PS, can't say anything about bell peppers, I wuz up dar before that idea was even conceived.

Plus shotgun slugs kicks less than a 44 mag. And I have a question can shooting a slug through a full choke do any damage to your shotgun?

If you already have one arm/hand injured by Mr. Griz, that shotgun may be too long to help! LOL

I don't favor pumps much, having grown up shooting a Browning Auto 5 and doubles. When I acquired my 1100, I found it to be just as reliable as the old Browning, and with less recoil from a 12 gauge than I was used to in a 16. That all being said, I would trust my 1100 in bear country, with slugs. So...My final answer to what to carry in bear country is....a Winchester Model 70 in .338 Win Mag. That's my final answer!

One of my friends who moved to the Gallatin gateway area 35 years ago with the intention to dedicate the rest of his life to fly fishing. Soon after he arrived there, he purchased a Blackhawk .41 mag., which he intended to carry with him while fishing. One of the locals asked he why he was carrying the Blackhawk, and he told him it was for protection from bears. The local advised that he cut off the front blade sight.He asked why and was told, "When a grizzly takes that gun from you and shoves it up your backside it won't hurt so bad"
Yea, I like the idea of a long gun in bear country too!

I have always been skeptical about the utility of a shotgun as grizzly bear medicine. Most people pack a big pistol out of necessity. Fly fishing with a shotgun slung just doesn't work. Neither does it work to leave it laying on the bank while you're fishing. Hiking in the woods with a backpack is equally cumbersome with a shotgun. However, that's the way the National Park Service does it with their trail crews. Usually though the gun is traded off between the various crew members so that the same person doesn't use his arms up hauling the thing in hand. It is perhaps a good weapon for their particular situation ... but little else. As a ranger at Katmai with one hundred grizzlies in the vicinity of our camp (and that is no exaggeration - they were counted every year), I felt the shotguns were totally useless. For one thing they were locked in the cabinet until someone was getting chewed on. No kidding!!! Secondly, if someone is getting chewed on it is expedient to get a round of something into the bear as soon as possible and get it at least distracted if not dead. When a bear is skinning a fisherman alive a hundred yards upriver, a shotgun in the ranger's hands is useless. So the alternative is to take off running through the swamp/bog/brush and hope you can get in range before the griz has finished his work. It's always so easy to get off an accurate shot when you're winded and someone is screaming their lungs out! The USFS on the other hand, issues .375 H&H magnums to its employees for bear medicine (and yes, even the little women had to qualify with them!). A much better choice in my opinion. Even at close range a .375 is going to stall a charging grizzly long enough to get a second round in the chamber, if the first one doesn't kill him outright in his tracks! In my mind, the ideal bear medicine for Alaska for ANY situation would be a double-barreled rifle in .375 H&H. Open sights and barrels not too long. It has always amazed me that none of our North American gun makers has been smart enough to fill that niche. Oh, I'm sure they could sell them like hotcakes as the "extreme bear gun." Of course, even one of those would be no help for fly fisherman who fish all night alone like I did. I had to put my faith in bear spray because it was the only thing practical in that situation (and at that time the NPS wouldn't let tourists pack guns either). Having said that, I will also say that bear spray would always be my first choice for a charging bear even if I could pack a pistol or rifle. It is much easier to put a bullet in the bear's brain bucket if it's temporarily incapacitated with that stuff. A hell of a lot easier than if he's laying rubber towards me at sixty miles an hour, no matter what kind of gun I'm packing! And whipping the bear spray into action is no more cumbersome than unholstering a pistol or unshoulderiing a rifle/shotgun. If anything it probably is a lot more expedient.

44 mag with 300 gr XTP's will ruin anything's day. A one ounce chunk of lead from a 12 ga even more so.

Mostly it would depend on what I was doing which I would prefer. As a shotgun is pretty cumbersome when working or fishing.

Ithaca, I think perhaps it could be doable. I mean, look at all the money they are getting for the AR platform guns these days and we know how much "art" and expensive labor/materials goes into making those things. Not much! Just like the ARs, it's a matter of creating the market, much like Ruger did when they introduced the No. 1. I mean, who would have thought that a fancy single shot hunting rifle would fly? But Ruger did a clever PR job. Focused on the trophy hunters carrying those things after sheep, goats, etc. Everyone wants to look like a famous white hunter, right? Nowadays it's everyone wants to look paramilitary. But I think that could easily be changed. A big no frills double rifle could easily be billed as the ultimate extreme wilderness defense AND extreme big game animal gun. Remington tried to make a run at importing some Bakial double rifles a while back (as well as single shot rifles) but that venture quickly failed. Largely I think because Remington is just too diverse and unfocused to promote anything well. The quality of the guns was apparently not that good either. And lastly, the calibers available approached both objectives independently rather than trying to find common ground (30-06 and 45-70).

Having both spray and firearm is probably wise to have in bear territory, but true life stories I have read of people who did not survive a bear attack indicate the spray was never used, or if activated the attack for some reason as not stopped. Dead men tell no tales...while most survivors claim that most attacks happen so quickly they did not have time to use the spray. SO, when hunting is one's main intent, most of us would hope to be more prepared for a bear attack...at least one would HOPE HUNTERS WOULD BE!

Ralph, most guys in Alaska who are actually hunting for grizzly bears would not think of carrying a shotgun as their primary hunting weapon. It is preferred to take the big bears at a hundred yards or further ... for obvious reasons. For distance shooting the .338 or 375 H&H seem to be preferred.

As I understand the requirements for bear protection gun are:
1. realiable,
2. has good stopping power,
3. able to shot several shots fast.

Double barrel rifle is supposedly an answer to this. But it is only a 2-shot rifle!
There are couple guns that meet the criteria, e.g. AK-47 (7.62 x 39) and AR-10 chambered in 308. For a bear attach happening within 200 ft, these are extremely powerful and effective guns, with 30-round magazine as a standard. Also, there are AK-action shotguns with 10 -round magazine chambered in 12 ga. Hard to beat that, especially considering that these are "standard" weapons that will not cost as much as a custom gun.

Most likely these are overkill anyway. I grew up in bear country, and have heard only couple cases when a hunter was mauled by a bear. In one case, the hunter accidentally woke up the bear during the winter sleep and he (the hunter) did not have slugs with him.

In almost all other cases the bear attack was not on a hunter. People just did not pay much attention to the surrounding.

Zumba: A bear charging from 200 feet will more often than not break it off. Trying to fill an 800+ pound speeding grizzly at that range with .308 bullets will likely only ensure you will get hurt. That's a marginal caliber for elk and moose in the best of conditions (a standing shot at less than 200 yards). No one in their right mind would use a .308 to shoot grizzlies unless they had to and I don't care if you have a fifty shot magazine. Most fatal attacks occur when the bear is surprised at very close range, often only a few yards. Quality counts in those situations, not quantity. Don't expect to get more than two shots. Might be lucky to get one round off.

To VicF,
I have read a number of books on bear attacks, and most would agree that 00 buck loads do NOT make as effective bear defense load. Of course shot placement is always imparative, but we are talking about stopping a charging bear here. Close range work , need to hit them hard, and may only get one shot to get the job done!
IMO

what if the bear had already knocked you down?

If only it were possible to wear "pepper" as a scent. But that thing burns skin, darnit.

To Ralph the Rifleman and O Garcia -

I asked because I have read of African PHs carrying a 12 gauge pump with #00 buck into the tall grass or dense bush after a wounded lion or leopard that was holding a grudge. The dense pattern makes sense when point-and-shoot is the only option. I may have an Alaskan trip in the near future (details need to be worked out), so these things interest me.

Mr. Bourjaily, do you have any opinion concerning buckshot in Alaska?

Buckshot vs. slugs: buckshot is good for thin-skinned and light-framed animals. It simply does not have the dependable penetration and bone-breaking power necessary to be counted on in a serious bear encounter.
(Leopards are relatively small, light-framed animals. Buckshot works. And for lions, the only time I have known people to go intentionally after lions with buckshot was when tracking through heavy grass or bush.)

Shotgun vs.heavy rifle: if you are EXPERIENCED with a heavy rifle ... great. But for most less-experienced shooters/hunters, a short shotgun is lighter, easier to carry, easier to shoot better, and easier to use for multiple shots.

I tend to agree with Honker for the most part, having quite a bit of bear experience myself. Without fail the guys who pack shotguns eventually lean them against a tree and walk off to attend to something. I carry a bear sprayer (got to be politically correct and they work well under some conditions) and a .44 mag with 300 gr hard cast gas checked wide meplat bullets. Bear balls we call them. If I believe that the charge is more than a bluff at breath smelling range I know which I will use. Maybe a .44 is not the best decision but it will be the one on my side and in my hand. For many people it has proved effective in preventing severe injury or death, unfortunately for others not so much.

For me it would be a pump gun with slugs and a .41 Rem Mag with 250 gr FNGC hard cast loads and a prayer that I don't have to use them. Keep your buckshot, if you please.

12ga. with #4 buck are what many fishing guides in Canada use, at least on my trip. These loads btw are not ought buck.