Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Government of the Northwest Territories, Bear Safety and Firearms
It's advisable to have ready access to a firearm in camp and to carry one when you travel in bear country. A 12-gauge shotgun or a rifle of .30-06 calibre or comparable power are suitable weapons for protection against bears. Rubber bullets or cracker shells should be fired before resorting to the use of rifled slugs or large buckshot (SSG). Only shoot a bear as a last resort.
This sounds like good practical advice from the N.W.T. Government and in my opinion when the risk is high this is the best advice. There is of course no guarantee that a firearm will avert all injuries or death from wild animal encounters, as more that one hunter carrying a firearm has been injured or killed.
The so-called experts seem to have two opposing views on what to do if a bear makes contact with you; play dead in all cases or fight back in some cases. With grizzle bears play dead as you have very little chance winning. Many grizzly attacks are defensive in nature, and playing dead may show the bear that you are not a threat.
With black bears play dead if you think it’s not a predatory attack. If it is, fight back as your life will depend on it. Black bears tend to be more timid than grizzles and fighting back may scare the bear off.
This all seems a bit hypothetical to me as I can’t imagine trying to figure out if it’s a predatory or defensive attack when the bear is on top of me. My personnel opinion is that people will choose to play dead or fight back based on their personality, more than any other factor.
In a well documented bear incident at Liard Hot Springs National Park B.C. along the Alaska Highway, a black bear weighing a little over 200 pounds killed 2 tourists and seriously injured 2 more. As people fled for safety, one unfortunate young man tripped and fell and the bear was on him in an instant. This time, the bear decided not to go to the bother of killing first. The bear squatted on the young man's head and chest and was shot dead just as he was about to take a big bite out of the groin region.
A mother was killed defending her 6-year-old while trail riding on horseback near Princeton, B.C. when a cougar suddenly jumped from a bush at her 6-year-old son, as cougars rarely attack adults. The boy was thrown from his horse and was attacked by the cougar. The mother fought the animal and instructed her two other children to drag the injured youngster to the safety of their car and then get help. Finally, her older son found an armed camper, who fired a shot to scare the cougar away from mother’s limp body. It worked, but as cougar slinked toward him, his gun jammed. At the last moment, he got his gun cleared and fired at the charging cougar without being able to aim. He hit the cougar and it fled into the brush. Wildlife officials later found it where it died about 150 feet from the trail.