this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2024
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Bear spray is usually a better choice, on account of a whole lot of factors. At the very least you should bring both and issue a warning with bear spray.
Edit: how to use bear spray
Also, be aware that the weather is orders of magnitude more likely to kill you than a bear, and avoiding bear encounters is usually fairly easy to begin with. If you're carrying a gun but not a compass, your risk assessment is WAY off.
I carry bear spray in black bear country. Thankfully I don't live anywhere near grizzly bears (although they're talking about reintroducing them here). I thought I remembered reading somewhere that bear spray isn't very effective against grizzlies.
To be fair, neither is a single round fired center of mass unless it's like a 12.7×99 mm.
Are you familiar with the .45-70 round?
This is sound theoretical advice but I don't think most people consider the practical implications of it. Bear spray is only effective out to about 20 feet. A bear can run 30 mph. This means that in order to use that bear spray you need to be close enough for that bear to have its paws on you in less than two seconds. I'm not deluded enough to think I have the balls to stand my ground while a 1200 pound grizzly bear is charging me. I'm reaching for the gun before I reach for the spray which makes it largely useless in practice. I still carry it but it's not particularly reassuring when you put it in context.
The way bear spray works, you create a big cloud of spicy air in between you and the bear and the bear runs into that cloud. The bear very quickly decides to go do something else with it's life the second it gets a breath of that air. You don't wait until the bear is close enough to hit directly with with spray, you spray as soon as the bear starts charging or gets too close. It's manual or operations is very different from pepper spray for people.
Just like you should be well-trained when carrying your gun, you should have had the training on how to properly use bear spray. This concern you've voiced suggests you bought a can and assumed you knew how to use it.
Here's a fairly decent video to start with.
https://youtu.be/TZ5HJHZ8Mfw