As a species, we are the apex predator. As an individual in any particular encounter I may or may not end up being the apex predator. I usually have bear spray

As a species, we are the apex predator. As an individual in any particular encounter I may or may not end up being the apex predator. I usually have bear spray with me, but I only have a rifle when I'm hunting. I'm not sure I could kill a bear before it took me down, so I'm actually happier to carry bear spray than a rifle for protection from bears. Of course, if we're doing rescue work where bears may have already been acting predatory towards humans bear spray is not an option and we carry several bear-stopping rifles. I've run into 30-40 bears in my lifetime, and all but one of them ran away as soon as they saw me. One lingered a bit, and that was a scary but life-affirming encounter.