I`m more concerned with two legged critters than any wildlife that I might encounter so I`ll carry...
My wife and I were looking at staying at the Great Bear Inn at Glacier National Park. There are several hiking trails close to the Inn which the owners supply all their guest with bear spray. I did not speak with them about side arm carry (non of their business) but use of deadly force on federal land against a federally protected "endangered species" is a big deal. You better be able to prove it was an unprovoked attack and every effort to mitigate the attack was employed. Few human injury bear encounters are predatory in nature with the majority being through surprise encounters. Employing a side arm to stop a charging/attacking bear is a difficult situation to be in. Striking the central nervous system to stop a bear in a high stress situation is a difficult proposition. Especially if its a close-in surprise attack. Your chances of being injured/killed using a side arm are probably higher than if bear spray was used. Even a wounded bear can do severe damage.
The best defense is to employ tactics to mitigate an encounter (both in camp and on the trail) which greatly reduces the element of attracting/surprising a bear. Second would be bear spray and lastly firearm. With the time separation between spray/firearm being milliseconds. But.........it's better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
The best defense is to employ tactics to mitigate an encounter (both in camp and on the trail) which greatly reduces the element of attracting/surprising a bear. Second would be bear spray and lastly firearm. With the time separation between spray/firearm being milliseconds. But.........it's better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
Blah blah blah blah...
My interpretation of law in grizzly country is to protect yerself at all times. The law of self-preservation.
With a strict interpretation of the law, it is illegal to carry a firearm into one of the stinky outhouses in a National Park. Poop at your own risk. Literally!
It's an eerie feeling when you take a hike early in the morning and find a still 'steaming' pile of bear poop on the trail and never see the bear. That happened once in my adventures. Talk about 'head on a swivel'!!
It's an eerie feeling when you take a hike early in the morning and find a still 'steaming' pile of bear poop on the trail and never see the bear. That happened once in my adventures. Talk about 'head on a swivel'!!
It’s a park to preserve and protect wild nature. Letting people shoot at wild nature would seem to defeat the purpose of the park. Carry bear spray, keep you food in bear proof containers, wear a bell/make noise and give wildlife a wide berth.
Attachments
Stay strapped, or get clapped by a Bear paw.
Late to this thread I posted, but I do have to give an update.
People do not randomly shoot animals in National Parks. In normal situations, firearms would only be used to defend one from an attack. Millions of people travel through these parks annually and the incidents of attack are very rare, but they do happen. Mostly caused by dumb arse humans encroaching into the animals safe space.
There are exceptions though where defending oneself from a predator may become necessary. Although those parks are built to preserve and protect those animals, humans do need to monitor and control the populations so they don't overpopulate, become diseased and spread that disease amongst the overall herd.
On occasion as biologist monitor the wildlife, hunters are allowed in to harvest enough animals to keep the food sources inline with the animals that feed from them. If food sources are over sourced, the herd overall suffers.
That happens nation wide for the most part. The elk hunt at the Wichita Mountains National Refuge is an example.
What State? 5/6 years ago I went through a similar question going to CO. General consensus was at least one of us was carrying at all times. This is not legal advice.
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