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Many readers are interested in how various handgun calibers have performed in defense against bears. This is a complicated subject. Sometimes, any caliber will do. Sometimes a level of power may be required. Sometimes, a level of accuracy or speed may be required. Many permutations exist. The most important aspect, if a confrontation occurs, is to have a firearm available, easily and quickly accessible. The specific caliber is less important. These updates include all the incidents we have been able to document to the date of the update, after several years of intense searches. We always appreciate readers who help...

The use of handguns as a defense against bears has been shown to be effective 98% of the time. In this study, all cases that can be documented, where a handgun was fired in defense against a bear, are included. This is done by design to guard against selection bias. All cases cite the source for the case information. Unlike other attempts to put a number on how effective handguns, long guns, or bear spray are in defending against bears, every case is described to readers so they can come to their own conclusions. Readers may disregard any incidents at...

Her experience brings new meaning to the "bear vs. man" question.While social media users debate if they’d rather be left alone in the woods with a bear or a man, one woman is considering herself “lucky” after surviving a real bear attack. A Scottish tourist was mauled by a bear in Romania. Friends Moira Gallacher and Charmian Widdowson were visiting the Carpathian Mountains when they encountered a group of bears, according to Scottish news outlet STV. Widdowson said, “We saw these bears — a mummy bear and a baby — they were gorgeous.” What the women didn’t know was that...

“The bear is more predictable.”“You don’t understand the point of the question.”“You are uncompassionate.”“You have internalized misogyny.”“You’ve never experienced trauma, and it shows.”“Remove the bear from the equation and what’s left?” Signed, the people who picked the bear.I am a 50 year old woman. I keep thinking of how when I was growing up, it was mostly acknowledged (except for a few angry feminists that roamed college campuses) that we had won the feminist revolution. We were all happy and no longer felt the need to fight men anymore. Women were just as personally responsible for their failures or their...

In 2014, John Gookin, Tom Smith, and Alison Williams published a paper in Human-Wildlife Interactions titled: A Device for Refilling Practice Bear Spray Canisters. The paper shows how to build and use the device. This correspondent has long maintained bear spray has a valid place as a means of protection against bears. Bear spray does not appear to be as effective in stopping bear attacks as handguns. This does not mean it is not useful. Bear spray can work effectively as a device to haze bears which are merely curious. Bear spray is generally a better deterrent than shouting or...

Daniel Ducharme, 31, likely died immediately after losing control of car on I-91... A man who was dragged by a bear following a car crash was most likely dead at the time, Massachusetts State Police said. First responders found the man outside of the car in Hatfield on Sunday morning and saw a bear in the woods nearby... A preliminary investigation suggests that earlier that day, the driver, Daniel Ducharme, 31, of South Hadley, was traveling south on Route 91 when he lost control of the car, struck the guardrail multiple times, went down an embankment, and struck several trees...

There’s a viral trend on TikTok that got started with a seemingly simple question: Would women rather run into a bear or a man in the woods? Now people are discussing the fact that a lot of women have admitted to preferring the bear. USA Today reports how this debate — simply referred to as “Man vs. Bear” — is said to have been started by TikTok account, Screenshot HQ, who posted a video of women being asked this question seemingly around the United Kingdom about a week or so ago. By the end of the video, all the woman...

The “Five Little Ducks” were met with a grizzly end. A zoo bear named Juniper shocked guests at a girl’s birthday party after devouring ducklings that had landed in its enclosure, as seen in a video with over 2 million views on TikTok. “A #natgeo trainwreck for my daughters’ birthday, thanks JUNIPER,” mother Rachelle captioned the clip of the impromptu feeding. She and her fellow revelers, which comprised both adults and children, had reportedly been celebrating her daughter’s birthday at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington. The bash took a turn when the party-goers stopped by the bear exhibit...

Attempting to quantify the effectiveness of defensive methods for use against bears suffers from significant selection bias. It is impractical to enlist large numbers of volunteers, randomly select half, give half a method of protection, leave the others as a control group, and place both in equal chances of being attacked. Instead, we rely on gathering data from people who were attacked and who had various types of defensive weapons. Obtaining a valid sample is nearly impossible because successful defenses have a strong bias of not being reported. The more spectacularly a defense fails, the more likely it is to...

April 12 (UPI) -- The Florida Highway Patrol posted security camera footage showing a hungry bear attempting to break into a parked patrol car. The FHP's Troop F, based in the southwest part of the state, posted a video to Instagram showing the furry suspect who is "wanted" for "attempted burglary of [an] FHP state trooper car." The footage shows the bear, apparently on the hunt for snacks, approach the parked vehicle and attempt to use its mouth and paws to work the door handle. The attempted break-in by the bear, nicknamed "Teddy" by the FHP, was ultimately unsuccessful, as...

Carrying a gun for defensive purposes, with an empty chamber, is a controversial measure which proponents claim enhances safety. It is one of the reasons handguns appear to work better for self defense against bears than long guns. Long guns are more commonly carried with an empty chamber than are handguns. Handguns are more commonly carried for self defense than long guns. A recent bear attack illustrates the problem of carrying a long gun with an empty chamber. From Alaskapublic.org 2021: “I remember looking over my shoulder, and I was saying something to them when I kind of heard the...

James Albert Maierle was a well-known educator and sportsman born in 1942 in Calumet, Michigan. He was an enthusiastic hunter, fisherman, and woodsman. He is well known in his local area and published a few stories in hunting magazines. He died in 2022. His son related the circumstances of his father’s shooting of a black bear in self-defense in the early 1960s on the Montreal River in the upper peninsula of Michigan. The location is only a few miles from where Maierle grew up. The area was pretty wild in the early 1960s. After the major copper mine shut down...

The Biden administration's plan to relocate grizzly bear populations to rural parts of Washington State will have a devastating impact on agriculture and livestock in the region while posing a significant danger to local communities, a fifth generation cattle producer warned. Residents of Washington State are doubling down on their concerns surrounding the federal government's plan to translocate grizzly bears, an apex predator, to the federally-managed North Cascades National Park, after the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the strategy their preferred plan for grizzly bear management in the region. The North Cascades National Park borders...

One of the persistent myths about shooting bears in self-defense is a bear’s skull is nearly bulletproof. Bears skulls are not bulletproof. However, bear heads are big. It is easy to miss the brain or spine if you aim at the wrong spot or aim away from the brain because you are afraid the bullet will “bounce off.” This is exacerbated by trophy hunters’ hesitancy to shoot a bear in the head. A powerful shot to the brain cavity will fracture the skull, making measurement for the record books impossible.It is difficult to hit the brain of a bear if...

Two people were hospitalized after being attacked by a bear in Slovakia, officials reported Sunday. The Environment Ministry may propose making the animals easier to hunt to reduce their population. A 49-year-old woman suffered a wound to her shoulder and a 72-year-old man was treated for a gash on his hand from the bear in the town of Liptovsky Mikuláš, emergency services said. Police drove the bear out of town.. A day prior to the latest attack, a 31-year-old Belarussian woman apparently fell to her death trying to escape a brown bear in the nearby Low Tatra mountains. She and...

A Pennsylvania woman is recovering in a hospital after a vicious assault by a mother bear .. The incident reportedly took place around 8:30 p.m. just outside the victim’s house. Lee Ann Galante, 55, stepped out to let her dog, a small black Pomeranian, enjoy the backyard, ... With injuries across her arm, face, neck and head, Galante’s condition necessitated urgent medical attention, police said,.. She was rushed to the nearby hospital following the attack ... "I thought I was going to die." A woman who was hospitalized after being mauled . ... Galante shared her ordeal from her hospital...

Japanese officials found the body of a missing student alongside the corpse of a brown bear that likely killed him. The bear is also suspected of attacking several other people in the area.The body of a missing student in Japan has been found alongside the corpse of a bear that likely killed him. The bear is linked to a string of other attacks in the area and follows a trend of increased bear attacks in the country this year. On Nov. 2, police found human remains on Mount Daisengen near Fukushima in Hokkaido island. DNA analysis revealed that the remains...

On February 21, 2024, the Florida Senate amended and passed HB 87. The bill allows people threatened by bears to use deadly force to protect themselves when they reasonably believe a bear is a danger to themselves, others, or their pets or is causing significant damage to their dwelling. The bill has already passed the House. The changes made in the Senate are not large. It seems likely the bill will end up on Governor DeSantis’ desk and be signed into law. Floridians had the authority to protect themselves and their property from bears until the Florida Fish & Wildlife...

On February 15, 2024, the Florida House passed CS/HB 87: Taking of Bears. The bill passed 88 to 29. It will now be sent to the Florida Senate. The bill has been prompted by a burgeoning black bear population in Florida, which has increased exponentially from 300 – 500 bears in 1974 to 2,650 in 2002 to an estimated 4,350 in 2016. No official population estimate has been made for eight years. The bear population increased 60% from 2002 to 2014/15. If the trend continues into 2024, the black bear population will be estimated at over 6,000. Cubs are not...

Spain’s Iberian brown bear population, which was once almost extinct, has made such a strong recovery that a ranger patrol was set up to deter them from roaming into small villages in the country’s north. The regional government of Castile and Leon arranged for the patrol, which consists of nine rangers, to guard residents and their crops in the mining town of Villablino and the surrounding area, in the province of Palencia, ... bear can weigh from 330 to 550 pounds and stand over 6.5 feet tall, ... Angeles Orallo, 73, has been attempting to keep the bears away from...