UL Bear Protection

Try the Baladeo 22g knife. It's beefier than the 15g and better suited for stopping a griz in its tracks.

The .357 is a little short in the whack department for something as big and angry as the bear would have to be for you to be wanting to shoot it.

id rather try to shoot the bear than have to stab it!
Although you could conceivably carry both and still come waaayyy under the weight of a full size .357….

If one was to carry a firearm to stop a bear (my neck of the world i mostly see Black Bears…no Grizz) what would one choose? I always thought .357's were big time stoppers…
i may get it for home security!!

The light materials mean more kick and a shorter lifespan for the gun (although you probably wont' shoot it enough to matter unless you're hardcore). With .38s its a much better home security gun that bear gun. With .38s it will buck but it won't be a problem. .357s wont' be fun to shoot at all but they wont't hurt you.
There is NO handgun that I would want to shoot a grizzly with. For black bear it would probably be fine but you're unlikely to need it. Bear spray weighs just a tad less but has less legal issues. Also easier for most people to use effecttively.

ture…smarts is the ultimate UL bear protection….
i carry pepper spray which according to this local mountain zoo bear people, will work just fine…
but danggit sometimes guns are just cool….

"i carry pepper spray which according to this local mountain zoo bear people, will work just fine…"

Just don't try to take use it Yosemite National Park.

–B.G.–

Well i dont plan on going there this year….its always so packed…
but whats the deal with yosemite? is it illegal to carry?
now i feel dumb

With a snub nose like that you'll also have to be pretty accurate with your shots, darn near impossible with having to draw and adrenaline pumping as several hundred pounds of angry muscle and teeth are barreling at you. Then you also have the issue that such a short barrel robs the magnum of achieving maximum potential (speed and force). So your bullet probably will hit with a fraction of the force and just anger the bear.

For a scientifically minded with only a hint of Ted Nugent leanings this paper should be illuminating:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/protection_field.htm

Nicholas, I have not checked on the current laws and rules. I _think_ that you are allowed to carry a firearm there, but not allowed to discharge it. The laws have been changing.

Bear spray is not allowed, period. All of this is just kind of unnecessary for black bears.

Instead, if you go to Yellowstone, if you don't have bear spray it is kind of silly.

–B.G.–

Hmm…didnt know all of that….i guess a big, heavily populated park like Yosemite doesnt need drunk people camping and discharging firearms or pepper spray at every bear they see instead of using the bear bins and proper bear safety…
interesting to see…i started this thread for funsies….and now i have learned a thing or two!!! Sweet!!!

Nicholas, National Parks are treated like any other public place, not like national forests or blm land. Pretty much, the rules on carrying a firearm in a national park are going to be pretty much the same as carrying on main street (unless the state has instituted national park specific rules).
If you are in a state where open carry of a loaded pistol is legal, you shouldn't have an issue.
But if the state doesn't allow open carry, you might have to conceal, which might mean a permit, and if you can get a concealed carry permit in your state it might not be honored in other states.
Discharging is definitley not legal.

You used to be able to open carry an unloaded firearm in California, that is no longer legal. So you can't open carry in Yosemite. You can conceal carry IF you have a concealed carry permit but good lucky getting that in California unless you live in some rural, semi conservative county.

Not trying to start a big discussion here, just trying to clarify! Hopefully I didn't say anything that was false.

Yeah, this topic comes up every few months. And then it runs 20 or 30 pages of people arguing or worse.

So here is the answer…

Search the threads. Black bears are not a problem, and require neither spray or guns. For Grizzlies, see what our experienced members who live and hike in Montana or Alaska do. The answers might be surprising.

More black bear than grizzly attacks up north. Broad statements about black bears
are inaccurate.

David,

Perhaps you are right. But what is the causation? Bad bears or people doing stupid things?

A com'mon. Just a few more pages? I find the rules governing this stuff amusing and
irritating.

"You used to be able to open carry an unloaded firearm in California, that is no longer legal. So you can't open carry in Yosemite."

IANAL—

Here is a WIKI on Firearms laws in CA and USA

http://wiki.calgunsfoundation.org/index.php/Main_Page

For the moment, I believe you can still carry a non-concealable (otherwise known as a
long gun) unloaded in CA. Hence non-restricted areas (staying 1000 ft from schools,
staying off of post office property etc) you may still carry a CA legal rifle or shotgun unloaded. If you don't want to attract attention, you can put it in a guitar
case or some such since it is considered not a concealable weapon.

And if you are on your way to a hunting or fishing spot (and not in restricted areas)
you can carry concealed and loaded without a License to Carry.

Lots of difficult laws to negotiate in CA tho.

A pepper spray canister over 2.5 oz, a golf club, or a concealed fixed blade knife can get you a FELONY if carried in incorporated or sensitive areas in CA. I'll bet Yosemite
Valley is one of those.

A concealed handgun however, is just a misdemeanor.

"Perhaps you are right. But what is the causation? Bad bears or people doing stupid things?"

Some of both. If you google attacks you find each. They are wild animals. Yosemite has
one or two fatal attacks by deer.

Nick:

People make bad bears, but once the bears are bad, they're bad indiscriminately. In other words, even if you practice good behavior in bear country, if others before you have "trained" the bears to look for food around people, your good behavior won't work to prevent bad bear behavior. They'll still come to your tent looking for food. You could sterilize everything in your tent, but the bears will still look for food if they've learned…

Scott

"85-year-old woman wields shovel to stop moose stomping"

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2012/01/22/2277726/wife-stops-moose-stomping-with.html#storylink=cpy

Two random thoughts on reading this thread:

1) That is one tough little lady! I think I'd bring HER as a protective device :)

2) While camping in Yosemite's White Wolf campground a few years back with our nephews, we were roused around 7 am by the unmistakable sounds of a chainsaw, which some moron fired up to chase a bear through the camp. He'd left food out of the bear bins, and protested to the ranger that he needed the chainsaw to protect his kids from the dangerous bear. I wondered at the time if he was unaware that bears made normal morning rounds there, or if he was waiting for one so that he would have the chance to fire up the ol' chainsaw and pretend to be an action hero.

Needless to say, chainsaws are not allowable as bear protection devices in Yosemite either.

That is my point. We make the bears problematic. And the more people who visit the popular areas and the more urban encroachment, the greater the problem. We create it. And as a result we turn too many bears into "bad bears" and then we kill them because they are "bad."

And if we are not careful we will eradicate them. I live about 120 miles from the Mexican border. Just west of me in the San Jacinto Mountains, there is a creek named Hurkey Creek. It was named after a man who was killed by a Grizzly bear in the 1800's. Yep, less than 200 years ago there were Grizzly bears in southern California all the way down to the San Diego area. Today there are no Grizzlies in the entire state.

We are the problem, not the bears.

So true, Nick.
From my office window in YNP, I could hear the park rangers throwing cherry bombs to chase bears out of Mammoth WY. Even if that bear never came back, another one would wander through sooner or later. We are in THEIR range.
Rangers would also drag grain shovels across the pavement to herd the elk away from the tourists. That was a losing battle as well.

http://www.handgunlaw.us/states/california.pdf

Info on concealed carry in California. California is a screwed up place when it comes to concealed carry. Local law enforcement can issue you a concealed carry permit if they wish. CA is called a 'may issue' state and it does not allow reciprocity from any other state–this is pretty much unheard of in the rest of the states. Most states are 'shall issue' states (only after extensive FBI background check, fingerprinting, etc. etc.) and honor/allow reciprocity of concealed carry permits from at least several other states. Making it difficult for folks to defend themselves seems to be working out very well for California.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/weapons.htm

Page above from Yosemite NP on firearms and related info. So, if you have a concealed carry permit from CA, you can carry concealed in Yosemite, notwithstanding certain areas, BUT legally, you can't fire a shot to protect yourself. So, if that bear and there are tons of problem bears in Yosemite (I went nearly face to face with one in the middle of the night that was heading for the tent my two little girls were sleeping in in the middle of popular campground. All I had was a knife and my illegal can (didn't know that then)of bear spray–who would think that bearspray would be illegal in a park overun by mismanaged bears) is charging you or others with obvious malintent, you have to make a choice whether you want to try and ward off an attack from a bear (with gun or bearspray) or very likely spend time in jail. These are the choices our wonderful government has given us.

I have had numerous close encounters with black bears and wolves from CA, WA and Vancouver Island. Wolves were all on Vancouver Island. Some black bears turn and run, some don't care and I've had at least on encounter where two of them circled back around and where coming for us. These critters are certainly something to be at least aware of. And, ultimately, your safety and that of your family is your personal responsibility. Law enforcement is not going to be there to protect you–they only show up after the incident. Personally, I would be more concerned about the 2 legged varmints than the four legged. But, unfortunately, our government, in certain states/areas has given us the very real choice of fending off an attack of any kind illegally. Does that seem right?

"Black bears are not a problem, and require neither spray or guns."
"That is my point. We make the bears problematic."

And my point was that black bears, when turned bad, can be a problem even if you're practicing good bear-country habits. To say black bears aren't a problem is wrong. They absolutely can be a problem, and unless you're equipped to deal with a problem black bear, you could become a statistic…

Scott

Its nice to see that a simple post sparked this conversation….
I saw this lady up in Lake Tahoe who is the local black bear intervention officer…she trains people how to scare away the bears just by using body language. She also educates the public on how to properly avoid creating problems with the bears…thats where i heard about the pepper spray…but long before it comes to that, a little loud noise and body language will a long way….
as far as the guns…i dont think ill carry one…a rifle to go hunting with some family, sure….but ive never seen a bear while camping or driving through the state parks to visit…ive been to a lot of places that people see them or encounter them…and i feel snuffed! I guess its for the better!

Go to a Yosemite Valley campground during summer. Just wait until you hear a bunch of people banging on pots and yelling at the bears in the middle of the night. Happens nearly every night. Go take your flash pictures of the bear! Simple as that. :)

It is great to see wildlife and we have a great abundance of it in this country, more so than many others, due to a century of conservation. Doing a search to find where most of the conservation dollars have come from can be interesting, but that's another topic. We have many more opportunities than many around the world to see wildlife, but still you've got to be where they live, be very unobtrusive and the first and last hours of daylight is your best shot at seeing wildlife.