What do you think?

[CouesWhitetail]

Bear spray is a great option! I have seen it work on bears that were just a few feet from people. It's lightweight, easy to carry on your belt and non-lethal.

[BurlyBear]

Yeah, I recommend FMJ in order to penetrate that thick hide, but I must agree bear spray would be best and it's not too expensive. Amanda if you have a really cool bear spray video I'd like to see it.

[BurlyBear]

I have such bad bear "JuJu" that i can send him some of my old hunting shirts!!...it will keep bears away for miles!!! ...boy i aint kidding!!..lol! My buddy that has outstanding dogs!!! that runs a bunch of bears every year and is pretty damm good at it does not want to take me out anymore!!...dogs cant even "RIG" a track when im around!! ...EVER!!! ....says i make him feel like a beginner!!

 

Or I could give him SMITTY's shirt.

[Couzer]

There was a National Geographic show they aired 5-10 years ago that showed the effectiveness on bear spray that stopped angry grizzly bears. It was pretty cool

[123456]

We are talking about Arizona black bears, not Alaskan grizzlies. .40 cal is just fine. I personally carry a 40 cal glock and usually stagger hollow points and mix in a few fmj's for good measure. As stated above, I am wayyyyy more worried about the 2 legged bears than the 4. While I have never personally shot a bear, I have been on a few kills, and their fur is not as tough as most think IMO. Bottom line is, if you are that unlucky to run into a bear in Arizona that charges you, the tribe has spoken.

Make sure you are with a friend at all times while hunting. A 40 cal will surely go thru his knee cap, and then it is easy to out run him. Problem solved!!

[Couzer]

Hummmm are you saying there's no Alaskan Grizzlys in Az ???

Point was if bear spray will stop a griz, imagine what it would do to az black.

[123456]

No doubt Bear spray is very effective on bears. I just have a hard time justifying carrying bear spray for bears, hand gun for bad humans and bow for my intended quarry.

[Snapshot]

I don't worry too much about Arizona black bears. Chances of an ugly encounter are pretty slim, I imagine?

 

I am getting too old and fat to climb trees to get away.

[BurlyBear]

Not sure climbing a tree would do you any good. Maybe just a prayer and some Depends is all you can hope for.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVHWCirOwQ0

[sniper]

.40 is fine for AZ bears. They will run away from you anyways. A taxidermist told me that bears have thin hides. He said animals that have long hair have thin skin and short hair animals like deer and cattle have thick skin. After skinning my bear last year, I found that the hide was thin, but there was like 4" of fat between the skin and the meat.

 

I carry a .40 glock also loaded with federal 180 gr HST. Dropping a charging bear in its tracks is not likely with any pistol considering the stress and probably the surprise and speed of the encounter. Like others said, 2 legged ones can be more trouble than 4 legged ones.

[naturegirl]

I don't worry too much about Arizona black bears. Chances of an ugly encounter are pretty slim, I imagine?

 

I am getting too old and fat to climb trees to get away.

Last year my husband and our friend were chased by one who had a cub during the spring turkey hunt. She was mighty aggressive. They retreated immediately after she made her presence known, but she kept trailing them for quite awhile as they made their way back to the vehicle. Warning shots were fired multiple times. She was not injured, but she wasn't as responsive to the "warning" of a shot gun as you would expect. They both carry bear spray now.

[naturegirl]

Below is from Amanda last year. I'll ask if she can update the link to the video because the link is not working.

 

"I recommend carrying Counter Assault bear spray. To me it's better than a handgun because it sprays in a wide shotgun pattern so your aim doesn't have to be perfect and it ruins their eyes and lungs so they stop and run away. The other reason I like it better is that for the most part you dont' really want to kill the bear, you just don't want it charging you and making contact. For instance, say there is a mother and her cubs and the mother charges you. If you shoot her she will likely die and so will her cubs. But if you bear spray her, she will leave and still survive to raise her cubs. It's a non-lethal way of handling the problem.

 

Here is a video of an AZ highways photographer using the can of bear spray I gave her just in case she had a close encounter while trying to photograph some bears."

http://www.coueswhitetail.com/bear_spray_clip.wmv

[oz31p]

Bear spray is effective on humans aswell.

[Snapshot]

I don't worry too much about Arizona black bears. Chances of an ugly encounter are pretty slim, I imagine?

 

I am getting too old and fat to climb trees to get away.

Last year my husband and our friend were chased by one who had a cub during the spring turkey hunt. She was mighty aggressive. They retreated immediately after she made her presence known, but she kept trailing them for quite awhile as they made their way back to the vehicle. Warning shots were fired multiple times. She was not injured, but she wasn't as responsive to the "warning" of a shot gun as you would expect. They both carry bear spray now.

Those sow's are certainly a force to be reckoned with for sure.

 

In all my years of hunting in unit 27, I have only had one questionable bear encounter. We had a sow with 2 cubs come into our camp in the middle of the night. They sniffed around and one brushed up against my tent. Little did they know, that I was on the other side holding a fully loaded rifle, waiting for any mayhem that may ensue. Fortunately they left without incident.

 

I had watched this family of bears earlier that day, as the Sow was feeding on pinion nuts, and the cubs were wrestling and frolicking on a hillside. It was quite a show.

[Snapshot]

Bear spray is effective on humans aswell.

True. But I wouldn't bring bear spray to a gunfight.