Well we are off in a month to Alaska and Yukon and BC. No gun.
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Happy National Paranormal Day! 🔮👻👽
Bear!!
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You will have bear spray I hope. The two guys that I know that got attacked were both in there late sixties and both spent a lot of years in the bush. The only conclusion I can come up with for this is that bears like old people.
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A long time guide in Alaska use to say:" If you decide to cary a hand gun as bear defence, make sure you file the front sight flush with the barrel... So it doesn't hurt as much when the bear shoves it up your arse!!!"
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I agree with the use of spray as the first response. It buys you time and is more likely to be ready when you need it. It is meant to incapacitate a bear or other animal, thus enabling you to put some distance between you. At that point you can unlimber the artillery and prepare for any follow on actions. My only use for a firearm would be in camp. Even then, I am not keen on having to deal with a dead bear in camp afterwards.
We have fired bangers to get some practice with them and they seem ok. Our spray expires this fall so we will do a test shot with that as well.
I dont worry about bears so much, but I do practice deterrence and preparedness.
We have fired bangers to get some practice with them and they seem ok. Our spray expires this fall so we will do a test shot with that as well.
I dont worry about bears so much, but I do practice deterrence and preparedness.
Maybe.. I have done some trips up there and never had it. With my luck I would spray myself. I have done 500 miles of the Yukon River. Glacier Bay a week in a kayak and the Snake and Peel in the Yukon and hiked in Denali. Glacier Bay too and in Jasper ( which does have a grizzly problem). I did buy bear spray a few years ago and it is likely expired( I think we had it in Glacier but it was in the pack which seems ineffective. If the wind is wrong and your time is up.. its up..I have lived a full life and past average life expectancy
Maybe I am being too uncautious. I have two friends that for twenty years have spent three months of summer in Alaska canoeing without bangers gun or spray. They don't go looking for trouble though.
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And then there's prevention. A couple years ago in Kananaskis I'd stopped with my s-i-l for a sightseeing rest stop. We'd been driving between paddling places and wanted to stretch our legs, so we ambled along the shore and followed small trails. I was on cautious high alert; I'd read nearly every bear attack news article published in the last 5 years, so I was a teeny bit nervous. And then I heard singing. What? Nonsensical singing. Coming from the other side of a bay we'd been eyeing to paddle next.
I checked the parking lot trail sign and sure enough there's a hiking trail over there...somewhere... in that forest. The wind was picking up and we were reconsidering our paddling plans when up walks the singing pair of hikers. They stopped and we chatted. She explained they'd planned a day hike but had gotten spooked a mile or so in and had changed their minds. "Something didn't feel right" , so she was singing to make noise while they headed back down the trail. I'd forgotten about singing on trails.
This past spring we were back in Kananaskis doing some day hiking of our own on a fairly busy trail. We passed several groups coming and going. Most were well equipped for backcountry recreation, except for one couple. They might've just stepped off the fashionable city sidewalk wearing casual bling, including a music box sat on her shoulder blaring rip rap stuff. I smiled and shuddered as we passed them thinking "Oh well, they deserve some fresh air too, but that effing music should've just stayed home!!" and then I realized "Maybe she can't sing?"
In black bear country I have to remind myself to make noise, some noise, even if I can't carry a tune. We do so when foraging away from camp for firewood, but often forget to when portaging. Silence is too golden sometimes.
I told our kids when they were young and tripping with us they could whoop and holler on portages and even sing if they wanted. (They all carried whistles, only to be used for emergencies. Thankfully we never used them.) My kids also could never carry a tune, but a little prevention goes a long way.
I still haven't invested in spray or bangers. Our family out west carry spray on every hike. With two species of bear and the cougars too, they need to. At home here in the east I keep meaning to drop into the local store for spray and bangers but forget to, and rely on prevention for every trip. We try to remember to make a little noise on the portages, tapping a walking stick, humming a bad tune or singing out loud. Or talking to myself.
I checked the parking lot trail sign and sure enough there's a hiking trail over there...somewhere... in that forest. The wind was picking up and we were reconsidering our paddling plans when up walks the singing pair of hikers. They stopped and we chatted. She explained they'd planned a day hike but had gotten spooked a mile or so in and had changed their minds. "Something didn't feel right" , so she was singing to make noise while they headed back down the trail. I'd forgotten about singing on trails.
This past spring we were back in Kananaskis doing some day hiking of our own on a fairly busy trail. We passed several groups coming and going. Most were well equipped for backcountry recreation, except for one couple. They might've just stepped off the fashionable city sidewalk wearing casual bling, including a music box sat on her shoulder blaring rip rap stuff. I smiled and shuddered as we passed them thinking "Oh well, they deserve some fresh air too, but that effing music should've just stayed home!!" and then I realized "Maybe she can't sing?"
In black bear country I have to remind myself to make noise, some noise, even if I can't carry a tune. We do so when foraging away from camp for firewood, but often forget to when portaging. Silence is too golden sometimes.
I told our kids when they were young and tripping with us they could whoop and holler on portages and even sing if they wanted. (They all carried whistles, only to be used for emergencies. Thankfully we never used them.) My kids also could never carry a tune, but a little prevention goes a long way.
I still haven't invested in spray or bangers. Our family out west carry spray on every hike. With two species of bear and the cougars too, they need to. At home here in the east I keep meaning to drop into the local store for spray and bangers but forget to, and rely on prevention for every trip. We try to remember to make a little noise on the portages, tapping a walking stick, humming a bad tune or singing out loud. Or talking to myself.
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I guess I am more apprehensive about New Jersey bears. In the last twenty years there have been two predatory attacks right outside New York City and my car was almost totaled by a blackie 12 miles from Manhattan.
Yes we walk around yelling songs to ourselves. Once about 40 years ago we rounded a trail bend in Yosemite ( in our silent days) and was face to face with mama and cub.. Not good.....
Yes we walk around yelling songs to ourselves. Once about 40 years ago we rounded a trail bend in Yosemite ( in our silent days) and was face to face with mama and cub.. Not good.....
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We have bears right in our back yard, since there is nothing behind our house for well over a few hundred miles... Grizz and black. we don't cary bear spray every time we go ou the fence, but we are going for a MTB ride this afternoon and I'll have an expired one with me... Expired doesn't mean they are no good. Keep a record of the weigh, weight them when they are new, and then every year weight them again, and if the weight stay the same you are good to go.... In theory!!
I always portage my canoe first. The sight of this huge weird looking shape coming down the trail has scared more that one bear over the years.
G.
G.
Here's more to the story.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/hunter-attacked-by-bear-1.4132771
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/hunter-attacked-by-bear-1.4132771
Prevention doesn't always work, sounds get muffled by wind, brush or current and who's to say an old bear can't suffer hearing loss like an old dog. I have never had to use the spray but on the one encounter with a black bear I had it out and ready and felt a lot better than the encounter I had with a grizzly with no protection. At least I had an option rather than accepting my fate.
I had an incident last month back in Pa. that if I had spray on me I would have used it. It was my neighbors German shepperd. Three times over the last 6 years I've come across the neighbor walking his unleashed dog and got charged. He bit me once on the stomach and left puncture marks through layers of winter clothes. On the last encounter I had to pull my knife out and take an offensive posture to keep him at bay. If I had a gun I would have shot him and never have to worry about him getting loose and getting one of my grandkids.
I had an incident last month back in Pa. that if I had spray on me I would have used it. It was my neighbors German shepperd. Three times over the last 6 years I've come across the neighbor walking his unleashed dog and got charged. He bit me once on the stomach and left puncture marks through layers of winter clothes. On the last encounter I had to pull my knife out and take an offensive posture to keep him at bay. If I had a gun I would have shot him and never have to worry about him getting loose and getting one of my grandkids.
Me too, I've never encountered one while carrying the boat but I feel safer with it over my head. I also feel safer wearing my PFD, getting some protection for my head and neck.
Canotrouge, to me mountain biking, especially single track is the mode of transport most likely to get you in trouble with a bear.
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Yeah, there's no guarantees, even with spray, bangers and guns. But there is protection in the event of an encounter, none of which I currently carry. And then there is the possibility that if a bear does take an unhealthy interest in me, it might be because it hates my singing and merely thinks "Wish that guy would just STFU!!" I'm beginning to understand Memequay's surreal relationship with Lady Gaga. Leave the gun and spray and banger at home, and just bring the babe as bait. That guy is cleverer than you think.
After my friend got attacked in his sleep he started to play a radio at night in his tent.
Safer under a canoe?
I was carrying a pack a little ahead of hubby on our way to Radiant Lake in Algonquin ( that 4000 meter thing along a creek) He had the canoe. He did not see mama come up from the creek till mama was under the bow of the canoe.. Yes that close 8 feet. Mama took one look at him and ran down the trail ( toward me) but must have veered off the trail since she did not fly by me.
How do we know it was Mama
the little guy that followed stopped under the canoe and just looked at this funny human with the funny hat... ( who was now altering underwear). Finally after two or three seconds ran after mama
So you guys with canoe heads feel safe!
I was carrying a pack a little ahead of hubby on our way to Radiant Lake in Algonquin ( that 4000 meter thing along a creek) He had the canoe. He did not see mama come up from the creek till mama was under the bow of the canoe.. Yes that close 8 feet. Mama took one look at him and ran down the trail ( toward me) but must have veered off the trail since she did not fly by me.
How do we know it was Mama
the little guy that followed stopped under the canoe and just looked at this funny human with the funny hat... ( who was now altering underwear). Finally after two or three seconds ran after mama
So you guys with canoe heads feel safe!
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I worked for the Alaska Department of Fish & Game for 39 years, so I have heard my share of bear stories. When I read post # 37 by lowangle al I had forgotten his post # 7 from a few days ago. I thought "Ya me too, I've been attacked and chased by bears many times in my sleep". Just before they caught me I always woke up.
When I counted spawning salmon for the Commercial Fish Division, what we called foot surveys, where we walked up streams counting fish. The Department had us carry 12 gauge, 870 Remington Wingmasters, with the short buck barrel with sights, loaded with slugs, chamber empty. I had to qualify with this set-up every now and then against a charging grizzly bear mechanical target. Always fun because you got to be "on stage" with a audience. More fun to be in the peanut gallery watching some macho guy flinch, when he forgot to chamber a round when the fake bear started towards him.
My handful of bear stories end with the bear running away. From the stories that were told to me, I learned that there are no small live bears and bears in the dark are really big. If people thought about cars, the way they think about bears, there would be very few cars on the road. Lots of dead, mangled, and hurt people from car crashes than bear crashes.
When I counted spawning salmon for the Commercial Fish Division, what we called foot surveys, where we walked up streams counting fish. The Department had us carry 12 gauge, 870 Remington Wingmasters, with the short buck barrel with sights, loaded with slugs, chamber empty. I had to qualify with this set-up every now and then against a charging grizzly bear mechanical target. Always fun because you got to be "on stage" with a audience. More fun to be in the peanut gallery watching some macho guy flinch, when he forgot to chamber a round when the fake bear started towards him.
My handful of bear stories end with the bear running away. From the stories that were told to me, I learned that there are no small live bears and bears in the dark are really big. If people thought about cars, the way they think about bears, there would be very few cars on the road. Lots of dead, mangled, and hurt people from car crashes than bear crashes.
This video has been viewed more than 16 million times but some think it's fake:
This one seems real:
This one is definitely real and shows the real faunal danger around the world:
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