Coming Across Mr. Bear

[BBBrownie]

All bears are different. Procedure for dealing with bear encounters is highly situational, there isn't a right or wrong way, it really just depends. Leave a wide birth, DO NOT show aggression toward bear (it may see this as a challenge), no fast or sudden movements, carry bear spray. Guns aren't effective in the amount of time you will likely have to use them in a real life encounter. Most charges are bluffs, guns lead to dead animals in what would have most times been a bluff. Make noise when you are fishing or walking in the bush, dogs are not good unless specifically trained and proven, they will bring bears to you. I have had many encounters, yet to have on go too badly, bound to happen eventually , just hope its only a bluff!

[trailhead]

All bears are different. Procedure for dealing with bear encounters is highly situational, there isn't a right or wrong way, it really just depends. Leave a wide birth, DO NOT show aggression toward bear (it may see this as a challenge), no fast or sudden movements, carry bear spray. Guns aren't effective in the amount of time you will likely have to use them in a real life encounter. Most charges are bluffs, guns lead to dead animals in what would have most times been a bluff. Make noise when you are fishing or walking in the bush, dogs are not good unless specifically trained and proven, they will bring bears to you. I have had many encounters, yet to have on go too badly, bound to happen eventually , just hope its only a bluff!

 

Totally agree with all your points as I have had experience with most of them. I don't think guns are an appropriate response, a park ranger friend told me a "good" bear was shot in K-country a few years ago because someone had a gun in their trailer. Also avoid females with cubs, that video where that guy was charged by the female with a cub and he fired a warning shot, duh! And I have mountain biked the Cascade Fire Road during buffalo berry season with bells on our bikes and early in the morning we passed numerous piles of steaming digested berries. Found out later that there were 8 grizzilies in the area, it was pretty obvious to us that the bears heard the bells and probably just moved off into the underbrush, then resumed feeding when we were gone. I think bears are one of the things that make flyfishing special in this part of the world.

[Tadpole]

bear, bear, bear. Thats all i keep hearing lately. way overdone. it seems everyone feels that bears are out to get anyone who ventures out into the woods. silver doc nailed it. pay attention and give space. they will run for the hills if you follow that procedure. as for cougars i will agree i would be more wary of them. Quite often if you see one, it means it has been following you. they are very keen and know that you are there well before you know it is there. However i would say i am much more wary of moose especially in the fall and bulls in particular. they are much more territorial than any of the above mentioned animals. I am very surprised nobody has mentioned that yet. But all in all, just pay attention and enjoy your day. From the sounds of things quite a few of you guys are more decked out in bear gear more than fly gear. i would love to see that.

[RCable]

- this spring we encountered a bear about 50m away on a steep uphill trail (mud lake) and she totally freaked out and came running behind me - I can only attribute that reaction to her self recognition of her age and strength waining, she is now 12 years old - this really shocked me and to be honest I am now leaving her behind on most riverside hikes. I think, like any decision/action in the back country, one has to be brutally realistic about assessing their dogs capabilities and their own level of owner control.

 

 

I agree with most of what Pipestone has said. I have personally only seen one black bear while fishing or hiking with a dog for the last three years fishing the Castle area a lot. Mr bear came out of the forest to get a drink, and then bolted through the river, up a STEEP mossy bank and disappeared into the woods when I said hi. Dog never saw it or knew it was there. I carry bear spray and a three shot banger, but have only really had to use the banger once for a suspect sound in the woods that the dog growled at. Later on at the lake I found out that it was a pair of moose. Ever tried belly boat fishing for golden trout with 40 lbs of scared, shivering border collie sitting on your lap? Rather awkward and not very productive.

The more noise you make while hiking or on the river the better. The river is generally loud enough that I don't think the fish can hear you through all the water turbulence. I sing my Go Away Bear Song at the top of my lungs a lot. It does lead to some rather weird looks from strangers, but I'd rather a weird look from a stranger than see a bear close enough to matter.

 

 

 

[cgyguy]

Wow - that thread really took off. Healthy discussion and some good learnings as well. My father was a logger on Vancouver Island and most of the West Coast. He always told me that the scariest animal he ever crossed was a Wolverine. Apparently, these animals can be downright viscious and can cause lots of damage. Personally, I have never come across any animal encounters that I felt threatened by, like many of you have said though, wide berth, common sense, and respect are some key messages I am taking from these posts.

Thanks for your replies & Cheers

[bighopper]

Here is a link to a grizzly bear attack in Alaska just a few days ago. Luckily the victim survived.

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/wjw-man...,0,271838.story

[mosbos]

Here is a link to a grizzly bear attack in Alaska just a few days ago. Luckily the victim survived.

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/wjw-man...,0,271838.story

 

The begining of May this year my brother and myself had our first Grizzly encounter while fishing. We were fishing the Berland river between Hinton and Grande Cache. Saw the Griz at the campsite early in the morning and it took off like a bat out of hell. Later in the afternoon he had crossed hwy 40 and was on our trail on the east side of the hwy. Luckily we ran into him on a flood plain and not in the willows. He was a big boar. When he first saw us he turned and bolted away about 15yds. He then stopped dead wheeled around and stood up on his hind legs. After that he dropped down and started walking towards us.

I snapped off a couple pics before I put my camera away to grab my spray. He worked his way around the fallen tree and we worked our way to the left. My brother had one popper as he misplaced his others. When the bear got closer to us on the right side of the tree my brother fired and it spooked him about 15-20 yds. It was enough where we crossed the river and he didn't follow us.

A little earlier further downstream we had stumbled across this kill site so the grizz either had that scent or he was tracking or us. Thank god we turned back earlier as if we had kept on fishing we would have run into him on the deer at the killsite which was on a narrow area on the river.

 

Anyways we lucked out and avoided a closer contact where we would have had to use the spray. First thing I did after this close call was went and bought some bangers because they definitely helped us out here. We had enough distance where they were effective. For the last 13 years all I carried was bear spray. Now it's spray and bangers.

[ironfly]

Sorry about that. I forgot that most people think dog-training ends with house-breaking. If you can't control your dog with voice commands you shouldn't even take it to an off-leash park.

 

As far as skewed statistics go, they all are, but here's a little correction. About half of Canada's poulation lives in rural areas, about 70% of which is bear habitat, so let's say that the odds are a measley 1000 to 1 that a bear will get you before a car.

[Hawgstoppah]

If you dont scare or suprise a bear odds are it's not going to mess with you. I've had multiple encounters with bears... too many to even count... some at extremely close range (I got sniffed/licked/slobbered on by a griz).. but I still fear moose and cougars more. I have been stalked by cougars twice.. once in the Livingstone river and once out steelhead fishing... and have been treed by a moose once for 2 hours... those 3 incidents were waaaaay more aggresive behaviour from animals than bears normally display

 

I feel like a dork yelling "HEY BEAR!" a lot too on my hikes... but I haven't ran into bears on those hikes. One hike I climbed up about 400ft of steep slope to get a picture of a lake from higher elevation and lo and behold noticed 3 black bears eating berries along the trail I had JUST PASSED through.. so making noise works... and I was doing it!!!....otherwise I may have suprised what looked like mama and 2 cubs.