Nine Cases Where Both Bear Spray And Firearms Stopped Bear Attacks
BY Herschel Smith
5 years, 7 months ago
These are all the cases I and associates have found where both bear spray and firearms were used. Tom Sommers is the only case where the firearms were of uncertain efficacy. The bear was moving away when the single shot was fired; Sommers was blinded by bear spray and blood. There are cases where only bear spray was used when firearms were present. There are cases where only firearms were used when bear spray was present. Those cases are not included in this article.
This is a good followup to his piece on Pistols or Handguns 95% Effective When Used to Defend Against Bear Attacks, 63 Cases.
I would never say not to carry bear spray. I just wouldn’t use it myself. And I would never be caught in the bush without a gun.
Somewhat amusingly (and I missed this when it came out), Wes Siler, who was once of the school of thought that bear spray is most effective against bears, now carries guns in the bush when he might be around a bear. The dispositive and determinative element? Funny you should ask. ” … the salubrious effect of moving into grizzly bear territory in Bozeman, Montana.”
Just yesterday, this instance of a bear attack thwarted by bear spray occurred in Montana.
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On April 10, 2019 at 11:00 am, Ned2 said:
Everyone I know uses lead spray, and we’re in the biggest griz habitat in the country.
On April 10, 2019 at 12:17 pm, Fred said:
Bears have agency. The only reason spray ever works is because the bear consciously decides to leave. Loud, hard, shock trauma can have the effect of triggering automatic flight, a better solution.
On April 11, 2019 at 2:00 pm, TheAlaskan said:
@ Ned2
” and we’re in the biggest griz habitat in the country.” You live in Alaska too? ;-)
And as for bear spray…knock yourself out. I watched how well it works by my wife when she unlimbered a full canister from her belt and unloaded the entire contents into the face of a pissed off, charging bull reindeer that didn’t stop and ‘treed’ her to the top of a 10′ enclosure fence.
@ Fred
“because the bear consciously decides to leave.”
And that charge could have been a false charge anyway, even without bear spray.