#Remmington870 #BearDefence #WildernessTravel I’ve had a few questions surrounding the firearm I use on my wilderness travel expeditions for bear protection. I've been asked what kind of gun to bring? what kind of ammo? how do I store my gun? etc. In this bonus vid, I shot on day 2 of my Yukon adventure I share the answers to these questions. First off, the odds that you're attacked by a bear are very slim but you are better to be safe than sorry. Particularly when travelling alone. On my Yukon adventure, I was totally solo paddling whitewater and portaging through the bush in Grizzly and Black Bear country.
In addition to a firearm, I carry a pen launcher armed with a bear banger which are made by TruFlare. I also carry bear spray on my belt.
Portaging often takes multiple trips and I don't carry the firearm back and forth with me on every trip. I do make sure to have my banger and spray on me at all times. I've carried my gun back and forth on a long portage once but things were a little dicey that time as we'd just been charged by an angry sow. (I've included links to three of my bear encounter videos below). You can see in one of my bear encounter videos that a bear banger was more effective at scaring off a bear than the warning shot from a high powered rifle. This is because the explosion from the bear banger happened right in the bear's face as opposed to a distance away from it at the rifle's muzzle.
The gun of choice for me is a 12 gauge pump-action shotgun and I’ve been using the Remington 870 you see in this vid on almost all my trips since I paddled the Nahanni in 2006. Though high powered rifles such as a 30-06, .338 Win Mag, or 45-70 are effective at defending against bears, I choose the 12 gauge pump because of its versatility. You can equip it with a shorter barrel which will make it more compact and faster to wheel in close range, it can hold five rounds (where permitted), and is versatile. For example, it can shoot 00 Buck Shot or slugs, or you can stagger the rounds, (one round of Buck followed by a slug, followed by a buck). A shotgun is also a better survival choice if you want to hunt small game for food whether planned or as a necessity. This is because it can also fire small game load which is effective at taking rabbits, squirrels, partridge or ducks and you can also load BB shot for goose hunting which could really save you in a pinch. A 1oz .50 cal slug is also capable at downing any North American large game animal at close range. I use .50cal 1oz rifled slugs for bear protection and I use a modified choke in my barrel. Though a rifled choke or a rifled barrel will allow you to fire specific slugs like a sabot slug, and give you more accuracy, you can’t fire shot with such barrels / chokes so I don’t bother with them.
I choose a pump and not a semiauto because a pump is more reliable, jams less easily, and I know how to disassemble and reassemble it if I need to fix it. Sometimes your gun will get wet out there and go through some rugged situations on wilderness trips. A semiauto is never recommended in such remote situations.
Here's a rundown on how I ready my shotgun for the different situations I face on a wilderness canoe trip.....
- At camp: Loaded safety on and I keep it close by.
- In the tent: Action open with a shell in it, and a full magazine.
- In the canoe & portaging: Fill the magazine, action closed, safety off (no shell chambered) and I store it in a waterproof, floating soft case which I keep open at the end while portaging.
Remember: If you're going to bring a firearm with you, make sure that it's not a false sense of security. Make sure that if you need to use it, it's at the ready or else what's the point?
Here are links to some of my videos where I've had encounters with bears and how I delt with them.
- Bear comes into camp in Northern Quebec:
- Sow Bear charges us in Labrador:
- Bears on the portage Trail in Northern Saskatchewan:
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