Tips for hiking in bear country

This isn't about any specific geographic location, but what I hope will be a gathering of tips for hiking and photographing in bear country.

What I usually do is pick up a dried branch and whack tree trunks and rocks as I hike along, or if carrying a wooden tripod I'll clack the legs together occasionally. This idea came to me after watching a film documentary about bears on Princess Royal Island where a juvenile Kermodei (an all white black bear, also called a Spirit Bear) had befriended the film crew...it had discovered that mature bears wouldn't bother it if it hung around the people filming. The Kermodei would even take naps in the forest as the film crew sat nearby waiting for it to wake up, but would snap awake at the sound of an animal breaking a branch far off in the forest. That's why I do the tree/rock whacking thing now, as I figure if they're listening for it in their sleep then they'll be sure to hear me coming from a long ways away, giving them time to move off.

I've been doing this for years now and a couple days ago my daughter and I had a slam dunk confirmation the technique works. We were walking up an old overgrown logging road, me whacking trunks occasionally, when we came upon some really fresh tracks in the gravel which I thought might be moose at first, but about 20 feet further along there was a bunch of black bear crap. It wasn't the usual sloppy pile of crap but was taken on the run, scattered up the trail on top of the fresh tracks that showed the bear was moving away at a run. There was a creek beside the road and the scene played out on a long corner so we probably would have been face to face if not making any noise.

What do you do to avoid them?

Murray

A story I once heard from a kayaker who had been paddling in remote Canada said a ranger explained that when in the wild they should carry bells and pepper spray just in case of bears. The bells are designed to jingle so that bears will hear you a long time before you get near them and they'll scarper away. The pepper spray is for if you have no other option. However the pepper spray works best on the black bears as it would just enrage a grizzly. He also suggested they study bear crap to see what type of bears were in the area. Upon asking the ranger how to tell the difference between the different types of bear crap the ranger replied "It is simple, just give the turd a kick, if it jingles and smells of pepper then its a grizzly".

How about just hiking with someone who can't run as fast?!

Those bells drive me nuts!

Grizzly crap is 'twistier' than black bear crap, and sometimes it's pretty easy to tell because you can just imagine how large the bear must have been to have a butt hole big enough to get a turd that huge out!!

Pepper spray does work on grizzlies, not that I've had to use it yet........

Murray

But those bells can save a life. Put them on. And carry lots of peanut butter.

I was in the Rockies a while ago and my Canadian friend stopped to buy some 'Bear Scares' - they're essentially a whizz-bang firework but I was disappointed he never gave me a demonstration. Some care should be taken in their use because it's not as obvious as one might think. If faced with an angry bear, do not turn around: keep facing it and back up slowly but if it charges the Bear Scare should be discharged over one's shoulder. Why? Because if you fire it AT the bear it may well fly over its fast approaching body and then explode, thus making a charging bear run towards you even faster. So, rule of thumb: fire it over your shoulder.
As for the crap - any UK readers should rethink any notion of dog-poo in the park: these furry fellas eat berries most of the day and they dump in huge quantities. Think wheel-barrow sized dump.
Another extraordinary factoid about bears is that will quite happily eat 20,000 calories a day, which is 120 Cadbury creme eggs.
I got some good BW shots of mountains and lakes in Canada but only one distant shot of a bear!

I'm with "the bells drive me nuts" crowd. They always make me think Santy Claus is around the bend.

My normal technique is to always keep my eyes open for good photos. This usually ensures that I trip and fall and make a lot of noise every couple hundred of feet.

My first trip to Yellowstone involved me and my girlfriend back-country camping for a few days. One night as I climbed into the tent, I realized I didn't put my toothpaste in the bear canister. When I pulled it out of my shirt pocket and put it in the little tent pocket, my girlfriend INSISTED that we would surely be killed by a brown bear with a taste for peppermint. After 17 miles of hiking that day, I refused.

Using my stupid, male (redundant?), engineer brain, I replied, "He'll smell it on your teeth before he smells it in a sealed tube . . . " Needless to say, I immediately realized the error of my ways, and hauled my ass out to the canister, which I of course had pitched waaaaaaay out there, but it was too late. The damage was done. While my girlfriend spent a sleepless night imagining that every twig snap was Yogi and Boo Boo coming to rip her minty-fresh teeth from her face, I sat there praying it WOULD happen and I could finally get some sleep after being torn asunder.

[Using my stupid, male (redundant?), engineer brain, I replied, "He'll smell it on your teeth before he smells it in a sealed tube . . .

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Had you been completely filled with wit, rather than half way, you would have cut open the tube of tooth paste, shown it to her, and then flung it as far away from her, you, and the tent as possible.

I agree, though, with your approach; however, with one addition: Spend all your time LOOKING for bears to photograph. You would then be as safe as at home in your darkroom.

I carry the pepper spray and the bear bangers (bare scare). I agree with Murray and Terence about the bear bells. They drive me nuts. One should know that they won't always go away if they hear you. Sometimes (not often) they simply look at you as prey. Or if they have cubs they may just stand their ground. Or they may be in a bad mood. Blacks are more likely to disappear than grizzleys, but you can't count in it happening.
In my timber cruising youth (before the days of pepper spray) I spent 8 hours up a tree with a very angry (or hungry) black bear underneath that wouldn't let me down. I never have figured out why it didn't come up after me. If the bears were plentiful sometimes we'd carry a rifle, but they were heavy and interfered with the compass, so they would be left in the tent until someone had a close call.

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What I usually do is pick up a dried branch and whack tree trunks and rocks as I hike along, or if carrying a wooden tripod I'll clack the legs together occasionally.

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This has its own dangers, if you happen to be out during moose rutting season. The bull mooses (meece?)bang their antlers on dry tree trunks to announce their presence and their prurient, primal interests. Thus, you might have a lust-craved, very ornery bull moose come bursting out of the sward looking to have a fight with that male interloper, whom he now sees cleverly disguised as a mild-mannered photographer.

In spite of all of the above, on my first trip to Montana to the Formulary the newspapers were carrying a story about a ranger who had been killed and eaten by a grizzly. They went on to recommend bear bells and that they were not foolproof nor was mace.

PE

I hike and photograph in Washington State and after several encounters (one in particular) I began carrying a gun.
The scary event? Postholing up a snow covered road I met a good sized black bear at maybe 50 feet range. The bear looked, then went on its way.
So in the 4 bear meetings I've had, and one with a lynx that was about as bad as it got. Better safer than sorrier.
As for the bear spray and bells not being reliable, nothing is. If the animal really wants a fight you are probably going to lose! So good for all, they seldom do.
I am far more fearful of the day I find a meth lab than the next animal I run across by the way.

Bryce Parker said:

I hike and photograph in Washington State and after several encounters (one in particular) I began carrying a gun.
The scary event? Postholing up a snow covered road I met a good sized black bear at maybe 50 feet range. The bear looked, then went on its way.
So in the 4 bear meetings I've had, and one with a lynx that was about as bad as it got. Better safer than sorrier.
As for the bear spray and bells not being reliable, nothing is. If the animal really wants a fight you are probably going to lose! So good for all, they seldom do.
I am far more fearful of the day I find a meth lab than the next animal I run across by the way.

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Generally they only want a fight if you surprise/corner them. Make enough noise (bells, periodic shout, etc.) so that you do don't surpirse them and leave them a good amount of time to get out of your way.

johnnywalker said:

I carry the pepper spray.......

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I always carry the pepper spray, too. Don't leave home without it!

The bear spray is pretty reliable. It actually incapacitates the bear for at least half an hour if you get it right in the face. I caught just a whiff of the stuff once, and I think I'd be the last thing on the bear's mind if it got a faceful of the stuff.

My Uncle was the Sheriff at Point Barrow Alaska in the 1980's and he said you should make a point of doubling back on your tracks in a large circle to see if a bear is stalking you -- bear tracks paralleling your tracks, but then again, he was dealing with polar bears...

Might be the same for Grizzly, eh?

johnnywalker said:

The bear spray is pretty reliable. It actually incapacitates the bear for at least half an hour if you get it right in the face. I caught just a whiff of the stuff once, and I think I'd be the last thing on the bear's mind if it got a faceful of the stuff.

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I'd think CS gas would be better; that stopped me dead in my tracks in basic training in the Army!

Then again, I had walking pneumonia when I went in the bunker and it was gone in a day. Amazing what the body expels when so prompted...

Kino said:

... to see if a bear is stalking you -- bear tracks paralleling your tracks, but then again, he was dealing with polar bears...

Might be the same for Grizzly, eh?

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Not to mention mountain lions. To that end, most animals are a bit more wary of animals larger than them...so put the tripod over your shoulder to make you appear bigger.

I always use two enamel ware coffee cups strapped loosely to my backpack that clank together as I walk. I am usually alone which isn't recommended in bear country when I hike, but what you gonna do. IMO bear bells are a tourist gimmick that makes the national parks a few bucks in the gift store, not nearly loud enough to be of much use. Bear spray is always on the hip, it's kind of like an umbrella in that if you have it with you you'll never need it but if you forget to bring it along you'll surely need it I've had a couple encounters with bears and each time they basically ignored me and went about their business as if I wasn't around which was fine with me!
regards
Erik

Erik L said:

IMO bear bells are a tourist gimmick that makes the national parks a few bucks in the gift store, not nearly loud enough to be of much use.
Erik

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That would be my thought as well, but in BC a lot of guys who work in the woods alone or in small numbers use them. They are about 3X the size of typical Christmas bells.

I'm sticking with the whacking method because it's close to what they're listening for anyway. My theory is the black bear that got scared off the other day probably thought to itself, "Yikes! There must be some big ass critter around the corner to have snapped a branch THAT big...I'd better crap myself and get the heck outta here!!!"

Me-thinks the soft tinkle tinkle tinkle of a bell wouldn't have had the same effect.

Murray

Terence said:

One night as I climbed into the tent, I realized I didn't put my toothpaste in the bear canister.

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There was this German fellow staying at 'The Hippie Camp' just outside of Jasper Alberta who did the same thing. A bear decided to investigate the minty smells in his tent during the night and the fellow woke everybody up by yelling in broken, heavily accented English, "Go away! Go away Mr. Bear!!"

Murray

This half breed eskimo started carrying a rifle back about 1960 around the homestead in Alaska along with being raised by a father with WW2 combat experience. The camera hobby just started a couple of years ago. I have found out how to pack a Mauser G98 with Sellier & Bellot 196 grain ammo next to the Leica & Zeiss. As others of you have posted, It's "heads up'" on any trek in the bush. Pay attention of where you are and what's around you and you will do OK. But personally, I need to be packing a little heat for me to feel safe.

So what do you do if you are attacked?

I was told by my Park Ranger guide when hiking in Denali N.P. to drop to the ground and curl up with my arms wrapped around my head, as bears go for the neck/head. Anyone know if this actually works?

Peter

thefizz said:

So what do you do if you are attacked?

I was told by my Park Ranger guide when hiking in Denali N.P. to drop to the ground and curl up with my arms wrapped around my head, as bears go for the neck/head. Anyone know if this actually works?

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That's what's recommended with grizzlies and as general rule of thumb is your best bet.

CBC TV here in Canada recently had a special on bears and told the story of two guys who were attacked by a grizzly. One climbed 35' up a tree and watched as his buddy tried to fight off the bear and got severely mauled, then the bear climbed up the tree in a heartbeat (there were enough branches for it to climb) and pulled the guy from the tree. After hitting the ground he managed to get to the vest which he had thrown off earlier, got out the pepper spray and gave the grizzly a blast in the face, which ended the attack.

They both survived but one had years of reconstructive surgeries to his head.

Murray