See query. Paused infantile movie on Prime Video to ask this–ie, I don’t think I need answer fast.
Father sees bear, his kid. Yells “don’t run, don’t make any sudden movements.” Kid runs, exits, pursued by a bear (a Winter’s tale…).
Was the father right?
It depends on the type of bear, but for the most part the advice is correct. Certainly for black bears they are more afraid of you. All my black bear encounters except one involved the bears taking off as soon as they figured out we were there. The exception was an Adirondack bear that associated humans with food sources. He was later relocated by the rangers, and eventually had to be killed.
For Grizzly bears the advice is still good, running from a bear is never a good idea. It triggers their prey instincts. No loud noises or anything to startle the bear. They are more predatory than black bears so more caution is required. The big difference between your response to black and grizzly bears happens in the unlikely chance that they attack. You fight back with black bears, you play dead with grizzlies. Black bears, you want them to know you’re there. Grizzlies you’d prefer they didn’t.
For Polar bears I think your best course of action is to carry a big gun and stay far away. However, since you said this takes place in a forest I think you’ll be fine.
Yes, father is right.
The best way to avoid a conflict with a bear if you unexpectedly walk up on one is to back away slowly, averting your eyes from looking directly into his.
This is general information and obviously dependent on what the bear is doing in response to seeing you. Example: If he turns to show you his bulk, it means he views you as a potential challenger, making your gracious and non-threatening exit all the more urgent. But still don’t run, and don’t turn your back to him.
If he’s running at you, best to play dead if it’s a grizzly. If it’s a black bear, make peace with your Maker if you believe in such. Playing dead won’t help. Black bears are less likely to attack but if they do, they won’t leave you alone even if they think you’re dead.
If you’re going to walk in the woods, bring a loud noisemaker such as a whistle or air horn. If you don’t corner them, they’ll usually r-u-n-n-o-f-t.
ETA: What Telemark said.
You mean, plainly, that by “associating” he had somehow got it into his head that humans were prey? Or that “where there’s a human, I’ll follow him until I find a yummy back yard/food supply.”
I sort of ruled either out in OP hed with “he’s not hungry…” But this question still stands re your comment on the Adirondack bear.
In general being attacked by a bear is a bad thing, but I’m interested here in the difference between “I’m ‘showing you my bulk’ and I didn’t like your response I’m coming for you” vs “dinnertime.”
Black (Ursus americanus) and brown (U. Acrtos, including subspecies of grizzly, Kodiak) bears normally attack for two reasons; one is that they feel threatened or (in the case of brown bears, feel their cubs to be threatened), or because their prey response has been activated (mostly brown bears). It does happen on occassion that brown bears have attacked and fed on humans, as with the unfortunate case of Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, when they are hungry near hibernation time and are unable to forage for enough food, but most bear attacks occur because someone intentionally or otherwise lures a bear into close contact and then the bear lashes out in defensive fear. There are also rare cases of predatory black bears but based upon statistics from attacks since the beginning of the 20th century this occurs in about 1 out of 600,000 bears despite increasing human encroachment and reduction of free ranging areas for bear populations.
Bears, both black and brown, are physically powerful and can be quite destructive. Aside from their near constant foraging for foods rich in fats and sugars, they are also highly curious animals and while not particularly social by nature they can become habituated to human presence and live near or even among human residences without conflict. However, if someone runs from a bear the natural response is to chase, largely as a measure in asserting territorial dominance. Male bears can also become somewhat aggressive during mating periods but again will rarely engage with humans unless they are perceived as being a direct threat. For the most part, black bears that are not habituated around people will either run away or climb trees, and in fact climbing to safety is one of the first things a black bear sow will teach her cuts after they leave the den.
BTW, I’m not repeating this from some secondhand accounting or research journal. I have witnessed on several occasions a sow chuffing at cubs to climb a tree and then running out of distance, moaning and clearly waiting for me to leave the area. I’ve also had bears forage through a campsite looking for scraps, and once had to chase one down and retrieve my backpack from it because I ill-advisedly left it on a table with peanutbutter and honey sandwiches in it (and also my car keys). I’ve tracked bears across the Olympic Peninsula which contains about a third of Washington’s estimated population 30,000 bears, and I’ve talked to researchers who have interacted directly with and lived around bears in a fashion akin to primatologists like Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey. Both black and brown bears are not primary predators and only feed on other animals opportunistically, e.g. during salmon spawns or eating the kills of other predators, and in fact, both are evolved to have been prey for larger and more aggressive predators (mountain lions, dire wolves, Smilodons and the short-faced bear).
If you see a bear, unless it is openly stalking you, you should stand in place, make as big of a figure as you can, and if necessary, throw rocks or large branches at it (which they seem to think is a kind of wizardry). Bears will generally retreat rather than respond as long as you are not within grappling distance unless they are defending what they believe to be a food cache (and they do share the human perception of ownership that “possession is nine tenths of the law”, so you should keep your food in bear-resistent canisters or in a real secure hang) and despite claims to the contrary, bear spray is quite effective if used correctly. If attacked, the general advice is to fight against a black bear and play dead with a brown bear, but frankly I think in either case you are better off fighting to get away as bears may return to feed after they think they’ve killed an animal.
BTW, all of this applies to American black and brown bears. Asiatic black bears are known to be more aggressive but also so rare due to overhunting that it would be unlikely to come across one, and polar bears, which have no natural predators, have been known to attack humans without provocation and not retreat even when counterattacked and injured.
Any bear that mauls Leonardo DiCaprio gets my vote as Best Supporting Animal Actor in a Drama or Comedy.
Stranger
Stranger, you keep responding with these cryptic minuscule answers…
I’m flabbergasted. Thank you.
Your text points out, for the (ever-) confused like me, what “the prey instinct” means when otherwise not contextualized. My dog when “Squirrel” blasts his brains will do his thing, just like instinct (tied with eating) tells him to do. But of course he’s basically confused when he gets it–that’s breeding. And he’s not particularly hungry, let alone starving, when all bets are off.
So as you imply, triggering (here) a bear’s prey instinct doesn’t mean he won’t stop until you’re d-e-d dead…But that’s not because it was bred out of him.
Bears are smart. They figured out that backpackers often pack lots of yummy food with them, and eating that is much easier than digging up stumps for grubs. They learn to hang around campsites and wait for humans to go asleep then steal their food. Eventually they don’t bother waiting for the humans to go to sleep; they’ll walk right into camp and start rummaging for food. At that point, aggressive human-bear interactions are inevitable and rangers will step in to relocate, and if need be, destroy the offending bears.
That’s why in the Adirondacks campers are now required to carry approved bear canisters for all their food. The bears can’t get into them and if all is done properly, in a few generations the bears will stop associating campers with food. But bears are smart (look up Yellow-Yellow, a female bear who figured out how to open some bear canisters and taught the skill to her cubs!) and it will take a while.
Remember, a fed bear is a dead bear.
Most of the National Parks and many National Forests west of the Rockies require or strongly encouage hikers to carry bear-proof canisters.
And yes, bears are quite intelligent problem solvers, more than most people appreciate. Some researchers have expressed the opinion that they have problem-solving abilities as the larger primates, albeit with substantially different socialization and communication behavoirs.
Stranger
I didn’t see it mentioned so I’ll just point out that not all Black Bears are black. From the wiki article on Black Bears:
Then what were you speaking of, since you clearly must not have meant “bear”.
It gets better. Bears in many parks have learned that cars have the goodies, and even better, that cars with car seats are extra nummy. Now you have to empty your car, and hide the evidence of your offspring to be safe parking overnight. My brother-in-law dared them to take his car. He figured his car was saving every other car in the parking lot (Yosemite).
Yosemite has had the worst bear problem. No food allowed in cars; it all must be in bear boxes at the campgrounds. You’ll be fined if a bear breaks into your car because of food, or even an empty cooler.
The bears learned all about cars and how to break in. They observed mothers teaching their cubs how to get into the trunk from the backseat.
Well, here ya go. Which one is he?
And everything I’ve read here tells me that he (the bear, unless possessed by a crazed SOAT complex, wouldn’t come barreling up out of nowhere to chomp on anybody’s ass, except DiCaprio’s.
That’s clearly a brown/grizzly bear just from the long shape of the snout and the hump at the shoulders.
Stranger
The Revenant is loosely based on the story of Hugo Glass, who was an actual historical person with a commemorative monument in SD and a wikipedia page. According to that page, he encountered a grizz with cubs, which is how you do not want to encounter one of those. The movie appears to be somewhat embellished in order to entertain the audience – go figure.
Here’s a good article about bears, camping and food. Short answer: Don’t camp where there are bears, they will get your food. Or, I guess, pack enough food to get them bloated as hell, then run while they digest (kidding!).
Back in my days planting trees in the BC interior as a summer job, we always used to tell the rookies that the best way to tell if a bear was a black bear or a grizz was to climb a tree. If the bear climbs up after you, it’s a black bear. If it pushes the tree over, it’s a grizzly.
This method wasn’t really feasible, however, since it’s next to impossible for a human to climb a lodgepole pine or black spruce without specialized gear.
So, no where in the eastern US, western US, or most of Canada. This is going to put a crimp in my camping plans.
Yeah, I’ll just use a bear canister.
My friend has a Bear Resistant Food Container, or BARFCON.
Always, and apply that rule to all wild animals.
If you feed them, they will beg, and then steal, and then be declared pests, and be killed.
I don’t even like backyard bird feeders.