Another bear protection question

No one recomemded the bear bangers that you can shoot out of your 12 gauge. They make a lot of noise (lol Calum....lol), they should be the first thing you shoot at a bear...then followed up by slugs/what ever floats your boat.

A guy told me once that a grizzly only gets one chance.
 
Yup, you shoot the banger at the bear, the banger explodes on the far side of the bear, the startled bear runs towards you, you pump a slug into your trusty 12 gauge, and at the moment of truth you fire only to have the gun come apart in you hands because a previous cracker left a partial blockage in the barrel. But that's OK, the exploding shotgun will scare away the bear.

Cracker shells used in conjunction with live ammo in the primary firearm is a bad idea.
 
Boomer said:
Yup, you shoot the banger at the bear, the banger explodes on the far side of the bear, the startled bear runs towards you, you pump a slug into your trusty 12 gauge, and at the moment of truth you fire only to have the gun come apart in you hands because a previous cracker left a partial blockage in the barrel. But that's OK, the exploding shotgun will scare away the bear.

Cracker shells used in conjunction with live ammo in the primary firearm is a bad idea.
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Boomer, you seem to be the peson to talk to about bear protection:rolleyes:. Now you cant tell me that buckshot wont help when a bear is within 20 feet of you. Since most CO and police have 00 buckshot loaded in their shotguns. Sure a slug would help, but at 20 feet you would need something that does a hell of a lot more damage then a single projectile.

Bears are smart, I dont think one would run towards danger if a bear banger exploded right beside it.

Boomer, what you recomend to scare a girzzly off? A bell or a whislte, NO you need something louder!
 
Slimbo said:
Your what, 17 years old? How much real life bear expirience do you have might I ask? From what i've read in boomers previous posts and seen him do on video with his 375 I would be much more inclined to take his words to heart than listen to a little "interweb" superstar like yourself.:slap:
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As far as I know your a "interweb" stupidstar.:slap:
 
Mosberg 590 tactical 12 ga. with first round double aught buck, this allows a face shot to disorient the bear, folowed up by slugs. You will only be shooting a grizz at close range for defence and this combo does the job. You need nerves of steel, pick a spot beforehand and if the bear passes it shoot.
Before that let the bear know you are there, talk to it, avoid eye contact and back out of the area.
When tagging grizz and polar bears one carries .44 magnums in shoulder holsters as your hands are full of sampling equipment(darts, tatoo for lips, collar tags, etc.
The few times bears turned have resulted in people being killed or the bear being killed-you need a lot of gun and situational awareness to deal with a mad grizz.- best approach is a very big gun or avoid the area. Even cougars and black bears are killing people in parks today so decide if you want to take the risk and then plan to deal with it. It is not a cjhild's game and requires a defensive mind set, familiarity with your firearm and knowledge of bear behaviour.
Try Steve Herrero's books on bear attacks and prepare yourself-it will happen when you least expect it, like most emergencies.
Good hiking!
 
I'm always amazed at some of the old guys on this boards willingness to not cut the young guys some slack, and then piss all over them. :rolleyes: (yes that's you Boomber and Slimbo).

For the record, I will be hunting with IC this year, as will 4 seasoned hunters, and what he is leaving out is whomever has the shotgun with a bear banger chambered will have other guys with 30-06's, Mosin, and a shotgun with slugs as his back-up.

Add to this IC is also a better shot them most seasoned adults I have met, and puts more time in at the range as well, so I'd be happy to have him watching my back while in grizz country.

BTW these shotguns are open choke, and issues with bear bangers leaving partial bits in the barrels in the past where with full or partial choke shotguns, but thanx for your concern.
 
Reading back over my post I did act pretty immaturely and hostile for no real reason at all. I apologize.
 
Bears are smart, I dont think one would run towards danger if a bear banger exploded right beside it.
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IC, I think that boomer was referring to when people fire their crack flares directly at the bear, it sometimes sails over the bear and lands behind them. This stampedes the bear in the launchers direction. A better practice is to launch the crack flare 30 degrees left or right of the bear. It's also important for everyone equipped with crack flares to fire some practice shots so that they will be familar with the trajectory of their flares (the same can be said for the need to practice with bear spray).

I prefer the centrefire pen launchers myself as they don't tie up your shotgun. Just make sure to replace your flares often as they become unreliable with age. When you fire them try to hold the launcher above your head and turn your face away from the launcher in case the plastic case fails.
 
lcpaintballer said:
Boomer, you seem to be the peson to talk to about bear protection:rolleyes:. Now you cant tell me that buckshot wont help when a bear is within 20 feet of you. Since most CO and police have 00 buckshot loaded in their shotguns. Sure a slug would help, but at 20 feet you would need something that does a hell of a lot more damage then a single projectile.

Bears are smart, I dont think one would run towards danger if a bear banger exploded right beside it.

Boomer, what you recomend to scare a girzzly off? A bell or a whislte, NO you need something louder!
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First lets talk about cracker shells, then we can look at buckshot. We shoot a lot of cracker shells here, hundreds per year, so I have a pretty good idea what to expect from them. I've also seen people underestimate the range of a 12 gauge cracker and have it explode beyond the bear, resulting in a bear running towards them.

Bears will run from the sound of a cracker shell unless is has been shot at so much that it is no longer an effective tool. I've dealt with bears so desensitized to the crackers that I've actually hit them with the cracker, but they only run off a few steps and stop. Once the bears are conditioned to this extent, alternating crackers with rubber bullets seems to do the trick .... most times. I had a sow with 2 cubs that moved to the base of a steep bank and nothing I could do would move her. I had to back off and let her leave in her own good time.

The consensus amongst several of us is that crackershells can occasionally cause partial barrel obstructions, especially if one detonates in the barrel. If you need to use slugs in that gun with a partially obstructed barrel the gun will be damaged. A much better idea is to carry a starter pistol to fire cracker shells, and keep the shotgun for use with slugs. There is a .38 caliber revolver available which I find is much easier to load than the little rimfire blanks, yet the gun is a similar size. We got ours at Margo Supply.

Lots of bears have been killed with buckshot, just like lots of bears have been killed with .22's - that doesn't make it a good idea. Buckshot doesn't penetrate, and without sufficient penetration you have a wounded bear. The idea has been around for years that a load of shot to the face will disorient the bear allowing you time to finish it off with a slug. Well that's just dumb! If the bear is posing a danger to you, you need to kill it. Seems to me a 12 gauge slug in the chest would be far more disorienting than a load of shot in the face. If the bear is very close, shot doesn't give you any margin or error for poor marksmanship, because if the shot column doesn't have time to open up, you must shoot as accurately as if you were shooting a rifle.

Shot does have it's place, and there are a couple of rounds of 00 in the sidesaddle of my 590. If I have to kill a bear on my steps in town, the range will be a matter of inches and the use of shot reduces the potential danger to other people. Under those or similar circumstances buckshot's lack of penetration is beneficial.
 
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geologist said:
IC, I think that boomer was referring to when people fire their crack flares directly at the bear, it sometimes sails over the bear and lands behind them. This stampedes the bear in the launchers direction. A better practice is to launch the crack flare 30 degrees left or right of the bear. It's also important for everyone equipped with crack flares to fire some practice shots so that they will be familar with the trajectory of their flares (the same can be said for the need to practice with bear spray).
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Well in that case.....:D

I prefer the centrefire pen launchers myself as they don't tie up your shotgun. Just make sure to replace your flares often as they become unreliable with age. When you fire them try to hold the launcher above your head and turn your face away from the launcher in case the plastic case fails.
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Yeah, we have them in our kit aswell. Cant have too much backups.
 
LC if you look at stats kept in Alaska by the COs youll notice that when people only wound a bear- odds are that the bear will kill them... so if your gonna actually shoot, you better make sure that youll kill it. As much as I like my shottie, I would think that in some cases even Brennekkes slugs would be marginal bear stoppers for large Grizzlies- a large .35 and up rifle would be preferable.

The whole idea of buckshot I think comes from some who think in a panic its easier to hit a target with shot... You still have to aim it even with shot.
 
The idea of buckshot as #1 shot is to confuse the bear's senses-same as when grizz hunting some recommended to break a shoulder first then follow up with a kill shot. Grizz are very fast and when mad will take a lot of lead and keep coming.They need to be stopped and then killed. A quick shot at a running grizz charging at 40Km. per hour will wound it and really make it mad!
If you anticipate grizz trouble carry the biggest gun you can handle.
 
When in bear country it's also good to know when a grizzly's in the area. This can sometimes be determined by examining bear scat you may find. Black Bear scat tends to contain more berry seeds and plant material depending on the time of year, where Grizzly scat may contain little bells and smell like pepper:p
 
This is a quote from the "Alaska shooting Forum."
From a forum member who calls himself: Alaska bush man;

The Rottweil Brenneke Slug 12 GA 1 1/8 OZ Mag in a Ithaca 37 Slug 20" Gun..........they kill polar bears with them.


That is what I carry in mine.....
Un-quote.

So this is interesting, considering Brennekes.
 
be2man said:
This can sometimes be determined by examining bear scat you may find. Black Bear scat tends to contain more berry seeds and plant material depending on the time of year, where Grizzly scat may contain little bells and smell like pepper:p
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rotflol good one
 
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