I had the magnum bear repellent. Had bears in camp several times. It gets exciting.

Actually, I worry more about the darn cougars than anything else. I used to carry a snub 357 when I hunted grouse, even though I had a shotgun. That's worry right there.

When I lived in Alaska, my job took me to remote parts of the state on a regular basis. Most of the time in brown bear country, I felt that a handgun was sufficient because an actual encounter was pretty unlikely. One of the guys I worked with only packed a handgun in with our equipment because he had a theory that luggage containing guns would get out to the villages on the same plane as us instead of being booted to the next flight. He usually didn't even bring ammo.

I did occassionally carry a rifle in some areas, and I carried a Blaser R8 in 9.3x62 Mauser and used the Kifaru gun bearer system attached to my pack in order to carry it. I like the gun bearer system for how quick it is to deploy, but it does take some getting used to.

Every time I have personally seen a brown bear, it was either running away or ignoring me from a distance. Moose, on the other hand, seem to appear out of thin air right behind you (except, I assume, during hunting season).