Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Spray? I guess your thinking bears. Truthfully, best defense against bears is a very tidy camp and a weather eye. Failing that, I don't trust much below a 45 70. Lol.
I own a woodlot. I live in a dense forest and I know a lot of other outdoors people.
About every year a bear is taken on my land. This year, I think I have another one living here. We see him now and again.
In real life, I have never seen a bear attack anyone. I do not know of any one who has ever seen a bear attack a person, in real life. I am not sure of what you plan to be doing that would include forcing an animal to attack you.
I used to camp very frequently with Boy Scouts, both as a scout and later with our children when they were in scouting. A folding pocket knife is good for all hiking and camping tasks, up to the point where you begin chopping firewood or carving snow blocks for igloos. Then you begin to need different tools.
Bear attacks in the northeast are pretty rare but they have happened. Typically when someone thought they're Disney characters and fed them or did something else stupid around them. The bears aren't what I'd be most concerned about. Most are afraid of people and the black bears aren't the carnivores the grizzly is. I think the coyotes are more dangerous these days. They did kill a woman in Novia Scotia and I've encountered quite a few rather bold, aggressive coyotes. A gun is best for those. A decent pistol would do the job on them. Moose are dangerous when in the rut but the OP hasn't said where they're headed. I wouldn't consider anything in NJ to be wilderness.
Now if someone's going out West or to AK where there's grizzlies, they want a good bear rifle...
I bought a Schrade skinning knife in 1972, It always goes camping with me and has been an excellent knife. I use it for all sorts of camping things: cutting rope, cooking, making tinder sticks.........
If OP is thinking about defense against humans, I am not so sure a knife has any value. I'm not even sure it is better than nothing. If a person isn't trained in knife fighting, all that is going to happen is that the assailant is going to take it away from you and then possibly use it on you.
Bear spray is good for defense, only when the wind is blowing in the right direction. Sprayed at the wrong time, you can disable yourself with it.
As for bears, well, he has 20 knives and you've got one. Not the best odds.
No, we cannot know if a bear is going to attack us or wander off, uninterested, after seeing us. I have encountered a bear twice. Luckily for me, it was the latter. But there have been several bear attacks over the years in my area. The last one was a boy sleeping in a tent in a campground. Now he's dead. Honestly, I don't get this attitude of "what do you plan on doing to provoke the animal to attack you." Do we not understand, especially on a forum like this, that we don't always need to be doing anything to provoke an attack by an animal? Especially a predator? They are not teddy bears. A mountain lion, wolf, coyote, etc is not a lovable little stuffed animal. They see you as food. The only question in their mind (in their own sort of thinking, of course) is whether or not they can take you. You don't need to provoke a hungry predator. Attacking potential prey is what they do for a living. Again, it's down to a question of whether they are hungry and whether they feel threatened by you enough for them to not make you dinner. Because if they could, you can bet they would.
They do NOT look at you and say, oh it's one of those daffy, harmless little hairless ape thingymabobbers. If they thought you were harmless, they would attack you (if it were feeding time for them). They don't care whether you are a man or a rabbit. It's only a matter of their fear of you. This idea that if you treat them right they will treat you right doesn't fly for a predator. As I said, the only thing that is their "moral compass" is whether they think they are tougher than you. If they do, chances are you are dead unless you can show them otherwise.
Moral of post: NO, don't just kill a bear or a mountain lion or a rattlesnake simply because they exist. But be prepared with a weapon or deterrent (such as "bear spray") just in case they sense they have found a meal and have decided they are, indeed, the "alpha male" (so to speak) of the encounter. Be prepared. All potential predators are unpredictable if you happen upon one--even if it isn't hungry. If you scare it, you don't know what it is going to do: that even includes smaller animals like badgers or wolverines... or even non-predators. I wouldn't really care to get in a tangle with a harmless little deer or beaver. All of them are stronger than we are and have a survival instinct. I sometimes question whether we have that same survival instinct or if it's just a Darwin Award aspiration. You did read the story about the dolt that was killed by a beaver not long ago, right? Yeah... teddy bear syndrome, again.
(note: no, a rattlesnake is not a predator that is going to try to take us down. I know that. But too many people around here think they can dink around with them. One bite in the wilderness and you're dead unless you are near a hospital. The rattler won't eat you, but it won't put up with your "teddy bear syndrome" either. They are a little too "grouchy" for that sort of thing.)
Nearly 1 Million bears roam the earth, and only 3 people a year are injured by bear.
Canada is thought to have around 400,000 black bears; the US has another 400,000 black bears; Brown bears number 32,000 in United States, and 21,000 in Canada; there are about 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears worldwide. So 900,000+ bears exist worldwide.
There were 162 bear-inflicted injuries reported in the United States between 1900 and 1985. In 85 years 162 injuries.
During the 1990s bears killed people in the U.S. and Canada, at around three people a year, as compared to the 15 people killed every year by dogs.
If you live in the woods full time, You are more likely to be struck by lightning than to be attacked by a bear; around 90 people are killed by lightning each year.
I have faced bears multiple times. They are wild and should be given the respect that is due to any large wild animal.
Respect them, do not pet them, do not feed them. Do not harass them.
Most bear encounters happen within 15 feet distances. Most "braves" with big guns either freeze, soil their pants or miss because fear is such an adrenalin producer.
The few who have nerves of steel to keep their cool may or may not place the bullet correctly to kill the animal. Nothing worse than a wounded bear.
Anyways, to the OP: any knife will do for wilderness survival, it is more what you do with it. In survival situations keeping your wits about yourself is 80% of the deal. about 10-15% is luck and 5-10% is skill. Proof of this is many people "with no clue" (survival training) surviving harrowing ordeals and many "prepared" folks losing it when it is most needed.
As you can see - a lot of folks have "special preferences" when it comes to their equipment. Most of this is fluff and is more like a bragging right and intended to show how competent they are. In some cases it is simply a matter of over engineering. The basic question is: has the tool recommended really been used in a true emergency or a real survival situation? Only take advice from those folks. If they are not making money on the advice, they will most likely tell you they would rather have had a set of matches and a flask of whiskey than a special kind of a knife from a certain year.
Nearly 1 Million bears roam the earth, and only 3 people a year are injured by bear.
Canada is thought to have around 400,000 black bears; the US has another 400,000 black bears; Brown bears number 32,000 in United States, and 21,000 in Canada; there are about 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears worldwide. So 900,000+ bears exist worldwide.
There were 162 bear-inflicted injuries reported in the United States between 1900 and 1985. In 85 years 162 injuries.
During the 1990s bears killed people in the U.S. and Canada, at around three people a year, as compared to the 15 people killed every year by dogs.
If you live in the woods full time, You are more likely to be struck by lightning than to be attacked by a bear; around 90 people are killed by lightning each year.
I have faced bears multiple times. They are wild and should be given the respect that is due to any large wild animal.
Respect them, do not pet them, do not feed them. Do not harass them.
Far more people have alien encounters than bear attacks. This includes folks who see bear weekly.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
than a special kind of a knife from a certain year.
