Originally Posted By: Chris Kavanaugh
...I assure you, a good sized bear will bend the fanciest aircraft grade hollow pole.
Anyone who has skinned bears knows there is actually a smaller animal under very loose hide and fat. Penetration demands a very stout thrusting spear, aka Anthony Hopkins v s Bart.
These elaborate hiking sticks, and there have been others, are just hollowhandled survival knives.


Point well taken. Of course, a pole is much easier to bend with side-ways pressure than compression pressure lengthwise down the shaft. A spear generally is used in the compression mode, of course. When I was about 11 years old, my 10 yr old sis and my 9 yr old bro and I were hiking a short distance behind our cabin up near the Boundary Waters in Minnesota. There was an old trapper/hermit shack up there in some thick woods with the old gentleman's extensive diary inside and a bunch of other curios. Anyway, on the way up the trail, we ran smack into a big black mama bear and a cub. We were within about 20 yds of each other. Nothing happened, but looking back it sure would've been more comforting to have had one of those aircraft aluminum pointy things rather than just loud offensive language.