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Actually noise is your best deterrent. Not bells, those don't sound like people and can actually make bears curious as to what is making that sound. They will avoid you for the most part if they know you are coming. Bear spray is the next best deterrent. I have even heard of bug spray warding off grizzlies when they get a face full of it.
Actually noise is your best deterrent. Not bells, those don't sound like people and can actually make bears curious as to what is making that sound. They will avoid you for the most part if they know you are coming.
Bear bells can actually work on some bears. In fact, that reminds me of this identification tidbit:
Do you know how to tell the difference between Black Bear scat and Grizzly Bear scat?
The Grizzly Bear scat has bear bells in it.
Metallic sounds are not normal in nature, so that is why bells are supposed to work. I've spent some time in bear country, no bells for me, but I did put them on the dogs, if nothing else I could hear where the were in the forest, and we never encountered any bears
It has been a very long time since I hiked in bear country. But at the time just letting your presence be known was sufficient to keep them away.
However, these days with the loss of bear habitat and bears becoming scavengers in garbage cans I am afraid that the bears natural desire to avoid human's, is diminishing. Even worse some people feed bears, some bears may now actually be attracted to the presence of humans.
But, still the overall best advice is to be open and do everything possible to avoid surprising a bear.
Bears are generally not aggressive, but they are extremely defensive and very capable of defending them self if surprised.
In Yellowstone National Park, there have been five backcountry bear fatalities since its founding in 1872. The most recent were two deaths by the same bear in 2011. With hundreds of thousands of the millions of annual visitors taking backcountry hikes, you can see that the odds of getting killed out by a bear are millions to one. If those odds bother people, then the problem isn't bears but ones of perception or psychology. Of course, the odds of getting injured by a bear are greater than those of getting killed - but injuries due to bears are still less common than injuries from lightning, from falls, from hypothermia, and so forth.
Virtually all bears in the backcountry will make haste to avoid humans. Problems occur when a bear is surprised, and doesn't see the human until the intruder is well within the bear's comfort zone. This usually happens when approaching from downwind so the bear can't smell you coming, or along a rushing stream where the din of the water masks the sounds of your approach. If suddenly the bear sees you when you're too close for comfort, it usually runs away - but sometimes it will decide to instead confront the threat with a charge. Almost all charges are bluffs. They would still be rather, shall we say, stress-inducing. Bear Inflicted Human Injuries and Fatalities in Yellowstone - Yellowstone National Park (U.S. National Park Service) Camping & Hiking in Black Bear Country - The American Bear Association
Also, it should be noted that bear spray is the most effective deterrent. No, this is not theory - it has been proven in the field (however, I know that all the evidence in the world won't convince those who decide what they want to believe and then reject all evidence that does not comport with what they want to be so). http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/bear_coug...prayAlaska.pdf
I live in bear country and hike all the time. The most dangerous is in spring when they're hungry. NEVER get between a mama and her cubs. I always carry bear spray, and a .40 Glock. Bears will typically run away if you make noise. I'm more concerned about mountain lions here than bears.
I would think that maybe having a book on tape read through a vest mounted loudspeaker might be a good idea?
WARNING! Don't have it be a book about Goldilocks!
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