AKSAR,

My daughter first learned to shoot the 12 gauge when she was working for the USFS trail repair crews around Cordova. Normally they had one bear protection person per crew. But her crew is doing salmon surveys in the middle of prime bear food habitat (the salmon spawning streams in PWS). In the photos she sends there are two guys with the 12 gauge shotguns (Remington 870's I think). So far, no problems but she has another 6 weeks on the Sound so Mom's (and Dad's) fingers are crossed.

Bears aren't the only threat, however. Got a picture of her diving off the boat into the sound with the caption " water's great, just have to be wary of the jellyfish and seal attacks..."

That about put Mom over the edge.