Handgun for bear protection

My wife and I were ruffed up by a bear last weekend on a backpacking trip. I decided that I should look into carrying a handgun for protection from bears. I've been told a .44 is about the best you can get (and may not still be enough) . I've pretty much decided on getting a .22 and practicing and taking lessons and then getting the .44. I'm not a stranger to rifles and shotguns as I've been a hunter all my life, but I've never really used handguns.

Now I'm in Colorado and I was wondering what the laws were concerning carrying a handgun in national or state forests. I know they aren't allowed in national parks. I know none of you can give legal advice, but I just need some advice since I can't find any info. Would I have to get a concealed carry permit? Would I have to have the gun in plain view on the trail? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Can you give us any details of your encounter with the bear?

Thanx

fNs

There is no cure for stupidity.

If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer.

**An armed society is a polite society**

X-No-Archive: Yes

The best approach is to buy a small game liscense (or a combo small game and fishing) and carry your handgun that way. It can be under your shirt or coat. There is no such thing in Colorado as a state wide conceled carry permit. Where were you when the bear ruffed you up? It is always better to improve your bear awareness techniques than to carry a defensive weapon. Glad to hear you were not hurt. Doug in Denver

I'm a big fan of pepper spray. They sell big cans for bears. Never sprayed a bear but I've stopped many a dog with it.

BAD ADVICE See Article 18-12-105 of the Colorado Revised Statutes.

Statewide concealed permits may be issued by a Chief of Police or Sheriff and concealed carry without one is a misdemeanor. Open carry (with a few exceptions) is legal if you are not prohibited from owning guns because of a criminal record etc.

Denver (where 'Daymiller' is apparentlt located) is very anti-gun and has its own draconian laws.

I'm not a lawyer and the above statement is not legal advice.

I posted this to my fishing newsgroup but I'll post it here to tell the whole story. And I don't feel like retyping.

To summarize. We still feel we did everything right. Hung up food away from tent. No eating in tent. Made noises to try to scare bear away. Sometimes all those things don't work. Or barely work in this case.

About the small game license. In the summer I don't think anything is in season so how would that help. Isn't under your shirt or jacket concealed?

When you have a bad bear experience, 'nearly killed' is when the animal is dragging you off into the brush by an arm. It's very possible that this animal was sick...and I wouldn't want to be tent camping anywhere near a drop off point for problem bears.

...details of bear incident deleted...

I once saw a TV show featuring a 'grizzly expert' who claimed firearms are not needed in grizzly country and that the grizzlys seldom attack. When it was obvious that the reason he was missing half his face was a grizzly mauling, I began to doubt the value of much of his advice.

If you follow the Colorado DOW website, you are aware that there were several black bear attacks on campers last year that resulted in injuries If you're just now considering renting a pistol and taking lessons, it could have made the incident worse. For a pistol to be useful it would have had to be of large bore and you would need enough training to be capable to make killing shots on a fast-moving dangerous animal in the dark. I know a few individuals with that level of skill and steel nerves, but not many. I once saw a guide kill a black bear with a shot to the head with a .357 while it was mauling a dog between his legs. Although I frequently carry one while hiking in Colorado, I would be more comfortable with a 12 guage pump or autoloading slug gun with brenneke slugs or a 30-06 or larger bore pump or autoloading carbine if I anticipated a black bear might attack the tent in which I'm sleeping. But then if I anticipated a bear attack I probably wouldn't be there. Did you by any chance vote for the amendment to the Colorado State Constitution that now prohibits hunting bear in the spring and hunting bear with dogs?

They did that by ammendment to the state constitution? Now _that's_ an abuse of the constitution! There are just too many people from California moving into Colorado!

Didn't we just go through this discussion? As far as handguns go, BFR by Magnum Resaearch in 45/70.

Yes. It was done by referendum a few years ago. It also bans baiting bears to hunt them. While the campaigning for and against the amendment was going, I was surprised at the number of hunters who supported the amendment. They didn't use dogs or bait or hunt in the spring and didn't think others should have an 'unfair advantage' in harvesting the bears they wanted to shoot by spot and stalking or else didn't hunt bear.

Same attitude some have re: traditional vs modern archery, flintlock vs caplock, vs inline muzzleloaders and modern firearm vs all others.

The worst part is that it set a precedent for managing wildlife in Colorado by referendum rather than by the Division of Wildlife and the restrictions cannot be changed even by legislative action, only by repealing the amendment by another popular vote.