I think the Alaskan in .454 would be a good carry gun in bear country. The nice thing about big bore revolvers is that the reloader gets to pick the power level he needs or can tolerate. While the barrel is short the Super Redhawk's frame is pretty beefy, and that is what helps with the recoil, rather than barrel length. The shorter the barrel the lower the velocity, so the snubby Alaskan might recoil less than a 9" SRH. Loaded with 325 gr WFN cast bullets at 1200 fps, the gun would be quite effective.