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Ok, if you feel safe hiking in the wilderness without pepper spray during the daytime be my guest. I, myself, will carry a can with me. Yes, if pepper spray would have been used to try to prevent a fatal bear attack and failed it would have been reported by the media. All details of a bear attack are usually covered in detail by the media. The last fatal bear attack in Yellowstone just had a 3d re-enactment of the whole attack. About 99% of fatal attacks on people are people who thought they didn't need pepper spray. People, perhaps, like you? BTW.. You can run into a bear with cubs, a cougar or even a ticked off buck throughout many parts of Oregon. When help is miles away anywhere you go, you should take every precaution necessary. If you are in the wilderness not carrying spray is just plain idiocy in my opinion.. YMMV!
@MysticalDream: do you mean that all the victims (rather than the reporters) of the bear attacks didn't take bear spray? I don't know of a source for that, if you have one do say.
Perhaps it depends on how off the beaten path you're heading?
Well, some teenagers who were doing a survival training course here in Alaska were recently attacked by a grizzly. They had a couple of cans of bear spray on them but it didn't stop the attack. Fortunately they weren't killed.
They ran from the bear which is the biggest mistake you can make with a grizzly (or a black bear). But by the same token, they survived.
Bear attacks usually happen so quickly that often spray or guns won't be of much use. And someone not well trained in firearm use can actually make the situation worse if they wound the bear while trying to defend themselves. Bear bells...all depends. If you're in an area where the bears aren't used to humans, they aren't a terrible idea. Better than nothing. But in areas where the bears are fairly used to human sounds, it could attract them because some of them have learned to associate humans with food (not the humans themselves but rather the refuge some of us leave behind---think Yogi and his raids on picnic baskets; there's truth in that).
@MysticalDream I really don't want to escalate this, as it looks like you're objecting pretty specifically to my 'idiotic' stance, but as all attacks are reported in detail, do you have links to stories on attacks in Oregon?
I can find stories about Yellowstone and Washington, but nothing in Oregon, nor the gorge, which is the area the OP asked about. I do think accurate information is important in evaluating the risk here.
If you are hiking Mt. Hood or the Gorge there is no bear risk. Let's get real here, it's not Alaska, Glacier, or Yellowstone, or even the Pasayten Wilderness in WA. I've been to all of the above, and yes you should be nervous about bears in these places. What few black bears there are on Hood or in the Gorge (I've only seen one in all my years on Mt Hood) are small and run the other way.
Well, some teenagers who were doing a survival training course here in Alaska were recently attacked by a grizzly. They had a couple of cans of bear spray on them but it didn't stop the attack. Fortunately they weren't killed.
Ok, you say they had a couple of cans of bear spray on them, can you show me where in the article you read that they administered the cans (two cans) and they failed to stop the bear? I understand not everyone will be able to take the pepper spray out in time and use it. And, you also have a good chance of tripping on a rock on trail and breaking your neck. There is no guarantee in life. However, I have not heard of cases were bears that were hit with pepper spray were able to keep on attacking and had full control of the senses. Bears are very sensitive in the region of the eyes and mucus membranes and the high concentration and volume of spray that a bear would be hit with makes it unlikely they could recover quickly. Most bears cannot even tolerate the cloud of spray. Generally it is the spray cloud that stops them rather than a direct hit.
I don't agree with your assessment that bear spray won't do much good. I think it could mean the matter of life and death. They have done studies that people with pepper spray are 97% times more likely to walk away from a bear attack unhamred than those who don't have it.
Roneb.. THere are no bears? no cougars? There are also few people.. But as more and more people go on the trails and the habitat is becoming threatened, behaviors of animals can change. THere is no logical reason why not to bring bear spray with you. It's like why do we need an air bag in a car, when a majority of people will never use one? If you don't bring it fine, good for you!
Ok, you say they had a couple of cans of bear spray on them, can you show me where in the article you read that they administered the cans (two cans) and they failed to stop the bear? I understand not everyone will be able to take the pepper spray out in time and use it. And, you also have a good chance of tripping on a rock on trail and breaking your neck. There is no guarantee in life. However, I have not heard of cases were bears that were hit with pepper spray were able to keep on attacking and had full control of the senses. Bears are very sensitive in the region of the eyes and mucus membranes and the high concentration and volume of spray that a bear would be hit with makes it unlikely they could recover quickly. Most bears cannot even tolerate the cloud of spray. Generally it is the spray cloud that stops them rather than a direct hit.
I don't agree with your assessment that bear spray won't do much good. I think it could mean the matter of life and death. They have done studies that people with pepper spray are 97% times more likely to walk away from a bear attack unhamred than those who don't have it.
Roneb.. THere are no bears? no cougars? There are also few people.. But as more and more people go on the trails and the habitat is becoming threatened, behaviors of animals can change. THere is no logical reason why not to bring bear spray with you. It's like why do we need an air bag in a car, when a majority of people will never use one? If you don't bring it fine, good for you!
They had NO TIME. That is what bear attacks are typically like. They did not even have a chance to pull out the bear spray. I did not state that they administered the bear spray; my point was, yet again, that due to the nature of bear attacks, bear spray often isn't something that can be gotten to quickly enough...again, what I said is that most bear attacks happen so quickly that there simply isn't time to pull it out. That's no reason not to carry it, though....
and I'd love to see a link or something that can back up your claim about the studies. A couple of posts ago you claimed the figure at 99 percent if I'm not mistaken. Can you give me some stats on bear attacks that have been prevented by bear spray by it's actual use?
People carrying bear spray are more likely to have educated themselves on preventative measures, and those of us who live in bear country know that avoidance is the best way.
If you'll read my post again, you'll see that I advised the OP to carry it with her but at the same time cautioned her against a false sense of security.
You've had four "bear encounters"...I've had a thousand times that many and the chances are very good that in 7 hours I'll have another one. Common sense is invaluable when dealing with bears; more valuable than guns and more valuable than bear spray.
If you are hiking Mt. Hood or the Gorge there is no bear risk. Let's get real here, it's not Alaska, Glacier, or Yellowstone, or even the Pasayten Wilderness in WA. I've been to all of the above, and yes you should be nervous about bears in these places. What few black bears there are on Hood or in the Gorge (I've only seen one in all my years on Mt Hood) are small and run the other way.
Just read the article , Metlakatla.. Not only did these dim-witted kids not use their pepper spray, they also ran from the bears and started screaming in fear to the others. How can 7 people with pepper spray have not stopped a grizzly bear? Despite the article, these kids were in no way prepared to be in the Alaskan bush. They should have had an experience guide with them. If they had time to run and scream, they had time to take their pepper spray out and use it. These kids were too freaked out and didn't do any training for this situation. Probably had the mindset of roneb: why bother worrying about it, since it is so rare? Rather than using the pepper spray to diffuse the attack, they choose to sit around and do nothing. Most likely they all tried running , while each person at a time got mauled.
STUPID!!
This should have not even have been a news article.. If just one of them would have used their brain, nothing would have happened to them. Mama bear would have been in some agony for a while.
Also, carrying a handgun is very helpful in the Alaskan bush. Many more times than not, if you fire a high caliber round as a warning shot, most bears will retreat. The loud noise is even harder on their eardrums than yours and scares them. There is a good video of a guy and his friends who went on a fishing trip to Alaska who stopped a mama grizzly charge (protecting cubs) with firing a 44mag round into the water towards the bear.
I read the article. One more time, bear attacks typically happen so quickly that pulling out bear spray etc. isn't always an option.
And, as I've already stated, running from a bear is not a wise move.
And yes, I'm very aware that firing a gun as a warning shot will usually do the trick; I do so myself with some frequency. Once again, I encounter bears on a daily basis.
And yes, we've all seen the video you speak of and others like them. And those of us who live in Alaska also know that the behavior of a bear on the river is quite different than one who is surprised by someone who is hiking, etc. They could have thrown a rock and scared that mama grizzly off, and her charge was a false one anyway.
It's well known in Alaska that during the fall spawning season, the bears are so intent on fish that it takes a lot to break their concentration for more than a few seconds.
The bears along the rivers...are right out in the open. The bear attacks in Alaska happen when the bears are surprised on trails. Quite a different situation and one that really doesn't translate to hiking in the woods.
For every one of those videos, there are a probably a thousand other examples of people who have avoided bear attacks by means other than those they used.
Thanks for the advice but those of us who actually live in bear country will continue to do what has been proven to work for us. And what works seems to be a mixture of common sense and basic knowledge of bears.
Bear spray may work in best case scenarios, and I'm not advocating not using it. I'm merely cautioning against the false sense of security that carrying it may impart.
You can spray an Alaskan grizzly straight in the face but if wind drift is a factor...you're Boo-Boo's picnic basket.
I do live in bear country.. WEll black bear country, not same as Grizz, but black bears have done their share of damage. You're talking to a guy who surprised a black bear on a trail and then was followed by the bear for like a 0.25 of a mile. I did come and surprise the bear while coming downhill on a curve. You're right that it did happen quite fast. The bear was more afraid of me and jumped into the bushes. However, strange it was, the bear decide to follow me down the trail afterwards. I'm told by rangers, it was out of curiosity, more than anything else. I know the temptation people face to run from it rather than face your enemy. It really takes some steel balls to pull it out and face a bear. These people sounded like they had time, but just were too locked up and scared to do anything. Adrenaline and fear took over common sense.
More times than not, you will have time to react to a bear. It is not so often that a bear is on you in 5 secs and you didn't see it coming. YOu have as likely of a chance to trip and break your neck on a trail. I've almost done it.
Quote:
You can spray an Alaskan grizzly straight in the face but if wind drift is a factor...you're Boo-Boo's picnic basket.
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