Hi Jim and Scott and Donald:
OK I was a little hard on the pepper spray. Just to remind you Jim if you
carry a large revolver or shotgun into a Canadian Park the bears will not
bother you for sure, the Park Wardens will! Hard to be attacked by bears
when you are in a protective cage (jail).
Gord
----- Original Message -----
From: "James N. McBride" <jnmcbr@xxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 11:38 PM
Subject: [OM] Re: OT: Treadwell and Bears
>
> Playing dead works better with Grizzlies than it does with Black bears.
The
> Griz will usually wait a while to eat you after he kills you. The Black
will
> eat you right away so playing dead is a bad strategy. Be aggressive,
noisy,
> and look as big as possible with the Blacks. Stand still and don't make
eye
> contact with a Grizzly. Don't run from either type as that will trigger an
> attack. Almost all Black bear charges are bluffs so the odds are with you
if
> you bluff back. The pepper spray does work but you have to be close. If
the
> wind is blowing toward you the spray will also come back your way. I carry
> pepper spray, a large revolver or shotgun, and a knife, all where they can
> be used immediately. I just hope there is sufficient time to use them but
> sometimes the attacks happen very quickly when the animal is surprised.
> Making noise and wearing bells helps to prevent surprising the critters.
If
> I'm looking for wildlife to photograph, noise will assure that anything I
> see will be far away so no bells for me. Bears are unpredictable so all
> behavioral rules are generalities based on statistical history. There are
> some good books on the subject. "Your bear" may not know he or she is
> supposed to behave "that" way and that's what makes them so interesting.
> /jim
>
> << snip
>
> Hi Scott:
>
> The idea of wearing bells or other noise makers is to announce your
arrival,
> for most bears that allows them to manouver away as they don't generally
> like to make contact. For the rogue bear, hurt bear, or hungry bear it is
a
> dinner chime. The Grizzly is a creature of the Rockies in N.A. Kodiacs are
> even bigger and feed mostly on Salmon and dont range as far west as the
> Grizzly. As pointed out neither one resides in Algonquin Park in Northern
> Ontario.
> The number one rule of bear encounters is to always travel in the
mountains
> with a fatter and slower friend, as pointed out earlier you can't outrun
a
> grizzly but you only have to outrun your companion. Joking aside,
survivors
> have 'played dead' and 'fought back' etc., the play dead philosophy has
> merit and you may lose a bit of your scalp or butt, but women find scars
> attractive, right? The logic is that the bear sees that you are dead or a
> wimp and pose no harm to cubs, or food supply and loses interest. Pepper
> spray will cause the bears eyes to water while they rip you limb from
limb,
> a little like bringing a knife to a gunfight. There aren't many encounters
> on well travelled trails that are not too deep into the wild, Park Wardens
> can be consulted and will warn of any problem spots.
>
> Gord
>
> <snip
>
>
>
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