Well, Jeff, I see your mind is made up. Carry on, you do you.
Absolutely, always a pleasure.
Likewise!
Different experiences reveal different results.
After 45 years in grizzly and brown bear country and numerous encounters the only bear that even came close to dieing needlessly was a angry bear that had been sprayed yet returned.
The difference between park bears and wild bears is night and day.
Ditto. Well, in my case, not 45 years CONtinuously in bear country, but significant time every year over about 40 years, and intermittently since then. I love the wilds that bears inhabit, and I think those places would be a lot less beautiful without the bears. And you're 100% right on the difference between park bears and wild bears.
Speaking of bears being sprayed and then having returned, there was a recent incident that I saw on YouTube where that happened. The guy was alone, and had no firearm with him because he was "only scouting" for an upcoming hunt. Big mistake. He was mauled but survived the attack. Gary Shelton described a couple of similar incidents in his book. This just underscores the wisdom of having BOTH spray and firearm, and even better, having TWO guys together who both have spray and firearms.
