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Personally, I don't feel the need of either bear spray or armament. I have been hiking, backpacking, climbing, hunting and fishing for well over 60 years. For about 40 years I spent at least 100 days professionally per year in the field. I have worked in Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and most of the western lower 48 states. Have I encountered bears? Yes,and occasionally they were aggressive, at least to the extent of bluff charging. In none of these encounters would a firearm or bear spray have improved anything and in my opinion use of either could have made the situation worse either for me or the bear. Personally, I prefer the proven bear avoidance techniques to the more "mechanical" methods.