UL Bear Protection

Nick said, "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."

Editted to add: I live and hike in Alaska. I see several grizzlies and black bears each year. I've dealt with black bears a lot in California and found Banff to be infested with well-behaved grizzlies (my wife and I intentionally took the nice loop with recent bear reports because we figured other people would avoid it. They did.)

I agree broadly that, per bear, black bears are not the problem. There are so many more of them and they overlap human activities so much more that blackies cause some of the deaths, most of the property damage, and virtually all of the sleepless nights due to pot-banging campers.

I never pack a gun and VERY rarely pack pepper spray. I make noise. My somewhat extensive reading of the stats and the research indicate that is how I can most reduce my risk of a bad grizzly encounter. I am totally cool with others carrying spray and data indicate the outcomes are better for spray than guns.

Hiker Jon said, "if (a) problem bears in Yosemite 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 bear spray. . . (the bear) 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."

Oh, my, where to start? I think with my little children who might be camped in the next tent over. Are you so trained and practiced that in the heat of the moment, every shot will hit the bear? No misses? In the dark? No T&Ts? And when was the last bear fatality in Yosemite? I just looked it up. NEVER! So you want to turn a campground into a gun range (in the dark) to prevent something which never happens to millions of people a year.

Even if I grant that you and all people packing would never miss a shot, I as the adjacent father/camper would much rather yell at the bear or run at it with a stick (my usual approach for blackies) than have a wounded bear in camp.

That Ruger LCR has a 2-inch barrel! (Bullets accelerate while in the barrel. They slow down as soon as they leave the barrel). And is only .357! That's a great size for concealed carry and that a great round for humans. Put one round in my chest and I WON'T be doing you any harm for a long time. But bears, even black bears, can be bigger and absolutely can soak up more foot-pounds than you or me.

For me:

Black bears: be careful with your food. Camp where other people are careful with their food. Carry spray if you want and it's allowed.

Grizzlies: make noise. Carry spray if you want. If you carry a firearm, please carry enough gun to be effective. For most Alaskans who do, that's a .338 rifle (about 7-8 pounds). More importantly, know how to use it, know when not to use it, know your backstop at all times, and be wise and decisive in a crisis.

Hiking Jon's use of "obvious malintent",

(1) made me question how you determine a bear's intent in a dark campground and

(2) reminded me of an experience, camping in uber-uber-grizzly country with my wife, her parents, and our very young son (5 months old) in which intent was hard to discern IN BROAD DAYLIGHT.

Brook's Camp, Katmai National Park, September 2000. Great place for wilderness hiking, the volcanic moonscape left over the 1912 Novarupta blast, and especially, bear watching.

We're camped out, in the open, in a tent. Regulations are tight and specific. All food is stored inside a wooden building. Inside a wire fence. An electrified wire fence.

An adolescent grizzly heads into camp. Maybe 200 pounds. Everyone in camp goes INSIDE the electric fence. Except my wife and in-laws who do their duty and are making noise, rising their arms, shouting, "Go away bear, we don't want you hear bear!" just to be saying something. And the bear keeps coming and they keep talking at it. I'm a little further back, not because I don't normally do the same thing, but because I have our 5-month-old son in a chest carrier and it just seems like maybe the non-child-carrying adults should take the lead.

Because I'm 40 feet further back, I have a broader view of what's going on. What I realize is that the adolescent bear was walking down the narrow beach of the nearby lake while a mama and cubs were coming the other way. Because the adolescent is a threat to the cub and the mama knows it, the mama is a BIG threat to the adolscent and he knows it. So he bolted off the beach to avoid the mama bear and THAT'S why he's heading through our camp.

I call out to wife and grandparents, "He's just avoiding another bear, he's not trying to get food, just let him pass!" and they did. And he did.

I'll stack my wife's bear sense against anyone's as she's had a lot more experience than I have despite her being better about making noise at all risky places because she's been in more remote, griz-infested places for extended trips. And she couldn't discern a bear's intent in broad daylight, with perfect sight lines.

And people who think they can assess bear behavior in the dark and who think blackies in Yosemite are a greater risk than, say, them getting elected president want to carry and use a gun?!? In a crowded campground?

I think Yosemite's policies on guns were better before the federal law change. I'm sure they made things safer for me.

Dear David,

Did I advise anyone to carry a gun, or bear spray for that matter? No. I also did not qualify my statements enough, apparently, and if someone was willing to take liberty with those statements, one could arrive at the conclusions you drew.

If you choose do carry a method to defend yourself, you had better get proper training and have thought through the use of the weapon, whatever it may be. Again, that is part of the personal responsibility I mentioned. You will be responsible for any incorrect use of a weapon, you can bet on that and the consequences can be enormous.

Your idea of not carrying any weapon and being aware of bear behavior and statistically how best to deal with is also a valid response. My only concern with it is that a person really has no last ditch method to defend themselves/family if it comes to it. If you are willing to put yourself in that potential, albeit small percentage, situation and have thought through the potential consequences and pros and cons and be willing to live with the outcome, that is the individual choice a person has. We should also have the choice to defend ourselves.

Goodness, David, did I say someone should start firing randomly with gun in the middle of the night? No. This is part of that training and thought process that someone should very carefully think through before ever considering to use gun. A gun is rarely a good fix to many situations and their use for self defense should be very rare, but they are very useful if that situation, under proper conditions. The gun it a tool and like any tool, you need to realize when to use that tool and do so properly or severe consequences will result.

Not sure what T&T's are. You'll have to enlighten me.

Do you not think some concern on my part was warranted when I saw a large black bear 6' from and heading in the direction of my girls tent? Perhaps I should've just stayed in bed and done nothing sleeping tight in the knowledge that my girls were safe because no bear had ever killed anyone in Yosemite NP? The campground we were staying in was very well lighted and we had a big outdoor light 50 yards away that, when the bear came close to my silnylon tent wall literally 3' away, showed the bear in great detail. That's how I knew it was there and could tell how far it was from my girls and the direction it was headed.

As it turned out, I believe the bears where simply making the rounds looking for scraps in the campground. A neighbor two campsites down told us the next morning that they'd watched the large black bear easily manipulate and open the bear box in their campsite as they watched from the 'safety' of their hard sided trailer, which they also had their food in. Apparently at least some of the bears are smarter than those who engineered the bear food boxes. :)

There are many devices that make shooting at close range in the dark a safer proposition, but none of them allow you to ignore basic firearms safety rules. Only when these rules are ignored by the operator, do people, etc. get hurt.

The .gov YNP website says bear attacks are 'rare'. That doesn't mean they don't happen.

A .357 loaded with proper heavy bullet made for bear and the right powder to propel that bullet is barely potentially adequate to deal with most black bears. Most North American black bears are around 200lbs and they don't have mysterious life force that a bullet properly located, can't extiguish. If a potently loaded (a whole 'nother discussion) .357 will easily dispatch a man, and it will, it will deal with your average black bear. It it always be better to pack something larger of at least .44 Magnum size for black bear country and even larger for grizzly, like a 460 S&W or a 500 S&W. The issue with the larger guns become that of ability to shoot accurately and get back on target for follow up shots. Often its better to connect with your target consistently with a smaller round than to miss repeatedly due to not being able to accurately shoot the gun you have. Bigger guns are also obviously harder to conceal, if that is an issue, and it is in Nat'l Parks.

"(1) made me question how you determine a bear's intent in a dark campground and"

I didn't say that I did determine the bears intent, did I? I didn't speak to intent at all. I was simply very concerned under the circumstances and wanted the bear to go away. I yelled at it and bolted outside from the tent my wife and I were in (circumstances explained more fully in post above) with the only weapons I had. Are you saying you wouldn't have done the same? No one said anything about that being a proper place/time to shoot a bear in defense of family. As it turns out, that particular bear mosied off with no trouble, but what if this had happened to be one of those 'rare' bear attacks in YNP and I'd hit it with my bearspray and landed in jail to avert an attack when malintent was obvious? I guess if that's the risk we take to protect those closest to us, so be it. What's the alternative?

"And people who think they can assess bear behavior in the dark and who think blackies in Yosemite are a greater risk than, say, them getting elected president want to carry and use a gun?!? In a crowded campground?"

If you are talking here about me, I didn't say I could assess bear behavior in the dark. I specifically used the terms 'obvious malintent' to try to communicate a situation where you were down to only the option of using bear spray or a firearm to protect self/family, if properly trained to do so. I thought that 'obvious' and 'malintent' used together would be very clear. You can't have 'obvious malintent' if you can't see clearly, can you?

Jon,

My apologies that I misread your posting as a desire for the option to use a gun "in the middle of the night. . . in the middle of popular campground".

"did I say someone should start firing randomly with gun in the middle of the night?"

No, I didn't say nor think that YOU would.

My concern is that, if guns are at hand in such a setting, some people will not have the training and judgement you properly advocate.

I agree with that "You will be responsible for any incorrect use of a weapon", but what happens to the shooter is less my concern than what happens to his possible, unintended human victims.

You have some limited rights to be ready to defend yourself. With what you do have at hand, you have very broad rights to defend you and your family's life. But your decisions and judgement will be scrutinized.

I have some limited rights to be in a public area relatively free from the chance that a person allowed to carry a firearm will make a mistake and injury me or my family.

Neither of those rights is absolute and both have shifted over the years. Most of my Alaskan friends fall more on the gun-rights side of these issues than I do. Most of my West- and East-Coast friends go more to the public-safety side than I do.

This week, in Anchorage, due to deep snow, they are having far more problems with moose than any other critter. I wouldn't fault someone for packing a snub-nosed, low-mass .357 to potentially stop a moose stomping again, IF they had that training and experience we both advocate. I know a lot of mushers who pack something similar for that exact reason.

But guns in Yosemite? To reduce the virtually non-existent risk of a bear attack? With the judgement of the average outdoorsperson I see on the Mist Trail? No thank you.

Guns won't/don't reduce the risk of a bear attack, but properly used, they may avert one.

I agree that the average good judgement and common sense of the person on the street is suspect at best, products of this irresponsible culture that they are, but that should not preclude my right to defend life in most public areas.

This is an age old struggle to define the best balance on this issue, but on one side there is the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution and many state constitutions that VERY clearly call this an individual right, such as my own state (Washington) does. The drawers of these documents clearly understood the foundational right to defense of life and country.

Anyway, back to 'UL bear protection' from the OP. Learn about bears and other wildlife and how best to avoid trouble. Turns out that is very UL! :) Consider carrying a big canister of bear spray and learn how to use it properly and resolve and steel yourself to do so properly, if needed. If you don't hit the incoming bear that has 'obvious malintent' at the proper distance in the proper location, there's absolutely no reason to be carrying bear spray, or a gun, for that matter!

Not all bear spray is created equal. Some has lower concentrations of capsaicin ('hot' ingredient) than others and they all have expiration dates. Not sure if the capsaicin becomes less potent over time, or what. Some have ranges of 30', some less. My personal favorite at the moment is 'UDAP Bear Spray' as it seems to have the greatest range and potency that I've seen yet. It also comes with the best 'quick into action' yet secure belt carrying case I've seen yet. I spend quite a bit of time in Montana and it seems to be the favorite there sold many places.

I take this into Canada as well on kayaking trips. Ironically, you can't take regular pepper (meant for humans assailants) spray into Canada to defend yourself. But, if it's labeled 'bear spray', you can take it across the border into Canada. Yet, bear spray is typically a much larger container of exactly what a women, for instance, might buy in the way of pepper spray to defend herself against a 2-legged assailant! Interesting. OK to defend yourself against bears, but not humans?

And, yes, a rifle of adequate caliber, .338 being a very good compromise of several characteristics, would be a good place to start. A 12 gauge pump shotgun with multiple potent magnum load of slugs is likely better for close in. But, it's kind of hard to conceal these! :)

The OP asked about a small lightweight handgun for defense against bears. Personally, I think I'd prefer pepper spray. That said, Buffalo Bore sells a very potent ammo for bear defense for use in small guns. Here it is: http://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=291

http://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=100

I think the OP was asking about .357 magnum in particular, wasn't he?

Link above is for a heavier than typical (for a .357 magnum) 180 grain bullet and the foot pounds of energy is 783 at the muzzle. Pretty potent. (For stopping power, a heavier bullet is nearly alwasy better. So a 'heavy for caliber' bullet is typically a good selection for a situation like this, with specific bullet design being very important as well. )But the bullet in the link is a hardcast bullet which won't deform and mushroom like a typical lead core bullet. However, because of the fact that it won't deform like typical lead bullets, it will likely penetrate farther, which may be a benefit in a bear/self defense situation. Most 'dangerous game' hunters in Africa, for instance, will use heavy, solid bullets that deform little, opting instead for deep penetration in dangerous game situations. This type of 'hard cast' bullet may be more like the solid bullet mentioned for dangerous game hunters and so may be appropriate for a close bear encounter, but I don't have personal experience with them, so…

If you do a little research, you'll see that handgun (because that was what the OP talked about) black bear hunters, in general, have a some unoffical items to consider when hunting bears. Generally, they'll look for a .40 caliber or larger, which the .357 magnum is not. (A larger frontal area to a bullet means more tissue upset, in general, with potential for a quicker killing power, which is the point in this situation.) In terms of kinetic energy (KE), they look for a cartridge/bullet/powder/gun combination that develops at least 600 ft. lbs. of energy (By contrast, the medium power of a .30-06 round will have just under 3000 ft. lbs. of energy at the muzzle and the typical 9mm handgun round is around or just under 400 ft. lbs.). And, they will look for a premium bullet designed for the purpose at hand. Many will select the Hornady XTP bullet as it is a good compromise between expansion and penetration. The variables in making selections liket this can make your mind spin, but knowing how to select the right gun and bullet/cartridge/powder combination for the purpose is pretty important.

That being said, hunting a black bear is much different from stopping a charging black bear. In the latter, you may want more power than the minimums listed above, which is why I mentioned the .44 magnum and others in a previous post. Problem is these 'hand cannons' get difficult to shoot accurately.

Bear spray is likely the best answer after just learning about wildlife and how to avoid issues.

If you clearly understand the issues surrounding handloading (loading your own rounds–not nearly as difficult and dangerous as many are lead to erroneously believe–and it's much cheaper than buying factory ammo), you can easily then select the best combination, among all the variables of bullet/powder and charge of powder, for your purpose, instead of being locked into the factory offerings that may not fit the purpose you may have.

"I think the OP was asking about .357 magnum in particular, wasn't he?"

Yes, he was. I was just hoping he'd get a sprained wrist instead of a broken one. :-)

I can't imagine shooting either of these two rounds out of such a lightweight gun.

"Yes, he was. I was just hoping he'd get a sprained wrist instead of a broken one. :-"

I shot some big ones, to see what the fuss was about. The biggest I ever shot was a .454 magnum (no I don't carry it). Unless you have a weak wrist or really mess up it won't do damage but its not something you shoot for casual recreation. I actually have shot heavy .357 loads in a light revolver (One was a 180 grain load, I believe it was the buffalo bore load). It won't break your wrist but getting jerked around like that encourages flinching so I wouldn't do it long.

Edit – I've argued bears and guns before and had enough. I'm just trying to be helpful before someone spends big bucks.

hi..im the OP…
The only reason i asked about this was because i was watching a show on the sportsman channel and they spotlighted this particular gun…available in a .357 option and weighing half the weight of a full size .357….i was just curious if that WOULD stop a bear…sounds like one would need something larger….and from i saw from the guy firing it…the recoil was minimal…of course he was a professional, but he kept all 5 shots inside the ten from 6 yards away firing at a shot per half second…
if you were good…5 shots to bears head would likely kill it no? i mean..i dont own a gun… rarely go shooting with rifles…so i really have zero room to speak…
I carry spray in the absolute event that i feel it is my only option…otherwise i will keep my distance and practice safe food storage….
you guys seem to know way more about this stuff…but i have 100% learned something!
Thanks everyone for your $.02 and maybe ill just get the .38 special to keep in my nightstand…for shooting flys and mosquitoes around the house! lol

Nicholas I have no problem with guns but they are a big responsiblity. If you want to get one fine. Just know what you're getting into. I know a guy who went out, bought a .357 after never shooting in his life and started hiking with it as bear protection. He didn't really know what he was doing, didn't have the skills to use it right and probably wasn't familiar with the legal issues surrounding guns.

Here's my 2 cents.
If you want a gun I'd go ahead and get the .357 not the .38. The .357 is basically a longer version of the .38 special so you can use either roung. 38s are cheaper and kick much less but you have the option to use 357 ammo if you want. 38s are actually quit fun to shoot at cans.
Know the legal issues of having a gun and using one. Its not that complicated but you can get youreself it major legal trouble if you mess up.

If bears make you nervious bear spray is cheaper. Its also much easier for the average person to deploy. If you want to shoot a bear with a gun you have to hit a vital area. Thats a small target and its moving fast. On the other hand all you have to do with bear spray is spray a cloud of spray into the bear's face.

All right I've said my peice, if you want more PM me and I'll be happy to reply. I probably wont' post again because gun threads go downhill after a while.

"This type of 'hard cast' bullet may be more like the solid bullet mentioned for dangerous game hunters and so may be appropriate for a close bear encounter, but I don't have personal experience with them"

Hiker Jon:

The flat nose hard cast bullets are a great choice for a bear defense bullet. Your supposition is correct – they are designed to stay together and penetrate the thick hide, fat, and bone of bear in order to get to the vital organs or brain and stop the bear in his tracks.

I carry handloads (40 caliber, 700 ft-lb) using just such a bullet in bear country. I also carry bear spray, and I've been told by a friend with a lifetime of experience hunting and fishing Montana and Alaska that the bear spray is very effective, based on his personal experience.

As a hunter (gasp!), I have to deal with downed game, which attracts bears in grizzly territory. Grizzlies love a downed elk or deer, and they can be pretty stealthy! My personal bear strategy has four levels:

1. Contact avoidance
2. Noise
3. Bear spray
4. Firearm

I'd rather have my bear spray and firearm and not need them, than need them and not have them. It is up to me to make the decision on when to use them, and that's good because it's my life or the lives of friends and family that are at risk if they need to be used. I don't want anyone else making that decision for me. I know that I have to live with whatever happens should I choose to use them, and that's part of the complex decision-making process. I hope I never have to resort to level 4, but I am prepared to do so, should that inevitable day come.

Regards,
Scott

ETA: I'm sure this thread is heading for the inevitable "guns vs. no guns" crash, so this will be interesting…

Scott,

Very well said.

I'm another hunter (double gasp). Washington has more bears per square area of bear habitat than any other western state, last I heard, with too many black bears causing trouble even getting into Seattle on occasion. You hear about a mauling or two a year it seems, one of the last one's was a coworkers mother-in-law a couple of blocks away from her house on a residential street. On my solo bear hunt this year up high in an alpine wilderness area, I saw 10 bears in less than 24 hours. A second bear tag in WA is only $12–they are trying to reduce the numbers.

Here's how one long-time Alaskan dealt with uppity wildlife.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/01/25/85-year-old-woman-takes-on-moose-saves-husband/

It could multipurpose to dig catholes much quicker and with less sanitation worries than your titanum dinner spork.

I seem to recall someone saying that moose kill more people in AK than anything else. Is that true in your experience? I guess also I thought that bull moose in particular were the issue during the rut, but this incident was just reported on today, it looks like. Is that atypical to have problems like that this time of year?

Jon: The net result of all my, my wife's, my kids' and my employees' bear experiences have been a few exciting moments on the trail and a few photo ops on the River.

Moose, on the other hand: I've nicked two. Lost the mirror off the driver side of the Subaru to one in heavy fog. In my defense, I missed the first moose by SO much I almost entirely missed the second moose. Some J-B Weld fixed it. The mirror, not the moose – the moose kept going.

And I was on a straight section of highway doing 55 at 7 am in January (i.e. completely dark) and there was a moose in the road. I started braking on the ice while it start running away on the ice. I was doing 45, it was doing 2. 35 and 4, 20 and 6, we met when I was doing 8 and it was doing 7 mph. It kicked my front bumper and thereafter it was going faster than I was.

The most detrimental event (in terms of wildlife and motor vehicles) was when the au pair called at midnight. She'd been returning from Anchorage and a moose ran out in front of her. She was okay but shaken. The Corolla was within an inch of being a Corolla and could be driven but for a broken window and no A/C (not really needed in February!). The moose took a bullet from the Trooper and was distributed through church volunteers to needy families. The Corolla was totalled in an insurance sense and I consoled the au pair that she'd fed four poor families that night.

Statewide, there's one bear fatality every other year. 0.5 per year, on average. In our borough (of 60,000 people, 1/11 of the state), there are about 400 moose road kills each year. Most of those cause $5,000-$20,000 of vehicle damage and maybe 10% of the people end up at the hospital. I'd guess, statewide, there are 2 or 3 moose-caused human fatalities each year. So 5x the risk compared to bears. Very few moose on the trail, most are encountered at 60 mph where guns don't matter but seat belts, air bags, and aerodynamic cars do help. I stress to all drivers in my household that a snowbank is a GREAT place to put the car when $h!t happens. If there's a wreck or moose on the road, just put it into a snowbank.

In Zimbabwe, I was more anxious about lions and cape buffalo. But hippos kill more locals and more tourists than everything else combined. Once I spent a week on the Zambezi River, I could believe it. I would like to think that if I'd been there longer, my anxieties would have (1) come in line with local risks and (2) lessened. But I was only there for a month.

My way of dealing with risk is to look at the numbers and see how I can adjust my behavior the least to reduce my risk the most. It works for me, but different people take different approaches.

Editted to answer Jon's second Q on seasonality: This incident seemed related to heavy snowfall and more moose being pushed down into town. I'd theorize that when the moose can't move/run as well to avoid predation, they get more aggressive and stand their ground more. The other seasonal issue is cows getting very protective of their calves when they first drop in early May. Then they'll cross a street to stomp a dog instead of just going the other way because the calf is so slow and wobbley for a few days. Conversely, just before calving, last year's calf is run off and it wanders around lonely for a few days coming up to me, even my dog, with a will-you-be-my-friend? look. Had one come up to the hot tub and we petted it on those nose in early May three years ago. We don't see a lot of bull moose in rut. Most of them are hunted. Mostly we see cows and calves.

"Statewide, there's one bear fatality every other year. 0.5 per year, on average. In our borough (of 60,000 people, 1/11 of the state), there are about 400 moose road kills each year. Most of those cause $5,000-$20,000 of vehicle damage and maybe 10% of the people end up at the hospital. I'd guess, statewide, there are 2 or 3 moose-caused human fatalities each year. So 5x the risk compared to bears."

Wouldn't a more valuable statistic for backpackers be the number of bear and moose fatalities in the wilderness? I suspect the majority of moose fatalities involve a vehicle accident.

…

Black Cat fire crackers. Light. Cheap. Make bang, bear go bub-bye.

"I don't believe in the popular advice to play dead in a fetal position and surrender your backpack. I figured the mama bear would defend her cub, so I gotta defend my nephew and dog."

Thats actually one time when playing dead would have been advisable. A mother bear has no predatory interest in you, she just wants the threat to go away. If you leave or look dead she's happy. The good news is statistically mother black bears are not that dangerious.

I'd wager that Mother bears are responsible for a larger portion of attacks. If she is anywhere close to you, you may get mauled until she is satisfied.

"I've been in the Mt Baldy area hundreds of times, only seen snakes, lizards and mule deer."

35 years of hiking the Mt. Baldy area and never seen a bear there, although they show up on the news occasionally. I do carry one of those small cannister airhorns. Theres some evidence that they are effective in deterring bears.

John it depends on the bear. I looked up the statistics on fatal black bear attacks and 93% were by male black bears. So your chance of being killed by a mother black bear is small. Now perhaps your chance of being mauled but not killed by a mother black bear is a bit higher. However most black bear attacks do not seem to involve mother bears defending their cubs. I believe I've only heard of one or two cases. Grizzly mothers are the ones that give momma bears a fierce reputation.

"David,

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

It's definitely people doing stupid things first and then bears becoming habitualized. I live in BC and there's no shortage of black bears and grizzly bears. I live in a city of 2 million and heard a rustling outside my living room window last fall … opened the blind and there was a black bear 16" from the glass. That was one of the closest encounters I've had with a bear.

For all the miles I've done in the Pacific NW [WA, BC and moving north to Yukon and Alaska] over a 10 year period, I've seen only one bear while mountain biking. That's it. In the Yosemite area, they're a huge problem. One night in 2010, car camping just north of Yosemite before a backcountry trip, a bear repeatedly approached our site even though all our food was incapsulated within the 0.25" steel food cache. Usually, I've found black bears [while in a car or a boat] are very skittish], these were not skittish, they really didn't care about our presence. That said, they weren't aggressive either. The whole night, all we heard were people banging pots and yelling – presumably, trying to scare away bears. This isn't the bear's fault, they know they can reliably get tasty food at a campsite. Why is the Yosemite area so bad – I don't know. The Yosemite backcountry seems fine b/c there's very little traffic. Doesn't seem to be a problem in BC and there's a lot of bears up here. In car camping spots like the one near Yosemite, I worry less about the bears and more about the drunk moron firing blindly into the woods to scare away/kill the relentless bears. These places are crammed with people, families and children. I'm not too worried about the responsible user/owner, but not every gun owner is responsible and you run into some pretty scary people in car camping spots.

Having caught a lift from a Park Ranger from camp 4 to Tuolumne, we discussed the gun laws in US Nat. Parks. He was not in favour for allowing guns into NPs. As alluded to above, you can carry a loaded weapon, but you cannot [i.e. it's illegal] to discharge it [i.e. you better have a really, really good reason for firing it]. Avoiding bear confrontations is mostly common sense in backcountry areas – we all know that – the only thing I'd add is be careful around rivers … they're loud and bears can't hear you coming. Additionally, mountain bikes and other fast moving 'vehicles' don't give bears much chance to exit the area and can lead to confrontations.

I can understand the desire to carry a weapon, but alas, it's not going to happen in Canada so I just have to go on the super defensive and kill any potential for an encounter.