Why we always carry bear spray...

[WhistlingBadger]

...and perhaps a change of undergarments.

 

[MaloK]

When I eat peanuts. Squirrels attacks me.

When I use moose pee, nothing attacks me.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Mind you, moose bites can be pretty nasty.

 

[MaloK]

Mind you, moose bites can be pretty nasty.

Yeah, but they don't eat meat. A full freezer runs off you, at 20 mph in a place you have to check every foot you take.

Edit: over here bears avoid them like pest.

 

[Uberhoust]

Ah poor bear, he should have taken a picture. Definitely, a stressful moment but to me the bear did not look aggressive but more curious, don't know exactly what I would have done.

 

[MaloK]

Waited until last moment for aggression... That never occurred...

Brought me out of the wood more than once. Knowing nature has respect for the "same"...

I met an Eagle that his head height was going right under my elbow. And ... I respected and instigated it as close as "my mother would have dared on me".

But he got me looking directly in the eye at. Like 2 inches afar... I tried to look has menacing I could... loll... It Knew I wasn't edible.

And the bird when on his way. No harm done.

I was having a 18 inch machete in my hand and was about to retain it until near death... To preserve that "beast" of a flying icon.

 

[Uberhoust]

I used to work in the bush, forest technician for years (East and West Kootenays), met lots of bears, charged a few times both before and after bear spray was available. Never had to use it. The bears I encountered would drop to the ground when aggressive, I always viewed standing bears as curious bears. That said I had a summer student who sprayed at a bear, but the wind blew it back to him. I had to take him to the hospital because he started having some respiratory distress and he radioed me, when I picked up his plot line, I found him barely able to open his eyes with the bear still feeding on the berries about 75 yards away, he missed the bear entirely with the spray. In the years I worked in the forests the only real animal attack we had to deal with was another one of our summer students who got attacked by a deer, you wouldn't think it, but deer can be real nasty.

My attitude towards bears changed dramatically when I attended a presentation in the 70's by Andy Russell an author and guide near Waterton. He presented to our fish and game club a 16mm film of grizzlies charging then stopping before attacking if the person the simply stood their ground and did not react in panic. He noted the first time he could test his theory was when a bear charged his son, and his son held his ground, and the bear eventually moved off.

I would still carry bear spray if I worked in the woods, you really just don't know, but treating the animals with respect and without fear has served me well.

I tried to find some of Andy Russell's films but did not try too hard. I found him to be a very interesting and respect what he has done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Russell_(Canadian_author)

 

[GaryE]

You call that a bear? We have mosquitoes bigger than that, except they do have wee wings on their backs.

Just a second, he said, his voice trailing off as a woman's voice is heard in the background. Fairies? They're called fairies. Oh. The wife says they're fairies and we have to stop spraying them.

 

[Back in the fold]

I don’t even ever want to be in that situation . Never have seen a grizzly in the wild and a black bear only once . The black bear was a good hundred yards off and ran when he saw me and I ran in the opposite direction just to be sure .

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Ah poor bear, he should have taken a picture. Definitely, a stressful moment but to me the bear did not look aggressive but more curious, don't know exactly what I would have done.

Yeah, he wan't acting all that aggressive, but a griz that close? You don't know what it's going to do. If it had been me, I'd have given it a squirt of hot sauce, too. If nothing else, the guy just taught that bear to be scared of humans, which will contribute greatly to its longevity.

 

[Ceez]

Yeah, he wan't acting all that aggressive, but a griz that close? You don't know what it's going to do. If it had been me, I'd have given it a squirt of hot sauce, too. If nothing else, the guy just taught that bear to be scared of humans, which will contribute greatly to its longevity.

I love bears. They're a really cool animal. We've had a lot of run ins with them over the years on our fishing expeditions. What I've noticed is if you give them a way to escape they'll take it. Ive literally walked around a corner and was nose to nose with one, i took a step back and stood my ground petrified but the bear took off running shortly after i stopped. I think he was just as freaked out as I was. We also had another run in with a bear on a dark porch going to dinner at the restaurant on the campsite. We could not see him sitting there until we were almost on top of him. We both backed up a few steps and the bear took off running. In almost every instance of contact with these bears in my experience they will remove themselves from the situation at the very least to a safe distance.

Virginia Creek Settlement is Bridgeport CA is full of bears. Its like a potluck for them. Every night at about 1-2am like clockwork you'll hear them come rummaging through every trash can/porch or wherever their nose leads them to find people food. It's a shame people cause these bears to be in danger becsuse they can't follow a few simple rules. We've been guilty of it a time or two ourselves and I feel bad for that. My Dad left our ice chest on the porch of our cabin the last night we stayed on one of our trips. Bears came through and woke me out of my sleep by destroying the ice chest and making such a ruckus. It was a mamma bear and 3 cubs. They ate everything in the ice chest including the condiments. They tore open coke cans and licked them up off the concrete, opened sliced sammich cheese without tearing the plastic and ate it all, lunch meat you name it. When i woke up in the morning to go clean up the mess, I opened the ice chest and wouldnt you know the only thing the bears didn't touch was a big open can of jalapeños with plastic covering it those weren't Mexican bears i can tell you that...

My old man float tubing happy as hell.


It doesn't take much, once these bears have an inkling that food is gonna be in a certain area it's damn near impossible to keep them away. It's difficult to bring tourism into nature and expect no conflicts. We are seasoned vets of these woods and as ive said we've made a few mistakes ourselves no excuses. It happens. We leave our float tube's on the deck of our cabin to dry in the evenings every day after fishing. My dad had a granola bar empty wrapper and that was enough for a bear to tear his top pocket open to get to it on his float tube. Weve learned a lot from these bears over the years, the biggest lesson is we are in their world and must respect that.

Quite honestly im more worried about mountain lions/cougars than i am about bears. We hiked into Kirman lake, 7 of us. The trail at one point is covered by trees overhanging it which in the summer months is a blessing. At the top of the trail where it turns right away from the tree line youre back out in the open. My buddy Ryan turned around and looked back and spotted a mountain lion laying on a branch that we had all just walked under....these are apex predators and why we carry pistols every time we hike. Thankfully I believe our large group made the lion think better of it but it was an absolutely scary moment to think back on. You just never know. Respect nature, enjoy it but be prepared for anything and even than who knows..

 

[gwand]

On the lawless Baltimore streets we carry human spray.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

On the lawless Baltimore streets we carry human spray.

Humans scare me a lot more than bears, overall.

 

[MaloK]

Canadian Bear Spray comes in 2 flavours:

 

[Ceez]

Canadian Bear Spray comes in 2 flavours:

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I went to the Situk in Alaska fishing with a couple of our vendors. They go twice every year. They both carried hand cannons for the grizzlies that were everywhere. We spent 6 days and I'll tell you what an amazing experience it was if only for the bears. They were totally prepared. Food went into a tarp and got strung up in a tree 60-80' in the air every day. Bears would walk right by our tents at night, it was unnerving but thrilling. I have pics on my computer maybe I'll upload a few later in this thread. I wanna fish the situk again someday, it was unlike anywhere else I've ever been in Alaska.

Last year we fished the Kenai and surrounding areas. It was also fantastic but more of a resort type feel. Didn't see any bears but this guy/lady showed up nearly on my porch..

Fishing wasn't bad either...