12 ga. vs a bear

[San FranPsycho]

I doubt black bears will give you trouble. I have a friend who, for fun, likes to "chase bears." Yeah, he leaves snacks out when he goes camping and when black bears come, he screams and chases them as far as he can keep up with them. Not kidding.

[-hanko]

ok i posted a a thread in the handguns section about what caliber vs a bear and everybody told me to bring a shotty. so here i am, basically going camping in mammoth lakes area, just want to bring something just in case, not trying to kill a bear but want to be able to protect my family if i need to. have a 870 pistol grip only. 00 buck or rifled slugs? i dont have any 000 and dont really want to go out and buy some. thanks

Bear spray.

If you're protecting your family, bring something suitable for human predators.

Keep a clean camp, lock you food in your vehicle if you're car-camping, hang it off the ground over a tree limb if you pack in.

Bears will avoid you if at all possible.

-hanko

[trevilli]

I doubt black bears will give you trouble. I have a friend who, for fun, likes to "chase bears." Yeah, he leaves snacks out when he goes camping and when black bears come, he screams and chases them as far as he can keep up with them. Not kidding.

I think he needs to start doing this with Grizzlies...

To the OP, bear spray is more effective in general, though black bear predation attacks are pretty rare. As others have said, store your food and garbage appropriately, and you shouldn't have any problems. If you have small children, don't let them wander off alone.

[BigDogatPlay]

Just ask this guy what he used. I believe this is the biggest bear ever killed. This is not a fake or doctored picture.

.338 Winchester Magnum, according to the story, which is considered by many a baseline caliber for hunting really large bears.

[frigginchi]

This is how I'd load my SG: 2 Bear Bangers, 2 Slug, 3 Buckshot.

[Twinsen]

Slugs! Buckshot has less penetration than pistol bullets. Which means nothing against humans, but a lot against a bear. Bears have thick skin and their organs are deeper in than ours.

Get yourself a rifled barrel shotgun and non-foster slugs. Nice real slugs made for rifled barrels. Rifled slugs are made for smooth bore shotguns and are very innacurate, they don't really spin, but they are front heavy so they can float like an arrow instead of tumbling. Slugs for a rifled barrel actually get spin stabilized and can be built just like really big bullet and so are accurate. They make higher velocity ones that are 300-400 grains and even ones that are copper jacketed.

[Thefeeder]

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Have you folks heard about my cat with SHS....Got to go...feeding time

[cadjak]

Hauling a (loaded) shotgun around to protect from bears in Mammoth is like bringing a harpoon gun with you surfing to protect from sharks. (similar likelihood of encountering one as well.)

What makes you think that bears are going to be a danger where you are going? If you really think a California black bear is going to attack you at Mammoth, find another camping spot where you can relax and enjoy yourself. There have only been 12 bear attacks in California since 1980. Unless you have incredibly bad ju ju, everything will be fine.

[John Browning]

Load it up with birdshot. It is like an iron fist and you don't have to aim. You also don't have to worry about over penetration because it won't penetrate your neighbors tent.

I learned all this from the internets. You should believe me.

[Twinsen]

Load it up with birdshot. It is like an iron fist and you don't have to aim. You also don't have to worry about over penetration because it won't penetrate your neighbors tent.

I learned all this from the internets. You should believe me.

Pure win. Birdshot would only be effective on a person in a headshot from insanely short range. But even then, IT SUCKS.

[advocatusdiaboli]

Honestly, load up blanks--Black Bears are timid bears--you fire off a blank or bird host up in the air and they'll scoot. Heck, I saw a Nature special where Arctic workers were using firecracker rounds from 12-gauges to scare off Polar Bears--and they are the meanest biggest baddest man-eater bear on Earth. Of course they had a several slugs back in the magazine and more in their pockets just in case

[cadjak]

[DisgruntledReaper]

Try this.... take your shotgun and load it up with loads of INCREASING power and then shoot them in turn taking note of the recoils associated with the loads. I did this with a friend who never shot a shotgun, I asked what he wanted to shoot so i loaded appropriately..... I did this range and this list is the firung order which is reverse of load order--

#8,#7,#6,#4buck,OO,2-3/4slug,3'' slug...

Will tell you that when the winchester 3" slug was fired from my benelli Super Nova there was impressive fireball activity....! Recoil is STIFF!!!! this should put a bear down and most other critters no prob.

I would not want to fire the 3" mag slug from a PG shotgun unless totally necessary..

That is my 2 cents........

[dexter9659]

Every single fisherman on the Kenai Peninsula I ran into in Alaska had a pump with slugs. There were no exceptions.

[John Browning]

Pure win. Birdshot would only be effective on a person in a headshot from insanely short range. But even then, IT SUCKS.

That was my attempt at sarcasm. I thought the "won't penetrate a tent" remark gave it away. Guess I need to try harder.