When elk hunting, why would you use bear spray instead of a gun during a bear charge??

[okierider]

Nah, knee cap shots hurt too bad to lay there and play dead. If the bear is real hungry, the buddy is easy meat. Blood smell on him and all that.

Note to self!! Run like hell if Dennis ever asks you to go hunting!!!

 

[dennishoddy]

Note to self!! Run like hell if Dennis ever asks you to go hunting!!!

Never understood why I need a new partner every year. I tell them it's just a joke.........

 

[okierider]

How the hell do you get to be that long in the tooth being dumb as a box of rocks!!! Yelling at a feeding bear!! Dumbass got what he deserved, lucky to still be breathing.

 

[okierider]

Never understood why I need a new partner every year. I tell them it's just a joke.........

As you rub a hand full of bacon grease across their back!

 

[emapples]

Most people can't shoot accurately under pressure, and a bear coming at you faster than a horse can run is intense pressure. If your rifle is shouldered with a sling, you likely won't get it off fast enough to aim and shoot, although the story is about archery. Just using a rifle as an example.
Bear spray is not like wasp spray. It's not a stream like wasp spray to "aim". Bear spray puts out a large fog that the bear runs into.
If the wind is wrong, the person spraying it will get just as much as the bear and it's some powerful stuff. But if it deters the bear, it's better than a mauling.
Personally if I'm hunting in dangerous bear country, I always take a buddy. My .25 acp is the weapon of choice for me against bears. If one is charging or threatening, I shoot my buddy in the knee cap and run like hell!!!!

I know who I won't go hunting with now ......lol

 

[dennishoddy]

I know who I won't go hunting with now ......lol

HUH? I thought we were buddies?

 

[operator742]

Don't worry Dennis, I'll go hunting with you,but we'll be hunting different sides of the mountain.

 

[RugersGR8]

I'll be the first to admit that I have never hunted any bear before so I have absolutely no experience in that area. My only knowledge about bears is that you don't mess with a momma bear and her cub(s) or a feeding bear(as these to yahoos did). However, on one of the PBS shows on bears, I thought that they said when walking in bear country to make a lot of noise so that the bear could hear you(from a far distance) and woud avoid you. But again this was a feeding bear who wouldn't budge from his buffet. I did post the story of the kid who used a shotgun to stop a bear charge a while back:

https://www.okshooters.com/threads/...boy-shoots-charging-bear.245386/#post-3005960

 

[dennishoddy]

I'll be the first to admit that I have never hunted any bear before so I have absolutely no experience in that area. My only knowledge about bears is that you don't mess with a momma bear and her cub(s) or a feeding bear(as these to yahoos did). However, on one of the PBS shows on bears, I thought that they said when walking in bear country to make a lot of noise so that the bear could hear you(from a far distance) and woud avoid you. But again this was a feeding bear who wouldn't budge from his buffet. I did post the story of the kid who used a shotgun to stop a bear charge a while back:

https://www.okshooters.com/threads/...boy-shoots-charging-bear.245386/#post-3005960

If you will note, the kid had his weapon at port arms vs the others having their guns on slings on their shoulders. That is where I got my comments in an earlier post as well as reading about two elk hunters in Montana being killed by a grizzly that surprised them while field dressing an elk. They were both killed while their rifles were leaned against a tree mere feet away.
Its pretty common in Griz country for one to field dress and the other to stand a 360 degree guard. Bears have learned to associate gunshots with gut piles, free food.
When I elk hunt in New Mexico, the bears are in hibernation, so we don't have a worry, but the ravens have learned the same thing. You can gut an elk, load out the carcass, come back in 4 hours and there is nothing left but the contents of the stomach.
There are a couple of members on this forum that can back this up and hunt with me for elk.

 

[Parks 788]

Seems like the second griz attack in the Ennis area in the last year. Both survived but the first guy was about 20 miles further south and got it much worse but still walked out three miles for help.

Also, if you ever take a vacation to Montana brute to spend at least a few days in or near Ennis, MT. It's in the Madison Valley and I assure you one of the most beautiful areas you will see with lots to explore. I suppose you just have to be careful of the bears.