r/canadaguns • u/dke783 • May 07 '26
Shooting Have you ever had a bear incident?
Honest question: have you ever had to fend off an aggressive bear in Canada? (hunting or otherwise) What happened, and what worked for your response?
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u/DonAzuld May 07 '26
Never had to fight one but had plenty of non aggressive encounters. I keep bear spray on me, rifle in my vehicle. If I see them I leave them alone.
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u/IcyManufacturer7480 May 07 '26
How is rifle in your vehicle gonna help you during an aggressive bear encounter. Honest question.
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u/Jonesy_of_Nostromo May 07 '26
Definitely didn’t involve guns, but I do take a shotgun when I go out in to the mountains as a last resort after bear spray and bangers and whatnot. Also for zombies.
Was just doing a trail run one day and stopped to check my phone, when I looked up there was a black bear in front of me. So I just turned around and walked the other way.
Unfortunately there were a bunch of people on the other side of the bear down the trail and when they saw it some lady started screaming and shouting and freaking out. Which startled the bear and caused it to charge me.
It got pretty close to me but backed away when I yelled at it and started walking towards it again. Then I just scooted off the side of the trail and it walked by me. I was pretty pissed about it.
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u/Ace_And_Jocelyn1999 May 07 '26
I was living in a staff house in whistler, and one day the guy who left last only closed the screen door. So we’re all at work and get a call from the neighbours that there’s a bear in the house and it’s trashing everything! So I decide to head back home to deal with it. When I get there I see there’s trash everywhere outside. So I slowly go inside, and thankfully the bear is gone (I learned later the neighbours chased it off with a leaf blower). The kitchen is destroyed, trash everywhere, it’s like a bomb went off. So I spend the next few hours cleaning and fixing the house. Later I’m sitting on the porch relaxing after dealing with all that, and behind me I hear a snort. I bolt upright and there’s a black bear standing 3 feet from me! Just a chair between us, and no chance to get to the door! He gives me a testing lunge, but I got big and scared him off just long enough to get to the door! He then spent the next 30 minutes slamming on the door to try and get at the food! It’s the most scared I’ve ever been. Eventually the bear realized it wasn’t going to get anything and left.
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u/dke783 May 08 '26
"Leaf blower" as a defensive strategy?
Damn.
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u/Ace_And_Jocelyn1999 May 08 '26
Black bears can be pretty cowardly, that said the dude must have had balls of steel.
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u/prosper_0 May 07 '26
Encountered lots of bears, wolves, and a cougar. All of them buggered right off as soon as they saw me. The only ones I'm all that worries about are the cougars - if they want you for lunch, you'll never see them coming until they're on you.
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u/Dummy_Wire May 07 '26
I’m a civil engineer, and I once ran into probably a 300lbs+ black bear at the corner of one of the sites my company had designed, when I swung by during construction. I was in my car, but it was a very weird sight.
Normally I get that black bears aren’t too aggressive (unless mamas and cubs come into play), but it was very startling, considering this was a subdivision under construction in Northern Pickering, Ontario. Like, families would be moving into that area in the following months. He/she wasn’t really “aggressive” per se, but was *very* out of place, at the corner of a residential street with houses being built, and a major roadway, in a major city.
I guess the workers had been leaving out enough food to cause buddy to stick around. I called the bear people, warned the construction company and encouraged them to have their guys be more careful with leaving edible garbage around, and that was that. As far as I know, nobody ever saw him again.
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u/Hmfic_48 May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
Had some close encounters with black bears in Petawawa but nothing i would categorize as aggressive, just curious and a bit of a nuisance.
They would rip open our rucks and steal our IMPs but would leave if set off bear bangers or made enough noise. We had to fire off some blanks a couple times when we didn't have the bangers readily available.
The trench beside me had a cub fall into it and on to one of the troops inside. He gently gave it a boost out and it carried on.
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May 08 '26
[deleted]
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u/above_thetreeline May 08 '26
Bears were never an issue in wainwright. The fucking moose, elk and deer on the other hand was a different story, the deer weren’t dangerous dismounted but in blue fleet they were fucking deadly
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u/AgreeablePanda9805 May 11 '26
What’s blue fleet mean?
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u/above_thetreeline May 11 '26
Civilian pattern vehicles, more often then not they were navy blue, hence the name. Basically they weren’t army trucks, F-350s, econoline vans shit like that.
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u/mischling2543 May 09 '26
Reminds me of the full tactical field ex where we were all told over the radio to stop where we were and wait for the bear lumbering down the road to leave
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u/NefariousNatee May 07 '26
Before firearms come into equation..
Pertaining to bears.
If it's brown lay down > If it's black fight back > if it's white say goodnight
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u/NeruLight May 07 '26
Looooool in before someone mentions the little old native lady taking down a grizzly with a .22
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u/Whispersfine May 07 '26
That fucking internet crystal meth convinced so many gun noobs around me that .22s are powerful and destructive.
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u/Uncle_Ted_1942 May 07 '26
It’s a mix of fudds saying “it’ll bounce around in yer skull and kill ya extra!” And tacticool dudes saying .22 is as dangerous as a Red Ryder. Powerful and destructive? Not really. Still deadly though even on larger animals, it’s just you’d rather something bigger and more powerful so there isn’t a huge risk of maiming them
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u/justinsurette May 08 '26
So, while it’s still a significant penetrating injury, is it immediately fatal? Not so much as a .300winmag or .12g slug or similar cartridge, my neighbor (asshole) shot my dog with a .22 (Akita) he told me he must have missed but he won’t next time so keep him off his property…. I don’t know the details of why he was so pissed about my dog because he was a big cuddly belly rub suck hole and the neighbor was a legit asshole, anyway, he didn’t miss, he hit him right above his eye and the round passed completely through his ear and out the back, (the vet stuck one of those long wooden stick q-tips through and it poked out the other side, had to irrigate and put him on antibiotics) if it was any other round than a .22 my dog would likely be dead…… (he has been gone a long time now but lived to be almost 14) so, as a line of defence a .22 is the last choice even with a 30round magazine full of quality high velocity hollow points, you could stitch a bear right the fuck up to the point where it’s gonna die but there a good chance the bastard is taking you with him……
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u/NeruLight May 07 '26
Did you know that .22 is fatal out to two miles though? 😆
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u/Whispersfine May 07 '26
Yea man. My poop is probably also very lethal if I take a dump from 3000 miles high. 😂
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u/theservman on May 07 '26
3000 miles? It'll burn up in the upper atmosphere and make a pretty flash.
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u/RealTurbulentMoose May 07 '26
"Did you see that bright flash, son? That's theservman, pooping down on us from space."
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u/Q-Ball7 In the end, it's taxes all the way down May 07 '26
.22 is, functionally, just a single pellet of #4 buckshot.
If #4 buck can kill it, so can a .22.
Now sure, you have a much better chance with #4 buckshot because each trigger pull gets you 25 of them at the same time. But it's not actually more powerful on a per-projectile basis.
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u/Whispersfine May 07 '26
The kinetic energy tho, is very very different. 25 or most of the 25 pellets all together killed the bear. Not 1 of the 25.
A relevant comparison would be 25 single shot 22 shooting at the bear at same time. I would say, ya maybe you’ll have a better chance.
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u/SpinachStunning5547 May 07 '26
10/22 goes brttttt
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u/Whispersfine May 07 '26
I am very sorry to inform you that A180 is prohibited in Canada.
Please turn yourself in at your earliest convenience.
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u/NemrahG May 07 '26
Don’t lay down, make your presence known and back away while still facing the bear. I always recommend bear spray, and bangers too.
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u/theservman on May 07 '26
To identify whether it's a black bear or a grizzly bear simply climb the nearest tree. If the bear climbs up the tree and eats you it's a black bear. If it pulls down the tree and eats you it's a grizzly bear.
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u/AMEFOD May 07 '26
If you’re anywhere you expect to see white bears and aren’t within reach of a 12 gage with slugs or better, that’s on you.
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u/AgreeablePanda9805 May 11 '26
Lol. Luke Grines said he was out with a friend and the friend asked if he had a gun cuz they might see bears. Luke said he had a 9mm on him. His friend said “ok if you see a bear then shoot yourself” 😂😂
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u/Domovie1 May 07 '26
Just once, and I’d say curious, more so than aggressive.
It’s the exact sort of thing that you get taught: make yourself look big, lots of noise. Just be aware of whether it’s a lone bear, or a mother with cubs.
Except in very specific circumstances/for specific professions, I don’t really recommend the *planned* use of firearms for bear defence. Bear spray is very easy to use, convenient, and has far fewer ways to fuck up than any rifle or shotgun.
Like with anything else, 80% of winning is doing the research ahead of time, ensuring proper planning, and taking normal precautions. Use a bear barrel, be aware of your surroundings, all that sort of thing.
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u/Halfbloodjap May 07 '26
Last night
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u/Kedive May 07 '26
Well name and shame him.
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u/Halfbloodjap May 07 '26
Whoops missed the aggressive part in the body text, but had a big bruiser of a boar pass about 2' from the doors of the hall last night during my kids archery program. He lives around the shooting range and is completely unbothered by gunshots/explosions, it took a bear banger going off about 3' from him to get him to leave the rifle range the other day. He's also the reason we can't leave our 3D targets outside, as he's attacked more than a few in the past
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u/Kedive May 07 '26
I thought you were making a gay bear joke
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u/Halfbloodjap May 07 '26
Lol didn't even think of that interpretation, but this bear is definitely a daddy
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u/numbdigits May 07 '26
I've been bluff charged a few times, each time the bears backed off after posturing, sometimes aggressively. This is far and away the most common ending to a bear charge. That said, if it's a grizzly sow and it has cubs nearby chances are that you are going to get stomped if you aren't quick enough to deter it/shoot it, and chances are you won't be so be aware because avoidance is your best protection. Much like carrying avalanche gear, bear spray or a gun may save your life, but if you have to use it then you already fucked up. If you have time to shoot it then you likely don't need to because it probably isn't going to attack you.
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u/TheHunnyRunner bc May 07 '26 edited May 08 '26
2 hours out of Fort St. John, BC, Canada set up moose camp. Past the rez but some natives had set up a bait station for elk. It was essentially giant bird feeder with a pile of oats on it. Well a huge male griz (700lbs ish) found it and knocked the whole thing over and was gorging on the oats. We were on the back of the quad and I never felt like my .308 was inadequate until that moment.
Another incedent, we were camped on the west side of the rockies looking for moose. Some spanish hunters arrived and tagged out early, but mentioned they had to shoo a big bull off the forestry road about an hour from our camp. I went up to investigate and found a bloody carpet (moose calf hide) and no moose. A day later, another hunter went up that same road and got charged by the grizzly that was there.
Another time, I was tiptoeing along after spooking some whitetails. I gave them half an hour to not over pressure them. Well as I got another half hour down the trail of carefully placing one foot in front of the other, I hear a scratching down a tree. Two brown yearlings descend, and momma bear comes up behind them. I was uphill, so I figured it was unlikely that they would make a charge up to me, but I started growling to let them know I wasn't friendly and had my gun loaded as i traversed away from them as fast as I could also keep an eye on them.
Good times.
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u/Flat-Dark-Earth Big Bore Specialist May 07 '26
I’ve had bears charge while hunting after they’ve been shot.
Never a random act of aggression.
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u/dke783 May 07 '26
Your first shot made them mad? Crikey, that's terrifying to hear!
What kind of caliber/bore do use for your bear hunting?
Do you aim for chest, neck, or head?
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u/GuyonaMoose May 07 '26
Not aggressive. in the military we all hopped out of the cargo truck in Gagetown and formed up just off the road. Little did we know there was a bear den 8 ft in front of me and my buddy beside me. I little cub came out and ran past us. Was nerve racking but all I could think about was where is momma bear haha
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u/dke783 May 07 '26
Gagetown bears?
Were you bearing arms at the time?
And did you have a belted C9 Minimi or C6 7.62mm in the truck?
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u/crimsonfletcher May 07 '26
Yup, i live in a very rural area. One day a black bear came by, and found some food. Well, it started coming back every night. My dogs could only keep it off the property in the morning, at night my property belonged to the bear. One time i was trying to get him off the porch and he lunged at me.
so I called my buddy who had a bear tag. He got in at 9pm. He asked if we were gonna go hunting in the morning. I said "we're getting him tonight". I start cooking ravioli to lure the bear, even though it had been coming every night for 3 nights already. We got him not 30 minutes later from the porch.
Grizzlies are also in the area, but they mind their business and leave when I holler.
I want to be clear that, it was a. A problem bear b. We had a tag c. It's a cultural food for my people
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u/jmz-jmz May 07 '26
Two separate occasions at a family cottage there have been bears basically 20’ from us - first one my dog chased it off (he was fine, bear wanted nothing to do with it and ran like hell), second time a family member had to pull out the bear spray. Did not have my PAL at the time so no firearms available, and thankfully not necessary
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u/Paint_Spare May 07 '26
Never had to fend one off but I practically bumped into a black bear when camping in kakabeka falls I looked down at a map, hear a grunt, looked up and saw the rear end of a black bear tucking tail and running away not 5-6 metres from me
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u/scottsuplol May 07 '26
I’ve run into black and brown and a grizzly bear. Just gave my space made my presence known while backing away. I have bells when I’m in the bush and carry spray. Never had to use it but always good to be prepared.
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u/Schrodinger_cube May 07 '26
I have black bears around my house and its basically a fat racoon. In fact im more worried about racoons and skunks than this bear and her cubs as she ditched them and ran across the road. But just have a bell and a hold of the dog as its more likely to make the bear attack than no dog. Also my dog went just full fur missle with a lock on and off the rail before i was clued in to the bear. That was scary. But her radio collar has a shock and buzz function so i didn't have to approach to get her back to me and away from the bear.
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u/Uncle_Ted_1942 May 07 '26
I’ve bumped into black bears on multiple occasions. Even a momma bear with a cub. Every time they’ve just been curious and kept there distance, and bolted off the second I started making my way towards them
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u/Minimum_Judgment8401 May 07 '26
My favourite joke story about it it how all you need is a 22 but not for the bear but your hiking companion so you can walk away at a nice brisk pace
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u/nsgallup al May 07 '26
I've have several very close on foot encounters with gbears over the years, and it always ended either by calmly moving out of their way, or by them walking/running away.
My dad has had similar experiences with them. He did have one scary encounter on a ridgeline when a cub ran past him and then mom came after. Luckily the cub veered downs lope so after a moment of consideration, mom headed that way too.
I think if you are maintaining awareness and presenting appropriate body language you would have to be very unlucky to be attacked, even when encountering gbears at close range.
Would recommend accessibly carrying bear spray as a precaution.
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u/fuckbitingflies May 07 '26
One that was actually aggressive. I was doing remote research work and had a grizzly bear in camp in the night. No warning at all and it approached silently. I used a bear banger shot straight in the air and it worked as intended. The whole thing lasted less than 30 seconds from first growl and teeth popping to silence (except for ringing ears due to the banger). Nearly pitch black.
I see them (black and brown) often enough that I’m pretty desensitized, but that was quite a reality check for how quickly it can happen.
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u/dke783 May 07 '26
Which bear banger round did you use?
What are those rounds like for recoil and muzzle flash?
And do banger rounds cycle a semi-auto successfully?
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u/fuckbitingflies May 07 '26
I used it from a pen launcher in that instance, but I have tried them in 12G as well. They have a significant muzzle flash and no recoil. No chance they would cycle a semi, but I’ve never seen anyone using a semi for wildlife defense anyway. Usually a pump with a loaded tube and empty chamber. Sometimes with the tube loaded in order of lethality.
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u/No-Night-48 May 07 '26
Yup. I was living beside the rockies backpacking all the time. Had to tell people to stop, look, take a pic, then move on. They wanted to stand there forever and agitate the bear by following it.
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u/MourningWood1942 May 07 '26
Lots of black bears, never had an issue. They are skittish for the most part.
I’ve had one sniffing the wall of my tent while I was in it, that was the closest I’ve gotten. It heard me and took off.
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u/Zorgtest May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Not an incident but a funny story
It was in early high school, I was waiting for the school bus when I looked out the window and saw a dog running in my neighbors yard I took a picture… but when I looked at it… that wasn’t not dog… it was a black bear cub
I then see my friends running down the street with a pistol and an axe
I went and grabbed my machete and ran out to chase it out of the yard and back into the woods… they told me the bear was running down the Main Street so they tried to get it to go back to the woods but it just ran of so they chased after it
We lost it in the patch of forest between the two roads but no sign of momma bear so we went back to my driveway to waited for the bus
And this is how we ended up bringing a gun, a splitting axe and a machete into school, no idea why the bus driver let us in since they usually panic when they see us carrying anything more than our backpack and lunch box
He didn’t snitch thankfully and we didn’t get caught or got in trouble we put everything in my backpack since it was bigger and I gave everything back to them after school
They did get in trouble for having left their backpacks at home to… somehow the teacher didn’t buy their excuses of being too busy chasing after a bear
From what I remember the pistol was a CZ-75 he found in the woods
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u/baconwrappedsack May 07 '26
I had a cougar incident in Ontario near Cheddar ON
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u/thecoolernameistaken May 07 '26
MY MAN
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u/baconwrappedsack May 07 '26
Shot it in the head 7 times with a cooey bolt action 600. MNR called, I have a tooth from it. They tried making me sign papers saying it didn't happen
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u/sketchcott May 07 '26
I'm going to use this as an opportunity to plug my favorite book: Bear Attacks Their Causes and Avoidance by Stephen Herrero.
It's a good read, and really puts the speed of bear attacks into perspective.
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u/NemrahG May 07 '26
Personally, we did shoot a bear once when I worked in Parks. The bear was a big nuisance, scaring it off didn’t work and we had trouble catching it. Eventually, we got ordered to shoot it, which was honestly pretty controversial in the office. The shotgun we got was a pretty sick 870 Marine Magnum which was cool at least.
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u/GreenMan165 May 07 '26
Not sure if this is helpful, as it wasn't aggressive that I know of, but I had a close encounter with what I assume was either a curious, or head strong black bear that was wanting to walk down the path I was on. He was walking quietly on mossy ground and we came up upon each other at close range, about maybe 8 yards.
I first tried the usual throwing up my arms and yelling at it, but it didn't even shift position, or make a noise, just kept staring at me, which got me a bit nervous. I wasn't sure in the moment if it was just unwilling to move from its usual path or if it was curious, and wasn't sure how it would react to any movement I made next. That, and I was in a spot where escape out to the sides was rather difficult with how marshy it was.
I had a bear banger loaded in my 12 gauge, which I fired off to the side of his left foot, and that made him take off instantly in another direction. One potential mistake I encountered though it worked out for me, is the soft wet moss actually caught the bear banger and so it never actually popped like it was supposed to, the projectile being fired in its direction was enough to scare it off. I believe in the value of bear bangers in certain situations now, maybe not so with a fully aggressive bear, but it was enough to end my particular encounter.
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u/NeruLight May 07 '26
I got told a black bear attack story second hand and it was enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
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u/Spartapwn May 07 '26
Twice I’ve been within 5 meters of a black, one was a boar but I was in the car, the other was maybe a year old and just curious and scurried away from me
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u/Murray3-Dvideos May 07 '26
I botched my first and only Black Bear hunt pretty bad, had it been an aggressive bear I'd probably be disfigured.
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u/BoneDaddy240 May 07 '26
I’ve had more than I’d like to, from far closer than comfortable, with far less than adequate to protect me, mostly taking out garbage or wandering around my property. I’ve used paintballs, slingshots, bear bangers, buckets, boots, rocks and harsh words and have luckily managed to escape all such encounters unharmed. Grizz would be a different story.
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u/tmsa_prez May 07 '26
Our range is sandwiched between regional park, provincial park, research forest and berry fields. You can see black bears almost daily there. There’s plenty of resources for them. The one big boar; he dgaf. He’s walked beside the running truck while I was 20m away running a saw. Thankfully our full time range guy who was in the truck has enough sense to just let him walk past and not try to spook him towards me. The sows; we were watching one with a yearling last week. At 50m, she didn’t care about us, just kept munching grass. Little guy kept an eye on us. Tuesday I was maybe 30m from a sow with 2 cubs and she just grunted and they took off down the hill. They were pretty cute. They backed off a bit and the cubs climbed a tree. Little down the road there’s some hay fields that you can often see one in. Almost smoked one there with the car. He came running out of the bush, ripped a 180 and back into the bush.
Incidents: not really. Garbage gets collected every day and is in a big container with a heavy lid opened with a winch. They’ve chewed into lots of gas cans over the years; we don’t use them anymore. Odd pylon or delineator gets chewed, or slapped around a bit. Muddy paw prints on the windows, lots of poops on the road.
I’m often up there by myself just looking at what needs done or how a project is progressing. I usually have spray with me just in case. And I walk slow and make noise so I don’t surprise any critters.
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u/Temporary_Shirt_6236 May 07 '26
We were chilling in my neighbour's backyard near the lake when a black bear entered stage left and casually started snarfing down seed from the bird feeder. We just sat there watching it from maybe 30 feet away, more amused than scared. Then it just exited stage right and off down the treeline it went.
It wandered to another neighbour's place while the husband was in his hot tub out back. We only knew that was the case when we heard him yelling and screaming while he tried to run back to the house but slipped and fell on the wet deck. According to his wife the bear just sat there looking at him with a vague wtf look about it. Never saw it again.
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u/Omega_Shaman May 07 '26
I live on a mountain in BC and have bear sightings on my house camera about once a month this time of year. I have had a black bear in my garage once.
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u/dke783 May 07 '26
Jeebers. I can't imagine going out to the car and having Old Smoky there licking his lips!
Do they show aggression towards you and your family? Or do they just shoo away with some shouting?
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u/Omega_Shaman May 07 '26
I have never had one even acknowledge me. They just go about their business. The key is not to do anything stupid because black bears kill people more than any other animal in BC.
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u/Cock_ball_dickin May 07 '26
Yes. When I was treeplanting. This black bear was sniffing wherever I’d stick a new tree, bro basically forgot I was there but was super invested in the trees. Black bear btw (northern Ontario just northwest of Thunder Bay near the Manitoba border), I ended up getting kinda scared and I yelled at him and waved my shovel around and he ran off lol. I’d be dead if he was a grizzly, this is why carrying handguns in the wilderness makes sense
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u/RydNightwish May 07 '26
Yes. I chose it willingly as opposed to being alone in the woods with a strange female human.
I survived.
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u/NurfedHerder May 08 '26
Used to work up north in the bush and ran across black bears pretty regularly. Fortunately Grizzlies arent seen in that area and never ran across one. Never ran into a sow with cubs so most would see me and just go the other way. Had a younger one bluff charge me once but bear spray sent him on his way pretty quickly. Was fortunate over all those years to never run into an aggressive one. Knew of one woman on a seismic crew by Fort Mac that wasn't so lucky and was killed by a Black.
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u/PteSoupSandwich The 10/22 Dude May 08 '26
Bear incident? Like, going to a bar off base and not realizing its a gay bar until you're several $2 doubles into the night?
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u/Birdybadass May 08 '26
4 times. I know no one wants to hear it but all 4 times I deployed spray and the incident was resolved.
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u/-rifle-is-fine- May 12 '26
Camping as a kid, my brother, sister, and I rounded a corner right into a big black bear with a small black bear. We just walked backwards around the corner and fucked right off out of there.
This just happened. But note it is only the 4th in the province's history.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/bear-attack-fatal-wildlife-northern-9.7195515
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u/Armedfist May 07 '26
Yes. But I was lucky to have k31 with bayonet attached to it. Didn’t have to fire warning shot. Another time the bears was blocking the way to the range. I had to honk at them for about 10 mins.
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u/RadioactiveBaguette May 07 '26
A polar bear tried to break into a cottage I was in up in Northern Quebec. They're 3x bigger than you imagine.
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u/bobbyjimthree May 07 '26
Hiking in Kananaskis, Mount Indefatiguable. Buddy and I coming down, him about 10 paces in front, we round a bend, in front of us in a slight depression on the other side of a single row of saplings, about 20 feet away, a grizzly looks up as I approach my buddy who’s stopped wide-eyed, evaluating the situation in real time. (I think he was trying to remember whose backpack contained the remaining half of a cinnamon bun.) The thing stood on its hind legs and also evaluated the situation, and I swear it stood taller than us though the depression it was foraging in was two feet below the trail. He both became big, shouting, jumping up and down, and waving our arms like the fools we were (having disregarded the “Warning - bear active in this area” sign in the parking area). In another split second, the bear turned and galloped across the clearing away from us. The sound of it running away was astounding, like a pack of horses. That was close enough, thanks.
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u/gunpowdergin69 May 07 '26
I once had an encounter with a Grizzly while out hunting. We both happened to be walking in opposite directions along the same trail and found ourselves face to face at about 20 yards. We watched each other for what seemed like an eternity. And yes, I was afraid, even with a 300 Weatherby racked and ready to go if he came at me. Eventually, the bear decided, much to my relief, to turn off and wander into the woods.
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u/Xxragequitxx123 May 07 '26
Walked around a bend on a dark trail and came across a mother bear and her cubs 40ft away or less. Mom had her back to us , the Cubs were on their hind legs staring at us and were fairly tall for cubs We didn’t see them till they dropped off their hind legs and eyes focused and seen the mother with her back turned and her head down sniffing/eating.
We backed away slowly , once around the bend we ran for 1km to the trail entrance. We could hear the mother bear roar/huffing behind us. Unknown if she chased or was following or just giving a warning because the roar happened after getting around the bend and at that point we were running.
Bear hunters picked us up in a truck after seeing us running with knives and hatchets in our hands and knowing something was up.
Never got to show my girlfriend those waterfalls we were trying to hike too. Great spot but it’s prime bear county and she’ll NEVER go back there lol
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u/above_thetreeline May 08 '26
Not me, but my 85 (at the time) year old grandfather dinged a charging yearling black bear between the eyes with 30-30 at about 3-5 meters out and it died at his feet. Grandpa fell back onto his ass and lost his glasses, he couldn’t find them, so he notched his tag, stuck it in the bears mouth and stumbled his way a few km back to camp.
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u/Who_Am_AI_YouTube May 09 '26
Yeah, my rifle fell over on the scope while hunting, and 5 minutes later we bumped a big boar at 100 yards. Both shots missed with 6.5 prc.
Life is good
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u/CheesecakeEasy8952 May 11 '26
That’s not a Black Bear and it’s his road today. Hope ya have a 357or bigger on a Layard .
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u/dke783 May 12 '26
It sounds like buddy tried bear spray but it did not save him:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/09/us/bear-attack-glacier-national-park.html
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u/dke783 May 15 '26
And another bear kills a Canadian:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/13/world/canada/canada-bear-attack-uranium-mining.html
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u/dke783 25d ago
Dang. If you meet a bear and you have no gun or spray, try harsh language!
Props to this lady for doing what she did
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/27/world/canada/grizzly-bear-alberta-canada-video.html
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u/The_guy_mp May 07 '26
I never go into the Ontario wilderness without a shotgun. Moose are more terrifying than bears imo.
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u/Girthquake2654 May 07 '26
Yes sir at about 16 then (hopefully) never again. We have a permanent camp set up on some familial land out in northern sask where the black bears are as common as coyotes. Normally theyre no problem as we mind ourselves and they mind themselves but this one year we had twins that were about the size of yearlings(?) who were very curious and very unafraid of people. After probably a half dozen encounters with them one day instead of false charging and running away at the first challenge the bigger and braver one starting skulking around and stallking towards me/my mom with a lot more intent. wouldnt leave when we shouted and made a presence so we decided if theyre getting this comfortable making advances on us and testing the waters we should deal with the issue.
While it was advancing my mom grabbed my great grandads old cooey 20 guage and put a slug in and passed it over to me to put it down. Hit its chest/shoulder area pretty immediately fatal but because i failed to disable the limb which a shoulder shot or instant drop he dropped then got up and ran about 20 feet before falling again and staying there.
Definitely a big formative memory and a huge part of the reason im so pro gun when it comes to back country stuff. Sorry for textwalling or if parts were unclear ill probably come back and edit this when im less stoned