Most effective 12 gauge load for bear defense

[Okotokian]

The most effective? Take a can of bear spray and tape it to the muzzle of your shotgun. When you fire the pellets will perforate the can and launch the spray (proven to be the most effective bear defence) towards the bear.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by Okotokian

The most effective? Take a can of bear spray and tape it to the muzzle of your shotgun. When you fire the pellets will perforate the can and launch the spray (proven to be the most effective bear defence) towards the bear.

Now that would be something worth watching on Youtube...

[Young Eldon]

Fordman:
Not in my world either! Just tried to make the point that people have made the mistake of playing dead when they should have been fighting a predatory bear with whatever they could muster.
Thanks for your input.

[wwbirds]

If as TM has noted if the OP is working in CBGG territory these are not normal grizz risks as they tend to stalk humans just like polar bears. Guide in NWT (TM knows Greg well) once told me CBGG thinks humans are just slow moving caribou.
Not too many people could hit a moving target at over 50 yards with slug given the pucker factor involved in bear charge so if I had choice heavy calibre rifle waiting to under 50 yards would be my choice for penetration.
Historically bear spray proves to be more effective than any firearms.
I think one study I saw showed 4 shots required by average person to be lethal. Not sure most bears are going to give you that much time or space if they are serious.

[KegRiver]

I wonder. Are people a bit to concerned about bears attacking.

Not that it doesn't happen. I know of a few such encounters. But really, what are the chances?

I was born and raised in bear country far from any city. Today I live right beside a bear magnet.
I have hunted, trapped, did forestry work and just tramped around this bush since I was old enough to walk. In my 58 years of life I have had two dangerous encounters with bears out of at least a few hundred encounters with bears.

I do carry a rife if I think a bear encounter is likely. I would carry pepper spray if I couldn't carry a rifle.
But I don't loose any sleep worrying about bear attacks.

I know that most of you feel the same as I do that way, but are we sending the wrong message to those who don't know anything about bears ?

[wwbirds]

My grandmother lived worked trapped and raised a family in the bush and although it was not grizz country she told me the only thin she feared in the bush was another human. Animals avoid trouble where ever possible.

[Okotokian]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

Not that it doesn't happen. I know of a few such encounters. But really, what are the chances?

Good point. Damned if you can find them when you want to. Still, a bit of preparation isn't a bad thing. My "bit" is a can of bearspray. A separate weapon just for possible bear defence is overkill IMHO. But that's based on my personal risk comfort level. If you asked my wife it would be "don't go into the woods unless there are lots of other people around, or if you do, kill all predators within ten miles" Totally bear-phobic LOL

[300-510]

I agree wwb,I have little faith in a foster type slug getting the penetration desired.I know there are new slugs coming out that have antimony in them to harden them up.If the chips were down 375 would be choice,just not fun packin ,45-70 with some monoflex.Carry whatever you like or can afford,good luck.

[steve]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

I wonder. Are people a bit to concerned about bears attacking.

Not that it doesn't happen. I know of a few such encounters. But really, what are the chances?

I was born and raised in bear country far from any city. Today I live right beside a bear magnet.
I have hunted, trapped, did forestry work and just tramped around this bush since I was old enough to walk. In my 58 years of life I have had two dangerous encounters with bears out of at least a few hundred encounters with bears.

I do carry a rife if I think a bear encounter is likely. I would carry pepper spray if I couldn't carry a rifle.
But I don't loose any sleep worrying about bear attacks.

I know that most of you feel the same as I do that way, but are we sending the wrong message to those who don't know anything about bears ?

X2 The amount of bear paranoia on here is through the roof.

[Tundra Monkey]

Originally Posted by steve

X2 The amount of bear paranoia on here is through the roof.

Sorry Bud but on the off chance of me bein' snacked on when I'm walking around in a grizzly bears supermarket I'll be armed. I've got a family that I am responsible for.

Grizzlies up there are not rare occurences by any stretch. The grizz are out in May and the berries are not plentiful until the late Summer and Fall in "good" berry years. These bears are hunting for meat and you are meat.

tm

[Loki610]

Anyone ever tried the Balle Blondeau slugs on game? I was reading about them in a 1969 Gun digest and they looked like they'd work great on bear.

[sinawalli]

Maybe 5 rounds of those dragon's breath shells!! Seriously, slugs and tear away pants, cause if the first one don't work, tear off your pants and kiss your *ss goodbye!! Better make it count, cause it's highly unlikely you'll get a second chance!!

[KegRiver]

Some years back I was out picking blueberries.
It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, the birds were singing all around me. I felt so, a part of nature.

Then I noticed that the birds had stopped singing and I got a chill down my spine. Something told me I was not alone.
I looked around very carefully. Was something out there!!!!!? But there was nothing. Nothing except that large mound of fresh dirt. Fresh DIRT !!!!
I don't remember seeing a pile of FRESH DIRT!! Then that pile moved.
That's not fresh dirt my brain screened, it's the back of a brown bear in that dip over there!!!

Now I'm not afraid of bears but this took me by surprise. I'm really not afraid of bears. Really I'm not!!
But one can never be too careful.

So,,,,,, I look at my rifle leaned against a tree thirty feet away. Could I reach it before the bear reached me ?
I calculated the distance from the bear to me, factoring in the up slope and down slope it would have to traverse. Then I calculated the distance from me to my gun. After computing how long it would take me to reach my gun and how long it would take the bear to reach me I concluded that there may be a better option. That all took 1/100,000 of a second.

Next I examined all the nearby trees. Noted their diameter, number of branches, distance from me, height to the nearest branch, and position relative to the bear. After carefully calculating the time it would take for me to reach each tree, the length of time it would take me to start climbing and then to reach a height out of reach of the bear, factoring in the up slope and down slope the bear would have to traverse to reach me, I concluded that climbing to safety was not a good option.
That all took another 1/100,000 of a second.

I had one option left, race to my pickup. But it was up the hill nearly two hundred yards away.
Never-the-less I noted the distance from me to my truck, from me to the bear, calculated my speed over ground, the bears speed over ground.
Factoring in the up slope and down slope it would have to traverse to reach me, plus the up slope from me to my truck and that I had heard that bears run uphill better then the run downhill. And I came to the conclusion that that would not be a good option.
That all took another 1/100,000 of a second.

One thing left to do. I slowly got up, tiptoed over to my rifle. Picked it up, loaded it, took aim and fired.
That all took about twenty minutes but it seemed like 1/100,000 of a second.
Or was it the other way round.

Anyway, the bear dropped like a stone. For nearly a half hour I stood there intently watching for movement, but there was none.
Satisfied that the bear was not about to get up any time soon I sauntered over to make sure it was dead.

I poked the bear with a stick. It did not move. It was dead alright.
So I shot it ten more times and ran all the way to my pickup and sped out of there leaving my berry pail on that hill by the dead bear.

Bears don't bother me. Not in the least. Really they don't.

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by sheephunter

I've heard of it with leopards but not lions but I guess it's possible.

The reason that they used buckshot on the leopards is because a slug would knock all the spots off of them.

[Chukar Hunter]

Brenneke slugs are the way to go.

[wwbirds]

My grandmother told a similar story about competition in the blueberry patch in Northern Ontario except she yelled and threw the pail at him to chase him away. Both lived and no shots were fired.
Mind you she was probably 60 at the time and couldn't have run to the truck but she wasn't sharing her patch with no $#@! bear!

[Arn?Narn.]

I've always just carried a 30/30...or whatever rifle I was hunting with.

I have seen guys with slugs in their shorty shotguns...

I have also seen a number of guys miss a cardboard box at 50 yrds with a slug...

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Arn?Narn.

I have also seen a number of guys miss a cardboard box at 50 yrds with a slug...

But 50 yards is hardly a dangerous situation when talking about bears.

I don't even worry about them at that range .
Cat

[Arn?Narn.]

Depends on what the bear is doing at 50 yrds,...

I have seen guys miss closer than that too,...or just catch the edge of an old vinyl record, and that's stationary targets. Simply packing a shotty with slugs is not sufficient,...like any gun, you need to practice.

As for when you worry about bears,.., well for me...at 50 yrds and acting up, the sights are on him. Inside of 40 yrds, if he does not bolt from a gunshot, chances are the next shot will be in him.

[Digger1]

I've always wondered, what happens when you spray pepper spray into a strong headwind? I suppose someone is on youtube who tried it...

[Refrmek]

Originally Posted by Bobby B.

A buddy of mine completely scrambled a black bear's head at close range with birdshot out of a 12 gauge. From personal experience, I know a .22 rimfire round will penetrate a bundle of shingles at close range. I have some skulls from bears I 've killed and reason dictates that if a .22 rimfire round will penetrate a bundle of shingles, it will easily penetrate a bear's thin skull. My conclusion is a load of buckshot at close range will blow the skull off any bear to pieces. Put whatever you want 15 ft. in front of you and apply a round of 12 gauge 00 buckshot to it. There will be devastating damage, no doubt about it. A slug should work well enough if it contacts the bear in the right spot. A load of buckshot will produce a larger 'pattern' than a slug so that's what I'd use. A double barrel 12 gauge loaded with 00 buckshot at close range will produce very effective results. A PH I met in Africa carried a double barreled 12 gauge loaded with buckshot as his preferred choice when following up wounded leopards. That's good enough for me.

Bobby B.

I've seen a black bear take a 7mm RM bullet in the head at 50 yards in a hunting situation. He shook his head like he was shaking water off it and he turned to walk away. A 270 broadside put him down and out. When skinned out, that 7mm RM bullet put a notch above his eye, deflected, and exited behind his ear. I have also seen a head shot at close range with a 30-30, DRT. As for slugs, I have seen one black bear taken at about 10 feet with one slug in the chest, DRT.

The guides I was with taught me to use one 00 buck followed by slugs because the bush was so thick that the bear will likely be right infront of you when you encounter it. The first shot was thought to give you time to put a better shot behind it. I always understood that there was no predictability in how this worked out. You still hoped like hell the first shot made him run away or dropped him like a sack because the alternative could be very bad.

There are a myriad of accounts that support one method or another. My limited experience tells me that bears deserve the utmost respect. Be prepared as you see fit but don't expect to use multiple methods of deterrent before using a firearm. You may not have time if you don't see that bear first or if you startle it. Believe me, I am NOT saying to use a firearm as your first method of deterrent, but you may have to skip other methods in some situations. Even still, there are no guarantees.