I've never had an encounter, but I wonder really how effective bear spray would be. Just imagine a charging grizzly, reaching into your pack for your spray and IF you get it out on time waiting until the bear is in range to aim and hit him in the eyes. I guess the closest I've been would have been about 2 years ago. We were planning on fishing upstream of the Waldron bridge on the Oldman when 3 other guys beat us to the spot. It was fairly hot so we decided to stay and not go out. About a half hour later they returned and told us they came over a hill and just missed running into a female grizzly with 2 cubs. We've seen small blacks in this area but a grizzly this far out of the forest reserve? Glad it was them instead of us...that's a little too close.
