Pepper Spray for Bear ??

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ZeroJunk

ZeroJunk

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Oct 14, 2007
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Browns Summit N.C.
I don't know anything about what is available. Is there a brand made specifically for bear? How long does it keep? Can you depend on it to spray like it is supposed to ? Range?

Any advice would be appreciated.
 
Well, you can search cleaning solvents, gun lubricants, blueing compounds, also. But, usually people have some experience or opinion about one product or another. Perhaps all pepper sprays are made out of the same stuff with the same active ingredients in the same can.
 
UDAP would be fine. Often, brands keep 2 or 3 years. You can depend on them, but wind can always be a factor. Watch any videos you can find, if they exist, read up on it. They spray a good ways and there are methods on how to spray multiple times, if possible, during an encounter. Just research stuff.
 
I was thinkin about bear spray earlier. People say bear spray is the most effective thing against grizzlies from .44 mag on down (meaning it goes, from least effective to most effective: 44 mag, bear spray, cannon).

I dunno. I think if I was being charged by a bear, it would take a heck of a lot of willpower and faith to reach for a can of spray instead of a Ruger SBH in .44 mag.
 
If we're talkin grizzly (or a black bear with cubs) and he/she's behaving in a threatening manner, I just can't imagine relying on a can of spray to hit right between the eyes. We're talkin seconds here. I personally wouldn't put too much faith in it.
 
When you think about it how long does it take a critter to die from a shot other than a CNS shot? 30 seconds maybe longer? Lets assume 30 seconds, How far can a bear run in 30 seconds? How much of you can he de limb in 30 seconds? We are talking about one of the fastest land animals on this continent. They can do a lot of damage in pretty short order. The spray if used correctly will keep you both safe. And yet I do hunt in Grizzly country, in fact we were walking over grizzly tracks while elk hunting last Sunday. While I have never encountered a Griz in the wild many of the conservation officers that I know have, They carry spray and their duty weapon.

Aside from bear protection you can also use it on other critters as well, I almost had to spray a slow elk on the way out of an area last Sunday, I was not sure he was going to let me pass. And any body who has stood next to a side of beef on the hoof knows they are big critters especially the bulls.
 
Oh, and spray is a nice FOG quite wide, so you don't have to be quite as accurate as a gun
cause you know METERS (as in longer than yards) wide at 30 feet vs less than half an inch (.50 caliber)

Yeah, I carry bear spray
 
WTBguns10kOK said:
Ya but you need to think of the bear as a bear, not a person.

It's not so easy to just shoot and stop a bear. If anything it can anger them more. Whereas they don't understand why they suddenly can't breathe, when sprayed, and it discourages them, rather than enrages.
Click to expand...
That may seem really basic, but it did click with me in a way it hadn't before. I guess sometimes it helps to take a step back and look at the situation from a different perspective.
 
Bear spray is more for bears that are hanging around camp or trying to bluff you out of a fishing hole. That scenario describes 99% of the problem bear encounters you're likely to have.
 
I dunno. I think if I was being charged by a bear, it would take a heck of a lot of willpower and faith to reach for a can of spray instead of a Ruger SBH in .44 mag.
Click to expand...

Takes a lot of pucker power to be able to stand still in the face of a charging bear and get a good shot off with a 5" pistol barrel. A black bear can run 30mph, thats 44fps, so you would have one second within 50 feet to bring it down before it reaches you (if it wanted to), would be much easier to hold out a can of spray and hold down the trigger. that being said, I carry a rifle if I know there is a bear in the area.
 
PLEASE NOTE

Many members, who's experience with bears, let alone large Brown bears has been limited to seeing them on the Nature Channel and in the zoo

LOVE to talk "what pistol should I carry for the bear to shove up my behind"
while those having experience
and say actually living in bear country
(search for member Kodiak Beer)
suggest shotgun with slugs AND bear spray.

not to piss on your parade, but most of you are just fling WAG's
spray works, doesn't get you a colonoscopy by FED Fish and Game, AND state F&G, nor does it cost you money, nor months of your time explaining time and time again why you thought the nice bear, going about his usual business was in any way threatening you. Oh, and for those of you who live where Grizzlies are protected, you can be assessed a VERY hefty fine, in/about the $250,000 range.
 
Once I found the statistics of the survival rate of hand gun shooters and pepper sprayers.

The handgun shooters had a lower survival rate. Apparently, you shoot a big bear with a handgun, you make him mad. Then he kills you.

I have run screaming out of my yard, while failing the air like a mad man, because a little itty bitty Hornet was stinging the hell out of me.

I am much larger than a Hornet, but it hurt.

I would probably do the same if the Hornet had pepper spray.
 
I have carried bear spray before 5-8 years ago and remember the label saying that it would shoot 20+ feet. Also a buddy of mine set his off in his backpack in our cabin for the night, :what: and we all slept outside that night. He slept outdoors for the rest of the trip. on another occasion it convinced a smallish (black?) bear that he didn't want to come any closer.

yes they work and work well, just know that that they might not stop a hungry polar bear when you are standing over a dead seal. just like any other tool use them appropriately and they will not fail you.

just my thoughts
ID
 
The vast majority of bear problems are them stealing your camp food, destroying your tent or otherwise being a nuisance and a danger just by proximity. You can spray them and end the problem with no fuss, or shoot them and risk fines, loss of guns and vehicles (in Alaska, poachers vehicles are impounded) or other serious legal repercussions.

I can't imagine why anybody would refuse to use bear spray.
 
Cause Kodiak they lack the brains God gave Bruins and think they have bigger balls

MINDSET SKILLSET EQUIPMENT

with bear encounters, usually it's a failure of the FIRST TWO, that leads you to using the last.
 
I had a grizzly come within about 40 yards or so of me while bow hunting. The wind and terrain were such that I could ease away from him. My hunting partner had a sow and two cubs come up on him. He climbed a tree a little ways, broke a limb off, and fell in to his ground blind. The episode scared the bears and they ran away. Another guy came face to face with a boar bear and the bear ran. I always carried a S&W 629 whille bow hunting, but I mostly rifle hunt now in a district that allows it during the rut. I have walked up the main river trail and come back thirty minutes later and had grizzly tracks in my tracks.

So, you play over in your mind what options you have if you stumble on to a bear on a carcass or sow with cubs.

I don't claim to know the answer. I don't have a warm and fuzzy feeling that I can make a brain shot on a charging grizzly. And, anything less will likely get you killed even if the bear dies a few seconds later.
 
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