Backup pistol for spring bear or not?

[Atlantis]

I'm going out to look for a spring bear pretty soon, first year I'll be doing it Trad. I'm pretty comfortable around back bears, been within 50 yards of half a dozen last year, none were over 200 pounds though...

My question is, if I'm hunting alone, is it wise to bring a backup pistol? I really don't want to, but I've got two young kids and have these visions of sticking one uphill in the dark timber and having it charge back down right into me...

I'd bring one for sure if I was in Griz country, but we very infrequently get one passing through here...

[Albertakid]

Atlantis,

I grew up around and have seen quite a few grizzly bears I would advise carring back-up for sure I always carry a .40 s&w and figure better safe than sorry, some may scoff at this as a step away from archery, but I ain't taking any chances have seen what bears can do and figure I can always save the last round for myself if it really gets bad!!!LOL

I like to carry a pistol even during regular season for elk as I have more than one friend that has lost part of an elk to a bear and you feel a little better about shoeing one off when you are packing iron atleast I do.

Jordan

[OZ in MT]

A real hungry, springtime blackie can do some serious damage fast coming down on you. Sure, it's rare, but it happens with less provocation than 28" of steel- tipped arrow. Just look at the history of blackie attacks in Banff over the last 6 years. I carry a .41mag and wouldn't leave home without it! You're thinking is right on, Atlantis; don't risk the future of those youngsters! :2cents:

[Larry Hatfield]

it's pretty hard to shoot a bear with a pistol head on and drop it. if your pistol packs enough punch you can stun one with a head shot but penetration is pretty difficult because of the way the skull is shaped.
wild black bear are'nt usually much of a threat. the ones you could walk up to can and will hurt you. an arrow kills a black bear pretty quick if you make a decent shot. they fly through a bear so fast sometimes you think you missed.
grizzly are a whole different subject and thats a bear i have no experience with.
if i was afraid of an attack, i would carry a rifle or shotgun instead of a pistol. most people can shoot either one of those guns more accurately under pressure than with a pistol or revolver, and you have a way better chance at diverting or stopping a bear with one of those.

[the other DWS]

There is an old joke about taking a pistol to a bear fight, something about filing the front sight off and coating it with vasaline. Usually applied to the big brown ones though an angry blackie can kill you just as dead.

That said, a good heavy bore pistol is better than nothing. Beats the little dinner-call bear bells hands down. Especially if you have your kids with you. A short semiauto 12g with slugs or heavy sabots would be better but hard to carry that and a bow too

I sort of favor big heavy hard cast bullets with sharp fairly square noses. They are supposed to dig in a bit more than rounded ogive bullets. My non-city carry choice is a sawed off 4" Redhawk .44M (still has its front sight too--I've never been in serious bear country) I use heavy loads w/300gr cast and Speer flatnosed 270 gold dots for softer game. usually have a speedloader of each in a belt pouch. I practice nothing but double action with it. If I ever need it I want ALL of it ASAP.

[K31Scout]

I carry a Super Redhawk .44mag with .300gr Hornadys when I mushroom pick in the spring. A sow with cubs could be nasty. I have some Fred Bear videos and he carried a side arm on most of his grizzly hunts, so...that makes it traditional. :)

[Tofu hunter]

I carry a 45 acp but I'm not sure if that is just to make me feel better more than anything. From what I have read 44 mag is min but I figure at least I will make it leak a lot befor it turns me into bear burgers :luck:

[Seven Arrows]

Atlantis

I'm getting ready for spring bear too. Starts here this coming weekend.

Most blackies are a fairly timid lot. Every sow with cubs that I've run into has run away leaving the cubs to catch up as best they could...lol!

I've spent most of my life working and hunting in the woods. I've never met a black bear that didn't run away as soon as it realized I was there.

My opinion is, wild black bears, even wounded ones, aren't apt to present a problem, they're only interested in getting away. Bears that are used to coming into bait or raiding garbage cans may be a different matter, although I've never heard of anybody being eaten by a garbage bear.

During elk season they come into cow calls. When they find out you're not an elk they move off unless you have a bear tag and stick 'em!

Last year a friend surprised one in his garage where he keeps his trash cans. The bear took out the window on his way out.

We are the second black bear producing state in the lower 48.

I usually pack a .357 S&W revolver with a 6" barrel, just in case I have to finish off a wounded bear. I've only had to do it one time. I can hit out to 125 yards with the S&W.

Once I went down into a canyon after a sow that my buddy had shot the night before and we thought was dead so we just took the pack boards and skinning knives. She'd crawled into a hole and was still very much alive. Pulled her out by the hind leg and gingerly stuck her in the ribs with a knife. All she tried to do was get away, poor bear. What a bummer that was.

If you decide to pack a gun, take one that you can hit with. Black bears are easy to kill. Plenty have been put down with .22 caliber.

Have fun. I love spring bear hunting.

[Jaeger]

Packing a pistol is never a bad idea! Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
Make sure you are proficient with the gun and can carry it comfortably. A good .357, .44 or .45 should be adaquate. A hardcast bullet with a wide metplat and sharp shoulders will give you good penetration. A heavy (270gr +) bullet in a .44 or .45 at moderate velocity (900 to 1000 fps) will give you all the penetration you need, be pleasant to shoot and shouldn't destroy your hearing from the muzzle blast.

[Bob Gordon]

I most always hunt alone and here in Idaho we do have some toothy critters than can hurt you so I ALWAYS carry a .44 mag with the nastiest hand loads I dare put together. I don't worry to much about the black bears but a few years ago I was looking for one I hit close to dark and was on my hands and knees with the .44 and a flashlight, bow was left on the four wheeler. The biggest problem here is moose and cougars. Use a cow call here in elk country is just ringing the dinner bell for a cougar. I know many archers who shot or had a cat come in to 20 feet or so and have a stare down with it, yelling and throwing things at it doesn't always work, a .44 Magnum does. A couple years ago I arrow shot a cow moose in the fall in the middle of the rut, her boyfriend was not happy with me at all and during the five hours it took to cut up and get the pieces out the bull never got over 80 yds from me and was always making those awful pi$$ed off moose noises, I was expecting to get charged at any time. Cow moose in the spring and summer also can be pretty nasty if they have a calf with them, you just don't want to get to close to one. Also in my neck of the woods we have more than a few "gardens" planted in remote spots in the woods by less than social types. I have come across a couple of them while hunting in Sept. and get the heck away from them pretty fast so not all dangerous encounters in the Idaho woods are from four legged critters. Better safe than sorry and I can shoot a handgun a lot better than a bow if need be...warf

[Albertakid]

I don't like to carry a pistol cause of the added weight, but I look at it kinda like the 100' of rope I usually carry and that is my fat but can carry it cause I might need it. True a shotgun would be best for bear protection, but I am not going to go that far I just carry the pistol to give me a little better odds and like Bob said there are a lot of other critters that come to mind that make it a good idea as well.

I never worried about much of anything two legged or four till i had a kid and now I seem to think about things like that a little more than I used too!!!LOL

Bob I used to run into a few of those two legged critters in North West Montana kinda spooky critters!!!!

Jordan

[Larry Hatfield]

yeah bob, i'm way more wary of cougars and people than any black bear i have ever came across. i did bear control for weyerhauser and simpson for years and have cornered and killed bears in about every situation you can think of. never got bit once.
i've been threatened by cougars just twice. both were recent and both could have turned out bad.
i hunt up towards the canadian border sometimes with a colville indian friend and there are areas that nobody goes into because of the dopers.
wish they would open a season on them.
in washington if you are hunting during an archery season you can't carry any sort of firearm. you can if you are hunting with a bow during general season though.

[Bob Gordon]

Larry...Here in Idaho you can carry a firearm during archery season as other seasons are open as well. We have way to many cats in the back country and they are pretty good elk eaters. I know several bow hunters who have head shot a big cat with a pistol or arrow and less than ten yds, sometimes they just won't go away and keep following you, sure makes you watch your back . I sure wouldn't use a varmint call in cat or wolf country! I have had two cats put the sneak on me but never got a shot, sorta makes you want to go hunt another ridge when that happens gun or not. Most of the solo bow hunters I know pack a gun in elk country, the extra weight sucks but it could be pretty good insurance if it got down and dirty. And then there is the dope growers you might run into....warf

[the other DWS]

Here in MI, the 2 legged varmints and feral dog packs are the biggest issues. fortunately MI is now a "shall issue" state and with a CCW permit you can carry, otherwise carrying a handgun or any type of firearm in the wrong season can cost you pretty big as well as losing hunting privileges for a long stretch.

[Heathen]

The Ruger Redhawk 480 with a 2 1/2" barrel would be a good choice. :D
As long as you don't have to shoot it.

Jim

[Chris Flinn]

I picked up two boxes each of 357 mag and 45 acp armor piercing ammo that I used in "bear" country. You can blow the heart and lungs out with a pistol and the bear dies after he burps from you being his last meal. A spinal or brain shot is really the only quick way to put a bear down, slim shot but effective. I read a book about man eating bears and always remembered the one that had 6 44 cal lead bullets lodged up against the brain cavity from being shot from up under the chin as it mauled and killed a trapper.

41 mag would be my other/best choice, especially if I could find some armor piercing.

[Atlantis]

Good story Chris!

Speaking of the two legged critters, we've got plenty of those up here...quite a few people living "off the grid."

I was only half joking when I told my wife the other day,"You know if the Unibomber had walked into Peoples (nearest market 40 min away) no one would have blinked an eye."

Bob, I wish we had more lions up here. Our numbers are way down and I'm pretty sure the wolves are to blame--

Found 4 fresh kills in the last two weeks within 1/2 mile of here. Closest was an old cow elk only 70 yards from a cabin. Hear 'em just about every night.

[Larry Hatfield]

i killed a couple of black bears that were killing dairy heifers up on the methow river once. the local sheriff said he had to go with me and do the killing. i tracked the first one down and chased it about 10 feet up a tree.
the sheriff shot it three times with a 30/30 under the jaw even after i asked him to not shoot him in the head. the bear fell out after the third shot a little stunned and i killed him with a .22 through the ear.
when i found the other bear he said for me to go ahead and kill it.
only one bullet fractured the sinus area. he was using hunting rounds and they mostly blew up and splattered things around in his mouth.
i had asked him to shoot right through the shoulders. that drops them and they stay down.

[Lane Puckett]

My problem here in Calif is bumping into the pot growers. I've run into three grows over the years all while I was hunting alone.

I'm convinced that the danger to my life is 100 times higher if I bump into a pot farm or meth cook than if I go after a wounded bear.

Having said that if you had the side arm then pack it. I still havn't broken down and bought one.

The other problem with bumping into the pot groves is it costs you an extra day to bring the law back into it. Most are so remote that they are tough to find and all my finds were before I carried a GPS device.

Lane