kirk

Do you recomend bear pepper spray (as a last resort accompanied by good common sense)? Is this something I can find easily around Denali or Anchorage?

JMM

If you want to die use pepper spray on a grizzly. It just makes them angry. NOTHING is useful if attacked by a grizzly so I would advise keeping a safe distance. If attacked you can try playing dead (that works occasionally).
Re: Black bears - Dont play dead, try yelling. (does NOT work with grizzlies who KNOW they are the top of the food chain.)

travellyn

Pepper spray is contoversial. Hikers should use bear bells or talk while walking so bears aren't surprised. Black bears like to eat acorns and buffalo berries; therefore, black bear scat is usually full of berries. Grizzly bear scat is full of little bells and pepper spray.

Jen

The other thing, besides yelling (which I assume would come naturally), that you can do when confronted by something that might be higher than you are on the food chain (bears, puma, wolves, cannibals, etc.) is to get as BIG as you can -- spread out the sides of your jacket and wave them around, grab your hat in your hand and wave it as high as you can. In general, being confusing, scary and replusive makes you less appetizing. Or so I'm told, haven't had a chance to try out any of this wisdom yet.

Dupa

Another thing you can do when confronted with something higher than you on the food chain is kiss your ass goodbye!

John

My few close encounters with brown bears in Alaska left me thinking that little bells would be the last thing I'd hear on earth and the first thing I'd hear as an angel, when I got my wings.

I am green to my genes, but my anti-brown bear measures consisted of a shotgun with 00 shot or slugs. Much better just to stay out of their habitat, or view it from a distance. Better for the bears, too.

Mary

This subject is discussed extensively in the book The Complete Walker IV by Colin Fletcher and Chip Rawlins. They also mention something called Counter Assault Bear Deterrent.

linda

all you really need to do is outrun your your fellow hikers.

Paul Rabe

Another simple solution is to travel in a large group and stay together. There has never been a recorded instance of a bear attacking a group of four or more people. To a bear, four people just looks too big for the trouble. Almost all unprovoked bear attacks come from person walking alone.

ronald

I think bears taste better with ketchup than pepper.

Montana traveller

Get the book by Herrero titled "Grizzly Attacks" How to prevent them" and read up. Grizzlies and black bears do not have the same methods of attack. Pepper spray (along with bells and riot guns firing rubber bullets are discussed, along with when to play dead and when to try to climb a tree) Good reading.

Stephanie P.

kirk:

Bring a gun. If it's a choice between that bear and me, the bear is dead.

Paul Rabe

Lewis and Clark found something out almost 200 years ago that Stephanie is uninformed to know about: anything less than a PERFECT shot by a LARGE caliber gun will NOT stop a grizzly bear; it will only turn a 99% chance of an encounter with no problems into a 100% chance of a bear in terrible pain who lashes out at the nearest convenient target (most likely YOU). Guns are illegal in Denali (except for licensed hunts, for substinence only); so all you are going to accomplish is to get your gun confiscated.

That is unless you think the bear will listen to you as you ask it to wait a minute while you unlock and load your gun that you've kept hidden.

Now if you're REALLY stupid, you keep your gun loaded and unlocked but still hidden away. That's a SURE recipe for disaster. Worse, you not only risk your own life, but that of innocent people.

Deaths from bear attacks are so rare that they make international news. The 1000s of deaths from people accidentally shooting themselves are so common that they usually don't make local news. The odds of getting killed from a bear are miniscule compared to that from a gun you might be carrying. The odds from a gun death are reduced to almost zero by not carrying one (you might still have an ignorant person like Stephanie carrying one near you); the odds of a bear death are decreased not one iota by having a gun.

Be intelligent. Don't carry a gun for bear protection.

Tammy

Kirk,
those big brownies are really not afraid of anything. I have thought about carrying pepper spray while hiking in bear country, but to be honest with you I don't know that I would have the composure to use the stuff right. they say to wait until the bear is close enough to get the whole blast of spray, well that takes some self control. I think the best thing to do is to try to avoid places where bears would obviously be. Be aware when you are by a stream during the salmon runs, berry bushes and all that. Better yet hike in a group. You appear large and the talk/noise from a group will alert bears so they can get away.

lcuy

Public radio just had a segment on bears last week. The expert said that pepper spray is very effective on black bears. of course, talking or singing will usually keep them from getting that close. Grizzlies fear nothing, and pepper spray will make them mad.

Will

The guy who wrote the following says there are documented cases of pepper spray repelling charging grizzly bears without injury to the human. (note: using the right kind of pepper spray)

http://home.att.net/~jrmusgrove/attack.htm

Stephanie P.

Yes, do as Paul states, let the bear kill you.

Dick

Paul, I happen to agree with you that the average person is far better off not carrying a gun for bear protection. But you don't need to make up facts to support your argument. There simply aren't thousands of deaths from people accidently shooting themselves - for example, hunting is safer on a per capita basis than most sports (you probably don't think it's a sport - fine, let's not get hung up on the semantics) including high school football. And trust me, firearms technology has improved a bit in the two centuries since Lewis and Clark tried to take on grizzlies with their (single shot) muzzleloaders. It still takes a properly aimed shot from a powerful weapon, but brown bears (coastal grizzlies) are shot by hunters every year. You probably don't like that, and in all honesty I don't like it much either, but there it is.

Bro. Cletus

To Paul Rabe (Mr. Anti-Gun):

Son, when you encounter a grizzly, sans weaponry, I would suggest that you not bend over, or ole griz just might "Rabe" you......makes for interesting reads in the newspaper, though.

Paul Rabe

Not making up facts. I never said that there were thousands of accidental deaths per year; I am aware that there were 866 such deaths in 1998 (last year for full comparision)

www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds.htm

But since bear deaths occur (by comparision) about once or twice A DECADE, it is only fair to state the odds of death as thousands of times greater. If it makes you feel any better, I'll change my statement to "hundreds" of accidental gun deaths.

I am aware that guns have improved since Lewis and Clark. However, none smaller than a 45 caliber are going to bring down a bear; and even those would require a VERY good shot. Hunters can bring down bears with hunting RIFLES, but that's not something you'll be able to carry into Denali. You'll have to bring a long a concealed HANDGUN, which will increase the odds of accidental death tremendously.

Believe it or not, Stephanie, you're just as dead if killed by a bear or a gun. You death won't make CNN, but you're still dead. And intelligent people know that the odds of being accidentally killed by a gun are MUCH greater than a death by a bear. The odds, of course, go up MUCH more if you have to carry your gun loaded and unlocked, but hidden on your person -- as you would have to do if carrying one into bear country. The odds of saving yourself from a bear by having a gun, however, go down not one iota.

And Cletus, I never go into bear country sans weapons. I always carry a weapon that gives me a HUGE advantage over bears, and I hope you use it as well. It's called my brain. It keeps me aware that guns are FAR more dangerous than bears.

BTW, can anyone show any evidence in my posts that I am opposed to guns or hunting (which I am not)? Or is this some knee-jerk reaction to someone who correctly points out that guns are more dangerous than bears?