Bangers Or Spray

[Pipestoneflyguy]

Yep I remember this discussion on FFA, (and who peed their pants too LOL)

 

I think it was shortly after (or before) that discussion I got charged at Corral Creek - In that case I surprised the bear catching him in-between the river and the trail I was on, really I was lucky not to get a swat or worse, of course there was never time to pull out my bear spray or bangers, or for that matter to even remember having them, my only vivid recolection from the charge was the feel of gravel smacking my face as he pulled a 180 and bolted away from me. I have had a lot of bear encounters, many with cubs which is pretty normal if you spend any time in the backcountry in this area (LL). This charge was the only time I felt threatened and of course there was no time for any reaction and really there was no fear until after it all happened and the bear was gone (If it had lasted a few seconds later I'm sure pee would have been the least of my uncontrolled reactions I would have had to worry about). I have had other bears approach cautiously but it was apparent the interest in me was nothing but curiousity with restraint and shared wariness (or fear I suppose). Out of those many occasisions this is the advice I would offer;

 

Don't bother with bangers, obvious reason is your as likely to send the scared bear your way. (and you've turned a wary or curious bear into a scared bear, thats bad for you !) Screamers, same deal, for them to be effective you would have to be far enough away that you could just avoid the problem altogether and go another way, or wait till the bear leaves if that is your only available route. 99% of these sold at retail locations get fired off by drunk campers which is probably safer than firing them at a bear anyway

 

I carry spray. Its really more of a security blanket though, it will likely do nothing but make me FEEL safer, Those high-noon show downs with you and a bear on opposite side of a meadow measuring each other up while deciding to flee or charge rarely ever happen, in reality, if your in just about any situation that would allow time to draw your spray and get into a prescribed firing stance you could also likely put your arms up in the air and slowly back away and save yourself 30 bucks anyway. If a bear persisted or followed me, or became aggressive then I would start thinking about how I would use it. really though I make every possible effort never to get to this point because what control you had over the situation is likely gone and bear vs human rarely turns out well for either party (exception is the girl we had mauled in town here last year that walked out of the old 1A with minor injuries, out of 4 maulings that I have direct knowledge of, only one resulted in a death, and in that case the person involved ran and climbed a tree, in the other situations the injuries were bad)

 

In my humble opinion, the best method is avoidance, know what bears eat, because that is all they care about, if there not eating, they are on there way to find something to eat. Making noise works, more times than I want to admit a sound I made caused a bear to pop its head up close enough for me to stop in my tracks, and nearly every time he took a sniff and a peek and then left the area no harm done. Be wary of blind corners, cubs and berries, these are three things I am always looking for. and one of the three was the root of every other close call I have had

 

I bought a couple little air cans/boat horns. I know truck air horns sometimes send bears sprinting into the woods, other times they don't even raise their heads, It might worth trying as it might not garnish anger as spray occasionally does - I don't know, it seems the fear of loud noise only works so many times - I'm gonna stick with avoidance as a policy though.

 

Lastly here's a fun trick in area where bears are constantly being hazed (here !) - last summer, I impressed my friends a few times by raising up my fly rod like I was cocking and aiming a rifle at a bear and he/she took off running LOL - I managed this three separate times last summer (once with an axe in my backyard). Bears get used to seeing the physical actions of a human in the moments before a rubber bullet slams their backside. replicating the action causes the bear to think he is about to get a rubber bullet and sends em running for the hills. good fun...just pray the bear hasn't reached the his limit for rubber bullets...

[scorpiondeathlock]

Ok got it figured now. Bear spray, Bangers, Air horn and a sawed off 12 gu. Opps got one of those whistles that attaches under my chin on my hat strap. So if ya see me on the riva PLEASE dont laugh at the whistle . Its great to hear everybodys opinion on this. Just hope everyone has a safe year and dont have to use any of it.

Brent

 

haha no kidding can never be too prepared