Another New Study: Lead slugs deter black bears better than rubber slugs.

i would rather shoot a real bullet out of a real gun if a bear was runnin at me

We use rubber buckshot on black bears and it seems to do the job quite well. I wouldn't recommend trying to use them to stop a charge though.

Deter 'em, who wants to deter 'em? I say any nuisance bear ought to be deterred right into bearbacon and a good roasting pan. Come bother the humans and you become fair game. I likes bear meat! But the prevailing notion seems to be somewhat Disneyfied, in that the bear is sent running off to follow his nose into some other human neighborhood. They think to "teach" bears to fear humans and stay away but the bears nose is better than a dogs nose. If the bear smells a human, the bear can infer a lot from what it picks up-age, gender, anxiety. If the Bear can smell the man with the shotgun (loaded with rubber), the bear can smell that it is a man and likely can smell the gun oil, leather and other things too. So what is the bear going to do when it finds a human who smells adolescent, frightened, female and doesn't smell like gun cleaning products and oil.
If the bears that wander into Suburbia never get to wander out, they won't teach cubs about garbage cans. Besides think of all the homeless shelters where a few hundred pounds of Bear Stew would be welcomed.

I dont want nothin to do with shoothin a pissed off bear with no bouncie ball, keep mine leaded thank you.

Amen jd.

Ruckweiler-
Absolutely not. TR's "Big Medicine" was a .405 Winchester which allegedly, he did not shoot well, either from poor eyesight or fear of recoil. LOL

i heard if you snap em with a beach towel that will deter them too, for bears im not takin any chances, ill go with lead