Anchored Podcast Ep. 174: Travis & Tiffany Bader on Guns, Safety, Bears

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Silvercore owners, Travis and Tiffany Bader, are hunters, anglers, foragers, and foodies. This husband and wife team share their passions through their company. Silvercore is the industry leader in firearms and safety training in Canada. Silvercore helps students from government, outdoors industries, and private citizens work and play safely in Canada’s great outdoors. In this episode of Anchored, Travis and Tiffany help April learn more about owning firearms, their safety, bear safety, and so much more. Join us to hear this informative conversation. 

Outline of This Episode

  • [4:50] What is Silvercore?
  • [15:55] What are the differences between owning a gun in America and in Canada?
  • [24:10] What are the rules regarding restricted firearms?
  • [29:01] Bear safety 101
  • [50:41] How to read a bear’s behaviors
  • [56:32] Should you have a bear tag on your hunting license?
  • [1:01:44] The differences between black bears and grizzlies
  • [1:05:34] Does bear spray work on cougars?
  • [1:14:46] Is it possible to store your firearms safely with kids in your house?
  • [1:21:52] People are discovering that they should learn how to become more self-reliant

What is Silvercore? 

Since he’s always been entrepreneurial, Travis started Silvercore at a young age, naming it after each of his grandfathers. Tiffany has always been an important part of the company but began to take on a full-time role after their kids were born. 

It took Travis a while to figure out how to make money with the company, but his hard work has paid off and now he has grown it to be the largest company of its kind in Canada. 

Travis started Silvercore by teaching firearms safety and then began incorporating gunsmithing when he learned that art. Silvercore now offers classes in bear safety, hunter education training,  firearms safety, and more. Check out their website to learn about their in-person and online course offerings. 

What are the differences between owning a gun in America and Canada?

Gun ownership can be a polarizing topic both in the United States and Canada and they each have different regulations. The main difference between owning a gun in Canada and the United States is that Canada has federal laws regarding gun ownership and in the States each state has its own laws.

Firearms in Canada are separated into 3 categories: nonrestrictive, restrictive, and prohibited. Nonrestricted guns include rifles, restricted guns include handguns, and prohibited guns include machine guns. However, the laws regarding prohibited firearms are becoming a bit more convoluted. Gain a better understanding of the newest firearm prohibitions in Canada by listening to this interview with firearms experts, Travis and Tiffany Bader.

Which offers better protection against bears bear spray or a firearm?

Many people ask what is the most effective protection against bears. Is it bear spray or a firearm? Travis thinks that it all boils down to your training. You may be comfortable hunting with your firearm, but a bear encounter is a much different experience than hunting. 

Bear spray has been proven to be very effective in most cases. However, in a predatory attack, it is not as effective as a well-placed bullet. You’ll be shocked to learn how far a bear can keep going even after being shot in the heart!

Bear safety 101

If you don’t know anything about bears, then before you go out into bear country you’ll want to arm yourself with knowledge first. The first thing to remember — even with bears that are familiar with humans — is that they are wild animals. Bear attacks are very rare, but the more you know about bears and their behaviors, the safer you’ll be. Unfortunately there is no one thing that you can do to prevent an attack. 

Resources mentioned on this episode

Connect with Travis and Tiffany Bader

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Anchored Outdoors is an ever-growing network of fly fishing experts who’ve been brought together by podcaster and fellow outdoorswoman, April Vokey.

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