I'm looking at spending some time hiking in the local national park in the near future and am wondering how does one deal with a bear encounter? Obviously, I am going to try and keep my distance from one, and when I make camp I will position food a distance away from camp, but what is one to do when an encounter is unavoidavble? What tools and methods increase survivability? Bear spray or a firearm?

I'll be carrying concealed (9mm, more for human critters), but would I be better off using bear spray in the event that I can't avoid a hostile encounter with a bear?

Any and all info welcome, as I know there are black bears in my targeted AO and an unprepared encounter would pretty much screw up the trip... Thanks.

This is from Alaska, but applies to other states, as well:

9mm will just piss them off.

A5 AUTO with 3" slugs. bear for dinner!

I usually take pictures.

Been along time since I have heard any tips but we were always told to make some noise - whistle, talk, sing - human sounds.  The black bears here will leave since they don't want to be confronted with a human.
Thats the opposite of what a lot of us are conditioned to do as hunters and as woodsmen but it always worked for me.   Never walked up on a bear!  

Probably a more overlooked concern is how you set up a camp, especially in areas where bears are active, but it goes for other critters as well.  Don't cook right at your tent (keep your stove and food prep well away from your sleeping area) , change clothes to sleep in something that doesn't smell like food and do not take food into your tent with you.

Last summer I had a black bear run up behind me while fishing, no farther than 10 yards. I heard something run out of the woods, turned around and there he was. Not real big but big enough. We stared at each other for 5-10 seconds. Then after the oh shit faze I raised my arm and said "GET OUT OF HERE!" lol, then he took off running back into the woods.

Bang, Bang, Bang until it's dead.

First post, etc....................

Copied, pasted and sent..... Brilliant!

I think the first time I heard that was actually from our Game Warden, he is a good guy.

it is highly unlikely I will encounter bear in my front room while on my couch.

With a Bowie?



Ask this man––http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Lilly

Some jumbled up thoughts on the subject:
Yes, bear spray is a good idea.  
Do not run from a bear, back away slowly keeping an eye on it.
Make noise while walking/hiking so you won't surprise the bear.
Cook away from campsite, hang food, blah blah blah.

Black bears are not that big of a deal, we've had 70yr old grand mothers chase them off with
a canoe paddle in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

The biggest danger is surprising them when they have a cub near by.
Even then they will gather cub and run off most of the time.

The best one to run into is the truly wild one, they almost always run off.
The ones that are food habituated by humans are the ones that get bold and are a nuisance.

Stay away from campsites that people leave scrap food laying around and the like.
Bears that have been fed often by humans are the ones that will raid campsites and tents during the night.

I used to take "At Risk Youth" into the BWCA on trips, bear "stories" was my favorite way to keep those punk ass city kids in line.

PS...Grizzly/Brown Bear = whole nother story.

GM

As one who has actually hunted and taken bears (black), if you follow the common sense guide lines that you mention, stubling upon a bear is unlikely.  Not impossible, but unlikely.  We are talking black bears here, not grizzly or the big browns.  

If you come face to face with the bear, make yourself look as large as possible (if you're wearing a jacket, open it up wide) bears respect larger critters more than littler ones.  Do not act aggresively, yet do not act "cowed".  Retreat slowly without taking your eyes off the bear.  Oh, by the way, don't stare into the bears eyes.  Most animals take this as a sign of aggression.  If it charges shout loudly and prepare to use what defense methods you have.  Bear spray does work most of the time, especially with black bears.  But you have to make sure you get a good cloud out there before the bear is too close.  Most sprays have an ideal range that is neither too far out, or too close in.  Too far out, and they disperse, too close and they don't have the distance to disperse.

Now here's the rub.  If you use a spray, and it doesn't deter the bear, by the time you can prepare your second line of defense, and it is a real charge, not a bluff, the bear will be on you.  Now you'll hear folks say, play dead, others say fight.  Some say play dead with black bears, but fight the grizzly and big browns.  Folks have survived and not survived in any combination of the above suggestions. "YOU" have to roll the dice and live, or not, with the consequences.

On an average sized (whatever they heck that is) lower 48 black bear, a 9mm used up close can kill the bear.  Just how fast depends on where, and how many times you hit the bear (no surprise there).  There is no magic bullet even in a long gun that will work every time.  But obvously, the larger the caliber, and the greater the energy the better your chances.

Something else to consider.  Bears are like most animals.  Shoot one that is just moving along feeding, and doesn't know you're there, and get a good hit, and they are likely to pile right up.  Deal with one who's ire is up, and consquently pump full of adrenalin, and even a kill shot can give it time to do massive damage to a thin skinned human.  In other words, like all strong predatory animals, the only sure way to stop them is with a CNS hit.  A bear has a relatively small and well protected brain.  Hitting the spinal column of a charging bear comes down to luck.

To give yourself more time to get away from a bear put something on the ground with your scent.
Bear will most likely stop and tear into it.

Black bears are more likely to start munching on you if you play dead than griz/brown bear.
They are more likely to kill you. In GNP most people were killed by black bears.
The young bears are the dumb ones that will be most interested in you and want to get closer.

Most important is to have RESPECT for the bears.
You leave them alone and they will leave you alone.

My way to handle bear encounters?   Live in Texas.

When I was a kid (visiting family in N. MN) we saw black bears while gathering berries (Northern MN has the best blueberries and wild strawberries on the planet IMO), but they always hauled ass when they saw us.  We were told to just back away and open distance if we saw bears that didn't run away.  When I was in the Boundary Waters a couple of years back I didn't see a single dangerous beastie (did hear wolves at night though).  Honestly, I'm more worried about moose than bears up there....

I won't lie, I'm kind of bear phobic.  They're the only North American predator that gives me the willies, even though I have no bad experiences with them.  Mountain lions, coyotes, wolves, whatever don't bother me at all.

My general predator (2 or more legs) philosophy is to use your brain (and make sure you are carrying a rifle–– or a handgun whose caliber starts with a 4)

Hell I'm doing that. They are here, though rare. It's an unlikely encounter, but it only takes one bad encounter to totally screw the day up...

I'm talking Sam Houston National Forest here, and it is my understanding that they are there, though not in great numbers.

some of your info is incorrect.  the cub thing is a griz / brown bear thing.  i have personally pulled cubs from dens in the boundary waters area to tag them.  momma runs away and watches from a distance.  cubs are taught young to scurry up trees at the first sign of danger.  most wild black bears are harmless. they are also a lot smaller than most people think. they remind me of my dogs, but i do have large breed dogs.  i even taught one bear commands like a dog.  bears live to eat and breed.  don't interfere with either and you won't have any problems.

btw, you have one of the most notable black bear scientists up in ely mn.  he is a great guy and even gives a course on bears. wish i lived near there.

to the op - pepper spray is more than enough.  wave your arms and make noise.  if in the unlikely event you get a bluff charge, spray.  the bear will disappear right quick.

What are you talking about??  9mm works great if you shoot your buddy in the foot and then run like hell.        

I always make sure there is at least one slow or injured person in the group.  WMMV.  

Bear spray works! Before I took my trip to Alaska I emailed and talked with about 20 guides in the area at the time I was looking at buying a 338 win mag but each of them told me they carried a 12 ga with a 00 buck and slug. So I took there advice never had to use it because I did what all the tricks I was told to do also. Bear spray is good also there was a expert on Monster Quest who studied bears and that is what he uses they even showed a bear attack him he let a burst of that spray out and the bear went running away.

Most of the black bears I've encountered hiking in the Washington Cascades and Olympic Mountains run away as soon as they see you. Usually they see/hear you before you see them.
The real close calls happen on trails along noisey rivers that drown out your sound.
I had one young bear (older than a cub) actually follow me for a ways out of curiosity. Very scarey.
Some of the big, older ones who are used to seeing hikers just kinda hang out close to the trail watching you and you have to wait until they get bored and leave.
Basically, all this stuff about "bears do this" or "bears do that" is BS. The bear will do whatever the hell it wants.

I've had 3 encounters with black bears, all were close enough to smell them. (15-30ft) Never been an issue.

If a bear charges or seems overly interested, just drop your pack and run. Hopefully it will be interested.in your pack because you won't outrun a bear; they're deceptvely quick for such large, clumsy looking animals.

Unless you have a powerful rifle, shooting it would be stupid, or a last resort.

Az

In bear country I have some serious bear repellent, 45/70 Garrett loads

This...







Closest photos were taken at 10 yards. Just came right up onto the trail I was on, didn't care about me in the slightest. Camera was wielded in the off hand while the dominant hand was holding a can of bear spray.

There's bears in Texas???

Buffalo Bore has some good stuff too.

Thanks that is really cool.

I had a run-in with a black bear last summer.  First, it followed me for about 200 yds through the woods.  I came out on an FS road to see it walking across the road to the other side about 50 yds away, when it saw me it turned and began walking my way.  I went for my camera and snapped a really lousy shot after it stopped and sat down in the road just watching.  I didn't like the idea that it had not run off so I went across the road and picked up three big rocks and started walking towards the bear.  I got about 10 paces before it finally decided it was best to move off.

That was an unusual encounter, normally they'll take off long before that.  It doesn't feel right to walk right toward a bear in an aggressive manner, but don't back down from them.

I had always heard that only with Black Bears you supposed to raise your arms above your head while letting out your best war cry.  Black bears will charge you, but stop short to see your response.  Brown/Grizzly will just eat you for no other reason that your food.

I think it's the other way around.  But grizzlies won't always stop short.  Black bears eat people, only very rarely, and they seldom (if ever?) will charge people.

You might me right.  As I get older, I find that my memory is getting worse.    I thought that is the way we were taught up in AK.  We don't encounter many bears in SE MI.

If all else fails...make sure you go with someone who is fatter and slower than you.

I've already come to terms with the fact that I will be soiling my drawers if I run into a bear.  Other than that, I have no other plan of action, just poop.

It looks like a scorned dog when the guy speaks up.

I've stumbled into black bears in the true forest outside of a campground/national park setting where they are probably semi accustomed to human visitors twice now.

The first time I was a young kid and simply didn't know better so I just yelled at it and it ran away.
The second time I was an adult and simply didn't care and just yelled at it and it immediately ran away.

I'm sure someone will probably  be in here to 'correct' me shortly. But in my opionon based strictly on the bear enounters I've personally had with both Brown and Black (Including Grizz as well) Just  because the two animal share the same name people think that they are similar, they are not.

All the black bears I've ever come across are much smaller than you would imagine, but more importantly, they want to unass the area with a passion. I don't know the stats for black bear attacks but it seems to me like it would be almost impossible to get one to even hang around let alone go for you.

Brown are a completely different story. They scare the crap out of me. When Im in Brown bear country I keep the bear mace in the spice rack for seasoning and bring a gun. A very big gun.


ETA that video is awseomeeeeeeeeeee

As far as black bear attacks, we've had at least three in the last two years in this state, those are just the ones I've heard about.

Every time a bear thread comes up the bad information comes out.  Rule #1 is don't run.  You want to present yourself as a non-threat, but also as a non-prey animal.  



Stop.  Don't look it in the eye, back away slowly and don't make sudden moves.  



I've encountered bears twice, both times they were grizzlies and both times they were 50-60 yards away.  The first time I did just what I suggested and it sat there and watched me back away.  I got out of sight, turned and hurried out of the area.  The second time it did a sort of charge at me, covered about 25 yards and stopped.  I was able to back out slowly from that one too.  



Because of that second encounter, I gave up my 44 and now carry a lighter firearm for smaller threats and a canister of bear spray.  My thinking is that if they get within pepper spray range, it wasn't a false charge.  On the other hand, if I had started shooting during that second encounter and presented myself as a threat, I'm not sure I would be sitting here typing this right now.  

Needs more Cowbell.

My buddy and I were out bow hunting for turkey in the Cibola National Forest in NM and all we had were our bows and I had my XD9.

After seeing cat tracks, scat and reading about bears in NM on our next trip we are planning on one guy hunt one guy provide security and call the birds with a 12 gauge auto loader.

Seriously we decided we are not going to be bear/cat food and as hunters we try not to make noise and stay pretty stealth so we are planning our hunt like a LRRP. Last time we just got a map, compass and a gps and wandered around a grid square. Next time we are planning it out with routes, Rally Points, Security Halts etc.

Call us paranoid but are not about to take on a bear or cat of any size while we are 4-6 miles in the woods on foot with no back up gun. Besides the methheads in the area make me even more paraniod.

I told him I plan on ordering bear spray and have it shipped to his house, he is getting the autoloader and I am bringing my XD9 again.

Pray to baby Jesus that it aint hungry!

Also FWIW
"DO NOT climb a tree, bears climb faster than they can run." -Dwight K. Schrute

S&W 500 Magnum 4" barrel, too lazy to take and post picture today.

no time for jokes

See, that's where you are wrong. There is always time for jokes! :D

Don't ever believe "a black bear will always run away". Most of the time they do, but on two occasions for me and the wife they have not. Both times involved cubs. I have had them walk upon me hunting, camping, and hiking and never had a issue. It's been when I have walked upon them.

On one occasion we were walking a forest service road and got about 50 yards from the parked truck. Off to the left under the road bank I seen a cub go up a tree. I called bear, 5 sec's later another cub went up the tree, 2 seconds later mommy was up on the road charging towards us, I thru a beer bottle in her direction and we ran like scared puppies to the truck, where she went I didn't care. There was a slight turn in the road and she never rounded it.

Another occasion involved 5 of us and the dog. We walked upon her along a ridge trail. She stood her her ground. Grunting and swaying. We were about 60 yds away. I had walked a little closer to look for some cubs, brother joined me. She would turn and look up the tree then drop back down on all fours to face us. We found the cubs high in the tree she was guarding. We were about to turn and go back when my dog walked up to us watching her intently. As soon as he joined us she turned and went up the tree on the back side. As she climbed the tree she charged around the tree trunk about 20 feet in the air grunting the whole time like she was going to jump out and come after us. She got to the first limb about 30 feet and that's where we left her, we walked back to the truck.