Well, personally I put more trust in a trusty 12 gauge. Not that I want to shoot a bear, mind you, but if it came to me or him I'd rather it was him.

When I first started here I was talked to a member of the Sierra Club, who was from LA and had just finished hiking around in the mountains west of town. I mentioned that I wanted to do some walking up there and this guy said, "Well, you'd better carry a gun, because there are things up in those hills!" (My unspoken response was, "No shit, Sherlock. And what did you expect? Cute widdle bunny-wunnies?")