Posted on 01/04/2024 3:49:14 AM PST by marktwain
Bears have killed nine times as many people when bear spray is sprayed than when handguns are fired in defense against bears. Fatal bear attacks are rare and make the news. Powerful cartridge handguns became popular and relatively easily available about 1873. Bear spray became available in 1985. The ability to learn about and report fatal bear attacks has expanded enormously since 1960.
Data which are nearly impossible to obtain are:
Collections of incidents involving bear spray and/or firearms are inherently subject to selection bias and confirmation bias. Some of this bias may be subconscious rather than intentional. Selection bias is built into the ability to gather data about the subject. If no human is injured, there is little incentive to report successful defensive actions.
If a bear is sprayed and runs off, there is little to report and little incentive to report it.
If a bear is shot at and runs off, there is little to report and not much incentive to report it.
If a bear is shot and killed in defense, where legal hunting is allowed, it is often recorded as a hunting kill rather than a defense against bears.
Data on fatal bear attacks overcomes some of these issues. The bear attack was serious, because the person was killed. Reporting of fatal bear attacks is more reliable than for any lesser level of conflict. Fatal bear attacks tend to be investigated, and investigative reports may contain higher levels of information.
Most fatal bear attacks involve people who are not armed or who do not use what arms they have.
Over the last several years, this correspondent and colleagues have been collecting all cases which can be documented where a handgun was fired in defense against a bear or bears. The total number of cases number over 170, from 1890 to 2023. All documented cases are included to avoid selection bias. Only one case is known where a human was killed. This is the incident in 1995 in the Svalbard Archipelago. The defenders fired a .22 rimfire handgun in defense against a polar bear. One person was killed and eaten. Bear spray is not allowed as a defense against bears in Svalbard. Pistols of less than .44 Caliber are not accepted as sufficient for bear protection in Svalbard.
Nine people are documented to have been killed in incidents where bear spray was sprayed in defense against bears. Those incidents occurred from 2003 to 2023. Eight of the nine fatalities occurred in North America, where bear spray is heavily promoted, in the eight years from 2017 to 2023. The nine fatalities are:
2003: Vitaly Nikolayenko was killed and eaten in Russia. He was a famous bear researcher.
2017: Erin Johnson was killed near the Pogo Mine in Alaska
2018: Mark Uptain was killed in Wyoming
2020: Daniel Schilling was killed in Alaska
2020: Stephanie Blaise was killed in Saskatchewan
2021: Carl Mock was killed near Yellowstone Park in Montana
2021: Leah Lokan was killed in Montana
2023: Doug Inglise and Jenny Gusse and their dog were killed in Alberta
As agencies and institutions have promoted the use of bear spray as a superior deterrent compared to handguns, and firearms in particular, more bear attack fatalities have occurred with the use of bear spray. Seven of the fatal attacks appear to have been predatory attacks. The two exceptions are: Mark Uptain was a guide helping to process an elk when he was attacked; Carl Mock was attacked near a moose carcass on the border of Yellowstone Park.
As the use of bear spray has ramped up and been promoted in North America, the percent of people killed in incidents where bear spray was used as a defense has been remarkable. Since 2016, eight of 22 people killed by bears were killed in incidents where bear spray was used as a defense. The numbers are very small. Eight incidents of 22 over eight years is 36%. In the same eight years 45 cases were documented where people fired pistols in defense against bears, and there were no human fatalities.
It is impossible to know how many times pistols were fired in defense against bears in the eight years; or to know how many times bear spray was sprayed against bears as a defense during the same period.
The claim of bear spray as superior to handguns for defense against bears is not supported by the data on fatal bear attacks.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
How to tell the difference between black bear scat and grizzly scat:
1. Black bear scat is usually blackish and contains seeds and fur from grooming.
2. Grizzy scat is usually blackish and may contain bells and also may smell of pepper spray.
Firearms have been used to kill bears for hundreds of years before bear spray came about.
Their development into a personnel protection system if far ahead of and kind of spray.
People with common sense have always known that they have and will be superior to bear spray.
“Peace and Love” liberals feel they can reason with bears so let them.
Forget the bear spray, I think I’ll stick with a .500 Smith & Wesson magnum revolver. Not really something I have to be concerned about, not too many bears out here in central Kansas.
My dad had two bear encounters in Alaska.
First time he was stalked by a bear while fishing so I gave him an Aussie L1A1, the Brit version of an FN FAL, for protection. He was later attacked by a bear near his cabin and I can report that the L1A1 was very effective at bear protection.
One of the big problems with bear spray is that problem bears are getting sprayed multiple times and they are getting used to being sprayed so for some reason the sprays are less effective if the bear has been sprayed multiple times.
Great story.
I look around outside here before I go out at night to make sure a bear is not hanging around. Especially mother and cubs. They’re ok unless you spook one, corner one or get to close to mom and cubs....then hell breaks loose.
I am sure that it is very effective as a defensive weapon but it seems like that it would be pretty heavy for a hiker to carry through the woods.
Of course unloading a 20 round mag in to a bear should end an attack.
apparently bear spray only serves to piss off the bear...and leads to the bear wanting to serve who ever is dumb enough to not carry the proper tool for a bear.
you would have time to get off only a couple of shots in a bear attack.
An inch pattern version of the FN FAL, is the term that is commonly used. UK and most Commonwealth countries. Belgium, Austria, Brazil, Germany, many others, used metric pattern guns.
I called mine a Poyer.
I scanned but did not read the entire post.
One thing that seemed omitted was another thing which happened in the ‘80s:
Entry into the wilderness of a new generation of people lacking a healthy respect for the wild.
In addition, most of those who arm themselves with bear spray vs. firearms expose themselves as members of a certain demographic.
IOW, IMHO, there’s more to the story and at least some - if not most - of those who died from bear attacks made very, very poor choices.
Da Bears!
The ‘Groom Creek’ attack in Prescott must
Be in your data base.
A neighbor used a rifle to shoot and kill the bear, but was too late to save the victim.
The initial blast of spray didn't stop the suspect, after being sprayed in the face at close range, James said he attempted to take his car next. He said the suspect got inside his vehicle, sat in the driver’s seat, and locked all the doors. But James had the keys in his pocket. He thinks that and the bear spray blast forced him to get out of the vehicle.
"His face was all red and he was crying, his girlfriend asked me what I sprayed with and I sprayed her in the face too," James said.
James said the couple took off running north at that point.
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