When I moved to Alaska in the mid 90's the first thing I did was buy a Colt Anaconda. I hauled that bastard everywhere with me because I was certain there were bears behind every tree just waiting to eat me. Two years later I realized that bears were a non issue and quit toting that thing around and sold it. If you are hunting by yourself in an area where bears are prevalent I would think about having a capable sidearm but when hunting with others I just see it as unnecessary and just one more thing to carry. I've had eye opening close encounters with bears all over Alaska, and IME using your head and paying attention to your surroundings always worked for me.
ROFL! sounds just like me, for a while I had a model 629 S&W and also a Mossberg 12 ga for bear protection, but I ended up selling both, having never fired either one. Too heavy to carry. I had a few close encounters with with brownies at maybe 3x flyrod length, but was never threatened by a bear in 6 years.
