Bear safety tips

[+Bilder]

Bear safety tips

 

Don't surprise or try to outrun a bruin

 

Alaska.com

 

Here are safety tips for brown bears taken mostly from Katmai National Park's "Bear Facts" and Denali National Park's "Alpenglow" guides to peaceful coexistence with bears and nature.

 

Avoid surprise encounters

1. Don't surprise a bear. Bears are active day and night. Watch for pawprints and scat. A grizzly's paw may leave a mark 15 inches long.

 

2. Be alert always to your surroundings. Make noise, especially when visibility is limited, to let bears know you're coming. Sing and shout as you walk. Avoid whistling or grunting, which a bear may perceive as sounds of food or threat.

 

3. Never run. Running might encourage a bear to chase you. Brown bears can run 30 mph and can gallop up a hillside. You can't.

 

4. If you come face to face with a bear, speak to it firmly but calmly. Wave your arms slowly or clap so that the bear will recognize you as a human.

 

5. Retreat slowly and quietly. Don't make eye contact with the bear.

 

Keep your distance

 

1. Don't approach bears.

 

2. The minimum safe distance from any bear is 50 yards at Katmai. When it is a sow with cubs, stay 100 yards away. In Denali's open country, the preferred distance is a quarter mile.

 

3. If you're in a bear's path, move out of the way and let it pass. Don't make noise in an effort to move the bear out of your way. Try not to walk on obvious bear or game trails with limited visibility.

 

4. Don't interfere with a bear's foraging.

 

If a bear charges

 

1. If a bear approaches you, don't run and don't drop your pack. Bears sometimes charge within 10 feet of a person before stopping or veering off. Dropping a pack may encourage a bear to approach people for food.

 

Stand still until the bear moves away, then back off.

 

2. If a grizzly or brown bear makes contact with you, play dead. Curl up into a ball with your knees tucked into your stomach and your hands laced around the back of your neck. Leave your pack on to protect your back. If the attack is short, the bear may think the threat is removed and will walk away, so don't move. If the attack is prolonged, however, fight back vigorously for your life.

 

3. If a black bear makes contact, fight back. Throw rocks, shout and wave.

 

Firearms and pepper spray

 

1. Backpackers and rafters are allowed to carry firearms on most federal land and in some national parks and preserves. (Katmai and Denali generally don't allow guns, for example, but Wrangell-St. Elias does.) The entire Katmai coastline, Brooks Camp and the Valley of 10,000 Smokes are to be firearms-free.

 

A .300 Magnum rifle and a shotgun with rifled slugs are considered adequate for killing a bear, experts say, but the user must be ready for a quick attack, especially in brush. A .44 Magnum handgun is often considered not powerful enough against a charging bear and may be more dangerous to the hikers than to the bear.

 

2. Pepper spray contains capsicum, an irritant derived from some varieties of pepper. Some people carry it, but like a firearm it must be ready to use on a moment's notice. Unlike a firearm, its effectiveness is greatly affected by wind, rain, distance to the bear and the time the can spent on a shelf. A researcher also determined that improperly applied spray may actually attract bears.

 

3. Having a firearm or spray may provide a false sense of security. Avoiding bear contact through smart hiking and camping practices is a better plan overall.

 

4. "Bear bells" -- an inch wide or more -- are a popular item among hikers, who attach them to belts, hiking sticks and packs. Researchers found that a group of bears at Katmai, however, paid no attention to bear bells jangling near a trail.

 

Food storage

 

1. Food and beverages should never be left unattended. Food and other items with odors (toothpaste, gum and so forth) should be stored in a food cache or a bear-resistant food container or suspended 10 feet off the ground.

 

National parks such as Katmai, Denali and Gates of the Arctic lend food containers to backpackers, and they may be rented in Anchorage. The containers, which weigh about 3 pounds, are shaped like a can and have a snug lid with a latch.

 

2. Keep backpacks and other gear with you. If a bear comes, it will often investigate, sometimes thoroughly, items left before it.

 

3. Avoid cooking greasy foods or foods that have a rich odor. For example, don't fry up a rack of bacon in bear country or open a can of sardines. Don't sleep in the same clothes you wore while cooking.

 

4. Keep your camp clean. Pack out your garbage.

 

5. In campgrounds, store all the food, food containers, coolers and dirty cooking utensils in a hard-sided vehicle or in campground food-storage lockers when not in use. This is a requirement at Denali and a good idea at all campgrounds.

 

Bears and fishing

 

1. In Katmai and along streams elsewhere in the state, bears have learned to think of anglers as a source of food. Stop fishing when bears are present. If you keep a fish, take it immediately to a food storage area.

 

2. Always have someone "spot" bears while others fish. If you're playing a fish when a bear approaches, break your line quickly and move out of the water until the bear passes. A splashing fish often attracts a bear. To break the line quickly, lower the rod tip until it's parallel with the taut line, then pull backward quickly to snap the leader or tippet.

 

3. Don't clean your fish in camp.

 

Sources: Katmai National Park's "Bear Facts," Denali National Park's "Alpenglow" and the Anchorage Daily News.

 

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I have never been lost. Been awful confused for a few days, but never lost!

N61.12.041 W149.43.734

[+Bilder]

Bear behavior signs

 

Common activities show when a bear is tense

 

Alaska.com

 

It's hard to know what a bear is thinking, of course, but researchers, hunters, hikers and others who learn bear lore in order to survive have determined certain patterns in bear behavior.

 

Here are some general guidelines about bear behaviors, taken from Katmai National Park's "Bear Facts." Use safe practices to avoid making contact with bears.

Postures

 

• Standing on hind legs: Bears generally stand on their hind legs to see and sniff better. It's not normally an aggressive position.

 

• Standing broadside: A bear may stand broadside to assert itself. People have usually interpreted it as a demonstration of size.

 

• Standing and facing you: This is an aggressive position and may signal a charge. It probably is waiting for you to pull back.

 

Vocalizations

 

• Huffing: A tense bear may exhale a series of sharp, rasping huffs. A sow may huff to get her cubs' attention.

 

• Woof: A startled bear may emit a single sharp exhalation that isn't as harsh as a huff. If her cubs woof, a mother will become alert immediately.

 

• Jaw-popping: Females often emit a throaty popping sound, apparently to beckon their cubs when danger is sensed. A mother making this sound is nervous and extremely stressed. Bears other than sows also pop their jaws.

 

• Growl, snarl, roar: This are clearly signs of intolerance.

 

Other indicators

 

• Yawning: Indicates tension, as when humans or another bear are nearby.

 

• Excessive salivation: Clearly a sign of tension. The salivation may appear as white foam around the bear's mouth.

 

• Charge: Most charging bears stop before making contact. The intensity of the charge and associated vocalizations may vary, but a charge is distinctly an aggressive or defense act. Bears may charge immediately, as a sow fearing for her cubs, or may show stressed or erratic behavior before charging.

 

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I have never been lost. Been awful confused for a few days, but never lost!

N61.12.041 W149.43.734

[+sept1c_tank]

QUOTE: "...If a black bear makes contact, fight back."--Bilder

================================================

A park ranger in Yellowstone national park once told me "...the best defense against a face-to-face black bear is to sock him in the nose.."

 

The same ranger said "You can tell the difference between a black bear and a grizzly because, if you climb a tree, the black bear will climb up after you...the grizzly will just stand at the bottom and shake the tree until you fall out."

 

Although I've been throughout Alaska and Canada, and spent my share of time in the Appalachian mountains, and observed bears in the wild numerous times, I just have to ask myself (in those wild places): "Self...do you feel lucky today?"

 

==============="If it feels good...do it"================

 

**(the other 9 out of 10 voices in my head say: "Don't do it.")**

 

.

[+walkietalkie]

All good advise, bilder.

 

But try to tell your feet not to run when confronted by a bear. Luckily the bruin I ran across, had just taken a **** in the woods and was full of fish taken from the near by stream, I was strolling by. I hightailed out of the area. I know, I should have backed out gracefully, but my shoes were flying, jumping and sprinting. Still not afraid of the woods. Got my lifesavers on!

 

~singing~Making a living the old hard way

Taking and giving day by day

Digging the snow and rain and the bright sunshine

---Caching the Line

I feel fine I'm talking about peace of mind I'm gonna take my time

Caching the Line La La La La La La La Caching the Line

[+Searching_ut]

Learning about the different animals, and possible risks associated with encountering them is excellent advice. In my area, moose during the wrong season seem to be more of a problem. I have a great time watching, and observing bears, and many other large animals however, at a distance of course with good binoculars. I bought my first can of bears spray last year, but must admit I tend to not carry it unless it's required for the area I'll in. With close encounters, I've always found the hardest part to be not to appear to stare it down. You definately don't want to take your eyes off them, which makes it hard not to stare.

 

Bears, for all their size, and potential fury are intersting creatures, a lot like dogs in many ways. It was a black bear I took with a long bow many years ago that made me decide I really wasn't cut out to be a hunter. When they're hurt badly, they sound just like little kids crying. They're creatures to be both respected, and admired.

[+wimseyguy]

quote:

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4. "Bear bells" -- an inch wide or more -- are a popular item among hikers, who attach them to belts, hiking sticks and packs. Researchers found that a group of bears at Katmai, however, paid no attention to bear bells jangling near a trail.

---

 

I have heard that one way to tell wich scat is which is that grizzly bear scat often contains round jingly metallic items.

 

These changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes;

Nothing remains quite the same.

Through all of the islands and all of the highlands,

If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane