In the cases where I have knowledge of bear attacks, the individuals had no time to deploy spray (REALLY useful against an enraged, charging bear!) or draw a pistol. With others present, dogs, etc., it's a melee of snarling fury, fangs and claws.
Hunters with high powered rifles have died trying to defend themselves and companions from bear attacks. If you go out there, it's part of the risk. Can't deal with it? - stay the hell out of the bush! Or wear bells so trackers can find the bear that ate you.
There are many cases where there was simply no time to react to the initial attack. There are also many cases where there was time, and if the victim or the victim's companion had a firearm, the death could have been prevented. Consider, for example, the case of the woman who was killed by a Black Bear up near Chapleau a few years ago, not far from where I had taken my wife and kids on a camping/canoeing trip on crown land. Her husband had plenty of time to get out his little knife and start hacking and stabbing. Eventually, he was able to drive off the bear, but only after his wife was dead and he was severely wounded.
My point is that because in many of the cases there is no time to react, we don't therefore throw up our hands and forget about carrying some form of defense for the other times when there is time to react.
Having said that, there will still be a significant percentage of people who simply become immobilized with fright, but there are others that won't. I spent many hours in my teen years in the chute and in confined pens with 1,000 pound, half wild cattle that hadn't seen a human since last spring, and I learned something about big animals ...... focus on the head and forget about the rest of the animal. It is all about the head. Do not get distracted by a thousand pounds of bone and muscle charging toward you, it's all about the head. I know how I will react when a thousand pound animal is trampling my partner with bones a-splintering, because I've been there and stopped it. The rest of the world ceases to exist, time stops and everything becomes extremely simplified. Take the head and the rest of the animal is irrelevant.
So maybe 50% of the time you may not have a chance to react, but for the times that you do, focus on the head, draw your 44 Russian or 45 Schofield, smash the muzzle into the bear's head as you pull the trigger and see if a 250 grain bullet at 800 fps will hurt the head in time to save your life, or the life of your wife or child. I have spent literally thousands of hours in the bush and have had several unpleasant encounters with Black Bears in the wild and in every case I had time to either grab my knife or #### my rifle and point it in the bear's face, even if the bear's face was, in one case, at a range of only 2 feet by the time I got the rifle up and the hammer pulled back.
For most of us who head into the remote wilderness only once or twice a year, proving I get a source of income or livelihood from placer mining, prospecting or cruising timber is not going to happen. So as a man responsible for the safety of myself and the people with me, I do what I legally can to provide the best security of the person I can.
One other observation I have made in these discussions. Some fellows think that you cannot do activity X until the law explicitly says you can do activity X. That is not how the law works. To get charged, you have to break a law. You cannot be charged for breaking a non-existent law, nor can there be a test case for carrying a non-firearm (according to the law) in the wilderness, but you can get charged if the officer
thinks you are breaking the law, even though the charge will be immediately dropped when it becomes evident no law is being broken. So here is the solution as I see it ....
1. Have a copy of the part of the law relative to antique guns
2. Have a copy of the part of the law that states that antique guns are not a firearm.
3. Have a copy of your RCMP letter or another antique letter.
4. Know that an antique non-firearm becomes a firearm if it is concealed, so don't conceal your antique non-firearm.
5. Do not pack your antique in a location where others may see you and become alarmed. You are not concealing it, you are being discreet for the purpose of not alarming anyone. Those are two different things. I generally keep mine locked in its case until I'm sufficiently deep into the wilderness.
6. If you happen to encounter an officer of the law in the wilderness, calmly and politely inform him/her that you have the proper papers for your antique. Don't try to explain anything at that very moment, just inform him/her that you have the papers on your person. If you have an arrogant, in your face attitude, you will make things more difficult for yourself.
7. He/she will ask to see the papers.
8. You produce the papers mentioned in (1), (2) and (3).
9. Having produced the above, the officer will have no legitimate grounds to charge you or interfere with your activities unless you are doing something else that is illegal. The officer may ask a few questions to clarify things. Answer the questions politely and clearly, but don't blather on at the mouth.
10. In the worst cast scenario where the officer decides to ignore what the law states and insists on charging you for what I do not know, in spite of the fact that you have produced the appropriate sections of the law and the proof of the antique's status, it is the officer who will have a problem. In that case, I would drop by the crown attorney's office and, in my experience in another matter, they will recommend to the officer that the charge be immediately dropped and he/she will drop it because he/she will know that such a recommendation means that the charge will not stand. I would do something else, however. I would file a formal complaint with Police Services against that officer who falsely charged you even after you had produced the proper papers and sections of the law. There will be an investigation against that officer.
If I were to sum everything up in a sentence, I would say enjoy your antiques in a safe and responsible way, while exercising discretion so as not to alarm the uninformed or cause a problem for yourself that could easily have been avoided. Apart from historical re-enactments, if a fellow insists on swaggering downtown with his Brown Bess or his flintlock pistol, then he is a fool who should immediately get rid of his antiques and find something safer to do, like stamp collecting or something. He may also wish to book an appointment with a psychologist.