Looking for input on the M&P 45 Compact for a woods gun

[GJM]

Last summer, there was an incident where long time, Alaska Peninsula bear guide, Phil Shoemaker, was out guiding two fishing clients, and they were charged by an AK peninsula brown bear. Phil did not have a long gun or his usual 629, and only had a DAO S&W 3rd Gen (think single stack 3953 or equivalent) loaded with Buffalo Bore 147 hard cast. He stopped the attack with his 9mm and killed the bear. I don't think he is looking to repeat that any time soon.

I do not not differentiate between grizzly bears in the lower 48 and Alaska. While there may be larger bears in Alaska, any adult grizzly bear is a formidable opponent. My wife thinks grizzly bears in the lower 48 may be meaner and less fearful of people, as they haven't been hunted for generations, like in AK, and developed a fear of man.

If you want to watch some grizzly bears, here is a link to some web cams at Brooks Camp, about 100 miles SW of here.

https://www.nps.gov/katm/learn/photo...ia/webcams.htm

These are bears habituated to people, but you will get the idea of their strength.

To the question of a defensive caliber/load, it needs to be able to penetrate the skull of the bear, otherwise, you are betting that a warning shot or non-fatal shot to the body will stop the attack. With any service pistol, whether 9/40/45, for use on bears I would want to carry a load that functions reliably and can penetrate the skull of a grizzly. Right now, I put the Underwood loaded Lehigh loads at the top of the pile, because of their construction and how well they feed in everything I have tried them in. As to caliber, I think bigger is better on bears, but that just may be because of how small I feel around bears. Long guns are your friend!

[Malamute]

I agree about the lower 48 grizzlies not having fear of people. An old guy I know that was raised near Yellowstone said in the days they were hunted, theyd see tracks and such around home, but rarely saw actual bears. Today, they seee bears fairly regularly. They have pretty well filled in all the useable good bear country and have spread out past the good country, even into farm and ranch country. They are somewhat leery of people, but most dont seem to have real fear. They are seen much more than in the past. The bears getting out into the sub-prime good country seem to be the younger ones looking for new home ground.