....back to the question, what would be the effectiveness of a load of buck to a bear's head, under charge? I'd think it would be a charge stopper, but would like to hear of specific examples.
Try searching the newspaper, Great Falls Tribune, and there are articles about bird hunter encounters with grizzlies in Montana, and killing bears at close range with bird shot. There's a short, under twenty seconds, youtube video, 'bear charges after mountain goats', at Glacier National Park from July of 2020. It gives some idea how quick one might have to be at getting a shotgun slinged over a shoulder, into action.
There are supposedly dozens of maulings every year in Montana and Wyoming. There are articles from just a month ago of an experienced outdoors guide being attacked while fishing near Yellowstone, and dying a couple of days later. I figure if I'm hunting, I'll have a gun in my hands, but for just being out there, I've settled on keeping a .44 with heavy bullets, handy. I'm not worried about it, but a few years back, a young grizzly made the news moving through a duck hunting spot I've been to a few times. A friend in the Flathead area of MT had a backyard chicken coop torn up with claw marks eleven feet off the ground, and there were a few sightings by neighbors. The wildlife folks put out a barrel trap to try to relocate that bear, but it was hit by a pickup a few days later. But anyway, no doubt, I'm glad you and yours had a good ending.
