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Re: Bear spray ... anyone use it and does it work well? Or does it just piss them off? [rijndael] [ In reply to ]
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Another thing to consider it to practice with the spray. One of ours expired so we took it out in the country and tried to quick draw ,activate release and spray. Even on a calm day we both got some of the vapor in our nose /mouth. That stuff is nasty. In all my years of work, only one time did security take us to the parking lot and actually use a fire extinguisher. Same thing, those things are a bit tricky to use properly as well.

My thoughts living in bear country with guns is that unless it is one of those hand cannons they sell in the gun shop a 44 mag, 357 mag or a 10mm hand gun is on the light side of what the gun guys recommend.
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Re: Bear spray ... anyone use it and does it work well? Or does it just piss them off? [rruff] [ In reply to ]
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rruff wrote:
rijndael wrote:
Bear spray is very effective.


Nope: https://www.outsideonline.com/...does-bear-spray-work



The bears you need to worry about are the ones charging with intent to kill you. People spray bears that are just snooping around and call that "effective".

Same with dogs. The ones in kill mode are not deterred by pepper spray.


Yeah, I'll trust the folks that have actually gone up against a charging mom.....
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/minute-bearspray.htm


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Re: Bear spray ... anyone use it and does it work well? Or does it just piss them off? [M~] [ In reply to ]
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A charging grizzly can run ~50 ft/s, so it can't turn around as soon as it enters the fog of the spray unless that's what it was planning to do in the first place.
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Re: Bear spray ... anyone use it and does it work well? Or does it just piss them off? [rijndael] [ In reply to ]
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rijndael wrote:
Your chart lists pepper spray, but there's a difference between bear spray and pepper spray. Pepper spray is generally marketed for people. There's a difference in the levels of of Capsicum.

https://www.selfdefenseninja.com/...ay-whats-difference/

Bear spray is similar to pepper spray but is not the same thing. Though they both contain the same active ingredient — oleoresin capsicum, bear spray contains a much lower concentration.
A typical pepper spray used for self defense will have an oleoresin capsicum (OC) concentration of about 10% or higher. A typical bear spray has a oleoresin concentration of about 1 – 2 %."
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Re: Bear spray ... anyone use it and does it work well? Or does it just piss them off? [rruff] [ In reply to ]
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rruff wrote:
A charging grizzly can run ~50 ft/s, so it can't turn around as soon as it enters the fog of the spray unless that's what it was planning to do in the first place.

100% it can and does.
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Re: Bear spray ... anyone use it and does it work well? Or does it just piss them off? [G-man] [ In reply to ]
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G-man wrote:
Another thing to consider it to practice with the spray. One of ours expired so we took it out in the country and tried to quick draw ,activate release and spray.d.

3 stories

I had a mild allergic reaction to shrimp. Went home feeing better and went for a light run on the treadmill. Stupid idea. Full blown anaphylactic reaction. I didn’t even have time
to react, was on the floor trying to conserve life and draw breath in less than 2 minutes. I was
not sure if I was going to live, my wife was 30 feet away reading upstairs in the bedroom and I was struggling to call to her. The phone rings (landline, 2005, remember those?) It is my mom, you know because that is what they do. So my wife answers, calls for me, I don’t answer, she finds me in distress. Within 3 minutes my dear friend - an ENT surgeon - has an Epi-Pen in me. So my mom thinking of me provided me life.

Second story: same ENT tells me about a man who gets stung by a bee and has anaphylaxis. He had an epi in the house, but tragically in the panic, his wife stuck it in her own leg when she was trying to administer it and he died as a result.

Third story: Because of story one I always have epi pens close and because of story two I thought it would be wise to familiarize myself with how they work with an expired pen ( see how this is related to you post?). Upon examining it, I discovered the spring is violent, the effect is instantaneous and epinephrine is highly effective at raising your heart rate and blood pressure.
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Re: Bear spray ... anyone use it and does it work well? Or does it just piss them off? [M~] [ In reply to ]
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M~ wrote:
100% it can and does.

This is the difference between practical knowledge (IRL) and Google knowledge. Some people live in bear country, deal with this type of thing, and know what's effective ... or, effective enough to offer peace of mind for most situations.

Even if it didn't stop a charging murderous Grizzly, there are a ton of other situations that need to be dealt with between no bear and the 50 ft/s killer brown bear. The OP isn't even concerned with a Grizzly, it's black bears.
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Re: Bear spray ... anyone use it and does it work well? Or does it just piss them off? [heliix] [ In reply to ]
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Of the opinion that it’s always better to be more prepared for contingencies than to be empty handed. On the other hand, my own close encounters with wildlife (grizzlies, cougars, coyotes, black bears, moose, deer, sharks) is that they’ve always had the upper hand in stealth, speed and surprise and things happened so quickly that there wasn’t a lot of time to respond. Blink of an eye kind of things. So at the end of the day carrying defensive gear is only as useful as your actual window of response time to use it.

Find people’s dogs a much bigger threat than wild predators.
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Re: Bear spray ... anyone use it and does it work well? Or does it just piss them off? [heliix] [ In reply to ]
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When I lived in Alaska Bear Spray was a must on any hike, ride, run, etc... The beauty of the spray vs. a gun is that you don't need to be terribly accurate with the spray. The spray shoots about 25-30ft out and if shot in a wave pattern should hit just about anything. After being sprayed the bear just wants to slam its head into the ground and rub their eyes with dirt. While a gun sounds like a nice idea, you have to hit the bear squarely in the head, anything else and they will just absorb it and get angrier (even if it ultimately causes them to bleed out much later).

Bear spray is a great tool and if you're worried about them in your area, I would definitely invest in a few cans. Not a horrible idea for home invaders either.

Team Zoot 2023
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Re: Bear spray ... anyone use it and does it work well? Or does it just piss them off? [heliix] [ In reply to ]
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I always wondered if a flare would be a better deterrent.
An animal would probably react instinctively to fire faster than bear spray.
Flares aren't designed to quickly lit though.
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Re: Bear spray ... anyone use it and does it work well? Or does it just piss them off? [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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NordicSkier wrote:
I always wondered if a flare would be a better deterrent.
An animal would probably react instinctively to fire faster than bear spray.
Flares aren't designed to quickly lit though.

Flares in summer in forests in northern America, what can possibly go wrong?
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Re: Bear spray ... anyone use it and does it work well? Or does it just piss them off? [TriStart] [ In reply to ]
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TriStart wrote:
NordicSkier wrote:
I always wondered if a flare would be a better deterrent.
An animal would probably react instinctively to fire faster than bear spray.
Flares aren't designed to quickly lit though.


Flares in summer in forests in northern America, what can possibly go wrong?

I had thought of that too. Some moron will scare off a bear and burn the whole forest down.
Maybe an air horn.

Or one could always play Nickelback on their phone.
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Re: Bear spray ... anyone use it and does it work well? Or does it just piss them off? [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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Have to reconsider what I said earlier. We had a pretty good sized brown colored black bear walk right down our street in Missoula,MT today. KPAX.com has a film clip. I think he was just looking for plums and apples that we all leave lying on the ground this time of the year. Bears love apples and plums, trust me on that one. He was then spotted at the U. In an interview the bear said social distancing at the University was not a problem. I was on a dog walk and missed him by 10 min in front of my house. Not too sure what the dog would have done. He acts like a tough guy around squirrels and city deer. Bears, maybe not so much. I would have been doing a pantie check if we would have walked up on him in my yard.
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Re: Bear spray ... anyone use it and does it work well? Or does it just piss them off? [rijndael] [ In reply to ]
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rijndael wrote:
Some people live in bear country, deal with this type of thing, and know what's effective ... or, effective enough to offer peace of mind for most situations.


"Peace of mind" is entirely in your mind. I've had close encounters with dozens of bears. It's only the ones that want to kill you that are a real danger, so you either protect against that or you don't. IMO there is no viable defense against a bear that wants to kill, other than to avoid that situation as best you can.
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