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Travel Guns
Pepper spray is being billed here as far from 100% effective as well. I just as soon have some as not. I most of all rather know how to avoid needing it. As a volunteer fire fighter I'm not sure I care for the idea of flare guns but I probably don't understand how they actually work.
Few of our relocated bear are actually aggressive. It's just that they've connected humans and food and lost their fear. You can't get rid of them. Main thing is to keep food (including toothpaste and dishes) well separated from the camp. Also watch out for the little bear. Make some noise in the bush and mom usually will chase them up a tree and then will be a little calmer about things. Just back up and give'um space. No guarantees, but bear will stand up and they do make mock charges without actually attacking. A really serious one huffs and swats the ground. That's a sure sign to back up. I haven't seen this but I have seen a mock charge.
It sounds like it should be a good trip and I wouldn't worry too much about bear. It's mostly about food. I would keep in mind that trying to get a bear to do what it doesn't want to and hunting them are different things. I have pretty good luck with the former and having to deal with 300 lbs. of dead bear would probably take the enjoyment out of a bush trip for me.
We're in an area where the relocated bear are dumped but our bear population had been fairly constant. Tracking studies indicate that bear 3 years and older almost always go back where they came from even from over a hundred miles. That may be so but we can't tell our own bear from the imports. Government cut backs and there's not enough vets to knock them out so they can be tagged. Duh!
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This is a little off topic but funny any how. Yesterday I went to my hunting property to play on the tractor and I had some materials delivered to level a spot for the new blind. In the middle of my field there is a older conifer that I have cut the bottom branches off. This is usually where I sit and take my break becuase I am usually too lazy to go beck to camp and sit at the pic nic table. Yesterday I go over to my spot for a nice afternoon snooze and I notice one of the branch nubs has fur all over it stuck in the pitch. I look down and sure enough That big old bear took a dump right in MY spot !...Scratching his back at the same time.  . now thats some trick. I guess it definatively answers the perverbial question.
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I got the 12 ga. Rem. 870 out last night and put the slug barrel on it. It is just a short cylinder bore barrel with rifle sights on it. I also collected up some random buckshot and slug loads.
I have some "bird bombs" that I will take with me. They are like a big firecrackers that can be shot in the 12 ga. They go out about a hundred yards and make a big boom and a flash. This may be useful in scaring away some bears. I would think that these would work better then flares, but aren't good for anything in close.
I have a flare pistol, but I am worried about shooting it because of the fire danger. It has been so dry in the west this year that nearly anything will light it up. Years ago, I was in an old open pit mine called the Vulcan mine where a friend of mine and I were shooting. It was very barren as most of these old mines are. There was one little patch of grass and bushes about ten feet in diameter in the whole pit. My friend was trying out a flare gun, and sure enough, the wind took the burning flare into the only vegetation around for two hundred yards and it went up like a tinder box. This situation resulted in no consequential damage, but the same thing in a forest would be disasterous.
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410 slugs: usually in the 90 grain class and pretty fast, 1200+ FPS, so they are like shooting a 357 with light, soft lead slugs. NOT bear medicine.
My brother has used them very effectively on large feral dogs that were killing his geese.
Hunting requires different logistics than personal protection. The biggest bear in the world will die right now when you put a non-expanding 357 slug in his head, but only a fool would go hunting with that combo if there was something else available.
Carry what you are most comfortable with under stress. Lower 48 predators are just not big enough or tough enough to require anything bigger than a 44 magnum for protection.
I think your 10 mm would do fine with non expanding bullets, especially if you are comfortable with the gun.
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We always carried a 12 gauge with shot in it for protection. If we were swamping new roads we alway brought the dogs for look out and warning.
With a large bear a high powered rifle can be false protection. If he puts his head down and comes at you there is little to shoot at. Friends that have taken head shots and do to the skull thickness and low angle of the skull they had it graze off without the bear loosing a step. This could also be a problem with the 2 legged intruders you are talking about. The muscle on the chest of a bear is hard to penetrate and without a clean shot will not necessarily stop him.
With the shot you could always stop him if he got to close and make a lot of noise if he was at a distance.
It is best not to attract the bear, but it is sometimes difficult to determine what will attract them. I have spent days playing hide and seek with my chainsaw oil and gas. Trying to find a location that they won't sniff it out and eat the oil. Just say no to bacon!!!
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We always carried a 12 gauge with shot in it for protection. If we were swamping new roads we alway brought the dogs for look out and warning.
With a large bear a high powered rifle can be false protection. If he puts his head down and comes at you there is little to shoot at. Friends that have taken head shots and do to the skull thickness and low angle of the skull they had it graze off without the bear loosing a step. This could also be a problem with the 2 legged intruders you are talking about. The muscle on the chest of a bear is hard to penetrate and without a clean shot will not necessarily stop him.
With the shot you could always stop him if he got to close and make a lot of noise if he was at a distance.
It is best not to attract the bear, but it is sometimes difficult to determine what will attract them. I have spent days playing hide and seek with my chainsaw oil and gas. Trying to find a location that they won't sniff it out and eat the oil. Just say no to bacon!!!
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I think the bear repellant I was talking about is not actually a flare gun I just meant to say it looked like one. I think they were approved and sold by the Alaskan DNR or equivelant. I had a budy who had made a zip type gun that shot bird bombs about 25 yards. It was pretty cool and very effective.
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I was getting stuff ready for my trip last night and I was digging through a big box of shotgun shells. I cannot believe I have so many different odd lots of buckshot and slugs. I guess that it is like spare change; I use one or two and then drop the rest in a box. Eventually the box gets heavy and I start sorting it out.
I have a clip full of heavy solid bullets loaded up for the Glock 20 which is 10mm. This is a gun that I am used to packing around and I can hit very reliably with it.
On a lighter note, I also got out the astronomical telescope to do a little star gazing. It should be very dark out there and should make for good viewing. There will be a full moon, which is also amazing to look at through the scope.
I don't leave for another week or so, but I have another business trip between now and then. I will post a picture or two of the trip when I get back Utah.
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Dont ya just love junk drawers. It always kinda fun to see all the junk you have saved. The only thing I dont like ios when I buy something I already have. Sounds like a fun trip. Will look forward to some good photos.
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I realize this is an old thread but my curiosity was piqued by TomG's reference to pepper spray. It is my understanding that this is considered contraband in Canada.
A friend of mine unknowingly had a can of "dog spray" in his vehicle that the postman, meter reader and such use so he was detained at Canadian customs. He was told it was a weapon and was fined $400 on the spot.
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How do you determine Shotgun S
06-22-2017, 22:18 
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