Ask A Bear: Run Away From A Bear?

After my encounter with a female Griz and (2) 2 year old cubs at glacier where myself, my girlfriend and about 10 others ended up 10' from a griz I would not run. The faster you run the more likely you are to get the bear to run past your friend after you as bears can get fixated. Check out the photo's of the griz and buffalo in yellow stone where the guy taking photos stood in place and the buffalo and bear ran past him.

I would trip my girlfriend and then make a run for it...would that be wrong?

My question to Ron B is why would you want to run off leaving behind your friends to deal with a bear encounter or to defend a bear attack? "Safety" in either a bear encounter or bear attack is in " numbers." The more of you and your friends gathering together making noises, and gathering in a group to present a formidable opposition to a bear threat is more of a likelihood of a successful defensive tactic than you abandoning your fellow hikers to speed off to save yourself. Besides, as bear noted, he most likely would skirt around your group of friends and chase down the one not so formidable threat to him, "you," running down the path "alone." Then, how would you feel if your friends abandoned you in "your" need for help while being mauled?

No, Ron; don't run off and leave your friends when they truly need "you" on the trail. Otherwise, if you behave this way then you may never find friends in the future to hike with you.

Jerry W Doyle

I chased after a bear last week, it started running from me, got some good pictures though.

Sounds like a nice guy. Similar thinking to my ex, now deceased, dive partner who thought it was called a "buddy knife" because if you saw a shark, you cut your buddy on the arm and swam like hell.