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Posted on 06/10/2026 4:42:07 AM PDT by marktwain
Bear spray proponents claim bear spray can be deployed faster than handguns, rifles, or shotguns. This is not obvious or certain. The claim is simply made and assumed to be true.
It is not true.
This correspondent believed handguns to be the fastest method. An experienced trainer in Canada showed bear spray could be practically as fast as holstered handguns.
A reasonably fast response is to access and use a defense against bears system in under two seconds. Very fast is to effectively utilize the system in a fraction of a second.
Holstered bear spray and handguns can be about the same speed. Rifles and shotguns, with a chambered cartridge, held at the ready, are faster.
All four systems can meet both standards with a little training and practice if good carrying/ holstering systems are used. In practice, this is harder to do with long guns, because using both hands is nearly essential. Unless a person is dedicated as a guard, there are often times when at least one hand is occupied with other tasks. The temptation to set a long gun against a tree or wall, or inside a tent, or to sling it over the back is great. Bureaucracies may insist on carrying a long gun without a cartridge in the chamber. Handguns and bear spray overcome this by being compact and light enough to use a holster.
With about a half day’s practice and training,
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
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How effective is bear spray?
Asking a question because I don’t have any experience with it.
Does it have the same effect on a 250 pound black bear as it would on a 1200 to 1600 pound grizzly?
I would think the black bear would be more prone to back away from it… A grizzly or Kodiak probably not so much.
Rifle is faster?? Not unless you are carrying it port arms or something. Well placed bear spray can be fired directly from your hip, still in the holster. For speed alone, I’ll bet on well placed bear spray every time. But you can’t have it in your backpack. Most effective, I’m not sure. Under pressure from a charging bear, you’ve got to be pretty cool to be accurate with a firearm, less so with bear spray. I’ve heard the spray is 90% effective, I guess it just sucks for the other 10%.
Wind direction is sort of important with bear spray too...
How about a windy day? Any preference then?
Guns have a feature bear spray doesn’t even if you miss. The report is very loud to an animal with as sensitive an ear as a bear. Their ears hurt, which doesn’t make them want to come closer to the source of the loud sound.
Here’s the hilarious part of AI being Cliff’s Notes for the generally left-wing internet. It says bear spray is more effective than a firearm. Anything with a left-wing slant, AI will go with it.
Re Jimmy Buffet:
I think to a Kodiak, it would be “Buffet”… as in “all you can eat”…
Never go for a temporary solution when a permanent one is available.
Haven’t you posted this exact article 100 times already?
Bear aDVICE: squirt em in da eye, then choot em in da head- keep on chootin till they good and dead-
“Anything with a left-wing slant, AI will go with it.”
I use AI a lot and they do rely on Google and Wikipedia for their answers. So with that said there will be a negative slant, in particular anything political, such a guns.
Hey, Dean! Softball for you here:
Considering about 125 years of handgun use against bears, and about 30 years of bear spray use against bears, how many people have died after having used their preferred defense method?
Lotta comments here apparently made without reading to the end of the article. Where you will find that pulling the can of spray quickly may not be as important as surviving a bear attack or interdicting one. I live and hunt in a grizzly management area in a state where the wind blows a lot. Firearms do not care so much about wind. Turkey hunting last year included sightings of 7 grizzly bears, including one encounter where a sow with 2 cubs charged at the sound of a voice trying to let her know we were there and to shoo her away. She instantly charged at my brother’s voice. Three pistol shots fired in the air turned the charge before she closed with pistol range (and never mind spray can range). When we go out in the hours before dawn, I carry a 12 gauge shotgun at port arms, 00 buckshot in the chamber, finger on the safety. Also a 40 caliber Beretta in a thigh holster. In the earlier years, I carried bear spray on horseback on the elk hunt. In case of attack, I expected to be thrown (horses go nuts around bears, [after a black bear visited camp and was dispatched, the horses shied away from burnt stumps for days]) and would have to use spray. But. All day long I’d be telling myself: “Hope it doesn’t come from that direction.” Meaning crosswind or wind in my face, meaning that I would have to be so lucky as to have the bear come from 25% of the possible directions. I hated those odds. Thus the 40 cal. and thigh holster. If we ever meet up, just say the word and I’ll retrieve my bear spray from the gun safe and give it to you for the asking. SIDEBAR STORY: The latest death in Glacier Park reportedly included a note about an empty can of bear spray near the body. This, if true, is a horrible revelation for bear advocates and spray enthusiasts. On Facebook, my wife notes, some idiots, big fans of bears and bear spray, were touting the possibility that somebody else had littered the hiking trail at the exact spot of the fatality with the empty can—rather than accept that the victim’s bear spray failed him. Crazy talk. You don’t have to live in bear country or even carry bear spray or firearms to test yourself about acceptance of spray. Take a walk on a windy day. Ask yourself every few minutes, “If I were to be the target of a bear attack, from what direction would I need the bear to come from to be most effective with the spray?” It won’t take you long to realize that the very question, which reveals a pertinent bug, is also crazy talk.
Bears eat bear spray, and then the user.
Bears eat lead, then die.
A .454 Casul handgun is as powerful as a deer rifle, but with the recoil of a 12 gauge shotgun. The bullets will go through WWII halftrack armor.
A .357 chambered Colt Python is plenty adequate for the black bears we have here in New England.
A .454 Casul handgun is as powerful as a deer rifle, but with the recoil of a 12 gauge shotgun. The bullets will go through WWII halftrack armor.
The National Park Rangers are advising hikers in Rocky Mountain parks to be alert for bears and take extra precautions to avoid an encounter.
They advise park visitors to wear little bells on their clothes so they make noise when hiking. The bell noise allows bears to hear them coming from a distance and not be startled by a hiker accidentally sneaking up on them. This might cause a bear to charge.
Visitors should also carry a pepper spray can just in case a bear is encountered. Spraying the pepper into the air will irritate the bear's sensitive nose and it will run away.
It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for fresh bear scat so you have an idea if bears are in the area. People should be able to recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear scat.
Black bear droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur. Grizzly bear droppings tend to contain small bells and smell of pepper.
Re “… Black bear droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur. Grizzly bear droppings tend to contain small bells and smell of pepper.…”
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 ya had going there for a moment… well done. 🤣🤣🤣
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