I used to carry a small air horn while hiking in Alaska. An occasional blast from that screamed “Human approaching!” Bells are not nearly loud enough.
For a deeper respect for the dangers of bear encounters, one may wish to view the lumber camp [ or some such camp ] trailer in Eurasia-Russia somewhere where a webcam or similar camera onsite shows bears charging into the trailer the men lived in… which had a wide open door for the bears. Thankfully the scene ends before the people are eaten…
FYI, here are grizzlies on Vancouver Island now.
I have never felt threatened by a black bear in California, they have a pretty good reputation for not being aggressive. There are some places in the country that black bears are more likely to be aggressive. I have never seen a grizzly in the wild and I don’t want to, they scare me.
The purpose is not to intimidate the bear but to merely let the bear know you are there. It avoids the surprise encounter. Startle a bear, even a small black bear, and anything can happen, most of them bad for the hiker.
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
When I lived in Klamath Falls, Oregon many years ago some jerk went out at night to deposit trash in his garbage can and found a black bear rummaging through the garbage. He went back in his house, secured a .45 automatic pistol and went back out to kill said bear. Shot the bear’s lower jaw off, ran back inside and called the police. Squad cars were out for hours using loud speakers to alert residents to remain in their houses until the poor bear was located and put down. I don’t remember any penalty being levied against the jerk who caused the incident. The shooting took place about a half-mile from where I was living; bear was found about three hundred yards from my house. I was hoping the bear would return and eat the shooter but it didn’t happen.
I’ve seen a few black bears at distance in the Uinta Mountains. Far enough away that I’d call it a “sighting” instead of an “encounter”, but even that was enough to get me a bit on edge. Ten years ago a boy was pulled out of his tent and killed by a black bear, but that was, I believe, the only fatal bear attack in Utah’s recorded history.
Four hours or so up in the Sierra Nevada. late evening, a bear ambles toward my campsite. I crouch behind a tree and hiss at the bear as if it were a huge Fido and I were a huger Lion. He paused, and retreated, glancing at his food source, as I had put the backpack on a tree branch by a cord or something.
Later, rustling outside my tent as his jaws [ recollection a bit hazy, long time ago ] tested the empty food cans and/or canteens or whatever outside the tent. I procured a flashlight and went tracking him in the night. I do not remember encountering him however, and he may have just retreated… to bring down the backpack, mauling the backpack before dawn… [ as I said, hazy recollection.]
Leaving camp, the other party by the small lake were having their food stores eating/thrashed by the bear, and banging pans from a safe distance.
Inquired at a ranger station as I left the NF. He/she had been green tagged on the
ear meaning relocated from the car camping bear-friendly [ as in here is food, break something ] large campsite to the backcountry.
Sorry if any typos, grammar, etc, and it was decades ago…
I was sleeping in my tent at Cook’s Forest, PA when I heard somebody dumping trash in the dumpster, maybe 50 yards away. It was around 3 am, I was cold and pissed off at the inconsiderate assholes making all the racket.
When I carried some trash to the dumpster the next morning, it was off its concrete pad and there was garbage strewn around. Big paw prints on the dumpster from the bears that had raided it.
A black bear is more apt to run away from you than harm you. A brown bear is another thing.
In case you missed this story…
Bear Attack Near Priest Lake, Idaho
A cautionary tale worth a read, since you hike with your dog. Yeeks.
Almost inevitable there. Priest Lake is very popular with the weekend camping and drinking crowd. No food safety practiced by most people. The woman was likely a victim of a habituated bear. I have a friend who had a face off with a bear while camping there. She left her food out the next night too. :smack:
As a kid, my parents and grandparents would camp out for several weeks in the summer at a Park Service campground in the Smokies. In those days bear encounters were fairly common, as the policy of keeping the tourists and bears apart was not yet in place.
My encounter with a momma and cub was much quieter. A hubbub started up that there was a baby bear in a tree. I went to look, but kept a sharp eye out for Momma Bear. I am fairly sure I was the only person in the crowd who saw her, as I saw her at a distance of only a few feet, :eek: walking behind the crowd, and kept quiet for fear of starting a panic.
Momma was quietly making the rounds, raiding camps while Junior kept everyone’s attention elsewhere. 
I was not a witness to another bear encounter, but had the story from one of the people involved. Some friends, a church deacon and his wife, were camping (same campground as above). Friends of theirs came for the night, and there wasn’t room in the tent, so the husband opted to sleep on the picnic table. In the middle of the night, the wife heard her husband yelling and cursing - “Words I didn’t even know he knew” - and peeked out of the tent. There he was, zipped up in his sleeping bag, with a bear, front paws on the table, looking him in the face as he discussed the bear’s ancestry, habits, and probable destination, using a lot of Sunday words, but not in the Sunday manner.
The bear was neither impressed nor offended and finally ambled off, with neither of them the worse for wear. Physically, at least. :rolleyes:
The sleeping bag, however… .
And that, children, is how adult diapers were invented.
And another. Not as bad.
Black bears are always running around my neighborhood. I see at least one every other week. Mama bear is often in my front yard eating trash. Brown bears are a different story. I don’t encounter them nearly as much.
But just last week, two brown bears came out of the wood line and decided to share my fishing spot.
After a couple minutes, they decided they didn’t want to share. I decided it was best to leave right after taking this picture. Eventually, I went back to get my rods and tackle.
Good call! :eek: He looks terrifying to me!