i havent tried it personally but theres lots of people that have been treed after spraying...... even eaten, it dulls theyre senses for a couple minutes.... but when they can see and smell again .......... theyre pretty hostile........... i prefer a 12 guage but its just a hassle luggin it around all day

Well, I imagine it better than hitting em with your boot.

I would go with a 300 gr. WLN GC, or 320 gr. WLN GC Ballistic Advantage BOAR-SALMMER Premium Hunting Bullet (Ph. 325-529-3363). Also a Cast Preformance 300 gr. WFN GC, 320 gr. WLN GC, WLN GC-DC. Good luck.

A friend of mine did a coastal with his .44mag. , he was working for AF&G at the time, a 180gr jacketed went from front to rear , hit 2 bones and kept on going, however, the brown went about 75 yds after the shot, luckely in the other direction.
My friend said if he HAD to do it again, does not want to, he would want the Lee 310gr rfngc over 22gr H110, about 1300fps from a 7 1/2" barrel, using ww's metal.

I was watching a show on photographing wildlife these guys were taking photos of a grizzly at really close range at one point the bear got so close they could have reached out and touched it but at that point the photographer gave the bear a good 3 or 4 second burst of pepper spray and the bear took off and stopped after a hundred feet looked back and then began running away again.

After seeing that im almost willing to bet you would have a better chance of detering a bear with pepper spray rather then a gun. especially with some of the bear attack stories ive read where the bears were shot several times and kept attacking.

It makes sense because with a gun shot wound the bear still has its two most important senses vision and the sense of smell with a blast of pepper gas in the face it loses both temporarily. and as for a predator that seriously relies on its sight and sense of smell to survive when it realizes it has lost use of both the instinct of the bear takes over and it gets the heck outta there.

Yes its a big canister and squirts 20 feet,cost about $45.
In Fla. we have a BAN on black bear and have to do all we can
not to shoot it, unless it is trying to attack you.
Sounds like you have never encounterd a MaMa with cubs!

I'd just move to Florida :-)

Scubagtr, that's why I like to hunt hogs with dogs.
When hunting deer I carry 44 side arm in case the
rifle jams, but always carry a canister of spray
in a canister holster.