Black bear encounters

A bear is walking toward you on a narrow trail. You cannot side step. Stand yourground, make yourself large and ready your bearspray?

Bear probably doesn't see you. Make yourself big and yell. It'll most likely run away.

have bear spray …

On the trail:

Do not make eye contact, slowly walk backwards maintaining distance, talk softly but firmly to the bear, get your hand on your bear spray, get your other hand on bear bangers.

If you hear a bear in the bush: make lots of noise and do the above if necessary.

In a hammock: where is your food?

All three of these situations have happened to me in one form or another. While in a tent, I was dead silent and let it walk away. When approached on the narrow trail, I let the bear know I am there and stand my ground or back away slowly, they usually walk away off trail. When they growl and I cannot see them, I let the bear know I am there and give them space for a few minutes, usually they walk away but keep in mind they may stalk you if habituated and hungry. Bears can be unpredictable so having the spray ready for when all else fails is smart. Trekking poles make nice deterrents if threatened.

http://www.algonquinpark.on.ca/visit/recreational_activites/black-bear-safety-rules.php

Encountering a Black Bear

On EXTREMELY RARE occasions, a bear will attack humans with the intent to kill. Predatory bears seldom make huffing or "popping" sounds, nor do they swat the ground with their forepaws, or bluff charge as defensive bears sometimes do. Instead, they silently stalk, or press closer and closer to their intended prey, apparently assessing whether it is safe to attack. Reacting to a Predatory Bear… Leave the area in your canoe or car if you can, but never turn and run. If you cannot leave, confront the bear. Do everything in your power to make the bear think twice about attacking you. Be aggressive, yell, throw rocks, hit the bear with sticks, and use your whistle, airhorn, or bear spray if you have them. If a predatory bear does make contact with you, do not play dead. Fighting back with everything you have is the best way to persuade a predatory Black Bear to halt its attack.

At least in Yosemite National Park, it is hard to imagine that anybody would waste an expensive load of bear spray on a black bear. With a few exceptions, a black bear is going to run away. One exception is if it is a sow bear with a cub. In that case, you simply move away from them and give them room.

–B.G.–

In the Canadian Rockies (Alberta), you are fined should a ranger find you without Bear Spray. Black Bears up here eat guys from Silicon Valley so should you venture up, bring the spray.

;)

now now now david … be honest … bear spray just adds some spice to the bear diet …

canadian bears have multicultural tastes these days … they enjoy a good spicy peppered silicone valley yuppie curry as much as anyone else ;)

I always hang food and all remotely scented items and never goto the bathroom wthin a mile of my camp if i can help it. I use unscented toothpaste, soap, unscented everthig. Never cook or eat at camp and hang my food a good distance away up high.

Can any1 else address what they would do in a bammock/tent if the bear was rummaging and rubbing against it? This happened to last year on the AT and. cost me a night of sleep and scared the crap out of me. I froze, had he decided to swat the hammock i would have fallen out like pinyata candy.

"had he decided to swat the hammock i would have fallen out like pinyata candy"

And it wouldn't have been "unscented" any more!

Somewhere I read a post from a woman who had a peanut butter and jam sandwich before going to sleep under the stars and reportedly woke up with a bear licking her face. I couldn't imagine keeping my cool, or the sleeping bag just after that.

A guy on HammockForums had a photo of a hammock with some bear bites in it. MOMMEEEEEEE!!!!!

I have read a few books and done a little research on black and brown bears. Unscented only means to you. Bears have a truly incredible sense smell. If you are in a hammock and the bear touches you he has smelled you and is not afraid of humans, you have not been bit and dragged away so you are not a meal to it. IMHO the best course of action would be to scare the bear away helping to create a bear wary of humans helping both. Rarely a black bear will see a human as a meal, fight like hell and you may have a chance. Browns if you are perceived as a threat or meal good luck. Being faster than your buddy might not help a bit nor carrying a handgun or rifle. Look up Stephen Herrero, some very tough reading. If you carry spray practice using it so you don't have to think. Keep it available to either hand. It seems like there is absolutely no time to react in many cases. If you are walking upwind a bear will probably not hear or smell you. I don't see where bells make enough noise to travel very far in wooded areas. Read up on the latest Alaska group and how prepared they where but still had a very hard time of it.

Don't pee or poo near camp? I've not heard that one before. In fact, I've heard that pee might actually keep bears away to some degree. The "Bear Whisperer" of Mammoth Lakes, CA, uses ammonia (very pee like) to mark areas against bears.

HJ

SO here is a story from our website: 100% true.

It happened about 45 years ago–when I travelled with his parents and younger sister on an epic road journey through the Canadian Rockies. We camped our way through Banff and Jasper, and then down the Frazier River, all the time reading endless Tolkein books as entertainment.

But I was about thirteen years old, and not about to give up my mountain man image. While the rest of the family slept in a small 15-foot travel trailer, I slept like a real man, nestled in my mummy bag, lying out under the stars.

Ah!

It was a great feeling, until one night in Jasper National Park, when I awoke to find a bear standing on top of me, sniffing his face.

You might wonder what I did.

Did I mention that I was in a mummy bag, and the bear was on top of it?

I couldn't move, even if I wanted to. And somehow, in my sleepy mind, I knew that. So I closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. I smelled the bear's breath, which reminded him very strongly of garbage.

(Not surprising, considering what the bear had been eating!)

About twenty seconds later, I judged that the bear was no longer near me. I opened my eyes and looked around, to see the bear rumbling off to another campsite.

I leapt to my feet and carried his bag into the trailer, explaining to my family that there was a bear outside.

Not knowing the full story, they were not excited.

Then I stuck my head out of the trailer to check on the bear. And that's when I saw a small black animal scampering along the campground road, wailing for its mother.

"maaaaa!" said the animal.

I reported to my family that there was also a little black lamb out there, too.

My family was mightily amused.

But the next day, the story was verified by bear and cub tracks in the dirt.

That next evening, I and my sister were BOTH out under the stars, surrounded by folding aluminum chairs and rope–hoping to catch a photo of the bear when it got near.

(This is a true story. really. )

The bear never arrived. Although it did find another campsite further along, where a mother and her daughter had gone to sleep with some food inside the tent. The bear opened up the tent and ate the food, sending both women to the hospital as a result.

To this day, I am convinced that the bear was attracted by the smell of toothpaste on my recently brushed teeth.

I dedicated a post on my blog to illustrating the relative risk from bears vs other potential dangers we face in life. One thing is clear, the level of bear fear is vastly overblown.

For example I said this:

With about 16,929 murders a year in the US and Canada combined out of a total population of about 334,000,000, about 1 out of 19,625 people will be a murderer in a given year.

With about 3 fatal bear attacks per year in the US and Canada combined, and about 660,000 bears in the US and Canada total, about 1 out of 220,000 bears will be “murderers” in a given year.

And here's the section from our website (backpackthesierra.com( about wild animal dangers:

This is the stuff that everybody wants to talk about. Wild bears who attack campers in the middle of dinner. Ferocious pumas who lie in wait behind every tree. Snakes that crawl into your sleeping bag at night!

Sorry. Doesn’t happen. Since 1980 there have been a total of twelve reported attacks by black bears in California. That’s an average of less than one attack every two years. Most occurred in developed campgrounds or rural urban interfaces, not in the wilderness. None were fatal. In that same time period, there have been exactly the same number of reported puma attacks—most near the rural urban interface, and none in wilderness areas. Almost all involved children or small adults. Roughly 800 people this year will be bitten by rattlesnakes, and one or two of those bites will result in death. Most of those bitten are young men who are bitten their hands or arms. Enough said.

So you are not going to get killed or eaten by wild animals. In contrast, some 370,000 Americans are bitten by dogs badly enough to need treatment at the emergency room, and nearly 4,000 people will die in traffic accidents in California alone this year. And about 30,000 people will die from gunshots of one kind or another in the USA. If you want to be safe, get out of the city, get out backpacking in the High Sierra and STOP DRIVING YOUR CAR!

…

Want some really interesting statistics? 130 Americans are killed by deer every year. 65 are struck by lightning. 100 are killed by bees. 20 are killed by cows. Makes you wonder, huh?

Most importantly, drive very carefully to the trailhead. Your chances of dying are 4,000 times higher on the highway than they are on the trail.

Yes the risk of bear attack is very low but I think your analogy is flawed. I believe there are more people in places where they may/are be murdered by people (just about everywhere) vs people in the wild or parks with bears where they may be attacked by bears. Mountain Lions are probably a greater risk as they may be more likely to see you as a meal. Keeping food and all smellables far away helps a great deal. Very few bears see you as a meal, many more bears see you as a threat, still a very small number. Still your chances of being struck by lightning once while attacked by bears once or twice might be equal. Don't stand on top of a mountain in a thunder storm. Trying not to put yourself in a bad position is a good idea regardless. No Darwin awards please. Respect and knowledge not fear should carry you through. People feeding bears one way or another seems to be the biggest problem and cause for bear attacks. Of course these are my own opinions based on my own research. YMMV

Thanks a lot

Now my wife won't let me go backpacking anymore because she's afraid I'll get in a traffic accident on the way to the trailhead : )

I love statistics. Perhaps we can discuss how many people venture into the backcountry in California versus how many live in urban areas. Re-work the averages. Report back.

"I love statistics. Perhaps we can discuss how many people venture into the backcountry in California versus how many live in urban areas. Re-work the averages. Report back."

I don't know of one person killed by a wild California bear since 1875. There are about 2,000 murders PER YEAR in California.

A randomly selected person is 10 times as likely to kill someone in a given year than a randomly selected bear. Like any stats, that figure has to be applied rationally, but any way you look at it it's significant with no further reworking necessary.

i think that our bears are more aggressive up here in cananda

while the incidents are quite low … predatory black bears do exists and there are documented cases

bears are a serious concern here as anyone who has seen the cute fuzzies (black or brown) would know … even if just from a wildlife/human interaction standpoint

as said previously, if you go to certain places without bear spray … its a fine

in short …. our bears are bigger and meaner than yours … the ole ruskie argument =P

"I don't know of one person killed by a wild California bear since 1875. There are about 2,000 murders PER YEAR in California."

What does this prove? That LA gangs are killing each other?

How many mountain lion attacks are there annually in Cali?

How many people go out in the backcountry in Cali annually?

It would really suck to be the one unlucky one that didn't have bear spray handy where there are bears and / or other predators because someone told them to depend on stats comparing traffic deaths to bear attacks.

David, how about providing some stats of your own showing the true level of risk? Isn't it important to know not only what could happen but to have a general idea of the chances that it WILL happen?

It's easy to be afraid of flying, and fatal crashes do occur, but it makes sense for the level of fear to match the real world risk, doesn't it?

If you only go car camping here in California, you are bombarded with "keep all food in the bear boxes" messages. If you backpack, you're required to carry your food in bear canisters (in many desirable backpacking locales).

We here all know the reason for those messages, but I think a strong meta-message comes with it: Bears are dangerous! Fear of predatory animals is inherent, and while the campaign to keep bears from associating people with food is about lowering risks (to people and bears), it reinforces that primitive fear.

p.s. Curious that you reframe the stats to focus on a human or bear being a "killer" rather than being killed!