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Story by Harvey Thommasen with Photography by Nick Didlick The best way to protect yourself in bear country, is to avoid contact. That means scanning carefully ahead of you, and wherever possible avoiding areas where bears are likely to feed. A gravel bar scattered with the remains of half eaten salmon should be an alarm bell, warning you that you are in a bear’s fishing territory. If it’s not in sight, it is probably nearby, resting. There will be times, despite all the precautions taken that you find yourself involved in a human-bear encounter.
Many times we have simply waited for a bear to catch our scent, or have made noise to attract its attention, before watching it run away. But on occasion we have also been charged. The outcome of an encounter will depend on many factors,and one can never know for sure what a particular bear is going to do when it is curious, surprised or feeling threatened. All bears must be considered dangerous until proven otherwise. If you are fortunate enough to spot a bear before it is aware of your presence then you should simply back off and make a wide detour or leave the area quietly. Other alternatives include climbing a tree or making noise in the hopes it will scare the bear away. If you choose to climb a tree, choose one that is close by, easy to climb, and that will allow you to get at least 30 feet or more off the ground. Black bears and young grizzlies are agile tree climbers and you may have to fight them off. So if you are climbing - get way up there, as fast as you can. The problem with making noise to scare away a bear is that it may actually be a female with cubs. It is almost impossible to determine the sex of a bear from distance, and it is not always possible to see cubs that are resting in the bushes - particularly in spring or early summer, when they are quite small. Don’t let distance give you a false sense of security. Female grizzly bears have been known to charge people from over 500 yards away. Bears can be scared away with noise, but probably a more frequent occurrence is that the bear becomes aware of the presence of a human before the human becomes aware of the bear. A bear has a number of options available to it under those circumstances: it may leave the area, it may show aggression, or it may even initiate a charge which may or may not culminate in the contact with the person. In the vast majority of human:bear encounters, the bear (even wounded bears) will try to get out of the way or go into cover as soon as it becomes aware of of humans. But it is clear that sometimes bears will attack and injure and even kill people. Because it is not always possible to identify bear species or to know why a bear is attacking we recommend that people do not enter bear country without having a means to defend themselves; that is, carry a gun or a can of pepper spray.
If you choose to carry a gun - or if a dangerous bear gives you no option, for example by attacking your cabin or stalking your fish camp - use a large caliber rifle (30-06 power and up) or pump 12 gauge shotgun if possible. A recommended gun is the Remington 870 police model shotgun with 3" chamber. It must have a 20" barrel with rifle sights. Federal 1.25 oz. Magnum slugs or large diameter buckshot (00 gauge-SSG's) are recommended along with a shoulder pad that fits under your clothing. Get a set of 12 gauge ammunition dummies and practice with the gun in a variety of field conditions until you make no mistakes. Not only can a gun be lifesaving, but it can also be used to scare away a curious or aggressive bears. Undoubtedly, guns allow the carrier to feel confident around the bear, and this may help one bluff away a bear. But it is foolish to push your luck with a bear, just because you are armed. Killing a charging black bear or grizzly is a daunting, dangerous task, and should be undertaken as a last resort. It is far, far better to avoid the bear, as if you were unarmed, rather than to try and push a bear out of a fishing spot. Once you decide to pull the trigger on a charging bear, you must kill it quickly. A wounded bear is highly dangerous and may try to kill you. The best place to shoot a charging bear in typical attacking posture - head down , ears back - is right through the face. The bullet trajectory will then be through the jaws and hopefully through the heart and lungs. If the shot is off a little there is good chance that the bullet will go through the shoulder and into the body. Breaking a shoulder blade will cripple the bear, thus slowing the charge. As second shot then can quickly be placed anywhere in the vital zone to kill the bear. Remember that carrying a firearm does not relieve one of the responsibility of following proper preventative measures. There are many examples where a camper, hiker or hunter had a firearm and was not able to successfully use it against an attacking bear; eg the attack took place so quickly that the firearm was not able to be used. In one case in Alaska, a grizzly bit a hunter’s rifle in half, before he could fire a shot, then killed him.
We know of one fishing guide who sprayed a garbage rummaging bear near his cabin, hitting it in the shoulder and back. He reported the spray - which did not contact the eyes or nose - had absolutely no effect. The bear simply kept on pawing through the garbage. Problems with the spray includes its limited range (7 to 30 feet), the fact that the wind can profoundly influence its effectiveness, and the fact that it may confer a false sense of security to the user. There are reports of cans (that had test bursts) losing their pressure when tested again months later so we recommend replacing your spray after three years, use only new sprays on trips, and save the old ones for test spraying. Bear sprays are dangerous if you have an accidental discharge in a vehicle or aircraft. They should be transported in a sealed container, and the pilot should be aware you are carrying one. As with a firearm, you should practice getting the spray out of it's holster, and you should test it under differing field conditions to better understand it's limitations. It will be quickly apparent to the user that the spray is most effective when shot down wind, and that the spray can be debilitating if the wind blows it back into your face. For easy access it should be carried in a holster. Two or three sprays are likely better than one, and so each hiker should have his or her own spray. Assuming one has a defense system (gun or spray) what one does will depend on the nature of the human-bear encounter. If the bear is charging you must respond quickly. If time permits consider dropping a camera or other object, which the bear may stop to investigate. Some recommend not taking off a pack because if you are attacked it could help protect your body. It is worth pointing out that a charging bear does not always make contact, even if it seems to be going all out. Rather the bear is attempting to bluff its way out of a confrontation by charging and then turning away at the last moment. In fact a bear may make several false charges before deciding to leave. Unfortunately there is no sure fire way to tell whether a charging bear is going to break off its attack. If the bear is not charging, but is showing anger, ready your defense system, and if possible, back away slowly in a quiet and non threatening way. Avoid direct eye contact. There are several recognizable displays of anxiety or aggression. Bears will huff or clack their teeth when nervous or anxious; they will snort, woof or blow when startled; they will growl when fearful or angry; and they will roar when fighting or charging. Direct stares with ears laid back, turning sideways to display size, lowering head, jaw popping, swatting, bluff charges, or in extreme cases, physical contact are all body postures used by bears to demonstrate aggression. A bear standing on its hind legs, is most often attempting to better smell, see, or hear you. The best response to take in an aggressive/predaceous attack depends a bit on the reasons for the attack. If it is clear the bear is after the food you have give up the food. While cautiously backing away shuck and drop any pack, whether it contains food or not, and hope the dropped article will distract the animal's attention long enough to enable you to reach an escape route; eg a An aggressive/predaceous attack may be of the ambush type -rapid and unexpected- where the bear attempts to neutralize the prey quickly, or the attack may be slow and prolonged as the bear attempts to stalk or size up the prey before rushing in and trying to knock down its intended prey . If one is in the unfortunate situation of not having access to a defense system or an escape route, and bodily contact is imminent we recommend the victim play dead in a defensive-aggressive attack, and fight back in a predatory attack. How will you be able to figure that out in a moment of sheer panic? There’s only one hope - trust your instincts. Most people agree that the best response when attacked by a grizzly with cubs is to play dead. The mother bear is interested in neutralizing the threat as quickly as possible, so that it can get back to her cubs.
The best position to take when playing dead in unknown, but a cannonball position with hands clasped behind the neck and face buried in the knees makes sense. Attacks by bears are usually directed to the face and head, presumably because in the wild, bears frequently bite at one another's face in an attempt to grab and disable the opponents jaw. Do not move until the bear leaves the area. Defensive-aggressive attacks seldom last beyond a few minutes. If a bear attacks in ambush fashion, or at night while you are sleeping in your tent, or after it has been obviously stalking you, experts say you should not play dead. Fight back with any available weapon, and try to escape from the attack. Experts do not recommend running from a bear unless you have a safe spot to head for, as there are cases where running appeared to trigger a chase response. Experts also do not recommend immediately dropping to the ground and playing dead as soon as a bear is seen, as it may be or lead to an aggressive/predaceous type attack. As long as bears share habitat with people - as long as fishermen spend time on salmon streams - encounters between bears and people will occur. One can reliably predict that in a small number of these encounters humans will be attacked and an even smaller number will be killed by bears. Far more likely an outcome of such an encounter is that the bears will run away or be injured or killed. |
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Aside from firearms the only other defense system one might recommend is cayenne pepper (Capsaicain) bear spray. This should be considered when you are planning to visit a park, where firearms are not allowed. There are presently three brands of pepper bear spray licensed by Agriculture Canada: Phazer, Bear Guard, and Counter Assault. There are a number of anectodal cases of black and grizzly bears being repelled by the capsaicain spray without suffering injury. One added advantage of the spray is that toxicity tests of capsaicin shown that it's usage is not associated with persistent damage to the skin or eyes of humans or animals exposed. For maximum effect the spray must be directed into the face of the bear - hitting it in the eyes and nose.
