Study: Guns not best defense against angry bear

[arctictom]

OK I have always said active natural selection trumps, GFWs article here.

[308Mike]

Shooting a bear is NOTHING like trying to stop a car careening towards you at up to 35 MPH. Shooting a car coming at you with a .500 S&W Mag is not going to react the same way a bear would if shot by the same gun.

MORONS

[JAG2955]

Of course it's not. A slow, fat, tasty companion is.

[Jericho941]

Which is why I recommend Semtex.

[HTRN]

Remember, they're are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

They don't define "armed", which they may mean as "they'res a gun nearby". A guy with a 30 caliber+ magnum in his hands and able to get at least two shots off, is far more likely to stop the bear than a guy with a 357 revolver buried in backpack, but both may be "armed" for the purposes of the study.

[arctictom]

Having been there most of the people doing the studies have never had to defend them selves against an angry preditor , but I suggest that all anti gun folks should not carry firearms and thus step down in the food chain.

[Netpackrat]

[Erik]

I think the data in itself says a lot:

Smith's report, published online in the Journal of Wildlife Management and set to appear in print in July, found that when guns were fired, they were effective at dissuading or killing a bear about 80 percent of the time in the cases studied, but at a cost. In nearly half those encounters, the people using guns or their companions were injured or attacked anyway, with 12 percent left fatally mauled.

Researchers found people trying to use guns to defend themselves against an advancing bear often couldn't fire them effectively in an instant of panic - 27 percent had no time to fire, and 21 percent were hesitant to discharge their weapons.
<...>
"If anything, our findings raise a cautionary flag about what we should do for protection in bear country," Smith said. "If we know we're not experienced with a firearm, don't even go there. It's probably not going to be any help at all. A charging animal is like a small car running at you. The odds are not good."

So if you fire a gun, you have an 80% chance of stopping the bear. That's not bad odds, considering the alternative. The fact that you may be messed up in the process doesn't recognize the fact that if you hadn't fired the gun, you'd most likely be even worse off. And if you count in the other data that a lot of the times people didn't use guns effectively, the odds are even better if you do know how to use it. Reading this I'd rather have a gun and have the option to use it if I have to.

And I think he has a point about not carrying a gun if you don't know how to use it. It's better to just stay away in that case.
I recall a story I read years ago, about two Scandinavians going to Alaska to fish in bear country. They were told they had to carry a revolver if they were going to be there, and at first they objected. They had never even held a handgun, and said they wouldn't be able to hit anything anyway. They were then told that if they ever had to use it, the bear would be so close they wouldn't be able to miss...
No idea how true the story was, but it made a good story in the magazine.

[randy]

the people using guns or their companions were injured or attacked anyway, with 12 percent left fatally mauled.

Which goes to HTRN's point of how they defined "armed". Me having an appropriate firearm at the ready doesn't do much if the first warning we have is when my partner several yards away is jumped. Partner is already being "attacked anyway" and will probably suffer injuries before I can shoot the bear off of him. (or piss it off an have it start chasing me instead )

[Rumpshot]

Doesn't take a large caliber gun for bear defense. From an email I got yesterday.

On Bud's Gun Shop Forums the question came up: What is the smallest caliber you trust to protect yourself?

A 22 short should do it.... Think not?...read on.

The best answer:

My personal favorite defense gun has always been a Beretta Jetfire in 22 short. Over all the years I've been hiking I never leave without it in my pocket. Of course we all know too the first rule when hiking in the wilderness is to use the "Buddy System." For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this it means you NEVER hike alone. You bring a friend or companion, even an in-law, that way if something happens there is someone to go get help.



I remember one time hiking with my brother-in-law in northern Alberta. Out of nowhere came this huge brown bear and man was she mad. We must have been near one of her cubs. Anyway, if I had not had my little Jetfire I'd sure not be here today. Just one shot to my brother-in-law's knee cap and I was able to escape by just walking at a brisk pace.