I can’t believe I’m just seeing this thread now. D23 is currently tracking bears outside of Yellowstone for his summer research job.
“When they find (human) remains of a bear attack, you can bet the bear spray is still in the backpack”. NEVER pack your spray. If you can’t grab it within 2 seconds, it’s useless.
THIS is a wild story!
Thanks for sharing!
Not the first time I’ve posted only to have NPR do a story on it the next day. How do you say 'no' to a grizzly? Bear spray and little noise should do the trick | Here & Now
One cousin used to work in forestry in northern British Columbia. They encountered bears a lot.
They were supposed to keep a loaded gun ready for use. They did not do this however because they felt that shooting themselves was more likely than ever shooting a bear. Who was going to check on them when they were in the middle of the forest?
Instead what they did was hang two pots from their back packs. As they walked through the woods the pots would bang together and make a LOT of noise. If the bears heard them coming well in advance, the bears would mostly stay out of the way.
He was followed once by a grizzly bear for a couple of days. The bear kept its distance however, never attacked, and gave up when it realized that this particular set of humans were never going to be leaving food in an accessible spot.
I think that they did keep bear spray ready for immediate use. If they sprayed themselves by mistake it would be unpleasant but they would survive it.
Bear spray and noise sounds right to me.