A friend of mine had a 4-gauge shotgun with a 100-gram ammo capacity for just such a situation. It's dangerous to shoot without a tripod; the recoil can break your collarbone, but against a bear, anything else is useless... After that, are you going to rely on pepper spray? :)
!INDEED
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!MEME
!LOLZ
I've carried a sidearm before walking in the deep woods. It might deter a bear or just piss it off more. lol. In the end if I have that bear encounter I'm hoping to be able to scare it off but if he wants me bad enough I'm probably a goner. 🤷♂
If you encounter a bear and it's not in the mood, a pistol might give you a chance to shoot yourself before it starts tackling its prey, but it won't stop the bear, especially if it's winter and the bear is clumsy :)
!INDEED
!HOPE
!PIZZA
!WEIRD
!MEME
!LOLZ
!ALIVE