Grizzly Bear Severely Mauls New York Man,
68, Hiking in Wyoming

When a brown (grizzly) bear attacks, the results can be grisly. Antidotes are bells, bear spray, or a large caliber pistol, ready to be deployed in an instant. Bears can run over 30 miles per hour, and can keep it up for miles. Bells I wouldn't bother with. There are jokes about bear scat with bells in it, smelling of pepper spray. Remember Timothy Treadwell!

Re Treadwell: http://www.yellowstone-bearman.com/Tim_Treadwell.html This linked article includes horrifying details that an interesting 2006 book by Nick Jans (The Grizzly Maze: Timothy Treadwell's Fatal Obsession with Alaskan Bears) only hinted at.

At minimum a .45 is needed when hiking in bear country. Going alone is stupid - even experienced outdoorsmen will note. Better to be on a horse or mule or in a Jeep. He was lucky - the bear must have not been very hungry. He did have a "personal locator beacon' and the sheriff sent a medical helicopter out for him soon after they got the beacon alarm. FTA: One research paper tallied 183 bear attacks on humans in North America between the years 2000 and 2015, with about 14 percent of these resulting in human fatalities.

Bear bells, yes they are real, are intended so the bear can hear you coming and you don't surprise him. AKA "dinner bells" Bear thinks LUNCH

Been hiking in Wyoming since the early 1970, in that general area, Yellowstone, Jackson Hole and Bridge Wilderness. Ben carrying a gun, supported by bear spary in recent years, for decades. Grizz are unpredictable in the extreme. You cannot depend on their good nature as your safety means. You must be able to defend yourself and loved ones. Bear spray often works, but a powerful gun, used skillfully, is more definite - yet may still fail you. Y'all be careful out there. We're not the top of the food chain.

This man gets a Darwin Award if he went hiking in bear country without bear spray and a .50 caliber revolver.

#5 is correct that even powerful firearms are no assurance that a bear won't still get you if it attacks. A group of four hunters took a bush plane deep into the Alaskan wilderness just before 9/11, and their return flight was delayed for several uncomfortable days when all aviation activity briefly ceased. About the time they were due to be picked up, a large brown bear noticed them from 100 yards away, and charged. All four hunters opened up with their hunting rifles (I heard .270, 308, 7mm, and .30-06). The bear fell at their feet heavier by at least nine bullets. It just about got to them. Two hunters or, especially, one might have had a bigger problem. An Alaskan guide with years of experience chose ten guns for bear protection, and the one I would have chosen was an AR-10 in .338 Federal with a 20 round magazine. You might have a chance if you can throw that much lead at the ursine. Better still, let someone else live there. I've got sharks literally within feet of my back door. That's enough for me.

A friend of mine went fishing in Alaska. He carried a .44 mag.

Re #7, a very experienced Alaskan guide who often takes hunters for grizzly, and has to as he says "winkle the wounded bruins out of the pucker bush" occasionally, has settled on a .458 Winchester Magnum in a very smooth operating bolt action. He occasionally writes for Rifle magazine, and has written of some extensive testing done on a whale carcass the washed up near his Alaskan home to see what penetrates the deepest and straightest. Unusual "testing medium", but probably pretty accurate. In any case, while large numbers of the great bears are taken with ordinary calibers very successfully, such as .30-06, when things have gone wrong and the bear must be STOPPED NOW, not just killed after hunting, the requirements are different. And I have no illusions about the "immense power" of my .44 Magnum handgun. I chose my deep penetrating ammunition carefully, and even though I am a skilled handgun shooter....I am not 100% certain that I can carry it off under all possible circumstances. But, it certainly beats my Swiss Army knife by miles, and my wife will start off the defensive efforts with bear spray. Likely we will be OK, but no guarantees.

I/m not a hunter or hiker, i have never seen a bear in the wild. But years ago, i saw a stuffed Kodiak bear in an outdoor supplies store in Massachusetts, standing on his hind leg, mouth agape. His paw was bigger than my head. His mouth could have clamped down on my skull and crushed it like a grape. He stood probably 10 feet, towering over my 6-foot-tall husband. A friend of mine moved to Kodiak Island, and she told me about berry-picking with "natives". The warnings about The Bears were dire, but she said her companions told her to be aware of bad odors, as the bears exude horrible stink. Then, back away, don't run. I love to see these awesome beasts, in film, but have no desire to meet up with any of the bear species.

I carried a .44 magnum in Alaska while I was up there. The Alaskans always reminded me to shoot the bear five times with that .44 and leave the last shot for myself.