>>234825I live in Montana and backpack in the Bob Marshall and Mission Wilderness areas all the time.
This shitty article is just a case of one-upsmanship. The author is trying to assert that he is more at one with nature and the universe than you, ignorant reader.
The guy is an idiot. As a Wilderness EMT I am pissed that I may have to carry his smug body out one day. If he wants a closer connection to nature he could just bring a botany or geology book and slow down a minute.
----As far as the inevitable spray vs. gun debate----
I love bearspray. I love guns, A LOT, but I recognize that bearspray tends to be more affective than firearms and I'm a better shot with a spray can than I am with my glock 20 under stress.
The way I think of it, from a bear's perspective:
>Get shot"Holy shit that hurts I was bluff charging but now I am going to maul you because you have proven yourself a threat".
>Get maced"Fuck as a bear I have no concept of what's going on but I think I'm dying and I can't see so I guess I'll just thrash around and roll on the ground. I regret my decision to fuck with a human and will avoid them from now on".
They think in run on sentences, btw.
For the other significant danger of stumbling upon a meth lab or a grow operation, I still prefer mace. Because reasons.
That being said, if I'm all alone, have been fishing, it's raining, etc, a gun is peace of mind. Also, in the torrential downpours and high winds that are really, really fucking common in the Rockies the effectiveness of mace is diminished.
tl;dr The man is crying for attention, and the mace vs. gun debate is a false dichotomy, though most of the time mace is the better option in my opinion.
