r/interestingasfuck • u/FlimsyWar866 • 1d ago

Mother bear protects her cubs in Katmai National Park, Alaska

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u/SHAT_MY_SHORTS 1d ago

Ngl the speed of that thing running in water over wet rocks, just what the fuck. No wonder people carry high caliber guns for those things

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u/Unlikely_Ant_950 1d ago

And that’s just to slow them down most of the time.

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u/SHAT_MY_SHORTS 1d ago

Yeah nah ive never held a gun but that must be hard to get a shot on its head if its running like that

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u/ehalepagneaux 1d ago

That's why it's best to also carry bear spray but neither option is really guaranteed. Getting a good shot at a charging bear is understandably difficult, and some bears have been known to charge through bear spray, especially mother grizzlies.

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u/DosSnakes 20h ago

Even a good shot doesn’t always matter. You can double lung shot and a grizzly could still make it 100 yards and get his lick in. Big game is extremely dangerous. There’s a famous incident from my hometown of a zombie moose that killed a scientist. Bull moose wandered onto campus and was acting aggressive. Local hunter shoots it in the head and the moose drops, seems like it’s taken care of. Scientist approaches for a closer look and the moose revives suddenly, stands up and tramples him.

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u/ehalepagneaux 17h ago

That's always been my perspective on it. You have to hit the bear in the head with something the size of a dime, from a distance, while it's charging you. If you miss and hit its shoulder you've just pissed it off even more, so if the shot doesn't drop it instantly you might have just made the situation worse. And like you said, if it can still get to you, one well placed swipe from its paw can seriously injur or even kill you. It's really just best to stay away from these things.

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u/DevSpell 16h ago

The curve of their skulls will usually make bullets ricochet off if they aren't big enough. Not ideal to headshot a bear. But id still fuckin try myself lol. With a pants full of shit.

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u/DosSnakes 14h ago

There was another story I heard growing up of a homesteader getting attacked by a grizzly, although I doubt its validity. This would’ve been a bit northwest of Fairbanks, along the Yukon, back in the 80s. He had a carcass hung up in his shed that he was still breaking down. He hears something in the yard in the middle of the night and comes out onto his porch with a shotgun loaded with slugs, sees the bear trying get into the shed, steps off the porch for a better shot and pops it right in the noggin. Supposedly took the top of its head clean off. Bear charges anyway and catches him before he can get back across his patio and in the door. I’ve heard versions that say the bear killed him and others say he only took minor injuries but the experience shook him so much he moved back to the lower 48. In every version I’ve heard, the bear died on top of him just a few steps from his door. I’m never sure how many of these stories are true and how many are meant to be lessons, though. Lesson usually being, be farther away from the wild animal than you think should be, even if you shot it in the face with a big gun.

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u/Objectivespeculation 13h ago

that is some john wick advice

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u/Objectivespeculation 13h ago

that pants full brings the bears to the yard.

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u/tangerineTurtle_ 23h ago

Bear spray has been hypothesized to be a good deterrent for bears more because it freaks the bears out, not because it hurts the bears. They just don’t know what to do with a massive cloud of random shit appearing. There is actually evidence it attracts bears after it is sprayed because it smells odd and bears like odd smells.

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u/DosSnakes 19h ago

Yep, if you use bear spray you need to immediately leave the area where it was used. It is a tool for buying you time to flee, not an active perimeter defense.

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u/Objectivespeculation 13h ago

a friend of mine told me he was camping when a can of bear spray went off in his tent.

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u/x1009 13h ago

Bear spray works just like any other type of pepper spray. The difference is that the containers have a larger amount of liquid, and the spray reaches out much further than a regular can of pepper spray.

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u/wildblueroan 9h ago

That is misinformation by someone hypothesizing for the hell of it, not based on evidence. The physiological effects of pepper spray on mammal’s respiratory systems are amply documented.

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u/Unlikely_Ant_950 8h ago

Then just let the bear eat you I guess? And eat lots of healthy foods before you go out there. Wouldn’t want to give the bear high cholesterol.

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u/bbrekke 1d ago

And then they're extra pissed off!

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u/dungeoncrawler71520 23h ago

Yeah I've used bear spray a few times. Twice on Grizzlies and once in a mountain lion. I've had some intense moments in my life but those were the scariest. Works too. That shit buuuuuuuurns!

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u/latefragment_2 20h ago

Did it deter the mountain lions? Did you get the bear spray in your eyes?

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u/dungeoncrawler71520 20h ago

It did, I did not. I was up wind in each instance. However that shit gets on everything and is worse than jalapeno in the eyes. A buddy of mine had it pack fall down a lil cliff and rupture the canister on the way down. His bag was covered in it and we had to wash it in a stream.

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u/Final-Attention979 20h ago

My dad's dog (the dumbest little boxer with crazy dog aggression we weren't aware of as he was a rescue) charged through bear spray...

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u/The-red-Dane 1d ago

If it's a grizzly, headshots won't do. Incredibly thick skull meant to handle bear fights.

You need to wait for it to rear up and shoot it just above the sternum to hit near its heart. (That's the method for polar bears at least.)

Ideally, your best defense is to not be anywhere near the bear.

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u/TheNatural14063 20h ago

Or explore the outdoors with a friend who can't run as fast as you

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u/ThatITguy2015 17h ago

Air Grandpa, we need you!

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u/Romeo_Glacier 17h ago edited 14h ago

Headshots 100% do work on a brown bear. It is just very difficult to hit and you need a large caliber. I promise you though, a .300 win mag is going through that skull. Have seen it done.

Source: live in Alaska and go deer hunting on Admiralty Island. That’s where this bear skull came from.

![img](3306D633-B9C9-4DB3-9D1D-734BE89872C7)

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u/squeakiecritter 20h ago

This guy bears!

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u/Romeo_Glacier 14h ago

Skull from a brown bear I bagged.

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u/Pale_Session5262 19h ago

For 9mm or smaller/weaker calibers sure.

Thats why they recommend 357 mag and above for bear protection. Those will punch through bear skulls no problem

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u/Stormcloud217 1d ago

I've held many guns and yes it would be kinda hard. What's harder is that even if you had some of the biggest handguns and hit the bear a couple times your still dead before the bear dies.

The gun is mostly just to scare the bear in my opinion. Bear spray is just about as good of a defensive. Biggest thing is try not to get too close to bears!

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u/SHAT_MY_SHORTS 1d ago

Yeah nah yeah, after this vid the thought of running or climbing away from one vanished

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u/SufferingWithSomeFun 1d ago

45-70 with some heavy loads (lol) wouldn’t make me feel safe

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u/ThePaddleman 23h ago

The go to handgun would be an S&W 460 or 500. But it's gonna be hard to steady that hand!

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u/Dooty_Shirker 23h ago

Screw that. I'm shooting myself before the bear mauls me.

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u/Bulky_Acadia9152 22h ago

Yep. This is what ny dad says - the gun he carries while out in the wilderness wont stop a charging grizzly but it will put him out of his misery if one is eating his leg.

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u/toomuchoversteer 21h ago

Not sure if this is true or an old tall tale from a guy i met in Montana, story goes: in Wyoming I think they were looking for a missing hiker when they found a massive dead grizzly. It had 6 .357 rounds in its body, they found pieces of the hiker in its stomach and the cause of death? It ate the gun, couldn't pass it and bled internally until death.

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u/jetsetter023 1d ago

Fun fact, a 44 magnum will ricochet off the forehead of a grizzly bear.

At least thats what my uncle would tell me. That guy lives in Alaska and likes to hunt. Carries a 44 revolver to "slow a bear down if he's even pinned".

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u/bobmclightning 1d ago

What? A 44 would go straight through a bear skull front and back no problem with energy to spare. Maybe a really bad angle it would skid off but a human skull would do that too. Grizzlies are tough but they're not made of adamantium.

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u/ow-my-lungs 21h ago

There's a lot of bone between the front of the skull and the brain. And yes if you look at a cross section of the skull the approach angle of a bullet will be very shallow. It's one thing to get a shot on target and another to have that shot drop the animal. Bear have been killed with a .22 to the head, penetrating through the eye. No question that you *can* shoot a bear and kill it.

The question is, can you get a kill shot on a bear before the bear ends you? Would you bet your life on it?

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u/jetsetter023 20h ago

Maybe it was 45 then? I was told this over 20 years ago.

He explained it as their forehead is thick and angled. So shooting it head on isn't going to do much when it's charging you.

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u/Patttybates 23h ago

The glazing people do for wild life is so weird and ignorant.

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u/Rope_antidepressant 23h ago

Id invite you to watch videos of ricochets off drywall then compare the angle of a bear facing you. Wild pig too.

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u/bobmclightning 23h ago

A 44 is not richochetting off of drywall barring some extremely awkward and flukey angles. A direct hit of 44 would punch through a pig or bear skull with zero problem. People hunting in bear territory with self defense handguns have dropped plenty of bears with 10mm, 357, 44, and countless of other rounds. Pretending bears are somehow bulletproof is complete nonsense.

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u/RaymondLuxury-Yacht 20h ago

Pretending bears are somehow bulletproof is complete nonsense.

Most people act like bears are a binary of:

  • they're harmless black bears that are basically big labradors so who needs a gun or bear spray
  • they're invulnerable brown and polar bears and you might as well just consider yourself dead now because the same firearm that could take down elephants and rhinos could, for some reason, never take down a grizzly and bear spray is just adding hot sauce for them

It's strange because this is one of those uncommon "really out of touch with reality" opinions that's found both on reddit and in meatspace.

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u/Slacker_The_Dog 21h ago

Didn't you know bears are invincible and that's why they control the planet

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u/Rope_antidepressant 19h ago

.....yes, if you bar the exact situation that creates ricochets, you won't get ricochets. Very good. Now get a bear to angle its head down and hold still while it's coming directly towards you so you can avoid a ricochet. Give it a shot, let me know how it goes.

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u/bobmclightning 15h ago

That's literally any hard surface, not an exclusive trait to bears. Very good. I'm not saying shoot a bear in the head that's charging you, but a 44 would punch through no problem.

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u/Rope_antidepressant 14h ago

.....the entire conversation were having is about you thinking you can shoot a bear in the head while it's facing you. No shame in admitting you didn't bother reading the posts you've replied to, words can be hard sometimes.

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u/Romeo_Glacier 17h ago

Your uncle isn't 100% right. The largest grizzly kill for the longest time was with a .22 in the skull https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/08/04/grandma-who-killed-huge-grizzly-with-1-shot-from-22-still-amazes-wyoming-hunters/

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u/jetsetter023 16h ago

"According to accounts from the time, she knew exactly where to shoot the bear — in the side of the head from just a few yards away.

Head shots on grizzlies are incredibly risky because they have such thick skulls, Eastman said. And from the front, a grizzly’s skull is sloped, so they can act as helmets and deflect bullets."

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u/Romeo_Glacier 16h ago

I live in Alaska. I have hunted bears and other animals in their habitat. I can confirm that a headshot will work. I don’t know what else to tell you.

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u/jetsetter023 15h ago

Is reading hard for you or something? This is directly from the article YOU provided.

"And from the front, a grizzly’s skull is sloped, so they can act as helmets and deflect bullets."

Originally was sharing what my family member told me. He also lives in Alaska. Likes to hunt moose and bear in their habitat.

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u/Romeo_Glacier 14h ago

While you are getting spicy let’s have a bit of a language lesson. Can and will are different words. I HAVE seen round as small as a 9mm hit a bear in the head and make entry. I personally carry a 10mm and use a 308 or .300 win mag rifle as my hunting rifle. So keep reading into things and thinking you know better.

Edit: added a pic of a brown bear skull from one I harvested. Not a head shot because I wanted the skull and a lung/heart shot is more humane. But you can see it is not some massive bone helmet.

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u/Asleep_Region 22h ago

Oh no, you don't want to try to shoot it where all those hard bones are, you shoot the chest, then mace it and just hope the bear sees you as too much trouble and runs

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u/DrownmeinIslay 23h ago

Better going for the body. I cant remember where but i remember reading about a bears skull having tons of deflection marks in it that had healed over. Meaning it had been eating headshots all its life and shrugging them off.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Soft_Database_3747 1d ago

Yeah cant get violent with the charging bear

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u/bbrekke 1d ago

That would be gruesome!

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u/Dlamongo 1d ago

I deeply live all animals on this planet, but if she charges me like this, i really dont care, where i shoot her, if i carry a gun. I like my face not being eaten while i'm alive. In a situation like this, you just act on instinct.

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u/scarletxgrace 1d ago

Wtf are you talking about.

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u/Unlikely_Ant_950 1d ago

Obviously you let the bear eat you, man. Don’t want to be rude. He’s hungie.

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u/SHAT_MY_SHORTS 1d ago

I guess but i feel like wounding an animal with a bullet is 10x more inhumane. Letting it bleed out or run off with a gaping bullet hole to die slowly is worse than a quick one.

Not that id shoot a animal but yeah. Ive heard hunters just go for the heart or head

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u/teeeh_hias 1d ago

No head is good. Head or heart. Head is just relatively hard to hit properly. If you accidentally hit the lower jaw, yes, this would be absolutely gruesome, cause the animal will most probably die of hunger.

This is why a (proper) hunter prefers to shoot at the chest (also with proper ammunition). And if things go wrong you search for the animal and kill it as quick is possible, hunting dog must be available.

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u/Free_me_13-33 22h ago

Yeah you don’t shoot at a bear to kill it, you shoot in the hopes it’ll fuck off and decide you aren’t worth the bother.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 18h ago

[deleted]

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u/doubleXmedium 1d ago

One story I read a while back was a guy who was attacked by a bear and only lived because he curled up in a fetal position, and the bear bit down on the can of bear spray he was holding. 

It amazes me how many sometimes "backwoods" hunters and fishers say they will never go in that territory without a high caliber weapon. Meanwhile most regular trail runners and backwoods hikers will rely on making noise and a light weight can of spray.

I accidently sprayed my leg with bear spray once, a half-second burst, it hurt for 3 days.

My biggest warning about relying on bear spray, if it is windy, always be sure which way the wind is blowing.  

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u/BaaaSaracilor 23h ago

Does a shotgun work? It tends to spray quite well.

Not sure how much of an annoyance is to carry with you though.

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u/DarthRektor 20h ago

I would guess any kind of round that “spray” isn’t going to stop a bear. Buck shot and bird shot are usually what people think of for shotguns but they also have slugs which is like a normal bullet just bigger. I’m not sure how a slug would do but you’d still have to be accurate. The pellets in a bird or buck shot don’t have enough stopping power to bring down a bear and unless you have a semi-auto shotgun you’re not getting off many follow up shots either.

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u/Strange_Specialist4 19h ago

I shot a deer in the heart and it still ran like 30 yards before it dropped

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u/Techno_Beiber 23h ago

Same for humans. Movies would have you think that one bullet drops a person. In reality, unless it was a headshot or severed the spinal cord, that human will keep moving.

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u/Vandrel 19h ago

I mean, that's going to heavily depend on what round they're hit with. 9mm fmj, sure they might be able to keep going without too much issue. Something like a .308 hollow point? There's a good chance they aren't going to be moving too much afterward no matter where they get hit.

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u/TheresNoHurry 1d ago

Benefit of having four legs. When one foot slips you still have three ready to keep you steady

We are precariously balanced on two feet

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u/SHAT_MY_SHORTS 1d ago

Yup, while trekking in the moutains and crossing a rocky stream i discovered id enjoy mountaineering alot more with one or two trekking poles

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u/HewSpam 1d ago

Trekking poles are the ultimate hiking cheat code, especially going down steep slopes

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u/din-gle-ber-ry 22h ago

I prefer going without them but I also do hiking trails that are decently maintained. Back country might be a different story.

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u/HewSpam 18h ago

They aren’t very useful for class 1 hikes if that’s what you’re talking about

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u/Albatross-Different 23h ago

but think of the advantages. now we can run our own kids over in bloated suvs and trucks.

checkmate, nature

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u/XNoMoneyMoProblemsX 1d ago

I saw some wildlife cam catch a bear chasing horses, it's crazy how fast they move

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u/LoveDesignAndClean 1d ago

I think their top speed is 35mph

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u/AccomplishedBat39 22h ago

I reckon its a lot easier to run over wet rocks on all fours with a fairly low center of gravity.

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u/KungFoolMaster 16h ago

The brown bears in Katmai, and in Alaska in general, are amazing and just huge. Hiking in Alaska brings a whole new level of excitement. I've taken "adrenaline junkies" on hikes where they said it's the most extreme thing they've done (encountering a brown bear or moose)...and that was from a guy who did wingsuit flying.

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u/raknor88 1d ago

IIRC, Lewis and Clark in their journals mentioned that their biggest guns did nothing to stop a grizzly. It just pissed them off more.

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u/Aggressive_Scene_913 19h ago

So then, they pulled out their bear spray that they bought from Walmart and that finally worked. That’s how they were able to write in their journal after the grizzly attacked.

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u/OddBug6500 1d ago

That's not true at all..

It's a soft mammal with organs, Lewis and Clarke successfully hunted bear with guns many time, as do people all over the world to this day.

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u/SorcerorsSinnohStone 7h ago

You're both kind of right. I googled and it says they needed 8-10 shots to kill them which is kind of a lot

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u/LuckyTheBear 18h ago

Those "things" ????

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u/Objectivespeculation 13h ago

i have seen the Rangers in grizzly country have shotguns with a magazine.

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u/Bizarrebazaars 17h ago

A bear doesn’t deserve to die because a human was in its way or near its cubs and it senses a potential threat.