Ripp:

Liked the joke about the tourists:). That the study might have been 'worked' a bit towards 'political correctness' (... use spray, not guns) occurred to me as well, as the percentage difference in favor of spray appears a bit high for me. I also know about the breeze issue. However, a lot of people out there are not exactly good shots, even less so with a handgun. Those, I believe, would be better off with the spray, even if theyhit themselves with it

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As to bears going down quickly, some do, some don't. There are reports of bears taking 13 shots from .375 and then disappearing in the woods, to ones that go down with one shot from a .308. Seems to depend on the bear. As for the effectivness of the 7 MM REM: My guide (who used this, and also told me beforehand that this would be plenty) took a shot at my downed bear (as I was out of ammo) with his 7mm Rem at the bear's shoulder from about 15 feet with a Trophy Bonded Bear Claw. Well, perfect mushroom, 100 % weight retention, just didn't penetrate the shoulder, broke no bone, simply got stuck in the shoulder. His face showed quite a bit of disbelief - I was next to him when the bullet was cut out of the shoulder during the caping of the bear ... . They are not all alike. I should add that this was the biggest bear that was shot in the northern Carpatian mountains in the last 28 years, - the 8.5 ft length does not tell the whole story, as he was built extremely stout: He was just shy of 1000 pounds, very strong, with very little fat, all muscle - after caping you could see that - legs like tree trunks.