huntinstuff said:MPI' s avatar is getting a lot of respect.....second only to Gatehouse
Merci...
huntinstuff said:MPI' s avatar is getting a lot of respect.....second only to Gatehouse
... denigrating ...
An interesting, uncommon, somewhat archaic Latin-based word (along with most of our language, of course) which I believe has racist origins or overtones - the original denigrare or denigrat meaning to blacken or defame - "de" plus "niger". I tend to stay away from these kinds of words as by todays standards they might be considered politically incorrect. It infers that to be of African descent is insulting. That's just my take on it...
Don't take it out of context, it wasn't a specific comment directed at anyone - it was an oppinion of a hypothetical situation involving a moron.Such denigrating language ....and from a Moderater no less...."someone with a brain"...."stupid"...."a grade a moron"....oh yes very classy .
mommabear said:Gatehouse said:I've never shot a bear with a flare gun, so I have zero opinion on it effectiveness.
However, I'll talk about the ethics of shooting an attacking bear with a flare gun.
Bottom line? When an animal (human or animal) decides that you are it's prey, there are NO ethics.
You fight with what you got.
If a bear attacked me, and I had a flare gun with me, I 'd shoot the bear with the flare in the hopes that it would dissuade the bear from further attacks upon me.
There is a (valid) argument that if a black bear attacks you, you shold fight back, to establish that you are NOT prey. Firing a flareinto it would certainly make that point.
While the first thing on my mind when hunting is to make a clean kill, to limit suffering of the animal, I could give a rats ass how an animal (or human) dies if it attacks me.
If I shot it with a flare, and it ran away, to die 3 days later I wouldn't lose a minutes sleep over it. All I am concerned about is that Mr BEar leaves me alone.
Have to agree with Gatehouse! 8)
Then a wise old man, said to me cap his ass with a flare gun!!!!. You know the ones, breach load, comes with 3 or 4 flares. It will go in and stick there for good, and the burn for about a minute or more. The bear will be trying to put it out or run like hell, you will be safe after that.
MPI said:groundskeeper willy said:I smell a flare gun bear defence thread coming on!
I wouldn't just dismiss the flare gun idea out of hand.
The point as I understood, was that if you are bow hunting or even hiking you can't always lug around a shotgun or rifle for protection.
You options are then pretty limited in Canada, as we don't have CCW.
And not too many people have $1200+ to dump on an antique Webley .455, and even carrying that CCW is still iffy as to legality so lets just forget that option.
Sure , pepper spray is about the best first line of defence for a bear.
But it doesn't always work.
Then what?
Allow yourself to be killed because you might wound the bear?
Thats the last thing to worry about, as well as forest fires.
Thats all secondary when you are within spitting distance of a bear.
Nobody is saying to HUNT with a flare gun or take unnecessary POTSHOTS, the gist I get is of last-ditch-your-gonna-die option.
A flare or two at a bear just might be enough, sometimes, to either scare it away or agitate it enough to run away. Or it might just get annoyed and eat faster, who knows? But at least its SOMETHING to help, after the pepper spray fails.
Its a shame, how many guys have a safe full of large bore handguns but are forced to tramp around unarmed by our laws.
Canadian Tire is about the easiest source of those orange flare guns that have a 2" 12 gauge chamber. They have a plastic body but steel chamber.
They run around $120 for the kit with a couple extra rounds.
The 37mm caliber seem difficult for the average Joe Blow to source ammo for, as well as 26.5mm family of commie steel frame flare guns that are available at gun shows for $50. The HK flare gun is the nicest, but pricey at over $400 IIRC.
So its probaly the Crappy Tire orange guns that most people will ever see.
I would imagine they would also be decent anti-rape and mugging tool for people in big provincial parks and other biking/hiking trails near or in cities.
Its real pathetic we are even discussing flares for protection, when suitable handguns are available but illegal to carry. Real sad.
How many people gonna be killed or maimed because they couldn't pack heat while in the bush?
Would those 2in 12ga orange guns take a special 12ga handload? Kaboom or no ? :roll:
legal? :roll: