Which pepper spray?

[white bear]

Hi guys,
I need a recommendation for pepper spray to be used against bears.

I am going to hike in areas where firearms are not allowed, and I want to know which is the best pepper spray, the stronger, the most powerful distance shooter.

Also if you have ideas in others method of defense against bears, your input will be appreciated.

White bear

[Red Lion]

Any pepper spray good enough for humans would be good enough for bear. I can not tell you specific model/manufacturers or which one sprays the farthest, but that should not be too hard to find with some searching on the interweb.
A whistle can be handy for bear as well. I would also carry a BIG STICK!

[Rebel Hog]

Brown Bear Projects at the Alaska Science Center

[Hiawatha]

Whatever brand you choose i would suggest possibly buying 2 cans, use the first one testing it. Many people buy the spray but do not know how to use it properly and end up spraying themselves instead of the bear. Have to take wind/movement etc into account.If you just buy one can make sure it works though. In Gary James Sheltons books he suggests a can on each hip as well as a rubber handled knife because it will not slip in your hand when bloody. This may be overkill but you never know. Personallyi feel alot better when i am geared up right.

[Red Lion]

If you have ever been sprayed with pepper spray, as I have, you will understand that it will wreck most people. With this in mind, bear have a much more acute sense than a human, with something like 1,000 times the receptors, so it should affect bear more intensely than humans.

[trouthunter]

Most pepper spray should suffice against bears. Whistles are a good idea, as well as a noise maker like little bells on your person.

The key is to know how to identify bear scat to see if you are in the territory of a dangerous bear. If you see seeds in the scat, and it has a berry odor, then you are probably in black bear country, and the risk of attack is small. If you are in Grizzly bear, or "dangerous" bear habitat, most of the bear scat will have little bells and whistlesin it and smell like pepper

Another good thing to do if you are in dangerous bear country (where you can carry a side arm) is to file the front site offyour pistol. That way it doesn't hurt as much when the bear sticks it where the sun don't shine

[wyotimberghost]

I carry this:

http://www.udap.com/product.htm

Be sure to keep it somewhere that it is readily accessible. If I'm in an area with a lot of bears, I keep one bottle on my left backpack strap and one on my right hip. It's not a bad idea to practice drawing it.

[KoBear]

the best advice for pepper spray is to not carry one that uses water as a main ingredient. i was told that the ones that use water are less potent b/c they're watered down some. makes sense to me at least.

[Rebel Hog]

UDAP Bear Deterrent Pepper Spray