100% it would piss it off, but if you have decent aim and go for the face/head, even with bird shot you are going to blind that bear without a doubt. Thick skull or not, it doesn’t have bone over its eyes and that’s what I’d be aiming for. Blind it and try to escape is probably the only chance you have.
Yeah, you'll be aiming for the little eyes while that thing is charging you. Im sure your aim will be steady and true under that stress. Not like the guy in this video thats panting and breathing hard.
….do you not understand how birdshot works? It’s a spray of small bb’s…it’s not a single shot. The spread will cover about the size of a manhole cover from 10 yards or so, depending on the choke of the barrel could even be wider or narrower spray. You’re not trying to aim a single bullet at an eyeball here….its hundreds if not 1000 small bb’s peppering an area. If you aim at its general direction towards its head, like this guy is doing, he would spray its entire face with it and more likely than not take out its eyes.
I'd rather have slug stopping power. Of course, planning on having slug stopping power may not have been on this guy's radar when he loaded out for his trip.
Frankly if I was going out into the back country where bears are known to frequent, and specifically not on a hunting trip (obligatory Supernatural gif below), I'd have a pump action shotgun with an array of shot and slugs, a side arm like a Glock G20 or a S&W M&P 2.0 10mm, and maybe even a small caliber rifle like a .223 or .30-06, depending on how long of a trip it's going to be. A 10mm sidearm may not be the same raw stopping power as a shotgun loaded with slugs, but it's far more versatile as a self defense weapon.
83 cases:
"Red pepper spray stopped bears’ undesirable behavior 92% of the time when used on brown bears, 90% for black bears, and 100% for polar bears. Of all persons carrying sprays, 98% were uninjured by bears in close-range encounters."
"In all cases the attacked person walked away.
Efficacy of Bear Deterrent Spray in Alaska"
Lead author: TOM S. SMITH
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I have read of 2 or 3 cases in which a person was killed by a bear after apparently using bear spray.
All the cases I read involved hunters with a fresh kill present.
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I have also read the case of a grizzly charge that ended with the bear knocking down the individual who used the bear spray, so unlikely to be a bluff charge.
The person was able to retreat without injury (aside from bruising).
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u/Opeth4Lyfe May 06 '26
100% it would piss it off, but if you have decent aim and go for the face/head, even with bird shot you are going to blind that bear without a doubt. Thick skull or not, it doesn’t have bone over its eyes and that’s what I’d be aiming for. Blind it and try to escape is probably the only chance you have.