JJ
I guess it is possible to call it overconfidence, but knowing what to look for in a bear to decide whether to hang around or leave immediately maintains perspective...
More often than not I go without a gun of any kind. This year there were far more bears than usual on the Kodiak road system and they were a bit more aggressive than usual, so I carried a gun quite a bit this year.
Last year I had an issue with a woman carrying a shotgun that had no business doing so. She carried it "hot" and had no concept of not pointing it at people. We had words...
art