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Posted: 10/2/2017 4:36:27 PM EDT
I'm going to be staying about 3 miles outside of the Smoky Mountains at the end of this month with my immediate family and grandmother. We will be visiting the park at least once I'm sure and I see it's legal to cc in the park with the exception of federally "occupied" buildings.
I'm not interested in bringing an ar with me as I will not be carrying it around the park so with my only options as of right now being a 9mm and .45, the question is: am I going to die by insufficient stopping power or insufficient mag capacity? FWIW, I'm sure a family member will have bear spray with them so there's that. |
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Black bears are basically big dogs.
Stamp your foot and yell, they'll take off. |
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Meh, carry either one with good bullets, preferably non expanders for penetration..
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Just take bear spray.
If you ask the experts who live and work in real bear country, and you look at the statistics, you have a much better chance of ending a bear attack with spray than you do with a pistol. If you want, carry both. Of your choices, I'd go with the .45 ACP with 230grn FMJ's. A lot of the bowhunters around here go into griz country with nothing but their bow and a can of spray. That's what I did last week for 3 days. Tracks and piles of shit all over the place... |
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Carry both, good answer.
I'd certainly much rather get away with bear spray or better yet, scare them off. I'm sure the chance of us having a problem let alone running into one are slim but I'd like to be prepared. Thanks for the advice. |
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Quoted:
Just take bear spray. If you ask the experts who live and work in real bear country, and you look at the statistics, you have a much better chance of ending a bear attack with spray than you do with a pistol. If you want, carry both. Of your choices, I'd go with the .45 ACP with 230grn FMJ's. A lot of the bowhunters around here go into griz country with nothing but their bow and a can of spray. That's what I did last week for 3 days. Tracks and piles of shit all over the place... View Quote |
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Carry both, good answer. I'd certainly much rather get away with bear spray or better yet, scare them off. I'm sure the chance of us having a problem let alone running into one are slim but I'd like to be prepared. Thanks for the advice. View Quote ![]() I did hear tell of a story last year where a guy almost died because of a blackie. It swiped at him from inside a den (he had no idea it was there until it almost got his leg) so he shot it, then in the process of pulling the dead bear out of the den he breathed in something bad from the wolf shit in the den. He spent quite awhile in the hospital and they weren't sure if he was going to make it. He got better. |
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I carry 200 grain Buffalo Bore hardcast nonexpanders. They are designed for bears and cats.
Only black bear you gotta worry about is momma bear. Males are usually not a problem. Grizzly bears, OTOH....If you come across a grizzly feeding on a carcass, unass yourself posthaste from the area, while covering your retreat. If a bear woofs or clacks its teeth at you, that means it feels threatened. |
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9mm or .45 against This: http://coolwallpaperz.info/user-content/uploads/wall/o/3/wild-animals-bear-dangerous-107656.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/51/Bart_the_Bear_and_Doug_Seus.jpg Pic of Op: https://usercontent2.hubstatic.com/6280093_f520.jpg View Quote ![]() |
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Leave any "little" cute ones alone and you will be fine...try to pet one and mom will eat your face off, after your hands
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Don't try to pet the bear, got it.
![]() I have no desire nor plan to get anywhere near any wildlife. I'm a city guy specifically going up there for my grandmother. |
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I bought a 10mm for bears. Hiked 6yrs. Never saw a bear.
Sold my 10. Got a G19. Saw 3 bears. I lived. I still hike with my G19. Almost 10years now |
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Damn OP, your just overthinking this.
I hiked and camped in these mountains for years with no problems. |
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Damn OP, your just overthinking this.
I hiked and camped in these mountains for years with no problems. |
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Meh, carry either one with good bullets, preferably non expanders for penetration.. View Quote |
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Hell, I'd be more worried about the two legged threats the Lil black bears.
The bears you can stomp and yell and they will run off, the methbillies have no fear |
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You could be surrounded by black bears and have a better chance of winning the Power Ball than being eaten! I say buy powerball tickets
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I'm sorry - just expected GD to throw that one out. Cancer is a rough one, I've lost kin to it. sorry to hear this...I really feel like crap for the joke. View Quote Appreciate it though. Should have put a poll... |
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I've lived in East Tennessee most of my life and have hiked more miles in the GSMNP than I can recall. Bear spray for the bears and your EDC for the 2 legged vermin.
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black bear?
all you need is log.. HELEN, Ga., June 23 (AP) — When a 300-pound black bear raided a family’s campsite, the father saved his sons from harm by throwing a log at it, killing it with a single blow. The father, Chris Everhart, and his three sons were camping in the Chattahoochee National Forest in northern Georgia on June 16 when the bear took the family’s cooler and was heading back to the woods with it. When the youngest son, 6-year-old Logan, hurled a shovel at it, the bear dropped the cooler and started toward the boy, Mr. Everhart said. A former Marine, he grabbed the closest thing he could find — a log from their stash of firewood. “It happened to hit the bear in the head,” Mr. Everhart said. “I thought it just knocked it out but it actually ended up killing the bear.” |
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Quoted:
I'm going to be staying about 3 miles outside of the Smoky Mountains at the end of this month with my immediate family and grandmother. We will be visiting the park at least once I'm sure and I see it's legal to cc in the park with the exception of federally "occupied" buildings. I'm not interested in bringing an ar with me as I will not be carrying it around the park so with my only options as of right now being a 9mm and .45, the question is: am I going to die by insufficient stopping power or insufficient mag capacity? FWIW, I'm sure a family member will have bear spray with them so there's that. View Quote 9.3 x 62 Mauser, at a minimum! ![]() .458 Lott, if you can handle it! ![]() |
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Quoted:
Just take bear spray. If you ask the experts who live and work in real bear country, and you look at the statistics, you have a much better chance of ending a bear attack with spray than you do with a pistol. If you want, carry both. Of your choices, I'd go with the .45 ACP with 230grn FMJ's. A lot of the bowhunters around here go into griz country with nothing but their bow and a can of spray. That's what I did last week for 3 days. Tracks and piles of shit all over the place... View Quote |
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Quoted:
I carry 200 grain Buffalo Bore hardcast nonexpanders. They are designed for bears and cats. Only black bear you gotta worry about is momma bear. Males are usually not a problem. Grizzly bears, OTOH....If you come across a grizzly feeding on a carcass, unass yourself posthaste from the area, while covering your retreat. If a bear woofs or clacks its teeth at you, that means it feels threatened. View Quote |
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For those who don't believe black bears can be dangerous and can always be chased off with just a fly swatter and a stern word, look up Cynthia Dussel-Bacon and her black bear encounter. No cubs were involved by the way.
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Heading to Flathead NF in July. I'm carrying a 12 gauge for around camp,for hikes I'm buying a 10mm Glock (torn between a 20 and 40) with Buffalo Bore hardcast , the wife will carry her Sig 9mm but with LeHigh Penetrators. We will also carry bear spray. Currently looking at bear fences for stringing around our tent.
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Quoted:
Heading to Flathead NF in July. I'm carrying a 12 gauge for around camp,for hikes I'm buying a 10mm Glock (torn between a 20 and 40) with Buffalo Bore hardcast , the wife will carry her Sig 9mm but with LeHigh Penetrators. We will also carry bear spray. Currently looking at bear fences for stringing around our tent. View Quote I found several sets of griz tracks, including some cubs, and several piles of shit. There was more bear sign than elk/deer/moose (even though there was plenty of that and I saw 2 meeseses.) I was in some really dense forest and never fully saw a bear but I did have one "woof" at me a few times and saw a flicker of brown through some thick stuff at about 20 yards. That was an ass-puckering moment. To be honest, I was feeling VERY vulnerable with nothing but a bow and spray. I'd have felt a lot better with a 12 gauge and slugs but carrying that while bow hunting would have been problematic. Most of the stuff I was walking through looked like perfect bear habitat and the sign confirmed my suspicions. |
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.400 Cor-Bon conversion barrel for your .45. Turns your .45 into a 10mm on the cheap.
If it were me, I'd carry my S&W 629. |
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OP just avoid momma and babies. Even then as long as you don't get between mom and cubs you will be fine. I have a momma bear and two cubs living around my house that I see weekly, all they do when you come out is run off.
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Black bears are basically big dogs. Stamp your foot and yell, they'll take off. View Quote Grizzly or big brownies will rip you to shreds. No way am I spending any considerable time in grizzly country without at least a 44 mag. Fuck 10mm. |
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As already said, black bears (GSM, Ga/TN/NC/SC areas) are generally pussies unless you find a mother with cubs (who will fuck your shit up).
That said, I kept bear repellent with me (.44 mag) when we tent camped in the area just in case someone forgot and went to bed with a candy bar in the sleeping bag. ![]() |
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The odds are more likely you will be killed by Hillary Clinton than a black bear.
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If it's just eastern Black Bears, you should be fine with either really. It's about like fighting a large dog.
I vote .45 with ball ammo just because... I'd be fine with either round in ball or HP though. For western Grizzlies, I carry a .41 Rem Mag with hard cast loads. It's a mean bitch of a handcannon. Even then, it feels like a BB gun when you're looking at an adult Grizzly. |
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Take bear spray and your favorite handgun for humans. You'll be okay. Its just damned black bears.
If it were grizzles I'd say bear spray and a .44 mag. If it were polars, I'd say 308 or larger plus the .44 mag, fuck the bear spray. |
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