Guys, I am happy to see all the back and fourth, the conversation further identifies that we have spray and gun people. My position is that attacks happen about half the time when little to no time is available to ready yourself. The other half of the time some level of false charge takes place.
A bear charging from any distance is an issue but if we have time to see, recognize, choose a plan and engage with a response we are very lucky? Compound reactions are not what we are looking for here ? The muscle memory and immediate action must be deliberate and unconditional as tenths of a second count. I choose not to carry spray because it is yet another decision to be made before I launch a response. Cops call it an escalation process, we have no legal restrictions or requirements to use a escalation. We also dont have the luxury of time in most situations to do so. So, why not stream-line the process, practice your response and use enough force to resolve the situation. If we use what little time we have with an unpredictable tool we may not get to transition to an effective use of force to survive.