Bear Stopper?

[wildWoman]

There's a bunch of threads here about fear of animals and what to do about bears. Take bear spray and bear bangers, and spend a few hours on www.bear.org
IMO, bears have a somewhat similar body language to dogs. Be aware that you are mostly scared because you haven't had much chance (I guess) to interact with them. When you come across an animal you fear, you are likely to interpret its behaviour based on your fear.
in my mind, the key is to get rid of the fear. You can work on that by learning as much as you can about bears and pick the brains of bear-friendly people who ave experience with them. And by having bear encounters...where eventually, your own statistics will prove your gut feeling wrong ("jeez, already bear number 24, and still none has chewed on me").

[dougz]

Well, I'll try and make as much noise as I can, and keep bear spray with me..

Hopefully I won't have to see any..

Well, if Grizzly Man can do it, by God I can!!

Wait.....

[tsitenha]

Bears have very good hearing so you don't have to sound like a marching band while your out and about.

[dougz]

Oh, I'm sure I'll be making plenty of noise just walking about, depending on the terrain..

But I'm thinking one or 2 bells wouldn't be misplaced..

[SARKY]

When you hear bells in the woods it is usually from inside the bear.

[dougz]

Can you elaborate??

[crashdive123]

Can you elaborate??

Lot's of people wear little bells to "announce" themselves. Think of it this way....large pile of scat with berries in it - black bear scat. Large pile of scat with little bells in it - brown bear scat.

[dougz]

I'm still wondering about the contradiction..

Are you saying you ARE supposed to make noise so they hear you, or you AREN'T??

[Ziggy]

I haven't read all the replies, but the people who are USUALLY (but by no means always) attacked by bears are lone hunters or hikers. They rarely attack groups, theoretically because of noise. Wear a cowbell, and spray. The spray is so intense to their hyper-accute sense of smell, it'll 'rock their world, so to speak. Spray is also legal everywhere, so the jerks-in-charge won't get riled up for you encroaching on 'their' domain.

[higgy]

[QUOTE=dougz;91576]One of my biggest fears, having joined the S&R team, and doing heretofore any sort of activity in the wilderness, has been and continues to be my fear of animals..

Bears specifically..
QUOTE]

I have the same concerns but what if you also have moose or big cats in the area? I don't want to have bear spray for a charging moose in the brush do I?

I was considering a gas-operated semiauto 12 gauge 8+1 capacity. Any comments on this or ammo considerations?

Edit: Sorry I didn't mean to hijack the thread.

[nell67]

Hi higgy,how about charging your way to the intro thread and telling us a little about yourself?

[trax]

Higgy, the incidence of moose actually attacking people is exceedingly rare. If you're on foot it's pretty much unheard of.For the bears, yeah make some noise if you know they're in the vicinity. My (very limited) research has shown that over 90% of bears attacking has been individual or paired hikers and the bear was startled. Big cats I do not have any kind of answer for.

I also recommend, which I seldom do, using the search function on these subjects.

[higgy]

Thanks Trax. It' might be rare but I want to be prepared if I confront one. This article says more people are injured by moose than bear yearly. I have no idea, I'm just trying to learn more gooder.

http://www.xyz.net/~khltkbr/projects/moose/coexist.html

Edit: The article is refering to Alaska.

[trax]

Yeah, I've heard about those Alaska moose having a nasty attitude, that's why I'm trusting on klkak to protect my azz if I ever get up that way. The thing is, we had a thread here years ago about what to do if a moose charges you and most of the answers I read were just flat out stupid. You're not going to stop a charging moose. I've seen 3/4 ton trucks lose arguments with moose, I mean everyone dead, driver, passenger, moose, truck totaled. Nail the brakes and throw it into reverse as fast as you can if you're in a vehicle. The moose will tire out before your car will. Move 90 degrees from his direction of charge is my advice, if you're on foot,they have a hard time turning. If he turns to charge again, get out of there or get up a tree, remember as soon as the moose feels the threat has been dealt with, he'll stop. Usually they only behave like that when they're in a 'romantic' frame of mind. RiM insists that he'd shoot a charging moose, well.....man when they're moving fast, it takes a pretty good nerve to stand there and aim and even a high powered bullet can deflect off a moose's antlers. Think you're going to get a second shot? Doubtful, you're going to be moose tracks. I definitely don't recommend standing there throwing ninja stars at them.

[crashdive123]

You're not going to stop a charging moose.

Take away his credit card.

[higgy]

Great information Trax, especially the part about not taking ninja darts to a moose fight! LOL

[Sourdough]

Thanks Trax. It' might be rare but I want to be prepared if I confront one. This article says more people are injured by moose than bear yearly. I have no idea, I'm just trying to learn more gooder.

http://www.xyz.net/~khltkbr/projects/moose/coexist.html

Edit: The article is refering to Alaska.

If you took all the people hurt in Alaska by Moose AND Bears, and made a chart that included people hurt by Human Attack, or Automobile attack. The Bear & Moose would register on the chart as zero in comparison.

So if you want to fear something, fear cars, trucks, and humans......

[higgy]

Hopefully there won't be an increase of animal-human encounters because of a natural disaster like that yellowstone volcano rumbling. Thats what been scaring me. But that's another story.

[trax]

Brown bear #1: Hey is that a volcano rumbling I hear?
Brown bear #2: Yep, let's go attack some humans, that'll fix it!
Brown bear #1: I'm not quite following your logic.....how about we run for our lives instead.....

Now higgy rumble on over to the intro section and just write an explosive introduction for yourself!

[higgy]

I'm sorry, I just live downwind, and if it pops lotsa folks be lookin for a new space.