Mastering Bear Defense: Staying Safe in the Backcountry

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No two cartridges are discussed more when it comes to self-defense than the 9mm and .44 Mag. While the 9mm gets the nod as one of the best overall self-defense handgun cartridges on the streets for everyday carry, the .44 Mag. is touted as the end-all/be-all cartridge for backcountry defense. Recent tests and viral videos have shown these cartridges being tested against bear skulls and gelatin to disprove the theory that you need a giant bullet to penetrate a bear skull in a defensive situation. The 9mm, stuffed with properly constructed bullets, can penetrate completely through a grizzly bear skull, effectively stopping the bear and deterring further aggression. I am not here to necessarily put the two cartridges together in a showdown comparison as there is no doubt the .44 Mag. has more of everything than the 9mm. However, that “more of everything” comes at a price and may not be the right choice for everyone.

Back Streets to the Backcountry

As a former law enforcement officer and firearms instructor, I have personally seen the disastrous effects of a shooter struggling with “too much gun.” The “bigger is better” concept has been ingrained for generations, preaching that you have to have a large-caliber bullet in order to stop a threat. This often leaves shooters with less than ideal on-target accuracy, and makes them afraid of pulling the trigger. When I first started my career in law enforcement, I had to supply my own handgun for duty. I was told I could carry anything larger than a 9mm. Being a competitive shooter and 9mm fan, I was disappointed and asked why? The answer I got was an astonishing. “The 9mm is inferior and doesn’t kill.” Clearly, the .45 ACP in the instructor’s holster signaled the “big bullets kill better” mentality. I went home and selected my Glock 22 in .40 S&W for duty and shot a perfect score on the department qualification, something that had not been done before. Coincidence? Maybe, but not likely. I believe it had far more to do with everyone shooting .45 ACPs, sacrificing controllability for a big bullet when speed and accuracy was the basis of the qualification.

A few years later, after showing research studies coupled with the benefits of training with a 9mm, the department finally changed their policy and allowed 9mm as a duty pistol cartridge. More than half the agency changed to 9mm that year leading to higher qualification scores and the officers confidence soaring to an all-time high. This confidence, coupled with deadly accuracy and speed, wins gunfights regardless of the theater. I have always carried a 9mm Glock for my EDC and a .44 Mag. in the backcountry because you have to in order to stop a bear. Right?

During my college years, I assisted trapping problem bears as an intern with the Arizona Game and Fish Department. They would capture bears in large barrel-style traps and tranquilize them to tag them or read the tags to see how many times the bear had been caught. During this time, black bears were managed under a three-strike policy and were euthanized for repetitive violations of trash cans. I was surprised to see the bears were dispatched with a single .22 caliber pistol round to the forehead, resulting in immediate death.

This went against everything I had heard for years. How much gun is actually necessary to penetrate a bear skull? The officer told me he had shot countless bears in this manner with the same results, stating that it doesn’t take much, even on a large black bear boar, to shut them down. Despite observing this several times throughout the summer, I still carried a .44 Mag. in the woods for years as proper “bear defense”. Obviously, I am not advocating for the .22 LR as a bear-defense round. However, this experience was always in the back of my head every time I went to the range to torch off 300-grain solids in my Smith & Wesson 329 PD hand cannon. Grimacing through bloody knuckles, it generally takes me 12 seconds to accurately fire six shots. For comparison, I can fire 15 rounds in six seconds from my Glock 34 chambered in 9mm, with three-times-greater accuracy.

Evolution Through Experience

Years ago, I started carrying a 9mm Glock 17 with a KKM Precision Comped Barrel as my primary pistol for all backcountry excursions. I topped the pistol with a Trijicon SRO optic for the ultra-fast red-dot reticle. Having run a red-dot optic for years, I became comfortable with the optic and trusted it with my life for patrol and SWAT operations. That also made it a logical choice for a backcountry optic. With the comped barrel I can run this pistol extremely fast and keep the red dot on target without having to worry about aligning iron sights in low-light conditions or heavy-timbered areas. The simple and precise sight picture a red dot offers is ideal for nearly every self-defense situation I have encountered both on the streets and off.

I ran a plethora of factory ammunition through the pistol with excellent results in reliability and accuracy, but really wanted a solid monolithic bullet that would stay together and penetrate deeply through a predator’s skull, spine and into the chest cavity. I decided to handload Hammer’s 137-grain Jack Hammer bullet in +P brass with 5.3 grains of CFE Pistol. This load pushes the bullet 1,100 fps, is very accurate and runs reliably in my pistol with zero issues. Hornady also recently released their new Backcountry Defense ammunition which includes a 138-gr. +P offering for the 9mm. This will be a great factory option made specifically for hunters wanting a tough bullet.

The Right Target

I found Alaska State Parks Bear Qualification targets online at Action Targets and ordered 100 of them as they are perfect for training. Living in northwest Montana, most of the country I hunt is not only grizzly country, but also has high populations of black bears, mountain lions and wolves roaming the hills. Training on targets that are true to life for the intended application is an area often overlooked by hunters compared to self-defense shooters using humanoid targets for nearly all defensive training to keep things as realistic as possible. I set these targets on stands at 25-35 yards to simulate the dangerous proximity of a charging predator for my training. Anything inside these distances, I would work lateral movement into my training, as you’re likely going to be shooting on the move to avoid contact with the predator and not standing flatfooted with a bear charging at 20 yards.

I mixed in a variety of shooting on the move and found this to be a major issue with the excessive recoil of the .44 Mag. (and larger cartridges) in acquiring your target quickly. The low muzzle rise of a 9mm semi-auto pistol lends itself to better control when shooting on the move in dynamic training, ultimately putting a higher round count on target. The key to success is delivering accurate rounds on target. Even if you have a giant bullet with ample energy, it still has to hit the target to do its job. Most hunters barely train with their primary rifle before hunting season so most will admit they have little to no experience with a handgun, yet they still carry one as backup. Most would agree that having something is better than nothing, especially when you consider most people have a 9mm and can shoot it more accurately and controlled than any .44 Mag. they are handed. Regardless of what you carry, you must train and train often to stay proficient if you think you’re going to use it in a highly stressful situation.

Carry Considerations

A high-powered rifle will always be my primary means of defense against anything in the woods, but having a pistol on you when doing certain practices is a great insurance policy. While bowhunting, field-dressing game, filtering water, cooking food and doing other chores around camp where a rifle cannot always be in your hand, the best secondary option is a sidearm. One thing I have learned from experience, and talking with several grizzly bear attack survivors, is the incredible speed and deafening silence of the attack capable from a 700-pound bear in a dense forest. Oftentimes the attack is a total surprise with little to no warning, so having a pistol on you at all times is paramount. This also means a holster with proper retention that you can draw lightning fast with a single hand should be the highest priority. I believe your holster should be Kydex with no retention levers or buckles and should be located on your chest allowing for rapid deployment when needed.

GunfightersINC Kenai model is my go-to chest holster and I wear mine under my Stone Glacier bino harness. I run my holster as tight as comfortably possible to minimize movement of the holster when I draw. I also found that the bino harness over top of the holster helps keep the holster tight to my chest and provides the most secure, low profile. The Kenai holster is offered for both semi-auto and revolver pistols of nearly every make and model for left and right-handed shooters.

Although I haven’t killed any charging grizzlies with a pistol or fended off a pack of rogue wolves, I feel confident if the circumstances were to present themselves in a defense-of-life situation. I believe I will win and survive to tell the tale based on my ability to accurately deliver a high volume of deep penetrating bullets on target. We have entered the age where we must question dogmatic thoughts that have been passed from generation to generation. I find it ironic most of the people touting the .44 Mag. as the only option for bear defense do not even live in a state with grizzly bears, yet one of the most well-known brown bear guides in Alaska not only carries a 9mm, but has actually killed a charging brown bear with it.

While the great hunters before us that paved the way for today’s backcountry hunters did the best with what they had, we have entered a time with far superior materials, technologies and knowledge that allow us to test theories and make better decisions. Carrying a 9mm pistol as a bear defense option may sound ridiculous to some, but when presented with the situation, it’s hard to argue the importance of a well-placed small bullet compared to a large-caliber miss. Developing a system that gives you confidence to hunt the backcountry safely for 99.9% of the possible encounters should take precedence over all else.

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