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Backpacker Magazine – May 2011
Rip and Live: Learn to Survive a Bear Attack
With 1 million bears roaming North America, chances are pretty good that you'll cross paths with one of them at some point. To make every encounter safe, from grizzly bears to black bears, bone up on bruin identification and etiquette.
Know Your Bruin / Rare Encounters | Assess Risk / Stay Alert in Hot Spots / Identify Signs | Navigate an Encounter / Protect Food
Assess the Risk
Statistically, it’s way less than you think. Since 1900, black bears have killed 65 people and grizzlies 57. To put that in perspective, lightning claimed 28 lives in 2008 alone. As cliché as it sounds, “bears are probably more afraid of you than you are of them,” Rogers says, and want to avoid you. But with dwindling wilderness, that’s harder to do. So while you shouldn’t let bear-phobia keep you tossing in your sleeping bag, keep a safe distance and protect camp food (read on for tips on both).
Stay Alert in Bear Hot Spots
This lets you avoid startling a bear while also affording you a prime photo op. Here is when and where you’re most likely to see them:
>> Dawn and dusk Although bears are active at all times of the day, this is when you’re most likely to see them out and about.
>> In the fall This is when they gorge themselves silly—called hyperphagia—to store fat for hibernation from October through March. But don’t assume all bears are hibernating. Some emerge to dig under the snow for food, and in the South, black bears stay out year-round.
>> Food-rich areas Since bears are ruled by their stomachs, you’ll find them at nature’s buffet tables: berry patches, forests laden with hazelnuts, beechnuts, or acorns, clamming areas, near carrion, and salmonspawning areas.
>> Avalanche chutes and trails Bears enjoy easy travel just like us.
>> In the silence Bears probably will hear or smell you before they see you. To help avoid surprising one (especially if you’re downwind), make noise: Talk, clap, sing, jingle bells (in some areas, bears have learned to associate metallic sounds with people).
Identify Bear Signs
Scat
Since bears are omnivores, their scat resembles that of a large dog but is full of seeds, berries, roots, and other plants—and sometimes animal parts. Bears go through periods when they feed mostly on meat, like carrion and young ungulates. This usually occurs in the spring, when few food options are available; the protein also adds bulk to their lean, post-hibernation bodies. Grizzlies will defend food caches, so tread carefully around carrion. If the scat is black, runny, and contains lots of fur, it’s likely from a wolf, since bears tend to skin prey to avoid the fur.
Tracks
Grizzly paws leave long claw prints while black bears don’t. Their front paw tracks measure 6” to 8’’ long (5” to 8.75” wide) and the hind tracks (shown above) measure 12” to 16” long (4.5” to 8.5” wide). A black bear’s tracks measure about 4.5” long (3.25” to 6” wide) in the front and 7” long (3.5” to 6” wide) in the rear (shown above).
Horizontal bite marks and vertical scratches five to seven feet up on trees
Bears rub against the marks, which hold scent. “Other bears can tell the sex, identity, and mood of the bear from the marking,” says Rogers.
Excavated earth
Grizzlies (and to a small extent black bears) dig in the dirt to look for small animals and roots.
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Lots of good common sense advice here for a change..Especially about carrying a Firearm. 357 or 44 mag is the ONLY way to go, but, if your in a panic and in fear for your life, remember it is a lot different so you need to practice a lot and often and if you can't hit the center of the target with every shot in practice over and over as in being instinctive you odds are not very good of surviving an encounter, aim for the Bears Heart not the head, I have read stories in real outdoor Magazines where the 44 mag rounds bounced off or were deflected off the bears skull and until they got a heart shot the bear kept on coming..You might practice shooting one handed while running in the opposite direction too since most likely that is what you will be doing in real life...My one and only Bear encounter was 35 years ago in the Adirondacks and the Bear just ambled across my path about 50 yards ahead of me, turned saw me or smelt me and took off in the the direction he was going at a rapid rate..I figured after a 5 days of crossw country hiking my smell was real bad!!
Thumbs Up on intelligent input Posted on Aug 31, 2012 El Comanche.
Worth noting: If you're going to tote a firearm learn to shoot proper and accurate at a moving target. Take a gun safety course and make friends with local gun clubs and/or shooting ranges.
This is for JAn!!
http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/grizzly/bear%20spray.pdf I have to agree that although spray is no guarantee of survival, use of a firearm may make the encounter worse
I always enjoy reading backpacker mag but, some of the tips and advice given are just rediculous. You can't always enforce common sense but when your in bear country you should have a bear can, weather it's required or not, some bear spray, and a firearm.
This is the third totally irresponsible article I've read Backpacker write on bear avoidance and conflict resolution. People take this advice as serious and the results could be deadly. Fist two absurd points:
1. Dog spray? You are comfortable telling someone to protect their family with that? Where did you get that advice?
2. If a black bear mother with cubs attacks play dead? You obviously know nothing of black bear behavior. You need to have some sort of defense system. Do you really think you can win a fist fight with a bear?
The only comprehensive books out there on bear attacks and defense are by Gary Shelton, though Stephen Herero has a good one on behavior. Gary compiles real life attacks and data, persnal stories and explains as much as possible why the attacks happened and what means of defense are possible.
Of course avoidance is #1. If you want to hike around bears, know you stuff and give them their space. The guy who died in Denali this week clearly did not adhere to this.
Pepper spray is way over rated. Though recent studies show it works in around 70% of attacks, you open yourself to a 30% chance it won't. But that is not the real issue. Here is what Backpacker and many others refuse to acknowledge: Pepper spray is rendered useless in a strong breeze. How often do you feel a strong breeze when hiking? I live in WA state and I'd say quite often. That cuts down your odds quite a bit. Still, for most, I think it's a good bare minimum to have on you at all times.
A hiker was killed last year with spray was in his pack. ALWAYS wear it on your belt or in a chest holster or you might as well not have it.
So there is the whole gun issue. I understand everyone has their beliefs and politics, including Backpacker but it is a piece of gear that thousands of us carry that they refuse to acknowledge at all. It is not just legal, it can save lives and is a great survival tool. Plus, if you can't carry a gun in the middle of the wilderness, then where would you? Shelton’s books show in North America .44 magnum and up have proved 92% effective in bear attacks. That’s a more reasonable percentage in my book. Given, many of those guys are Alaskan guides who really know how to handle a firearm, but that’s my point.
With proper training and practice, anyone can shoot a handgun well, and carry it safely without endangering others. Of course some would never do this, and that’s ok. But it should be considered an option, not an offense to backpacking etiquette. I personally cannot in good conscience take my wife into bear territory without one just expecting it would never happen and if it did, the wind would always be in my favor. I’ve personally had a couple redneck situations/encounters that convinced me how much safer it is to have a gun.
This “If the spray and yelling don't work, then it must be my time” mentality you hear often is a very weak place to come from in a survival situation, and frankly is disingenuous. You have to value your life and be determined to live in that situation. Anyone would want to live if they were being eaten by a gizz.
I make a point to be as genuinely friendly and warm on the trail as possible as I know some get nervous seeing someone hike with a gun, especially near Seattle. It sure would be nice if all could treat us with the same courtesy. I didn’t give people dirty looks at Glacier National Park last year that hiked without even pepper spray, letting their small kids run ahead when the ranger clearly said there were 7 bear sightings and 2 bluff charges that week on that particular trail. The next week someone died.
For all the strong negative feelings people have about guns on the trail, there are those of us who feel the opposite and feel you are putting your family in harms way without a means to defend them. That being said, I would never make passive aggressive or mocking comments much less give a dirty look while on the trail. I just keep it to myself. Can everyone do the same please?
12 years on Kodiak and I can tell you that pepper spray isn't the answer. Be smart, keep a clean camp and be aware of the environment around you. I've seen brown bears with pepper spray running down their faces continuing to eat a zodiac, I've also seen a brown bear continue to paw through a tent while M-80s went off near its paws. It is their wilderness!
Just THINK before you go into bear country! Otherwise, please let Darwinism take you out of the gene pool. Too many idiots are stepping into the wilderness without skills or sensibilities and are potential bear food at any moment. Just because you've spent 2K at REI on backpacking gear does not make you a wilderness expert. Having spent thousands of hours and not dollars in the wilderness encountering bears, cougars, wolves without a scratch does qualify.
dont forget the most important safety issue. Unless you are hunting bears and cougars...
KEEP YOUR BARKING LITTLE SHIT DOGS AT HOME!!!!!!!! It also violates several leave no trace principles.
What you carry for protection depends on where you are hiking. In Grizzly country, you best have a shot gun, 44 mag or 10 mm minimum if the area permits it and makes lots of noise on the trail. In black bear country, a 9 mm will do. I always carry bear spray, it's proven to be effective and would usually be my 1st choice. Bears can get used to loud noises though. No one wants to to hurt a bear, all you can do is be responsible with camp housekeeping. If push comes to shove though, you don't want to be disfigured or have a arm knawed off, that's just stupid.
What do you do if there are bears (specifically a mother and cubs) pawing around your tent. Despite having kept a clean campsite and hanging our food about 150m away they showed up and would not leave, we're talking hours. We first tried being totally silent hoping they would wander off but the kept circling the campsite. Next we tried yelling, 'HEY, get out of here bear! Go AWAY!' repeatedly while stomping and clapping. This only seemed to make the cubs more curious as they then tried to snuff their noses under the vestibule. Eventually we were able to locate a whistle from the bottom of the back and literally blew it in the face of a nosy bear; this caused them to back away a little bit but they continued to circle and move back and forth from where our food was hanging to the tent. This went on for a total of 3-4 hours. What should we have done?
When did Backpacker become a mouthpiece for under-endowed right-wing loonies to vent their pseudo macho garbage?
Use bear spray (from a 10 mm semi auto!) it should work. Keeping a clean camp never hurts either.
Harmonicas or guns? I'm not toting either. My best advice is keep a clean camp. Use a bear canister in grizzly territory. And keep a can of bear spray. I'm not lugging a .273 caliber something or other and turning my relax time into a freaging "tour of duty." If the spray and yelling don't work, then it must be my time
Air horns?? Bear spray?? How much junk do you people carry around in the woods?? What do you have, native bearers?? Smith 19 in a pancake, pal. Makes VERY loud noises AND is capable of backing them up. And if you can keep a cool head, it will stop anything smaller than a locomotive. Now, will you hippies PLEASE stay out of the woods?
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