Canada: Man Killed by Bear in British Columbia

Gun Watch ^ | 14 May, 2015 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

It is not *quite* impossible to obtain a permit to carry around a pistol in Canada. There are three ways that I know of:

1. Have a verifiable, eminent threat against your life never heard of one being issued, but it is in the law)

2. Have it issued as part of a trapping consession.

3. Have it issued for use as an official pest control permit (I met a Canadian who had that; he said he was the only one in Canada that he knew of.

[Norm Lenhart]

The need for Swede

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3290417/posts

[Snowyman]

This explains Canadian gun laws.

http://www.howtogetagun.ca/

[afraidfortherepublic]

Outdoors ping!

[minnesota_bound]

The Canadian did make himself look big.
The bear just thought “More to eat!”

[Tijeras_Slim]

Or if you’re a badazz FReeper, you just kill it with a knife.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1670661/posts

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

IF he had a handgun, he might have survived, but not likely. It sounds like it was the middle of the night and he was asleep. His fiancée only discovered him missing in the AM, so she didn’t hear a struggle. In bear country, he should have been sleeping inside.

Any time I go into the mountains, I carry ‘bear bangers’ and also bear spray as a last resort. Even the TransAlta Hydro boys, who maintain all the isolated hydro facilities in ‘K-Country’, are not allowed to carry guns. They depend on ‘bear bangers’. So far, no one has been attacked by a bear. The ‘bangers’ seem to do the trick!

[marktwain]

If no one has been attacked, how do you know that the “bear bangers” work?

For us in southern country, perhaps you could explain what a “bear banger” is.

The term would bring to mind a large caliber handgun in the United States.

[Norm Lenhart]

Balls of Titanium.

[NCjim]

http://www.ursusinternational.org/en/bangers.html

[Big Red Badger]

Bear countries with out Bangers!?!

[Bulwyf]

I do electrical in northern Alberta, I always carry a 45/70, bear bangers and spray are a joke if your life is in danger.

That’s OK though, each to their own.

[Big Red Badger]

not available in USA.

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

No one has been attacked BECAUSE they work. Over the years I worked for TA, Several employees have had to use them over the last few years, all successfully. Since there is no cellphone coverage in much of the mountains, and radio reception is poor, and there are not enough satellite phones to go around, employees can be on their own.

Basically, a 'banger' is similar to a shotgun shell, but has no shot, only a small plastic cap. You place it on a 'pen' launcher, aim it up directly over your head, and pull the trigger. It fires into the air making a loud 'bang', like a shotgun blast, which scares the bear away.

The downside is, in a panic, if someone aims it towards the bear and fires, and it overshoots the bear, you have a scared, angry bear running away from the sound TOWARDS you!

Here is a link to a "Bear Banger" from Mountain Equipment Company in Calgary.

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

Spray is better than nothing, I guess. I believe the range is supposed to be 10 feet? If a bear is charging, in the time it takes to go from that 10 feet to your face, you would have to be EXTREMELY lucky to make the blast of spray count!

When the bear attacks, if you don’t have a banger, instead of bear spray, it is better just to have a co-worker with you who runs slower than you! ;>}

[Bulwyf]

A slower running liberal? I’d have a hard time feeling bad heh

[ExCTCitizen]

Sleeping outside in bear country? Darwin winner...

[Carriage Hill]

“I don’t have to outrun the bear, sweetie, I just have to outrun you.”

[kearnyirish2]

I ran into a black bear hiking a few weeks ago in NY; it was absolutely terrifying. It moved slowly closer when I turned to pick up a club, then moved off when I moved forward a little bit yelling (with a club in one hand, spray in the other, and a turd at my sphincter about to let loose). Last fall a foreign college student had been killed nearby (on the NJ side of the border), though I think they were taking selfies with the bear then scattered when it got closer. In any case, I wasn’t about to go out like that (and was probably lucky). The best way to describe the feeling is that I could literally “hear” my heart pounding; in the end the scariest thing was how silent the bear was (both watching me approach before I was aware of it and then when it turned and loped away). If I was hiking later in the year when more brush was grown in, I would have walked right into it without ever seeing it (and would have still had my map in one hand and GPS in the other).

[21twelve]

I think the bear spray is more like 30 feet. I’ve heard where the bear spray is quicker than trying to get an aimed shot off and will scare the bear off (even just the sound and the fog). But sometimes they come back in a few seconds - so then a gun is needed.

I try to carry both, but often it is just the shotgun loaded with Brenneke slugs. So far the bears know we are out there working and stay clear.