LAST EDITED ON Feb-18-03 AT 03:01PM (MST)[p]i have a good friend who guides kodiak hunters on the karluk river each spring. he swears that the only reason to take a pistol, any pistol, on a bear hunt is to shoot yourself to stop the pain of being eaten by a bear. he says you better have one big, mean rifle if you're going to stop one that is charging. he is also a salmon guide on the king salmon river in the summer. the bears there are big, but not as big as on kodiak, but will still eat you if things go wrong. he carries a remington wingmaster 12 guage pump with a 20" barrel, full length magazine and pistol grip, loaded with 00 or 000 buckshot and maybe a slug as the last round. he's had to use it several times. said the hardest thing to do is wait until they are close enough to hit in the eyes. this guy knows his stuff, and he actually laughs at the thought of anyone using a pistol, even as a last resort, for bear. he won't let a hunter use anything less than a .375 h&h. he has an old model 71 winchester lever action in .348 winchester that he packs as his back up, when guiding. he shortened the barell a couple inches and put a little longer magazine on it so it will hold a couple more shells. (they came with a half magazine). if you're worried about bears, i'd have a rifle back up. a big one with a hole in the barrel big enough that a squirrel could live in it. like ol' Lester says, like as not, nothing real scary is going to happen, but when it does you best make sure that things are on your side. he's never been mauled, and don't plan on it. but he said there were several times that if he had less gun, he might have been.
