Do you carry bear spray when hunting?

[wideopenthrottle]

Like I said MOST choose flight so I would not worry much but learning to read there body language helps. More times than not slowing backing out talking is all that is needed to defuse things or standing your ground talking

All the black bear stories you mentioned minus the one in camp I experience similar encounters multiple times a year but mostly when I am hunting them or choose to mess around with them. For the most part unless the bear is wounded I have not felt the need to shoot out of self defence but there is the odd jerk bear and they don’t carry signs

Good habit is to have your rifle ready before you yell/talk at a close up bear because they can cover ground fast. Another good thing most should practice is close range instinct shooting. Try to hit a paper plate at 20yards without using scope/sights quickly. My mentor I learned to bear hunt from preached learning this skill.

it is for this reason that I get annoyed at people who say never point your gun unless you are ready to shoot....I will pull up my rifle and draw a bead on a stump on a hillside 5-10 times a day to practice shouldering, aiming and gathering my breath...these are important skills...just be sure that your practice target is safe to point at every time .

[TyTy]

In my mind.... if a bear is not deterred by a warning shot (noise), I would not be reaching for a can of mace next. While mace can be useful or effective, at the end of the day I trust my well being a lot more to my rifle than any kind of spray. Might as well pack a bear tag too

lots to be said on the topic, each to their own comfort and ethics level. Experience matters