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bear prevention

Jay_Disarray

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2019
Messages
1,950
Location
MN
so in MN it is illegal to carry while archery hunting, so carrying a sidearm is out of the question.

what do you do to deter curious bears/what bear spray works best?
 
We deal with the same crap in NY, no handguns during archery and lots of bears, a few years ago I was just getting on the ground packing up my stuff and heard something behind me and a bear was coming down a runway headed my way just off the edge of a corn field, I shined my light and yelled at him and he turned and ran he had no idea I was there. If one climbed my tree I would dump every arrow I had at him fast too lol.
 
We deal with the same crap in NY, no handguns during archery and lots of bears, a few years ago I was just getting on the ground packing up my stuff and heard something behind me and a bear was coming down a runway headed my way just off the edge of a corn field, I shined my light and yelled at him and he turned and ran he had no idea I was there. If one climbed my tree I would dump every arrow I had at him fast too lol.
i thought about that, but it would be pretty hard to shoot directly down and right at the tree. even a drop shot is typically a few feet from the tree. i had a spare arrow with broadhead on it i pulled out, and was ready to poke him something nasty if i had to.
 
In Michigan if you have your concealed carry permit your can carry during bow season. That said, you had better let the bear bite you before you use a firearm on it out of season. :tearsofjoy:

Honestly though, I've had a LOT of close encounters with bears, big boars, mommas, mommas with cubs you name it. I could fill a whole evening telling bear stories and I've never had one act aggressively toward me. They've bawled at me and tore trees down around my stands when I wasn't there but they always have backed off before I ever felt overly threatened (adrenaline rush notwithstanding).
 
In Michigan if you have your concealed carry permit your can carry during bow season. That said, you had better let the bear bite you before you use a firearm on it out of season. :tearsofjoy:

Honestly though, I've had a LOT of close encounters with bears, big boars, mommas, mommas with cubs you name it. I could fill a whole evening telling bear stories and I've never had one act aggressively toward me. They've bawled at me and tore trees down around my stands when I wasn't there but they always have backed off before I ever felt overly threatened (adrenaline rush notwithstanding).

Same here in VA luckily . Even tho I've heard spray is better I still feel more comfortable knowing I have the pistol just in case .
 
as others have said black bears by nature are not aggressive, never once did I see one purposely come towards a human, I still don’t trust them though.

nope, me neither. i know most black bears are scared of humans, but i dont trust anything with knife fingers that could instantly filet me if it got a wild hair up its a$$
 
Ok, I gotta share a bear story, sorry can't help myself. :tearsofjoy: It was early Nov. around 10 years ago and we had about 4 inches of fresh snow on the ground. I was walking in for my evening sit with my huge Summit climber on my back, pistol in the right pocket of my turkey vest and my phone in my right hand pants pocket under two layers of coveralls.

As I came through a beech thicket I came face to face with big, big boar. I honestly think we saw each other at exactly the same time. We were no more than 15 yds apart facing each other. He stood up on his back legs and eyed me up while I stood there very still not want to spook him thinking "Wow this is really cool". After what seemed like an eternity but was in reality probably 15 seconds he dropped down and started to wander off angling away from me. I took this opportunity to start digging into my layers trying to get my phone out so I could get pictures. While I unsuccessfully dug for my phone the bear would stroll about 10 paces, stop and look back at me for about an equal amount of time. No panic on either of our parts just interest.

After he stopped for the third time I started to think maybe I was digging for the wrong thing and should be looking to get the pistol out. You never know, he could be considering one last hot meal before his winter's nap. Funny how your mind works sometimes. :tearsofjoy: Realistically, at the range we were apart if he'd had bad intent there wasn't a darn thing I was going to do about it anyway. Luckily, after that last time he paused he broke into a trot and went over a ridge heading away from me.

I have to think that he wasn't exactly sure what I was given the funky silhouette I was casting with that tree stand on my back but I went away from the encounter thinking "What a great experience!"

EDIT: I guess the moral of this story in light of the OP's original post, and any of my other bears stories, is that when you happen across a black bear in the woods the best defense is to not let your emotions take over. Stand your ground, act nonchalant (or big and tough if that doesn't work) and hope the bear just decides you're not worth his time. Running will likely initiate a chase response. The reality is that these things are so quick that if you're within 30 yds you're not going to have time to do anything but duck anyway.
 
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nope, me neither. i know most black bears are scared of humans, but i dont trust anything with knife fingers that could instantly filet me if it got a wild hair up its a$$
Or if it was sick too, when I was 25 I had zero fear of anything, I can’t run as fast anymore at 43 so I make up for my physical inabilities with raw handgun horsepower, model 69 44 mag lol!!!
 
I think you’ll have to look up what section 624.714 says but I bet its some language around a license to carry. Pa is essentially identical. I was recently approved for mine but the first appointment to pick it up isn’t until the end of November so doesn’t really help me out this year fully. Still got me a shiny new pistol :)
 
If you read the section makes no mention of archery hunting. The section goes through all the legal stuff of what it takes to get permit what is takes to be refused and on and on. I have always been told permit overrules section a. As it is a legal right to carry for your protection with permit. Call a local warden to check and they can clarify for you for sure.
 
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