Backpacking in bear country

Rusted

Let's Ride!
Supporting Member
Location
Sandy
Backpacking in bear country so I want to keep things pretty light so I have already ruled out a long gun. But what handgun would you rather have with you in the event of a bear?

A) .357 revolver

B) .40 auto ( with a couple of 16 round magazines)


The revolver was my first choice becuase I like shooting it so much and concider it my "camping gun", plus it has more power. But the idea of a fast 17 shots then one quick grab for another 16 sounds like a better chance of not getting mauled.

What would you pick?
 

strangeKowboy

Oops i did it again
Location
Springville, Ut
Well i hope your not the kind of person that sees a bear walking around camp and just shoots it. I have had several bears in my camp at night and just watched them. I was sleeping in a tent and had one sniffing around but i had no food in there and did all the proper things that you do in the back country. FYI so far 3 of the 7 people that have shot bears this year in Utah are being prosecuted for endangerment and poaching. OK theres my say i just hope people don't shoot and ask later. Anyhow I work with black bears and many other wild animals and my best suggestion is to simply have pepper spray (bear spay). They will turn and run faster than you will believe. I know they are getting close but a lot of the times they are just curious, they are not out to hurt you. They are really not aggressive animals but curious. So i will take answer C. bear spray
 

DAA

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Considering how extremely unlikely you are to actually need it to fend off a bear attack, for bear, out of those two, I'd take whichever is the lightest and most compact. Also, I suspect that if you had to use it on a bear, you would not have time for 16 aimed shots nor any need of a magazine change, so if you choose the auto, I wouldn't bother to carry the extra weight of the extra magazine, myself.

Were I really concerned about bear though, I would take the .357 out of those two. But, if I were genuinely concerned about bear, really I'd take a .44, minimum.

But... I've had a few encounters with bears in the backcountry both in camp and in the forest. Really just never been too concerned about them.

So... When I choose a gun to pack, I choose it for the possibility of trouble with other people, not bears. Something small and light fills that bill for me.

- DAA
 

DOSS

Poker of the Hornets Nest
Location
Suncrest
I second the Pepper spray for the bears and take the proper precautions.. Bear bag (canister) for all smelly stuff, make noise hiking etc. I would go with the .357 as well if I had to choose though.
 

solidfrontaxle

Toyota jihad
Location
Casper, Wyoming
Where are you going? What kind of bears?

.357 makes much more sense, but that is still alot of weight for a backpacking trip. (Seriously, you want to shoot it 16 times and then reload and continue shooting???) Backpackers go in bear country all the time and attacks certainly aren't a common problem, if one at all. Unless you're in AK, I think you could probably get by with bear spray or just a simple judee chop.
 

Grim

Well-Known Member
Location
Roy, UT
i do a lot of canoeing tirps in the boundry waters of northern MN. the only thing we take for bears is spray (there is a lot of black bears in that area) like strangkowboy says, if you dont bug them they wont bug you, always string your food up high between two trees , and never sleep close to anything that has an odor that might raise the curiosity of a bear.
 

Rusted

Let's Ride!
Supporting Member
Location
Sandy
Yeah that did sound like I was on a bear hunt. That is not the intention at all. Honestly I would be stoked to see a bear out in the hills. I am definatly not worried about seeing one, it would be a highlight to even see one.

My question is more of a gun question. "If you were going to need stopping power what would you rather be holding, yet still practical to carry" that would have been a better question.

But there really is a backpacking trip comming up, and I am practical and aware when it comes to bear country. The food will be away from the tent, and it will be secured in a tree, etc. A few campground that are withing a few miles have been closed to camping because of problems with bears, and I definatly don't want to add to the problems they have been having already. The bear question posed was just to illustrate my question.
 

ID Bronco

Registered User
Location
Idaho Falls, ID
I have given this alot of thought in the past. If it is charging you will not be aiming very well, so for me I want volume. Some will hit, some won't. With a revolver you may not hit it at all and be out of bullets.
 

Rot Box

Diesel and Dust
Supporting Member
Location
Smithfield Utah
If those were my only two options I would definatly go with the .357. It will definatly add some weight though, but I would rather have it and not need it vs. need it and not have it :-\ An underarm holster helps me while hiking with my Blackhawk as I don't like it swinging back and forth on my hip/legs... That being said you might be better off with an air horn and bear deterrent this time of year.

Here is a half full bottle of deterrent that my friend used once in the backcountry of AK. He was actually thrown on the ground by a Brown Bear and he shipped this bottle back to me along with a bunch of other cool things. He called me the next day and I could barely hear him as his voice was amost completely gone from screaming at the bear. Apperantly the bears came out of hibernation early, and it was still a few weeks before the Salmon run so they were hungry and very cranky :ugh:


Anyway where are you going? Sounds like a good time have fun! :D
 

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lewis

Fight Till You Die
Location
Hairyman
I take a 12 gauge with buckshot, a .45 auto, and .380(which wouldn't do squat)
I have some friends that shot a bear this year in idaho. First shot it in the tree with a 300 mag and it fell out of the tree but was only a wounding hit. It ran at them and 2 other guys unloaded their pistols which was a.40 and a .38 and the bear getting really close was put down with another 300 mag load. They skinned the bear and all of the handgun rounds where bearly under the skin, didn't even penetrate the muscle. Moral of the story is I carry the 12 gauge with oo buck.
Also Strangecowboy my uncle shot one in self defense in fear for his life after being taunted and cornered by the same bear for 2 days and put it down with a bow. The forest service still prosecuted him and fined him for saving his boy and his life so saying that 3 out of 7 are being prosecuted isn't saying much.
 

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
I know this isn't 100% related, but... :ugh:

http://durangoherald.com/sections/News/2009/08/11/Autopsy_Woman_killed_by_bear/


A 74-year-old woman who was known for leaving food outside her home for bears - despite several warnings that it was illegal and dangerous to do so - was killed by one of the animals, an autopsy confirmed.

Donna Munson's body had been partially eaten by a bear or bears when it was found outside her home in Ouray County, in southwestern Colorado, on Friday, but Colorado Division of Wildlife officials couldn't immediately confirm what caused her death.

A letter from the Division of Wildlife to Munson dated April 7, 2008, said officers talked with her at least three times between July 22, 2004, and Sept. 13, 2007, about Colorado laws that prohibit placing feed out for bears.

County Sheriff Dominic Mattivi said Monday that an autopsy, performed in neighboring Montrose County, showed Munson had scratches and maul marks consistent with being attacked by a bear.

She had no signs of heart damage, ruling out the possibility that she died of a heart attack before being attacked, Mattivi said.

State wildlife officers had received "numerous" complaints during the past decade that Munson was feeding bears.

But she never was ticketed, partly because wooded hills around her property made it hard to gather evidence to prove it, said division spokesman Tyler Baskfield.

"It's a well-known fact that people were feeding (bears) at this residence," Baskfield said.

A letter from the Division of Wildlife to Munson dated April 7, 2008, said officers talked with her at least three times between July 22, 2004, and Sept. 13, 2007, about Colorado laws that prohibit placing feed out for bears.

Baskfield said Munson started ignoring wildlife officers' calls and stopped letting them on her property, and views from neighbors' homes were obscured by the foliage.

Authorities aren't really sure whether the bear that killed Munson is still roaming the neighborhood.

Sheriff's deputies investigating Munson's death shot a 250-pound bear that aggressively approached them Saturday, and wildlife officers killed a 394-pound bear.

A necropsy showed that the larger bear appeared to have been feeding on a human, but Mattivi said he's asked officials at the University of Wyoming to confirm that.

It's not known if that's the bear that killed Munson.

Witnesses have spotted as many as 14 bears at a time around Munson's property over the years, wildlife officials said.

One of Munson's daughters, Melanie Allum-Milne, told The Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction that her mother loved animals and was starting to get dementia.

Baskfield said wildlife lovers may believe they are helping bears by feeding them, but the opposite is true.

Feeding bears can teach them to look for food around humans, he said.

It increases the risk that bears could confront humans, enter homes or be killed by cars as they look for food.

"They are no longer wild animals at that point. They're no longer behaving the way they should," Baskfield said.

Feeding bears is punishable with a $100 fine for a first offense or a $1,000 fine for a third offense.

Baskfield said it's unclear
if that would have deterred Munson.
 

SAMI

Formerly Beardy McGee
Location
SLC, UT
Also Strangecowboy my uncle shot one in self defense in fear for his life after being taunted and cornered by the same bear for 2 days and put it down with a bow. The forest service still prosecuted him and fined him for saving his boy and his life so saying that 3 out of 7 are being prosecuted isn't saying much.

I was bored at the in-laws on Sunday and found a story in the newest Reader's Digest about a story that sounds identical... Same father & son? Hunting elk, son got mauled, father put a single arrow into the bear killing it, they rode out on horseback and lived to tell about it.

Good story... :handlebars:
 

lewis

Fight Till You Die
Location
Hairyman
I was bored at the in-laws on Sunday and found a story in the newest Reader's Digest about a story that sounds identical... Same father & son? Hunting elk, son got mauled, father put a single arrow into the bear killing it, they rode out on horseback and lived to tell about it.

Good story... :handlebars:

Your a readers digest reader? I never knew! Not the same story but pretty similar.
 

mesha

By endurance we conquer
Location
A.F.
Backpacking in bear country so I want to keep things pretty light so I have already ruled out a long gun. But what handgun would you rather have with you in the event of a bear?

A) .357 revolver

B) .40 auto ( with a couple of 16 round magazines)


The revolver was my first choice becuase I like shooting it so much and concider it my "camping gun", plus it has more power. But the idea of a fast 17 shots then one quick grab for another 16 sounds like a better chance of not getting mauled.

What would you pick?

I have never shot a bear I don't plan on it (now no one will think I am a crazy bear murderer). I would take a .357 IF it was light enough if it weighs 65 pounds then I would stick with the .40 I would stagger the bullets with HP and FMJ though.

I have done a few weeks of camping/backpacking in alaska and there is a saying there that you can tell bear scat because it has little bells and smells like pepper spray. I am sure that the testers of bear spray have used it, but I haven't personally seen it work. All of the people in AK packed 44 mags or 454 casulls. That being said we have different bears here I don't think that much fire power is needed. I think( no expert) that the noise of a gun will be as helpful as the bullet. Many of the charges bears make are false charges so it makes it hard to know. Pepper spray will probably work and if it was a false charge you wouldn't need to feel as bad by spraying. You still have to be a good airm with the spray if it isn't a good hit then you fail to stop the animal. It is easier to adjust though because you can see were the stream is and adjust in the middle of a spray. I have seen a lot of bears in the wild while backpacking (AK mostly) and they are beautiful and scary at the same time I hope you get to see one.
Ultimately I think it is good that you are thinking about protecting your family in the wilderness. I personally wouldn't wait for a bear to start chewing on my kids before I stopped it.

I can hook you up on some spray if you want some.
 

DAA

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Got to see two black bears this week!

Was lucky enough to have a black bear come walking by me only 25 yards away a few days ago. I was sitting watching a game trail hoping to stick a buck with an arrow. Bear didn't even know I was there. Got to watch him for about a minute, then the breeze shifted. His nose came up, smelled me, and he took off.

Saw another one while riding my ATV the next evening. He was already running away when I saw him though. That one was only 600 yards from my tent. But the way he was running from the sound of an ATV, I wasn't concerned about him showing up in camp. My Wife, on the other hand, she was waking me up every time a tree branch moved in the wind for the next two nights, LOL!

- DAA
 

ZUKEYPR

Registered User
Grew up backing in big black bear country, Pepper Spray, string your food up, never eat inside your sleeping quarters, and if you can backpack with a dog. I have personally come on about half a dozen bears in my days, one as close as 10 yards away as soon as the bears got scent of the dogs they were tearing up the ground trying to get the heck out of there. Bears are scared to death of dogs and will run until cornered, then at that point the dog loses. Contrary to believe bears are attracted to noise and there has been much published about that fact recently changing the old myth of making as much noise as possible. Same goes for having vibrate tent colors that myth as well has been reversed.
 

ZUKEYPR

Registered User
Next time you're at the range place a target out 60 meters. Run in place for about 5 minutes, drop and do some push ups, run in place again, and drop and do some more push ups. Now immediately falling that sequence of events try to draw your weapon of choice and hit that target even once in 3.2 seconds. Why, because your heart rate is going to spike just like that when you see a bear and if you are lucky he weill be at least that distance which by the way they can cover that ground in 3.2 seconds. Chances are you are not going to hit him until he is much closer and most likely only going to piss it off. Bear spray is the only way to go
 
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