We fished with several guides while in AK and each carried a 44 magnum. BUT each also said they had NEVER used them. Browns need to be respected but if you use common sense and keep your distance, they are almost never a problem. The black bears are another story....

One day about 10am while shore fishing in the Quicic (sp), our guide told the four of us that he thought it might be a good idea for us to get back in the boat. About 30 seconds later a bbbbiiiiggggg she brown bear and her two cubs showed up. The mother bear stood on the same rock I was fishing from and proceeded to catch two reds in less than 5 minutes. Meanwhile we were a mere twenty yards away in the river in the boat having a very pleasant nature experience. The bears checked us out, determined we werent a threat and got on with their biz.

I guess the freak accident in the article was just one of those things -- not good if you were the victim, but it would be a shame to kill a bear just because it got in your way while it was doing what comes naturally. My $0.02.