Wilderness camping and gun safety

Thank you for keeping this thread civil and not political. I am closing this thread with hopes the OP and others have the information they requested.

silverbullet555 wrote:

wapiticountry wrote:
In a true grizzly vs someone with a handgun death match, the bear is a prohibitive favorite. Your average 9mm will just aggravate him. so you need to get a much bigger gun.
When he is charging you at 40 MPH he will cover 100 yard in 5 seconds. Biggest problem with that is in the wilderness you will not see him until he is 20 yards away which will give you less than 1 second to draw, aim, fire and get the heck out of the way. Another problem is you have probably watched too many movies. Believe it or not, that grizzly isn't going to stand on his hind legs, beat his chest like Tarzan, growl to let you know he is planning an attack and only then start moving your direction. Bear spray has been proven to be effective. It is my weapon of choice in grizzly country. The only real reason to have a handgun would be to fire three shots consecutively to help searchers find your bloody, broken body should the grizzly have decided after beating you to a pulp you really don't taste like chicken.

Don't underestimate the 9mm option. May not be ideal, but documented cases of it working. Would it be my first choice? No.

But with a hardcast +P round it is a reasonable option.

https://www.ammoland.com/2018/02/defense-against-bears-with-pistols-97-success-rate-37-incidents-by-caliber/#axzz6SNboWc8E

The bear I killed was with a single 9 mm bullet (posted my experience a few posts back). It definitely wouldn't have been my first choice if I knew I was going to be confronted with a bear that night, but it worked when I needed it...

wapiticountry wrote:
In a true grizzly vs someone with a handgun death match, the bear is a prohibitive favorite. Your average 9mm will just aggravate him. so you need to get a much bigger gun.
When he is charging you at 40 MPH he will cover 100 yard in 5 seconds. Biggest problem with that is in the wilderness you will not see him until he is 20 yards away which will give you less than 1 second to draw, aim, fire and get the heck out of the way. Another problem is you have probably watched too many movies. Believe it or not, that grizzly isn't going to stand on his hind legs, beat his chest like Tarzan, growl to let you know he is planning an attack and only then start moving your direction. Bear spray has been proven to be effective. It is my weapon of choice in grizzly country. The only real reason to have a handgun would be to fire three shots consecutively to help searchers find your bloody, broken body should the grizzly have decided after beating you to a pulp you really don't taste like chicken.

Don't underestimate the 9mm option. May not be ideal, but documented cases of it working. Would it be my first choice? No.

But with a hardcast +P round it is a reasonable option.

https://www.ammoland.com/2018/02/defense-against-bears-with-pistols-97-success-rate-37-incidents-by-caliber/#axzz6SNboWc8E

As a multi-decade firearms instructor and competitive shooter my normal response to "what pistol should I buy for self defense" is "a shotgun". Using a handgun safely takes lots of practise, using it well takes a whole lot of consistent practise. To the extent that it's all muscle memory - when you're stressed the adrenaline kicks in, you get tunnel vision and your fine muscle control goes out the window. If you aren't prepared to spend 2-3 hours a month minimum working at it don't bother. There's a reason that cops generally use massive amounts of ammo in a shooting - they aren't bad guys or stupid - just horribly under trained due to financial constraints.

I'd go with a lot of the other responses - a 20 gauge shotgun will not be questioned and will be adequate protection against almost anything that's a threat (grizzlies and bull moose excepted). It also needs a minuscule amount of training in comparison.

Also - bear spray and a fire extinguisher.

NatParkJunkie wrote:

GravelRider wrote:

NatParkJunkie wrote:
I haven't carried a firearm because I do a lot of cross country traveling across multiple states. My current keep a can of bear spray and the fire extinguisher right in side the door of the camper, and carry bear spray on hikes when in bear country.

If I wanted to get licensed and start carrying a firearm, what are the legal requirements to travel through multiple different states after getting licensed my my home state?

I've never been someplace out in the wilderness where I felt unsafe. The one time that I did have some concerns about some other people was overnighting in a walmart parking lot in town, and decided to pack up and move away from that area immediately even though I was tired and really didn't want to drive anymore.
Actually, now that I think about it, I had a black bear sniffing around about a foot away from my tent in Glacier National Park back in my tent camping days. That's what convinced me into hard sided truck camping life.

If you get a Pennsylvania license to carry, here are the states that have reciprocity: https://handgunlaw.us/states/pennsylvania.pdf

You should also be familiar with the interstate transportation of firearms code: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/926A

And here is a good overall guide: https://www.defensivestrategies.org/firearms-the-law/interstate-transportation-of-firearms

There are many places you can legally travel with a gun. However, depending on your trip, it just won't (legally) be an option. For example, I go to Canada a lot. Not a chance in hell that I'm bringing a gun with me there. Their country, their laws. I do carry bear spray with me when I camp there. In all actuality, bear spray is fantastic, and arguable just as/more effective than a gun in most instances.

Thanks for all the information! I have a lot more to learn now, but it looks like my bear spray plan is probably what I'll stick with. On my last trip to Arizona, I traveled through Illinois, New Mexico and Colorodo, and made a loop through Nevada and California as well. All listed as not honoring PA, so too many laws to keep up on. I definitely don't want to end up getting arrested with a felony gun charge for not understanding the laws in each state.

Unless national reciprocity becomes the law of the land, this is, unfortunately, the choice we will have to make when traveling.

GravelRider wrote:

NatParkJunkie wrote:
I haven't carried a firearm because I do a lot of cross country traveling across multiple states. My current keep a can of bear spray and the fire extinguisher right in side the door of the camper, and carry bear spray on hikes when in bear country.

If I wanted to get licensed and start carrying a firearm, what are the legal requirements to travel through multiple different states after getting licensed my my home state?

I've never been someplace out in the wilderness where I felt unsafe. The one time that I did have some concerns about some other people was overnighting in a walmart parking lot in town, and decided to pack up and move away from that area immediately even though I was tired and really didn't want to drive anymore.
Actually, now that I think about it, I had a black bear sniffing around about a foot away from my tent in Glacier National Park back in my tent camping days. That's what convinced me into hard sided truck camping life.

If you get a Pennsylvania license to carry, here are the states that have reciprocity: https://handgunlaw.us/states/pennsylvania.pdf

You should also be familiar with the interstate transportation of firearms code: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/926A

And here is a good overall guide: https://www.defensivestrategies.org/firearms-the-law/interstate-transportation-of-firearms

There are many places you can legally travel with a gun. However, depending on your trip, it just won't (legally) be an option. For example, I go to Canada a lot. Not a chance in hell that I'm bringing a gun with me there. Their country, their laws. I do carry bear spray with me when I camp there. In all actuality, bear spray is fantastic, and arguable just as/more effective than a gun in most instances.

Thanks for all the information! I have a lot more to learn now, but it looks like my bear spray plan is probably what I'll stick with. On my last trip to Arizona, I traveled through Illinois, New Mexico and Colorodo, and made a loop through Nevada and California as well. All listed as not honoring PA, so too many laws to keep up on. I definitely don't want to end up getting arrested with a felony gun charge for not understanding the laws in each state.

Bear spray is actually a great idea. It needs to be carried in a holster on your belt at the ready. At close range, it may be smarter than a fire arm.

In discussions like this, people tend to focus on tools.
We all need to learn better situational awareness. I have been a road warrior for 55 years. I meet my neighbors in remote situations. Once in a while you meet some people that can be dangerous. It is best to just leave and not sleep near them. You are vulnerable when asleep. An RV helps a lot and so does a dog for an alarm.

Working in the bush can be very unsettling, especially in places like Alaska and Montana with high densities of predators. Learn to stay calm in their presence, learn their behavior and learn to recognize when they are agitated. Avoid eye contact. Make noise especially in the brush.

In a true grizzly vs someone with a handgun death match, the bear is a prohibitive favorite. Your average 9mm will just aggravate him. so you need to get a much bigger gun.
When he is charging you at 40 MPH he will cover 100 yard in 5 seconds. Biggest problem with that is in the wilderness you will not see him until he is 20 yards away which will give you less than 1 second to draw, aim, fire and get the heck out of the way. Another problem is you have probably watched too many movies. Believe it or not, that grizzly isn't going to stand on his hind legs, beat his chest like Tarzan, growl to let you know he is planning an attack and only then start moving your direction. Bear spray has been proven to be effective. It is my weapon of choice in grizzly country. The only real reason to have a handgun would be to fire three shots consecutively to help searchers find your bloody, broken body should the grizzly have decided after beating you to a pulp you really don't taste like chicken.

You practice with a gun until it becomes a reflex.

An empty gun is a useless gun.

Some people have no business owning a gun. They're not for everyone.

Freep wrote:


I just keep bear spray handy.

Bears don't care if you wave an empty gun at them.

Me too. I have 2 cans of spray near the door of my camper. I did a look of shooting years ago and would never, ever leave a gun loaded. The worst thing you can do is to partially wake up in the middle of the night and grab a loaded gun before your brain starts to work.

At short range outside of being in a windstorm, bird spray is highly effective. I think it would stop a charging herd of elephants.