If using a shotgun at close range, slugs all the way is recommended by Stefan Herrero and some of the AK F&G biologists.
Herrera is one of the last guys I would give much credence to...
ADF&G protocol includes a 375H&H...
The by-stander in Seward at the problem-black-bear shoot taking a slug ricochet in the sternum probably wished for a lighter, more directionally stable projectile.
I don't mind Herrera, nor Tom Smith. Both have the most successful bear studies, including a web page that's is not longer active, about the count of bear/human confrontations in Alaska for the past 100 years. That page was active around 8 years ago, and had all the documented cases of bear attacks that resulted on injuries and death of people in Alaska. It included a couple of deaths from polar bears, to a lot of injuries and death from black and grizzly bears.
While I don't have much faith in the F&G and other biologists about what to do during a bear attack and the use of firearms, Herrero's study about human-habituated bears, specially the ones that hang around dump sites, is quite interesting.
Herrero was spanked mightily about the first edition of his book. Read both editions and get back to us about what he really knew and knows.
And the very basic flaw is it is very much agenda-driven.
As to his studies of "ALL" bear-human interactions... hardly... and his agenda shows in his selection of incidents. Feel free to believe, but his books have major flaws.
Some ADF&G bios over the years have been extraordinarily bear savy and do not deserve that broad brush from someone that buys into Herrero.
Not trying to argue with you, but what I am interested on is not how F&G biologists and others such as Herrero have to say about bear and human interaction, but data related to actual accounts of bear attacks on humans that have resulted in injury or death (such as the link I posted above). By the way, the data in the link is not from Herrero's books. That data comes from recorded and published bear attacks on humans for a period of approximately 100 years.
Thank you Captain Obvious!
The point is not all records made the book and not all incidents made the records. How they were chosen by Herrero showed an agenda, not clean science.
Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.
