Best Gun for Black Bear Defense

[Joe Demko]

We have plenty of black bear in Pennsylvania. In my lifetime, they've gone from being rather rare to something of a pest species. It's apalling what one bear can do to a cornfield. They're also fond of garbage. I know plenty of people who had to build "garbage cages" to hold their trash until the truck can come for it.
Since they live in such close proximity to humans, our bears aren't all that fearful of people. I don't remember ever hearing of anybody getting attacked by one here, despite that.
Bear hunting has gained in popularity as the bears have become more plentiful. There didn't used to be much point in going when there weren't any bears. It was a good excuse to give the wife for disappearing for a week-end, though.
People kill bunches of them every year and they don't need heavy artillery to do it. I personally know people who've dropped bears with archery tackle,.30-30's, muzzle loaders, and other ballistically mild implements. Heck, my dad's Scotty dog ran one off a few years ago.
I can't speak for the bears anywhere else, but the ones here are just giant vermin. If you get careless and goofy enough about it, I'd guess you can probably put yourself in the position of getting hurt by one. You could do the same thing with a rat or groundhog though. You certainly don't have to use anti-tank weapons to deal with them.

 

[Harley Man]

The Bigger the enemy the bigger the gun......I mean you wouldn't shoot a squirel with a 300 win mag would you, nor would you shoot a bear with a 22....simple thinking

 

[Joe Demko]

I've never considered a squirrel my "enemy." Dinner? Often. Pest? Once or twice. Enemy? Never.
I'm trying to imagine a set of circumstances where that would be the case. Maybe if it was an evil squirrel who killed my father and foreclosed on the family farm when we couldn't make the mortgage...

 

[Fishman777]

Black Bears are usually harmless, but...

If there is drought, and the bears are struggling to build up their fat reserves for their hibernation, they can get very aggressive and can display predatory behavior against people. I've heard that this type of behavior is actually more common with Black Bears than with Grizzly/Brown bears.

This might be, in part, because Grizzly/Brown bears are much more rare than Black Bears. With fewer human/bear encounters, you are bound to see less predatory behavior from the brownies. I'm sure brown bears also would compete for scarce resources better than a black bear. I can't really see a black bear being able to chase a brown bear away from a source of pine nuts or berries. If there is food in an area, rest assured, the brown bears probably won't go hungry. Smaller bears might go hungry, especially if they share habitat with larger bears.

Anyways, there was a documentary that played on cable a few years ago about this. After a very hot, dry summer there were three Black Bear attacks in one weekend (in early fall). These attacks all happened in some park in Ontario. I forget the name of it. One of the attacks was fatal. A couple was camping and the wife was mauled in front of her husband. The guy managed to fight the thing off of her with a knife. Rather than risk injury, the bear broke off and followed them. It probably figured that the guy would eventually leave the body behind. The guy carried his wife back to the boat and managed to find help. Unfortuantely, it was too late for his wife (they were in a remote area of the park). He was seriously injured as well, but he survived. There were two other attacks in different areas of the park on the same day.

Bear experts later said that the Black Bear's natural food sources were very scarce, because of the drought. The scarce resources forced some of the bears to display some pretty extreme behavior. There was intense competition for the food, and some of the smaller, more desparate Bears started to attack the humans. The bears needed to build their fat reserves to prepare for winter. If the bears couldn't get enough food in summer and fall, they would not survive the winter.

Even those pesky smaller Black Bears can be very, very dangerous. Even the smaller ones are much stronger than an adult human. Put enough pressure on those critters and they will attack. I agree that most black bears are harmless, but you never can know for sure.

 

[ChemicalArts]

Best defense against a black bear is a bell.

 

[HB]

The Bigger the enemy the bigger the gun......I mean you wouldn't shoot a squirel with a 300 win mag would you, nor would you shoot a bear with a 22....simple thinking

1) Bears aren't "enemies"
2) I wouldn't shoot one with a .300 Win mag either, .30-30 apparently works well.

Its a black bear. Don't mess with him and he won't mess with you. Your 9mm should work fine on anything you see in the woods but you could upgrade to a .357 (GP-100 or something like it). I you are really going backpacking (not camping or hiking), you're not going to want to carry a smith and wesson 500, let alone a back-up gun. Everything gets heavy fast and if the weigh doesn't bother you, the clunkyness of it will.


HB

 

[twoclones]

The Bigger the enemy the bigger the gun

That ought to be on a t-shirt

I you are really going backpacking (not camping or hiking), you're not going to want to carry a smith and wesson 500

If I were to carry a .357 as a 'bear gun', I'd choose a S&W model 686 w/ 4" barrel. At 40 oz. empty weight, it is exactly 1 pound lighter than the .500 S&W w/ 4" barrel. 16 ounces!

The weight difference is less than that of one pint of water...

 

[Redhawk1]

Its a black bear. Don't mess with him and he won't mess with you. Your 9mm should work fine on anything you see in the woods but you could upgrade to a .357 (GP-100 or something like it). I you are really going backpacking (not camping or hiking), you're not going to want to carry a smith and wesson 500, let alone a back-up gun. Everything gets heavy fast and if the weigh doesn't bother you, the clunkyness of it will.

Nobody is talking about messing with black bear, this is in a defense situation, hence the title of the thread.

All you guys that think these small guns are going to do you any good if a black bear decides to attack you, are living in a dream world. Granted most black bear will avoid us at all cost, you may run into one that will stand it's ground or even charge you. That little gun is worthless.

HB let me ask you this, how many times have you back backed in black bear country, or hunted in black bear country? Just curious.

I have hunted in Alaska and I carried my Custom Ruger Super Redhawk 2 1/2 inch barrel for 10 days. It never got clunky or bothersome what so ever. I also do not find my 4 inch S&W 500 Mag a problem to carry, I have a shoulder rig that makes it very comfortable to carry as a back up gun.

I guess everyone has there own idea of what works for them, but for me, I want the biggest I can get
I was always told ,bring enough gun.

 

[dmazur]

I had an unexpected meeting with a large black bear while grouse hunting the the Okanogan Highlands. It didn't go bad, but it convinced me to switch to a larger caliber just seeing how big he was.

I have also had a few unexpected encounters with black bears, two in California and one in Washington State.

I used to carry my trusty 1911, but after reading accounts of bear encounters, I've decided pepper spray and a .44 Magnum are the way to go.

Since I wasn't carrying an ultralight pistol to start with, the difference between the 1911 and the Ruger SBH wasn't all that great. Shoulder holster makes either about the same comfort level.

The bear spray was a little tough to figure out how to carry. Nylon holster on waistbelt is what I settled on.

And, related to the referenced post, I carry this even while grouse hunting, because I figure the .22 rifle isn't going to do anything except be in the way...

 

[Harley Man]

I have one word.......Metaphor!
Most people understand when one is used, however must say your come back was funny!

 

[dmazur]

Deleted.