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Posted on 05/22/2026 6:25:55 AM PDT by marktwain
The recent fatal bear attack where 33-Year-Old Anthony Pollio was killed by a bear, about May 3, 2026, on the Mount Brown trail in Glacier National Park, is not the first bear attack on the trail. Some online sources are saying an empty can of bear spray was found at the attack site.
If so, the attack is another case where bear spray was used in defense against a bear, and people died.
There have been at least nine deaths associated with the use of bear spray in defense against a bear. There have not been any recorded deaths when a handgun has been fired in defense against a bear in North America. One person was killed in the Svalbard Islands, attempting to defend against a polar bear attack with a .22 pistol in 1995.
The last fatal bear attack in Glacier National Park occurred on May 18, 1998. 26-Year-Old Craig Dahl was killed by a human-habituated bear in a predatory attack. The park had experienced 8 non-fatal attacks on people in the park in the previous three years. Between the 1998 fatal attack and 2010, there were six more attacks. At least six bears were killed that had some connection to the attacks. Only one more attack was recorded in Glacier before 2014.
In 2014, Brian Murphy was attacked by a grizzly bear on the Mount Brown Trail in Glacier National Park. This correspondent wrote about it in October of 2014. The facts of the case are simple.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
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Mama and baby, Mt. Brown trail, 1980.
Whale Creek trail Flathead on the West Side.
Going to the Sun Road.
Kintla, North shore trail, twice.
The last dirt road before the border, westbound. Three Griz at one time that day, surrounding the car.
Would be nice to be able to practice that across the border into Mordor (cali). I hate having to disarm when I do have to go there.
Your inability to distinguish between poaching and self defense is childish.
Bear spray.....like Tabasco sauce for the bears?
There's also a reliability factor involved. As with the double rifles used for dangerous game in Africa, the mechanical simplicity of a double-barrel makes it superior to anything that must feed shells or cartridges from a magazine. Plus, having two complete barrels and firing mechanisms is a comforting redundancy... especially when you get into areas where there's competition at the top of the food chain.
Hopefully you appreciate that place - has to be one of the most beautiful areas on the planet.
I’m not against protecting self and loved ones. However, there has to be at least a few places where natural actions and reactions by wildlife aren’t punished with instant death.
If people cannot abide by that, they should stay away from the protected areas set up for protecting and PRESERVING them.
This isn’t “anti-gun”, “anti-self protection” or “anti-hunting” - it’s just basic conservation and appreciation.
You might be able to kill a large Brown or Polar bear with a .22 - if the bear was chained down, you were allowed to reload several times, and you put the gun to the back of the bear's head.
In the wilderness? forget it.
You seem to have an inability to understand that “self defense” argument runs a bit thin when you’re actively putting yourself into potential harm.
You go to play in the bears backyard - you have to accept that the bears might not (on a very rare occasion) be hospitable and let you be.
Poaching is unauthorized hunting - see, I do understand the concept. Problem is, bears being protected in small out-of-the-way areas being killed “in self defense”, are still dead bears, reducing a population that is already much reduced by all the past “people making their own choices” and “exercising their freedoms”.
Not to knock you, but do people actually consider themselves some kind of demi-gods, holding such arrogance that they feel entitled to walk among the great predators anywhere they wish without risk?
That’s the same sort of thinking as foreign tourists running up to bison trying to get a selfie.
I’ve been six times so far.
I get way out back.
I’ve been rushed by black bear in WA.
I’m taking reasonable self defense precautions.
Chillax.
Black bears.
The effectiveness between rifles, shotguns, and handguns.
Is a lot of the times situational.
Shooting a bear in a hunting situation at 300 yards with a rifle makes most handguns and shotguns impractical.
Shooting a bear over a bait at 30 yards. With a rifle, shotgun with slugs or a powerful handgun. Not much difference.
Shooting a bear at close range under ten yards not much difference in a rifle and shotgun both have to be aimed to make the shot count.
In these A prefer a powerful rifle. I have found that buckshot when the spread opens up to more the fist, size can lack the penetration needed.
With handguns having shot several wounded bears at inches a bullet through the brain ends the fight right now.
Shot placement, bullet type and caliber all comes into play.
A proper bullet placed in the proper spot well stop any bear.
Previously wounded bears, act and respond differently than non-wounded bears
Relating hunting to purely self-defense shootings do not tell the whole story.
Two different dynamics.
But a properly placed bullet tends to sort the matter out.
One you are trying to kill the bear, The other your, trying to stop the bear from hurting you.
Death my result but it is not your primary goal.
I can hear it already black bears not grizzly or polar bears.
Having shot hundreds of head of big game. a properly placed bullet does the job.
Thanks, appreciate the post.
Frankly, I’d be more disturbed by scared people with hand-cannons on back country trails. Bears are more predictable.
Chillax yourself - enjoy carrying that boutique hand weight.
Lots of large brown and polar bears have been killed with the .22 rimfire.
Most are killed with a single shot to the head. I have not documented polar bears killed with a .22, but there are many stories of Inuit doing so.
Quite a few big bears have been killed with .22 shots to the body, but it takes time to take effect. There is even a case of a black bear sow killed inside a city limits with a .177 air rifle shot to the body. It perforated a rib and the lungs.
The problem with using a .22 rimfire is the shot placement has to be precise. The target areas for a central nervous system shut down are fairly small. Bella Twin knew exactly where to aim. She took down a world record grizzly bear with a single shot .22 in 1953.
If facing a bear in defense, I would rather have a 12 gauge with slugs than a .22 handgun. But a .22 handgun you can shoot well is not to be despised. It has much better potential than a knife. The noise alone has worked for warning shots.
https://www.ammoland.com/2026/02/colorado-black-bear-killed-with-pellet-gun-in-2024/
Empty Bear Spray,
Dead Hiker...
Not a Delightful Day.
Bella Twin -Patron Saint and
Local Hero KANAWA (SP)?
“Because if people made their own choices about everything, “
He wasn’t referring to ‘eveything’.
We don’t even go out in the N GA woods without a firearm. Its just common sense cause wildlife gonna be wildlife. 😆
Saw multiple bears when I was at Glacier.
Dude the Sierra Club has co-opted your brain. 😆
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