Bear spray or firearm?
>>2835431Fire bear arm spray
Bowie knife.
Walk towards bear windmilling armsIf the bear gets hit, it's the bear's own fault.
.357 doesn't care which way the wind is blowing.
>>2835431firearm
saw two bears for the first time this week while waking up in my tent. baby bear was going psycho on a tree maybe 10ft away and the mom was a little further back. didn't bring anything because i didnt expect to see a bear but my bug spray had a whistle built in to the cap and i just blew into that until it fucked off. in conclusion firearm.
>>2835431i mean, you could just easily look up the statistics
>>2835449It does a little bit
>>2835431Imagine your food starts wanking just when you are about to eat it. Lost your appetite? Now you know what to do.
>>2835486>I’ve only seen a bear once and it ran away as soon as I did somethingWhy should we give any credence to your opinion?>>2835434This would legitimately work.
>>2835431I carry a shield and beat it every so often to scare them away. If they charge it might give me a sec or two to say my prayers
>>2835449>.357 for a grizzlyNo gunz larp fag
>>2835530Okay, that's pretty fucking cool ngl>>2835551>for a grizzlyI guess it would depend on the size of the grizzly.t. 12ga for any bear imho
>>2835431Both. Both can work. Both can fail. If its a griz, the idea is to not have to kill it...but if you have to to save your life then so be it...
>>2835431only guns are lethal but by no means fail safe. Less margin of error for bear spray.
>>2835528>why should we give any credence to your opinionbecause i won they lost. owned
>>2835431spray if you're not retardedgun if you're a larper from /k/
>>2835567both is the right idea. i carry a firearm as well but the spray can potentially be a life saver even if you can't actively use ithttps://www.npr.org/2024/05/22/g-s1-40/self-inflicted-hit-of-pepper-spray-drives-off-an-attacking-grizzly-in-grand-teton-national-park>guy gets blindsided, no time to react>gets mauled >bear bites the bear spray can he had on him>gets sprayed and leaves>he survives
>>2835578>bears dont season they food
>>2835581EdnaKrabappleLaugh.wav
>>2835551It's more for tweakers than bears desu
>>2835431Why not both?
>>2835431Fire arm. Everytime. If you trust your life to "the burny juice" that has no lethality for a 600lb killing machine, then you deserve what you get.
>>2836014>must kill everything
>>2836014We get literally nothing, just like you. You’ve never had to shoot a bear or use bear spray. You’ve probably never seen a bear.
>>2835431why not both? they both work for the job but work best in different circumstances
>>2835431The best bear defense is to become a vampire and drink its blood.
FN FAL should deal with a bear sufficiently.
>>2836017No. Only if it's aggressive and charges.>>2836030You don't know shit. Seen plenty of black bears. Never had to fire on em. They scare off easy. Seen a couple brown, but they were far enough away. One even spotted me, but didnt care. I'm talking strictly about if a bear attacks, you want to neutralize the threat. Not that I actively attack any animal just because I have a gun on me. You weak wristed faggot.
>>2836587>you want to neutralize the threatyou can do that without killing it.
>>2836014>600lbDude we had a guy hit a 600lb Black bear on the highway a couple years ago about 30 miles from my place.Grizzly's hit 1,200 pounds when theyre fattening for winter. Largest recorded was 2,200 pounds.
>>2835431if something is trying to kill me, I'd rather kill it than make it even angrier.
>>2835431I'm honestly surprised no one's commented "my dick" yet.
bear spray is statistically more effective and obviously safer
>>2835431Neither. Having bear spray makes you more likely to use it, making many of the people who used it think it saved their lives (it did not), and provided others with undue confidence. In the history of North American bear encounters, the number of deaths and maulings is hysterically low. I've run into countless black bears while hiking and picking berries, who will fucking kill you more reliably than grisly bears if you actually get into a fight with one, but the likelihood of that is near zero. They always run because, unlike you, they're not retarded. If we're talking about polar bears, that's something else entirely, and the only answer there is a relatively high powered rifle. For every other bear species, it's a pointless overhyped confidence booster for scared people. Other animals - cats, wolves, coyotes, etc. - are of no concern whatsoever and will leave you alone. If you're in the woods during rutting season, pray to fucking God you don't run into a bull moose. Otherwise, it's not worthwhile to speak about edge cases and bad luck here because these are meant to be protection for every single instance of going into the woods, which is nonsense. Between the gun and the bear spray, a shotgun is the better option, but if you're from a fake country like Canada, beware (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/black-bear-shooting-fine-1.6897845).
>>2836819308 to the dome begs to differ also.
>>2835449Its been proven that your more likely to just piss it off and make it perceive you as a threat. spray makes it spazz out and bail far more consistently
>>2835551Based larper
>>2836601Wrong.
>>2837588Not wrong.
>>2836601>>2837592anon. youre missing the point he was originally making. this isnt one of your marvel movies where you can cripple an attacker with the hot sriracha spray and expect to be a hero.i, and any sane man will use lethal force if necessary. also remember for bears, conservation officers will put them down if they are brazen enough to attack humans because they will do it again. cus they see them as easy sources of food.thats why you really shouldnt feed them.i would def not use bugjuice(tm) to spray them with vs something like a gun that can actually put them down, and guarantee they wont attack you or anyone again.
>>2837592No you fucking retard. You "neutralize" a threat. You don't let it off with a warning. Goddamn pussies these days, I swear.
>>2835551>>2837587Smallest caliber ever to kill a grizzly was a .22lr.You definitely can carry and use a .357. That's my daily carry. Remeber it's all about shot placement.
>>2835431Pain compliance is the weakest way to defend yourself. If you're going to defend yourself go all the way. Use a firearm. I don't trust my life to a gimic. I trust my Smith and Wesson .44mag however.
>>2837597>hurddurr
>>2837595>will use lethal force if necessarybut it isnt neccesary.>conservation officers will put them down if they are brazen enough to attack humans because they will do it againtell me you havent a clue without telling me. this isnt at all true. Grizzlies who attack humans in defense of food or cubs or get surprised (all 3 of which are the vast majority of cases) do not get put down because they were acting naturally. Bears who consume humans or repeatedly act agreessivley toward humans or exhibit human conditioned behaviors - like raiding chicken shacks or garbage etc...get removed or killed. >>2837595>hot sriracha spraymemetake. based on retardation.>i would def not use bugjuice(tm) to spray them with vs something like a gun that can actually put them downmore memetakes. Less room for error with bear spray. Lots of people shoot bears and it doesnt kill them.
>>2835431You bring Opinel-anon and shoot him in the knee.
bear spray doesnt work supposedlyhttps://flatheadbeacon.com/2025/08/28/hiker-injured-in-glacier-national-park-bear-encounter/
>>2838010Do you want the bear to eat your kayak, 'cause that's how you get your kayak eaten.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU5cMZymSr0
>>2838018
Threads about animal attacks are somehow more gay than threads about running away from home to live in the woods.
>>2836014>fails to score a CNS hit on the 800 lbs mass of fury barreling towards him at 35 mph>diesI carry both. People act as if they're in a videogame and their 44 magnum or 10mm is guaranteed to kill the bear because it does 200 damage and a grizz only has 180 hp. In reality if the thing's charging you and you don't hit the spine or brain within your first two shots (about all you'll get) then you're fucked. Assuming you see it and manage to draw fast enough (hope you have a chest holster).
I admire and respect bears. Once I was walking up a mountain pass on the Virginia - West Virginia state line when I saw a mama bear on top of the embankment looking at me very nervously. She made a bear noise, and a second later, her three cubs sprang up out of the weedy roadside ditch they were napping in and ran up the slope to her. I gave her a smile and said "it's okay mama bear". >if you see a bear you should shout, wave your arms, and otherwise behave like a deranged chimpanzeeStupid advice. In the lower 48 states when interacting with a wild bear, it's much better to stand still, maintain your self-possession, speak kind words and appreciate an encounter with a beautiful wild creature. The bears of the far north are more savage and unfriendly toward humans, so it's wise to be armed up that way. Only human-acclimated bears in search of human food should be harassed until they leave.
how to deal with bears >pic rel stop being gay and learn to use a gun if you are gonna exist in the same place as animals that can eat you.
>>2838018She asked repeatedly. Did the bear ever explain why he ate her kayak?
>>2838010>bear spray doesn't workFrom the article:>The bear ran away after the woman’s hiking partner deployed bear spray.>THE BEAR RAN AWAY AFTER DEPLOYING BEAR SPRAY>The last reported bear attack in Glacier occurred in September 2024, when a 35-year-old Washington man surprised a bear at close range on the Highline Trail. It bit the man on the knee but was quickly deterred as other hikers deployed bear spray. No action was taken against the animal because it was a surprise encounter. >QUICKLY DETERRED AS OTHER HIKERS DEPLOYED BEAR SPRAY
Later on another trip the same guy threw the .44 magnum away because his sledge was too heavy. He regretted that when he saw a polar bear in the distance but kept away from it and lives today. LONDON 1982 -- Two British explorers attempting to circle the globe by way of the North and South poles wounded and drove off a 'very determined' 1,000-pound polar bear on an Arctic ice floe, a spokesman for the Transglobe expedition says.Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 38, and Charles Burton, 40, encountered the bear on the ice floe that has served as their base camp for several weeks as they make their way to a July rendezvous with a support ship off the Norwegian island of Spitzbergen.'They discovered a 1,000-pound polar bear outside their camp and set about banging saucepans to frighten it off, but it still came forward,' the spokesman said Sunday.'They fired off two signal flares to startle him, but he was a very determined polar bear and capable of charging quickly.'Fiennes pulled out his revolver and fired two warning shots that still did not dissuade the advancing animal, the spokesman said.'The bear was coming on them and before he broke into a gallop, Sir Ranulph fired his .44 revolver, winged the bear and that did the trick,' he said.'He didn't kill the bear,' the spokesman said. 'He didn't want to, because they are beautiful animals. It was a question of hitting the bear in the arm or leg and scaring it off.'The spokesman said neither man was injured in the incident, during which Burton covered Fiennes with a loaded rifle.'They've had dangerous situations before, but this is the nastiest so far,' he said.'As they move further south there is an increasing risk of encountering polar bears,' he said. 'We airlifted more bullets to them last week from the base at Spitzbergen.'
>>2838736>bear spray doesn't work>supposedly>autist detectednuance over your head? The article was posted because according to retards on this board, bear spray doesnt work, when the article shows that it can work. Try and keep up.
>>2837609Wrong again retard.
For people who actually know how to shoot pistols? Firearm is more effective. For people on /k/ who clearly don’t shoot handguns and can’t hold a 6 inch group at 15 yards? Bear spray is more effective.
>>2839223>derpsvery compelling argument
>>2835551with the right ammunition and practice, it's far better than nothing
>>2835565Most 12ga slugs are soft lead so the slugs flatten out (pancake) almost immediately upon hitting bone, they also lose energy like an anchor dropping the farther out it flies (12ga slugs lose about 800 ft lbs of energy by 100 yards). The only reason they are chosen is because slugs and shotguns are cheap ($1/rd instead of $4 for magnum pistols), handy, and it dumps 1,500 ft lbs of energy into the bear immediately, which will fuck anything up. Slugs are also a little bit easier to get on target at close ranges because of the huge bore. Buckshot is generally worse than standard bore pistols on bears because they don't penetrate very far even if they spray more energy into the bear in total.On the thread theme, there are cases of spray completely failing and a bear killing two people in a single incident. There are also cases where a .44 mag failed to immediately kill a bear due to poor shot placement and the bear charging from a hidden tree line. If you live in Canada you're not allowed to carry handguns in general and it's risky to carry a shotgun or rifle around on a camping trip or hike because Canada isn't general open carry like the USA. So in Canada, spray is sometimes all you can safely carry. In the USA however, we've got guns down to a science, especially in bear country and a firearm is a smart thing to bring with you in any backcountry, there are 100+ cases of firearms successfully stopping charges in the USA in recent decades (including 9mm).General rule of thumb for bear defense ammo.FMJ, TMJ, and especially hardcast bullets are best. You want penetration over expansion. You don't necessarily need to mag dump or rely on huge mags, as in a dangerous charge you will likely only have time to get 2-4 shots that you can get off (theoretically) into the bear. Small rifles (.30 bore >/=) and magnum power pistols (including magnum class semis) work fine on big bears, and most of the reported kills are actually with sidearms, due to accessibility.
