There was a cool study done on bear spray in Alaska, here's the gist.
from Smith et al. 2008 "Efficacy of Bear Deterrent Spray in Alaska":
"Of all persons carrying sprays, 98% were uninjured by bears in close-range encounters. All bear-inflicted injuries (n = 3) associated with defensive spraying involved brown bears and were relatively minor (i.e., no hospitalization required). In 7% (5 of 71) of bear spray incidents, wind was reported to have interfered with spray accuracy, although it reached the bear in all cases."
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