From 20 feet a holstered handgun might not have helped much either. Pictures of wound at the link. Obviously defending the cubs, glad he's ok
Its much faster to draw a magnum from a holster than a can of bear spray. A superblackhawk has a natural hand grip, bear spray does not. You can practice and dry fire with snap cartridges all day, but you cant dry fire bear spray. You stick with the spray, I’ll stick with my Ruger. Im in the woods almost everyday in Northern Idaho. Im sure there are instances where there is absolutely no time to draw, but if someone is with you, they will.
Inferior weapons just piss the bear off...
“I hear ruffling in the brush and the aspen trees. I look over and see brown and assume it’s an elk but out of the trees run two big fat cubs – large grizzly yearlings,” Godar tells EastIdahoNews.com. “Then I look, and there’s mama bear staring at me from 20 feet away. I go, ‘Oh s***!’ and yell to warn Sherry.”
That should have been the signal to draw, right there. But, he doesn't do it.
“She paused for a split second 5 feet away from me and looked me straight in the eye,” Godar recalls. “I think she was trying to figure out the best way to attack.”
That would have been the perfect time to shoot and kill the bear, but he didn't have a gun. He could have sprayed it, but he hadn't drawn the bear spray, either.
They had tiny bells. Now they are going to upgrade to large cowbells.
Maybe after the next bear chews off his left arm he will upgrade to large caliber bells.