It's fine to discharge firearms... it's an area where many people recreationally shoot in the gravel pits left over from road building. It's also an open public hunting area, and the only issue people might occasionally have with Game Dept if they are walking through the woods with a gun, is whether it's simply defense or if they are hunting out of season ;~D You can usually tell the difference. Since no one actually hunts bear with handguns, there'd be few questions asked.
However, I am not sure you ever want to fire a warning shot at a momma bear, or any bear for that matter. If they are feeling aggressive, better to leave like we did, before she got worried about us, and better to shoot to kill than to agitate. I know Tiff's husband who got a bear last year said the bear came right at him after his first shot, and luckily dropped on the second one.
They just had a spring hunt up here, bears do a lot of damage to trees, debarking them, and will kill whole stands of trees. They usually don't do spring hunts because of the cubs, it was a special circumstance because there are so many bears up there. This one didn't seem like she'd been pursued or shot at this year, she was pretty casual.
I don't know if it's a sign of the times or not, that we saw her and that she behaved this way. Several years ago now, against the recommendation of Game Dept and knowledgeable woodsmen, some do-gooders convinced the people through ~voter initiative~ that use of hounds and bait for hunting bear and cougar was cruel, and achieved a ban on the use of bait or hounds to hunt cougar and bear. They are very very hard to get without bait or hounds, being shy creatures most of the time, especially when they have a lot of esperience with being pursued. Hound hunters kept them very wary of us. Now they may be getting bolder.
Glad your gun's gonna work for the shoot.
I remember reading about that. People do not understand the situation, with hunting and why it is done.
Yes, you are right, it was just better to leave the area, not knowing what the momma bear was going to do.