Yukoner:

The circumstances that you describe are not at all what I had in mind. My scenario is the bear practically on top of you. I wouldn't want to shoot a bear, with buckshot, at 20 feet, casually, standing either.

Up close, a few feet away, the shot spreads quite a bit, maybe 2-3 feet so precise aim is not so critical.

You described precisely what I envisioned. The bear lost his desire to pursue and took off. Isn't that good enough?
If your friend had fired 5 feet away the bear would, most likely, have gone down. At 20 feet the pellet probably just didn't find the brain. Contrary to what some think, the buck shot certainly has the velocity and energy to bust the skull bone and deliver a lethal dose.

There have been some bear attacks in Yellowstone. Here's the record.

http://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/injuries.htm

Not much danger.

I had a video of a game control officer attacked by a bear in his truck, being released from a cage. I can't find the video but I did find slides of it and posted them a couple of weeks ago. The bear had him. He got his side arm out and put one under the chin. There no time or opportunity for long guns.

Here's a sanguine video of a bear killing a man. It's very graphic.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2chol9_bear-kills-a-man-bear-attack-2014_animals

Here's a video of the Churchill polar bears.

http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-show...he-most-dangerous-nights-of-bear-season/

We need to keep in mind that there are three species of bears: black, generally innocuous and non-aggressive but unpredictable; grizzly, unpredictable but none the less can be very dangerous and certainly capable of serious injury and upon particular bear persistence completely deadly; polar, the worst, very aggressive, hunt humans vigorously, deadly.

My son has more bears in his yard than I do. They are always there raiding his garbage. My grandson had an encounter on the street and sought refuge in a strangers house.

Last edited by William_E_Tibbe; 07/30/15.