Disinformation about handgun defensive use against bears

[Dug Silverman]

For perspective, ask a cop about how many angry dogs they’ve seen sprayed, and how many ran right through the pain to continue the attack. Spray is nowhere near as effective as the daisy pickers would have you believe. It doesn’t blind them, it doesn’t incapacitate them. It surprises them with discomfort, and here’s a little secret; the daisy pickers care a whole lot more about that dang bear than they do you. Here’s another secret; if you deploy bear spray, you better hope the wind is at your back. Side wind, you’ll probably not score a solid hit on your target, and very likely indirectly gas yourself and the bear, making things much worse. Any head wind, you’ll miss the bear completely, while drenching yourself. Also much worse. That makes bear spray usable 25% of the time, and I’m not taking wind readings with a grizzly bear charging me. My 10mm works the same in every imaginable weather situation.

I’ve met 3 people who have been mauled by grizzlies here in Idaho. None of them made the news, because very few actually do. People that don’t live, work, and recreate in grizzly country will never tell me how to protect myself against them. Nor will the department of fish and game, or department of wildlife services, since they have way less paperwork to do if I die than if the bear does. Bottom line: bear spray is a joke, and if you want a really good belly laugh, tell me to use it to protect myself and my family.