time for me to pull the trigger on some bear spray

You handled that great John!!!!

Any sane man would have been afraid--but you remembered what to do and did not Panic

Great Job
 
Thanks for all the kind words.. Truth was I was terrified, But more so of my sister if I let anything happen to her son LOL
I'm taking my wife and kids camping in PA this weekend, at a state campground. I know there are black bears there. and the few I;ve seen there are bigger than this guy, but more skiddish (they are hunted in the area) Needless to say I'll be packing some spray.

Thanks for all the kind words guys. I'm gonna try to be around a bit more as time provides.
 
Hey RR, you did a good job keeping it all together in those circumstances, even a small bear at that distance demands respect. Have fun in Pennsy camping, we do have a good bear population here. I had to pick up bear spray last fall when I did a solo canoe camping trip in the Adirondacks...felt very naked without a firearm, but the NYS laws say no guns. Naturally, never saw a bear.
 
anybody that thinks a small bear is no big deal has not seen one rolling over rocks with one paw foraging for vermin/bugs that would take a strong man straining with his whole body.

I know someone that had his 140lb akita tangle with a 170 to 200lb blackbear camping and that was a 3900$ vet bill and a permanently screwed up front leg, punctured/fractured cranium as well. I saw poor Hobie after surgery and he looked like he fell into a thresher. This was one of the toughest and scariest dogs I have ever met and he had his butt handed to him.

I have been packing bear spray for 21 years and only had to use it twice, once on a bear and once on a big mangy malamute cross on a trail near farmland that would not stop trying to attack my lab with his red saddlebags. my poor boy got a little as well but that mutt got a 2 sec blast point blank (`1 foot) straight in the eyes nose when he latched onto Spots upper shoulder. Plus a big kick to the cohones that had him yelping as bad or worse than the spray. I do not think I have ever kicked anything that hard on the street or in the ring in my martial arts days. Had he persisted after that I would have bled him like a hog with my millie. Used to stick 220 hogs an hour on the kill floor, that dog was lucky.

I respect you for pulling out for the kids sake, when a black bear attacks after that type of behavior it is predatory not dominance. A lady on our east coast was attacked a few years ago in spring by a skinny sub 200lb black and it ate most of her upper arms and buttocks..........she lived but what is her quality of life?

regards
 
Good stuff Brad, Remind me not to mess with you..LOL, Thanks..
Some folks where ribbing me a bit about the size of the bear. but I;ve seen these same people freak out when a squirrel tried to share the same picnic table, so I take it with a grain of salt,
Thanks.
 
A woman was just attacked by a grizz in Alaska. It charged, knocked her and her companion down then grabbed her by her hand and drug her a ways from the attack site. The mauling stopped there. She had bear spray. It was in her pack and she did not have time to get it out and deploy it. Keep that in mind and have a method/plan to quick-draw your cannister if/when you need to deploy it. She is recovering.

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Woman-survives-bear-attack-3821025.php
 
Cool Link and info, Thanks. I think in all reality the liklihood of this happening again is slim to none But once bitten twice shy so they say
I picked up some bear spray (it wasn;t what I wanted, but most vendors won;t ship to the city) so I had to deal with what I could get. I'm rigging up a holster for the front strap of my pack for when I'm hiking, It it seems to travel well in a cargo pocket when bumming around.
I know I'll get some looks hiking around with spray in yuppie berg where I hike, But If anyone cares to ask I'll be happy to inform them as to why.
 
Brad "the butcher";11239275 said:
anybody that thinks a small bear is no big deal has not seen one rolling over rocks with one paw foraging for vermin/bugs that would take a strong man straining with his whole body.

I know someone that had his 140lb akita tangle with a 170 to 200lb blackbear camping and that was a 3900$ vet bill and a permanently screwed up front leg, punctured/fractured cranium as well. I saw poor Hobie after surgery and he looked like he fell into a thresher. This was one of the toughest and scariest dogs I have ever met and he had his butt handed to him.

I have been packing bear spray for 21 years and only had to use it twice, once on a bear and once on a big mangy malamute cross on a trail near farmland that would not stop trying to attack my lab with his red saddlebags. my poor boy got a little as well but that mutt got a 2 sec blast point blank (`1 foot) straight in the eyes nose when he latched onto Spots upper shoulder. Plus a big kick to the cohones that had him yelping as bad or worse than the spray. I do not think I have ever kicked anything that hard on the street or in the ring in my martial arts days. Had he persisted after that I would have bled him like a hog with my millie. Used to stick 220 hogs an hour on the kill floor, that dog was lucky.

I respect you for pulling out for the kids sake, when a black bear attacks after that type of behavior it is predatory not dominance. A lady on our east coast was attacked a few years ago in spring by a skinny sub 200lb black and it ate most of her upper arms and buttocks..........she lived but what is her quality of life?

regards
Click to expand...

Bears are incredibly strong, more so than most people realize. Good for you for teaching the stray a lesson. You've got more self control than I do, I would have ended it right there, if it were at all possible.

RescueRiley said:
Good stuff Brad, Remind me not to mess with you..LOL, Thanks..
Some folks where ribbing me a bit about the size of the bear. but I;ve seen these same people freak out when a squirrel tried to share the same picnic table, so I take it with a grain of salt,
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Well, if they get too aggressive in harassing you, it works well on people also.
 
WOW RR - i'm glad you and yours got out without a scratch. That was wisdom in use leaving before dark. There are too many stories where someone gets dragged out of their tent and becomes a fatal statistic.

I've been carrying bear spray (UDAP 7.9oz size) for the last 5 years, but haven't had to use it until about a week ago. The "local" neighborhood blackbear that gets into everyone's trash got into our neighbors and then ours. I heard him (but since we've only been here a month hadn't seen him) and then saw him in our back yard by our kitchen window (from about 15 ft through the window). He is huge, what i'd guess anyway to be probably 300-400lbs. On all fours easily at my waist and when standing (as he climbed over the back fence-line) he looked a good bit taller than me (i'm only about 5' 11").

Anyway, i opened the back door to our covered porch, UDAP in hand and ready to go. He saw me, slowly turned toward the back fence-line and i sent a hefty blast his way. The moderate breeze at the time carried the spray-cone off from his direction, but if he had turned to come my way he would've had a thick, orange cloud of agonizing UDAP spray to get through. The spray cone went easily 20'-30' and i'm pretty confident it would've sent him into high-gear if he had turned toward me. Since my Mrs. was there and saw the whole incident, she isn't a bit hesitant about ordering a 2nd cannister (i'll probably get the middle-sized (Magnum 9.2oz size) this time even though my current cannister seems more than half-full.
 
Fmajor, not sure if you already know, but I've heard that the canisters loose propellant slowly once partly fired, also, the reside can be really tasty to bears, so don't forget to clean up anything you don't want munched on!
 
I have had more than a few bear encounters. Once, while swimming on the dock, I had a bear come out on the dock. It was a T shaped dock, with a diving board. I wen out on the diving board. When he came up to the diving board, I dove off and swam under the next dock over (about 20 feet away). I watched the bear through a gap in the dock. He was sniffing, and looking around. Seemed like he was trying to figure out where I went.

The neighbor had to kill the bear that evening next door.
 
I never let a little thing like "firearms are prohibited in the area" keep me from being able to defend myself against two legged or four legged animals.
Others of course can take their own counsel, but that is my stance on personal safety.

In some 55+ years of woods bumming in Florida, SC, NC, Georgia, Virginia and West Virginia, I have never seen a black bear act that aggressive. Ran into a very large male bear in the Ocala National Forest last week, and he spun right around and high tailed it.

Glad that no one, including the bear, was harmed.
 
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