Bear spray & grizzles

[hunter63]

"Take me home, oh muddah, faddah.
Take me home, I hate Granada.
Don't leave me out in the forest,
Where I might get eaten by a bear!"

I glad she survived, and am sure she wasn't trying to get attacked....Yet stuff happens.....picking it apart isn't gonna help her.
Might serve as a warning for others.....at least I hope so....and take all the safety steps you can.

[Rick]

I loved that song!

[TXyakr]

If a bear does not take you out in the mountains then perhaps the brakes on your bike. Your kids and grandkids would talk about that for awhile... great quote by person near camera mic "That guy's hurt"

Guardsman's Pass Tour of Utah 2015 Crash this August
Warning it is hard to watch!!
https://youtu.be/hRM3bFXlyNk

Turns out he lived but did not get back on another bike and keep on going. But do this solo on a mountain bike and a bear or cougar may think you look tasty, and take a little nibble.

If a wild animal seriously injures me or kills me I just hope it is not because I did something foolish and 100% avoidable. I have been injured by wild animals, mostly due to my own foolishness never because the animal was a fault.

[TXyakr]

Well I know nothing about bears, but I read once that a face full of buck shot is the best bear spray known to mankind!

Whatever you use on whatever wild animal (or human who truly assaults you) most hunters will tell you from experience that many weapons do not deliver a fatal injury. Especially a shotgun. The bear may go down or run away but then stand back up and take you out. If your only option is to use bear spray or firearm best bet is to then run like heck and get out of there. When I shoot an animal even a deer doe or rabbit, I run over and cut its throat as quickly as possible unless I am certain that it was a fatal shot. And then only when holding its head down with boot or knee so it will not turn and bite me.

A bear if I must shoot it or spray it, I would get the heck out of there and probably not look back until I was 100-200 yards away then slow to a steady walk and not stop for at least a few miles. At a distance a 12 or 20 gage shot gun would just tick off some grizzly bears, they may?? back off some but then circle around and defend their territory with a vengeance. Not because they want to eat you but because they want you out of there. I have seen some people not wait long enough under stress and shot to soon at a non lethal distance, shotgun and handgun both.

[WalkingTree]

^ That's been my reasoning as well. Shot would just piss 'em off, or make 'em want to come back at you later. Finish them off right then and there, or create a few miles worth of distance fast.

[hunter63]

Whatever you use on whatever wild animal (or human who truly assaults you) most hunters will tell you from experience that many weapons do not deliver a fatal injury. Especially a shotgun. The bear may go down or run away but then stand back up and take you out.
So all the Alsaka State Troopers TV shows them boys don't know a thing about bears?
You don't see a .44 mag or .454 when they are dealing with a troubled bear....It's a 12 ga....Just saying.

If your only option is to use bear spray or firearm best bet is to then run like heck and get out of there.
Tough to out run a bear......

When I shoot an animal even a deer doe or rabbit, I run over and cut its throat as quickly as possible unless I am certain that it was a fatal shot. And then only when holding its head down with boot or knee so it will not turn and bite me.

Yeah, they may attack...especially the rabbits......

A bear if I must shoot it or spray it, I would get the heck out of there and probably not look back until I was 100-200 yards away then slow to a steady walk and not stop for at least a few miles. At a distance a 12 or 20 gage shot gun would just tick off some grizzly bears, they may?? back off some but then circle around and defend their territory with a vengeance. Not because they want to eat you but because they want you out of there. I have seen some people not wait long enough under stress and shot to soon at a non lethal distance, shotgun and handgun both.

I not sure I will follow any of this advice..............

[Seniorman]

" I've had no encounters at all with a bear. ..."

Here is a story of a woman who did have an encounter with a bear and apparently she just did not get intellectual enough for him.

http://www.castanet.net/news/Pentict...in-bear-attack

S.M.

[crashdive123]

I sure do wish ole Sourdough was still around to weigh in on this thread.

[Seniorman]

I sure do wish ole Sourdough was still around to weigh in on this thread.

Yep, he's been gone for awhile. Has anyone heard from him as to how he is getting along?

S.M.

[Rick]

I still remember his "bear sniffing my butt" story. I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time but it sure conjures up a comical scene. Especially because it was him. I do miss him. He probably has forgotten more off grid living information than I'll ever, ever know.

[hunter63]

He still posts some time over on Graybeard Outdoors Forum...but isn't real chatty.

[1stimestar]

That was a classic! Here it is. http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...R-on-top-of-me

[crashdive123]

Yep, he's been gone for awhile. Has anyone heard from him as to how he is getting along?

S.M.

Last time I heard from him (several months ago) he was doing well.

[lasurvie]

Article says she tried bear spray to no avail....?

[Grizzlyette Adams]

Yep, he's been gone for awhile. Has anyone heard from him as to how he is getting along?

S.M.

He is doing well. In fact, I learned of this forum through him. He is just as sassy and ornery as ever.

[1stimestar]

Me and Sourdough a few years ago.

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[WalkingTree]

I was surfing around looking for info on bear sprays, clicked on this and that, ended up watching some vids, and I got an idea.

For people (such as myself) who haven't had any exposure or encounters personally, reading things and hearing other people only goes so far. To begin to get a real 'feel' for these animals and some kind of real familiarity helps a lot. It's good to have at least some basic idea as what can only come from personal experience, and it's good to experience the emotion involved so that a person can begin to identify those emotions and come to control them. (When riding motorcycles, I'd tell people that you need to respect the motorcycle, but don't fear it. If you fear it, you're in trouble. If you don't respect it, you're in trouble.)

So my idea was to collect some of those videos which, as much as can be done vicariously watching a video, at least begins to give a person with zero experience an idea of what it might feel like, and an idea of how these animals act and how to read them...more than written or spoken info at least - so that if a person is 'going out there' and is trying to arm themselves with some info, they at least are not completely clueless in the sense of having no real familiarity at all versus spoken or written info.

I've numbered them just in case some in here can relate what they think someone did wrong or right in each one, etc. And any info that isn't conveyed in one, or some way in which it might be misleading. (Important: I'm sure that no experience portrayed in any following vid can be taken as definitive or gospel.)

1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLMa5-n2OVc

2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWYV7bYUXcA

3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqVE9qfg7yI

4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWpleN562WE

5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNO2CUGPSl8

6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkwy0scRXBU

7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZSn1Jl7eKo

8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q16np3_RRW0

9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jRTrRxamxQ

10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PWHNIbS8cE

11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RQ9RWpt8iw

12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYf9WH6dgGI

13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvzOBrzGpYw

14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV-WlEZZMzs

15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8R9fwsEA6M

16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpNx_XXSbMA

17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U4EfY2odUc

18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbE53XUtVw0

19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaJ2vY5vtpQ

[Rick]

I practice using bear spray all the time. Anyone can. Go to the zoo. Get close to the cage then give the polar bear a spray. I've been practicing for a while now. Funny, now when they see me coming they try to climb over the back wall. I'm gonna have to start tossing a kid or something in there to get them back over to the bars. Bear spray works.

[Gary]

Planning a trip next summer of 7 days hiking in the Rockies with a friend. We got the all clear from the wives so the hard part is done. We had talked about the grizzly bear population in the area and have decided on bear spray. A rifle is just too much weight to carry and a side arm is out of the question. We have also toyed with the idea of electrical bear fencing for our camp area. Cost isn't a factor but weight is. We are looking into the cost of hiring a float plane out of Golden B.C. to fly us in to a remote lake. If this is the route we go, bear fencing and a rifle are an option, but if we hike in, the bear spray will have to do!

[Gary]

I practice using bear spray all the time. Anyone can. Go to the zoo. Get close to the cage then give the polar bear a spray. I've been practicing for a while now. Funny, now when they see me coming they try to climb over the back wall. I'm gonna have to start tossing a kid or something in there to get them back over to the bars. Bear spray works.

Thats awesome lol!