Bear Spray VS Bullets
This discussion has been a long argument by both sides for a long time. The pro bear spray side has been adamant that bear spray works. The firearm side believes one needs a hand gun or rifle to do the job of stopping an angry bear.
So… which one is better? Well, the numbers don’t lie and in a recent study done by Tom S. Smith, Stephen Herrero, Terry D. Debruyn and James M. Wilder bear spray was a big winner in every way.
Just to clear the air, we are neither against guns nor hunting, but as hunters we believe in conservation. We really don’t see a reason to destroy a bear for self defense when there are other better tools available. As hunters, we all need to do our part in protecting our heritage and not bring about the negative impact that using a firearm for self defense against a bear can have.
Have Confidence and Peace of Mind!
As a bear spray manufacturer, we have heard the jokes and the negative thoughts about bear spray and that the deterrent is only going to make the bear angrier and provide the bear with some hot sauce for his dinner. We also hear the boast that “a bear ain’t no match for my 44 Magnum”. Below are results from a study done in Alaska by the team mentioned above. Wisdom is better than strength.
The Results of Bear Spray VS a Firearm
Bear spray incidents involving 175 persons resulted in 3 injuries, all minor (<2% injury rate). Firearms incidents involving 478 persons resulted in 17 fatalities (15%), 25 severe injuries (22%), 42 suffered moderate injury (37%), 29 suffered slight injuries (26%), for a total 113 injuries (24% injury rate). With firearm use, it can be hard to use protective gear like a level 4 body armor or even gloves out in the wild — this may be the mandate for tactical training, but under wilderness circumstances, many situations are out of our control.Hence, firearms users experienced 12 times the injury rate of those using bear spray.Of the 71 cases where persons sprayed bears to defend themselves, 14% (10 of 71) of users reported the spray having had negative side effects upon themselves, ranging from minor irritation (11%, 8 of 71) to near incapacitation (3%, 2 of 71).Causal firearm failures were identified in 100 firearm cases, where users reported mechanical or physical issues with the use of a firearm, including lack of time (32%), unable to use firearm due to situation (21%), mechanical issues (11%), safety/ holster issues (9%), insufficient caliber/ no bullets left (9%), distance to bear (8%), missed bear (6%), or tripped and fell (4%).No bears were injured in conflicts involving bear spray, however, 23 bears were wounded and 176 killed in incidents involving firearms.
Why bear is spray better?
Bear Deterrent Pepper Spray works better in a bear attack situation because of its ease of use. Aiming is not a big factor like it is with a firearm and you are not relying on a bullet to stop the bear by hitting it in a vital spot. Even when this is the case, sometimes the bear can advance and attack if it does not expire right away. This can actually work against the gun user as now you have a wounded bear and this may intensify the attack. With bear spray you’re not stopping the bear with pain necessarily. You might think this as it really is painful to be sprayed. However, what you’re really doing is taking away the bears senses. The bear’s sight is impaired, but more importantly its breathing and sense of smell are taken away by the spray. Anyone that has ever been hit with a fog pattern pepper spray can tell you how difficult it is to breathe when sprayed. It actually can be very scary. For a bear, this is certainly the case. The bear will have no idea what is happening and this changes the behavior the bear was displaying prior to being sprayed.
Bear Spray: A bullet to the brain!
What you’re actually doing is putting a bullet right up the bear’s nose and into his brain when using bear spray. I say this because a bear’s brain is so geared for the sense of smell. A bloodhound can smell about a thousand times better than a human. A bear can smell about seven times that of a bloodhound. Basically, the bear malfunctions and his brain tells it to go the other way. With bear pepper spray you’re truly packing heat!