Should have armed themselves. Probably libs.
Here in WA State, Rangers I know tell me that black bears usually are scared off by yelling and hand/arm waving unless there’s a Momma bear nearby with cubs.
I asked why take a risk? Sling a shotgun over the shoulder and if necessary, just shoot in front of them to scare them off. That’s what I would do.
Then a hunter friend said that might be Ok but further up North into BC it wouldn’t always work even if the bullet hit them.
I said “Huh?”
He said he meant with Grizzlies (Canadian Brown Bears), shotguns don’t work. It just angers them and they still charge you, your life is over, nothing you can do.
I tried to argue saying but what about a kill shot with say a 30 Ought 6? He said with Grizzlies they will still kill you before they die if they die. They become adrenalized and they still charge you. They will kill you if it’s the last thing they do.
I asked, “what about flash grenades?”. He said “nope”.
Half joking, “What about flamethrowers?” Nope again.
He told me there was one way that was effective at getting a Grizzly to back off and leave you alone, that it had nothing to do with guns, any gun.
I asked him to tell me but he said he would after I watched a video back in town. He said I needed to believe guns would not work most every time. He said the bear might die but you would die first.
When we got back to town he texted me a link to this video and wrote that these guys were lucky:
https://youtu.be/d-SK1Aok57w?t=350
I watched the video and called him to say “Ok, so a gun no matter how big is not guaranteed to stop a Grizzly. What will?”
His answer, “UDAP Pepper Spray”.
When I go hunting/fishing in BC, I’m taking all the pepper spray I can hold. Of course, if I come face to face with a Grizzly standing 10-foot high at 700-lb, I will need nerves of steel to remain close enough to shoot a can of pepper spray in its direction. I’ll be saying my prayers at the same time.
I am told Cayenne pepper spray makes a grizzly bear confused, sneezing, snorting, retreating. The pepper spray is not sensed as an attack like a gunshot is so the bear won’t get aggressive, just confused and repulsed. It is said to work almost every time.