Bears and Guns

This morning, one of our guests, prior to his heading out to Wood Lake for a day of fishing, asked me if he should bring along his .45 caliber pistol for bears on the portage.  I said, "nah" because I haven't carried any sort of pistol out there since I was a kid.

When I was 14, I started guiding on Wood Lake, and my dad made me carry an old military .45 semi-auto with me in a leather holster.  I used to put it in my pack and upon setting up in the boat at Wood, I would take it out and clip the belt around a gunwale stay on the seat.  Every time I did that, there would be the sucking of wind and sputtering by my new clients as to the realness of the gun.  "Yup - it's real" I would respond.  Upon their questioning as to why I would bring such a gun along in my pack, I would always tell them it was for bears on the portage.  That response would elicit "Ooooohhhs" of understanding and then the day would progress like any other day of wilderness fishing in northern Minnesota.

As it turns out, the real reason I carried such firepower was not so much for bears as it was for people.  Yes, as shocking as it sounds, my dad wanted me to be scarier to the strangers I was guiding.  With no way to know who they really are and locked in a confined space like a small boat with a 14-18 year old kid, nothing says, "Easy there big fella" like a .45 strapped to the seat within the immediate grip of the kid guiding the boat.  Sounds cynical perhaps, but a healthy dose of cynicism and pistol makes for a consistently peaceful, fun-filled trip all the time.  And, again, the other reason for carrying that 5 extra pounds of weight was bears on the portage.  Ironically, I had no idea that my dad had a two-fold reason for bringing and displaying that pistol until I was about 40 years old when he told it to me.  I always simply thought it was for bears.  I don't believe I ever unholstered it even once in all those times I carried it.

Once I got bigger and stronger as is what happens to kids, plus having seen but never been bothered by a bear ever on the portage, I decided to lighten my load a bit and I began leaving the pistol home.  Spending as much time as we did in the woods growing up, if bears and wolves were ever going to be a problem, we should no longer be of this earth any more.  Don't get me wrong, all of our family members have had some pretty wild times with black bears here around the resort, but under much different circumstances.  I respect bears, but I'm not afraid of them.  Give them space, let them pass.  Don't smear bacon grease on your chest and run around like an idiot and you should do fine.  It's simple common sense and it seems to work since I know of nobody with any bite marks or the more obvious signs of being disemboweled by a bear.  Being in the resort business, that is a good thing, I figure.   I still get the sense that bears would much rather not be interacting with us and that's just fine with me.

I more or less explained this to my guest about going to Wood Lake.  He's from out of state in a large urban area, and I've noted people sometimes are a little on the jumpy side while here in the woods.  I always felt it was a bit more than required because we really don't have animals that attack people as a rule. There are no grizzlies and the wolves (so far) have  attacked very few people world wide.  Now that is not to say that these parameters will never change, but they have been the status quo for the last 50 years that I have been hanging out in the woods.  Plus, sending countless numbers of people on canoe trips has only resulted in about a half dozen bear attacks of their food packs only and that is from 1976!  

So, bears are not really a problem in my opinion.  I suggested he leave his gun at home as it was just extra weight.  He hesitantly agreed and quoted "safe than sorry" and I suggested he'd be fine without it.

He drove off to Wood Lake.  In 10 minutes I saw his car coming back down the driveway.  Did I forget the boat key?...the oars?...nope.  He came into the store and said when they got within 150 feet of the Wood Lake parking lot driveway and he was signaling to turn, a large bear crossed the Fernberg road going north right in front of his car and headed right down the Wood Lake portage.

He decided to come back and get his gun.  I hope he doesn't shoot his foot off or his wife in that panicky, jacked-up, shaky hands adrenaline rush that one gets when being charged by a large bear.

My money is on him never again seeing that bear.  I'll know more tonight.

Free Advice for what it is worth:  Unless you have extensive training and experience in shooting charging bears/animals with a pistol, I STILL say, leave the pistol home.  Shooting targets at the range and shooting a charging bear are not even closely related.   Plus, if you shoot a bear that is not on top of you trying to end you, you may find yourself in a world of hurt legally in Minnesota.   I just think its a problem waiting to happen.  I don't carry a pistol and have spent a lot of time in the woods.  It's never been a problem.


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