[vetsvette]

“without a shotgun and ammunition”

Tackling a polar bear with a shotgun is a good way to commit suicide. You might get very lucky, but the odds are badly against it.

[WesternCulture]

“Tackling a polar bear with a shotgun is a good way to commit suicide. You might get very lucky, but the odds are badly against it.”

- Somehow, the inhabitants of Svalbard seem to survive year after year.

Bearnip/-mints?

[Oberon]

Tackling a polar bear with a shotgun is a good way to commit suicide. You might get very lucky, but the odds are badly against it.

A 12-gauge slug at close range is as effective a combination as you can expect schoolchildren to master, I would think. While a square-bridge Mauser in .505 Gibbs may be better on paper, familiarizing your ninth-grader on it is problematic.

[NTW64]

10 gauge may do it.

[El Gato]

Tackling a polar bear with a shotgun is a good way to commit suicide

I suspect slugs will even take out a polar bear. Close enough and it doesn't matter what what the load is. It's gonna make a big hole.

It's not like the kids are going looking for bears, and shotguns are cheap, and much better than no gun at all. Plus the kids probably travel in groups, more shotguns.

[El Gato]

Not sure this is a shotgun, looks more like a bolt action rifle in a heavy caliber. Could be a bolt action "slug" shotgun I suppose, the photo just isn't good enough to be certain.