Quote Originally Posted by jerrymrc View Post
We have to like you.

Had a bear watch me once at Buffalo Creek. Probably was thinking "So how do I get the food OUT of that tin can (camper)" About 75 yards away. Just sat there for 5 min or so. I did not sleep well that night.

My "lesson" I learned was when I was 13- I carried the bear protection ashore -bear protection was Mossberg 12Ga with alternating 00Buck and slug... but I made a mistake (stupid teenager) and left it in the dingy I rowed ashore.. because I wanted to carry my .22 (Nylon 66) with me... and carrying 2 guns was just overkill, right?

I was about 100yds from the dingy, and I saw a good-sized Grizz come out of the bush about 100yds from me... he looked straight at me, and I figured he could close the distance to me faster than I could close the distance to the dingy... and I about shat myself at this point.

since all I had was the .22, I fired about 5-6 shots to land about 10-15ft in front of him, hoping the noise & the bullets landing on the rocks (beaches in Alaska are NOT sandy, they're either rocky or silt) would discourage him- it worked, thankfully... he huffed, then turned and walked back into the bush... and I NEVER was without bear protection IN HAND when ashore after that...

(no Alaskans use pepper spray that I'm aware of- there's an old joke about Grizz bear scat having bells in it and smelling like pepper spray)