First, I have personally had two encounters with grizzly bears and three with black bears. The grizzly bears wandered off as did two of the black bears, but one of the black bears ate all the fish that I was stoopid enough to bury in the snow about five feet from where I was sleeping. God that was dumb of me. He took about two bites out of each fish then pushed against my tent where I was fumbling for my glasses and my Model 57 Smith. He wandered off and was killed about an hour later by a Basque sheepherder about a mile from my camp.
I am a proponent of spray. The Wyoming Bear Team has worked very hard at promoting and studying spray and the evidence just seems to overwhelming to ignore. Prior to “converting” to spray, I carried firearms (still do for two legged vermin). For a couple of seasons I carried a 12-gauge 870 riot gun attached to my pack frame with Velcro. The shotgun was loaded with the nastiest rifled slugs I could find. The 870 was just too slow to deploy so I switched to a S&W Mountain Gun and later a to a Trail Boss. I loaded my .44 with 300 grain jacketed soft points before changing to a hard (and I mean hard) cast 240 grain bullet. While our bear team carries and promotes spray, they also pack .44 magnum revolvers. I am sure they spent countless hours researching the best load for their sidearm and they settled on Randy’s bullet. There is no denying, if you are going to pack a handgun, your best choice is a bullet like Randy’s.
Unfortunately, all this talk about bears, along with their ever-expanding territory has led to a proliferation of large caliber handguns around here. Our gun dealers sell all the 4 inch N-Frame Smiths they can get their hands on. The light weight Taurus revolvers in .41, .44, and .45 go like hot cakes. Inexpensive riot guns are not far behind. The woods are full of novice hand gunners who have stuffed thinly jacketed hollow point self defense loads into their hand cannons. Too many of these guys go afield with no knowledge of shooting and have a predetermined idea of perforating Yogi on sight. It is a bad deal all around. Guys like that need to attend a seminar put on by Dr. Rob and Keith. If they still want to pack iron, they better throw their Hydra-Shoks in the trash and buy some decent ammo from old what's his name.
If any of you guys ever come to Wyoming with the intention of going into bear management areas, bear inhabited backcountry, or even Grand Teton National Park, please use some common sense and try to avoid a bear encounter. While you are here, buy a can of 3 million-heat unit spray and carry it in a fashion where you can deploy it rapidly. Besides, It will work great on the neighbor’s dog when you go home. If you just can’t trust the spray, bring your Black Hawk or 629 and load it with Randy’s ammo or something similar. But please only use your firearm as you would if you were defending yourself from another human being, that is, use it if your life or that of another person is threatened. And if you go wandering around Teton National Park or Yellowstone remember that Bison have injured and killed more "tourists" in that neck of the woods than grizzly bears have. Also, let your consious be your guide if you carry on a National Park.
Hmmm…not to start another donnybrook, but I wonder what a .44 mag with one of Randy’s bullets would do to a big old ornery buffalo. We better not go there.
[This message has been edited by Ankeny (edited December 04, 1999).]
