I've never used pepper spray. But I have used lots of various tear gas weapons on people.
My old friends, who are still in law enforcement, tell me pepper spray is, if anything, less efective than some of the older tear gas weapons.
Tear gas weapons are very unreliable when it comes to disabling humans - a lesson I learned the hard way.
And, now, I hear that pepper spray, as a bear defense, is more effective than a gun.
You better pray you don't have a deteremined bear to contend with.
I beleive the truth is that the do gooders just can't stand the thought of some "precious bear" loosing his life because someone "had a problem" with him. So, out comes the propaganda about the effectiveness of pepper spray vs. a gun.
To those that wish to believe that I wish the best of luck. I hope you don't need it.
I suspect that one day the survivors of a bear attack victim will sue Uncle Sugar for not letting his emploees carry adequate safety equipment - a gun. E

Dittos...

I've have heard that the original pepper sprays were very serious stuff but that in recent years they have all been watered down. The theory was that a careless user might shoot himself in the face instead of the bear thereby hurting himself!!

I guess the other possibility would be that if the full strength stuff were used on a bear or on a crook, they would have too serious of a headache and might sue the maker.

"And in this corner, Johnnie Cochran, representing Mr. Yogi Bear"

The law says, nothing bad is ever allowed to happen to anyone, without someone else being to blame.....

JimF

Having seen pepper spray use first hand some times it works some times it dosen't when it works its seems to do a very good job. I always carry a revolver when back packing someone in the party carrys pepper spray nothing is 100 precent. I would carry spray in Nationl park a lot better the nothing if you not will t take a chance of being caught with a firearm.

Let just say it's a windy day and the bear comes the "wrong way".

Johan

Out here in Kalifornia, we have lots of parks, both national and state. I stay out of them for the most part.
They have lots of bear problems. On a regular basis the bears raid the campers, and back packers. No guns are allowed - period. The NPS issues "bear proof" food containers to back packers are requires their use. They also have a long long list of do's and don't's.
A couple of years ago a kid in a campsite was doing what the park service recommended. He and his parents were yelling and waving their arms to run off a bear, who was trying to eat their food. When that didn't work, they all threw rocks at the bear. The kid's rock killed the bear.
The hue and cry went up to prosecute the kid for killing the bear. Big investigation, etc.
Luckly, the poor kid didn't get prosecuted. I mean, afterall, he was following the guidelines of the mighty park service. E

The kid's rock killed the bear. And who said the 44 mag wasn't big enough.

my pepper dispensor was made by John Linebaugh!

Being a KALIFORNIA bear hunter I wonder about the pepper spray Baloney!! I know this is Wierd But just take your pepper spray into bear country and spray it around an area know to be frequented by bears..like under a tree..they WILL come and roll in it! they love the stuff...So using it as self defense???? Go Ahead....here is your sign!
fireball

Hey, Lloyd
Is that a$4.75 pepper spray or a $5.00?

the $5.oo on the hip and the $4.75 in the cross draw!

Pepper spray is all you need. You don't need to carry a gun in bear country......

You go first, I'll follow with my .44 Mag!

Bob

I know!! I'll just rub pepper spray on the bullet tips of my 45-70 ctgs. & put them in my BFR revolver.Then the pepper will be effective!

Pepper spray is great. I think every tree hugger should have some. Same as those little bells they all wear to "warn" the bears. We call those dinner bells around here. Nope. Good stuff. Keep it up. Maybe we can fix this genetics problem. - Dan

Dan did you hear about the gal in Ak that when she saw the bear she blew her air horn. Then the bear charge her. She fought it off with a stick for a time then it left. I thought that a 357 or 44 bullet between the eyes would have been much better.

Eremicus,
I retired from law enforcement where we had access to CN, CS, and OC gas. It never seemed to work on EDP's (emotionally disturbed people) or persons high on controlled substances. I not sure if I would try it on a disturbed bear, but if its all you got pray that it works.
Bob

You're right, PDS. What this continent needs is stick control. Why the sheer variety of sticks out there is alarming. And you can get them practically everywhere without a waiting period. People have been known to cleverly disguise them as furniture or walking sticks, or even lumber (soft or hard). It's an evil plot that must be stopped. LOL - Dan

Two guys are on a hike in bear country. They accidentally get between a mother grizzly and her cubs. She charges!!!! They hit her directly in the face with pepper spray. It has no effect, and she continues after them. Both men take off running.

One guy says to the other. "You know we can't out run this bear."

The other replies. "I know that, all I have to do is out run you."

To all the environmental wackos out there...

there was once a group of animal/nature lovers about to go on a nature hike. they were receiving last minute instructions from the guide. he told them, "around here we have both kinds of bears, blacks and grizzlies. for safty reasons we require all hikers to wear little bells on their cloths to warn the bears of the presence of humans and to carry pepper spray in case of an attack." a hiker raised his hand and asked how they would know which species of bear were in the immediate area. the guide told him, "you look around for bear droppings and you can tell which species is in your area". the hiker asked what the difference was. the guide said, " these two species have different diets. blacks are mostly plant eaters so their droppings will have blades of grass and twigs in them." the hiker said, "ok, then how will we know if the droppings belong to a grizzly?" the guide replied," grizzly bear droppings have little bells in them and smell like pepper spray."

I'm sorry LLoyd, but I think you are over peppered.

LOL, good ones. - Dan

With all the concern about ozone damage with aerosols what's next ....roll on pepper spray??

If I don't trust pepper spray to stop an invader in my house why the heck would I trust it to stop a grizzly that decided I was his lunch!! O.K., O.K. I don't go any place that there are grizzlies but just in case one wanders into PA. I have the .41.

I have never used pepper spray on bears, but I have used it on dogs. I had a couple of sheppards who would go at each other, trying to settle who was alpha dog. It was serious, and several times I thought that they would kill each other. I tried the cattle prod, that just made them madder, each thinking that the other was the cause. In desperation, I tried pepper spray. What a joke. The blow back mist was worse on me than on the dogs. About five minutes after I sprayed it on them and in their mouths, they kind of slunk off and quit. After about six or seven fights and pepper spray applications, they finally quit fighting. Each time, I used one of the medium size cans of spray, all of it.

On the same topic, last week on foxnews.com, there was a story about a camper out in Montana who woke up with a terrible headache. Seems that a bear was biting him on the head, through the tent. He managed to draw his revolver and empty it into the bear at point blank, killing it. (Black bear according to the story). Don't call me a liar, I am just telling you what I read.

I'm a cop. Pepper spray barely works on bad guys, at least when they're really mad and bent on fighting. Guy

My son is a jail guard (or, as he would say, a corrections officer) in Florida, and he informs me that Mace works just fine on inmates of a certain cultural group often found in Florida. Not OC, but Mace. Seems that it causes tears in the eyes, makes it look like Mr. Macho is crying. Absolutely unacceptable in that group. All he has to do is pull it out, and the guy will back off.

I think we need to get a massive educational program to give at least half of these grizzlies more pride in their masculinity, so that Mace will be an effective control device. As for the females, I think we need to educate them from birth that certain kinds of behavior are just not nice.

My dog kept getting into the trash can so one day I decided to hose the trash down with a whole can of pepper spray. I came home that afternoon and he had chowed down on that garbage like nothing was wrong. He went so far as to rip paper plates and such that were dyed red from the spray into tiny little bits.
For about 2 weeks I would hit the ground rolling with my hands covering my own face whenever he came and rubbed his head against my face.

Plus, I would rather die with a warm gun than a can of mace in my grip.

Know how to tell the difference between black bear and grizzly from their droppings?
Black bear dropping contain berry seeds and remnants of a ground squrrel fur. Grizzly droppings have berry seeds, squrrel fur, little silver bells ...... and smell like pepper spray!!!!

Kind of like trying to stop a runaway locamotive with a squitgun.