I agree, she'd probably get into a lot of trouble for shooting a bear for trashing her kayak. I would want a big gun in case the bear decided on something softer and better tasting.
IMO she would have been better served by using an air horn. My close encounters with black bears (two times, one that could have been serious), a blast from an air horn scared them away (and didn't hurt anything except our ears).
jim
That's not what I was implying, but I agree with you. She definitely didn't need to spray the bear yet. I bet she left a bunch of food in there and the bear had a good snack.
If she is married I bet the her husband put a gun in his mouth after watching that.
"Joe, Joe, why are you putting that gun in your mouth? Don't put that in your mouth. Are you going to shoot yourself? Joe, why are you trying to shoot yourself? NO!!!!!!"
In all seriousness: I've only been surprised by a bear a few times. The common theme every time is that we weren't using bear bells. I think a lot of bears become habituated to hikers wearing bells and they know it's nothing to be alarmed about but it gives them a chance to leave the area. Who knows the impact of this because it's really hard to measure the "no incidents" effect. Second level of protection is bear spray. Third, I hope it never comes to this, would be a large caliber handgun. This is when the bear is so close that you pretty much don't have to aim, go for the ribs, chest, throat and squeeze the trigger. Finally, when you're really desperate, knife... slice the belly and hope the entrails spill out before the bear does the same to you.
Edited by jackattack, 05 October 2015 - 06:51 PM.
