Know a few guys who have stopped bear charges with a game load of light birdshot (both 20 and 12 ga.). May not be the best choice in the world but it worked. Point being the best bear defense gun is the one you have in your hands when things take a turn for the worse. Anything in your hands is better than nothing when you need it.
This is more of a question than an observation: In my one experience, the only bear I’ve seen that heard a gunshot and wasn’t hit, ran the other way. This also is true of every video or writing on the matter I can recall. And I’m talking about a bear on the ground some, if even short, distance away—meaning not already on top of you. But I may be missing something.
Is that incorrect? Phil and others, what is your experience? Do bears ever charge toward the sound of a firearm that has been discharged in their direction whether or not they were hit by the projectile?
