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/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.