Meet a bear

[Karle94]

Not to mention that the polar bear can kill you with one swing of one of its paws.

[August]

Originally Posted by Karle94

Not to mention that the polar bear can kill you with one swing of one of its paws.

And like Grizzlies will actively hunt humans...

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

And then you have a weapon, all set to go.

Pepper spray might be good, but I'm starting to like the idea of a can of Wasp & Hornet spray - 30-foot range, solid stream, accurate and extremely nasty to anything it hits in the face. I recently read about its use as a home-defense weapon, and it should work on bigger predators as well.

I used a can of CS gas on a German shepard dog, once, immediately after school, when I distributed newpspaper in the wee hours of the morning. He got the load right in his face. He immediately fell flat, put both feet over his nose, and never m oved again. When I passed that place again three minutes later, he still was laying there, almopst motionless. Must have been the shock of his life.

It was no useless cruelty by me, but self-defence, the dog was angry and approached me with obvious aggressiveness, when it was 1 meter away and bit the air repeatedly, I decided that it was close enough.

But i admit, the reaction and the sight, in a grim manner still makes me giggle.

[Oberon]

I've heard of the advice of lying flat on the ground and being allowed to be sniffed before, it'd take a lot of balls to do that, but I guess one of the alternatives is having your balls removed by said bear.

Personally I would a) not make eye contact, I think with just about any animal this is seen as a challenge, b) back away slowly and c) be sure to talk softly as I do so that I'm not seen as trying to be sneaky.

It's amazing how many animals will not feel threatened by you if you are noisy. My mother and I used to do some cleaning at the local bird sanctuary which had a nice collection of deer and wildlife in the surrounding environs, she used to ride a little yellow Honda Melody moped, and I rode a pushbike. The deer would ignore her in the noisy bright yellow moped but spook at me in the quiet pushbike.

Was such a beautiful ride, just as the sun was coming up, birds starting to sing, deer in the mist. Little slice of heaven.

Not many bears though...

Originally Posted by Skybird

...would try to intimdate and surprise him by becoming loud in yelling, throwing things at him and "attack" him with anything I find in sticks and stones.

Yeaaaah, of course you would...

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Nippelspanner

Yeaaaah, of course you would...

People do strange things when running away failed, they get pushed into a corner, and panic! There are even kind of precedences!

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by August

Oh and never forget the old saying: "You don't need to outrun the bear, you just need to outrun the person you're with.

LOL

[RickC Sniper]

http://www.mountainnature.com/wildli...encounters.htm

This website pretty much agrees with Skybirds tactics. It does not recommend laying flat on the ground until a last resort.

[Bilge_Rat]

In general, bears are as wary of humans as pretty much any other animal. They are only really a threat if you surprise them or they feel threatened.

At my cottage, 2 hours north of montreal, we have bears and wolves in the area. I saw a bear last year early one morning while walking my dogs. It was sniffing around one of my neighbour's garbage can. At first, I thought it was a big dog. As soon as it saw me, it took off in the forest. For such a large animal, it makes surprisingly little noise.

The only animal I ever met which is totally unafraid of humans are sharks. About 10-11 years ago, I participated in a "shark dive" in the Bahamas, scuba diving in 40-45 feet of water in an area where they regularly feed the sharks. Most are small sharks 6-9 foot long. However, unlike every other animal/fish on earth, sharks are totally unafraid of humans and will not swim away or try to avoid you. They also have totally dead eyes, very unnnerving. At the beginning of the dive, I was so fascinated that I wandered away from the group and found myself swimming in formation with 3 sharks, two of which slowly came up on my right while a third slowly swam up on my left, all three eyeing me a bit too closely for comfort. I did not wander away the group after that. Bears are just big dogs by comparaison.

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Grizzly bears and Brownbears are NOT the same, the first is a sub-species of the latter, also there are differences between Northamerican and European Brownbears.

European Brown bear: Ursus arctos arctos

American Brown bear:
Grizzly bear: Ursus arctos horribiles
Kodiak bear: Ursus arctos middendorffi

In america, brownbears are either Grizzlies or Kodiaks. "Brownbears" usually mean the European variant.

There are not really distinctive features that can really tell the difference between a North American Brown bear and its European/Asian cousins. Bears on this side of the pond can also have grizzled tips on their fur. As written before, even the definition of the Kodiak bear (another example being the Hokkaido bear- Ursus arctos yesoenis ) as a subspecies of the Brown Bear is debated among zoologists.
If you would put a pregnant Kodiak bear into the Finnish woods, you could not really distinguish her offspring from the Finnish bears - other than by the alcoholic beverage preferences of course

Originally Posted by Skybird

I do not find it again, but we have had videos two or three years ago showing bears being chased up trees by small puppies since the puppies behaved different from the normal scheme of behavior bears are used to. It'S this what I was wondering about: is a brownbear intimidated or enraged when being confronted with a behavior pattern that he is not used to?

Can't tell you anything about that, my wise "Radio Eriwan"-like answer wozuld be: it depends

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Pepper spray might be good, but I'm starting to like the idea of a can of Wasp & Hornet spray - 30-foot range, solid stream, accurate and extremely nasty to anything it hits in the face. I recently read about its use as a home-defense weapon, and it should work on bigger predators as well.

I've heard about the wasp spray, though I would not recommend it against bears for the reason that their most important organ is the nose. Pepper has the advantage that it almost instantly reduces the capability of this organ to work properly. I've heard that wasp spray must be nasty for the eyes, but an important factor is to hit those little marbles, with pepper spraying in the general direction of the attacking bear would be sufficent.
Another thing why pepper is imo superior is that brand sprays are really made to work in the important moment - I doubt that wasp spray cans have this high standard in quality - most people don't care if their wasp spray has to be shaken before use or doesn't work instantly but in the second try.

Also important considering 2-legged unfriendly creatures is that it works against drunk/drugged people (no 100% guarantee though), don't know how good hornet spray is at this.

Originally Posted by August

Bears are bears. Even the smaller black bear will happily rip your face off if it wants to. Bring a (large caliber) gun when you go into the woods and you need not fear them.

Oh and never forget the old saying: "You don't need to outrun the bear, you just need to outrun the person you're with.

Most people I've heard recommend at least a .357 to do the job on a bear. Though you are forgetting the most important thing: training! If you are not sure to hit a moving target, charging with 25 miles an hour towards you, then a gun is not of much use. However the sound of a firing gun can chase off a bear.
Or maybe the next time I'll be in bear country I'll take a one-legged friend with me

[August]

Originally Posted by Penguin

There are not really distinctive features that can really tell the difference between a North American Brown bear and its European/Asian cousins. Bears on this side of the pond can also have grizzled tips on their fur. As written before, even the definition of the Kodiak bear (another example being the Hokkaido bear- Ursus arctos yesoenis ) as a subspecies of the Brown Bear is debated among zoologists.
If you would put a pregnant Kodiak bear into the Finnish woods, you could not really distinguish her offspring from the Finnish bears - other than by the alcoholic beverage preferences of course

Sounds to me like the differences between these various species of bear are less than those between humans.

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by August

Sounds to me like the differences between these various species of bear are less than those between humans.

Well, the human species residing in the US are certainly distinguishable from the European species by their preference for tasteless beer

[frau kaleun]

I've heard this before many times, that the best way to avoid bear attacks is to lie completely still on the ground and "play dead" until the bear gets bored with you and decides you're neither prey nor threat and goes away.

Doesn't work with grizzlies, though, for them you need to be making some kind of constant, strange (to their ears) noise that will alert them to your presence so they will just stay out of your way. The most common suggestion was to wear a necklace with little jingly bells on it that would always be jingling and jangling as you moved through the wilderness.

Of course it's also simple common sense to leave an area if you happen to notice any fresh grizzly dung on the ground, and fortunately it's really easy to identify grizzly droppings.

They're the ones with all the little jingly bells mixed in.

[August]

Originally Posted by Penguin

Well, the human species residing in the US are certainly distinguishable from the European species by their preference for tasteless beer

Well shucks , at least we know that beer is supposed to be served ice cold.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

They're the ones with all the little jingly bells mixed in.

LOL