How to defuse a grizzly encounter peacefully?

[Salmonchaser]

Sister in law took these pictures, a youngster first year on his own, came down the driveway. She loves taking pictures and was happy the dogs hadn’t winded the bear. She took the last picture and remembered I was under the Suburban changing the oil. She yelled at the bear, that brought the dogs, I banged my head and by the time it was over my two shorthairs and my brothers Golden were hi-five each other for being such bad asses.
The two to five year olds are the problem bears-normally.

 

[Randi]

Skimming through responses:
I no longer throw rocks. Beaned a big sow one time. Really pissed that bear off.
We have always had dogs in camp, saved many an encounter.
Be comfortable with your equipment, make sure it works.
They like cup cakes and Gatorade.
If you are in Federally protected ground, wild life refuge, national parks the parkies will cite you for throwing rocks or warning shots. Seen it happen.
Never appear submissive, other then moving off line.
If you are talking, the bear has your sent, you did not surprise him. Plan accordingly.
Spray works
So do handguns
For twenty years I’ve documented about 50 to 100 close contacts with bears each year; I’m no expert, every event has been unique.
I can’t tell you when to shoot.

You Dah man ! and as you know, I mean that. I dont know anyone with more first hand experience with the big browns, than this gentleman. We were suppose to do Kodiak this year, but it got called off. Maybe next year. Just a few short months and you will be back

p.s. I saw you fine tuning your dog sledding skills. Iditarod ? Yukon Quest ?

 

[Salmonchaser]

You Dah man ! and as you know, I mean that. I dont know anyone with more first hand experience with the big browns, than this gentleman. We were suppose to do Kodiak this year, but it got called off. Maybe next year. Just a few short months and you will be back

p.s. I saw you fine tuning your dog sledding skills. Iditarod ? Yukon Quest ?

Ha, just keeping sweetie happy but was talking to Cheyenne about going up for Yukon quest.

 

[Randi]

How cool would that be. The 2021 Quest has been cancelled, but Feb 2022 is just a year away. I hope you two get together for it, it would be fun

I hate to think of anyone giving money to Russia or Canada, instead of us, to hunt them, but damn, the prices to hunt them here in Alaska is more than in Kamachatka or Yukon Territory. Of course getting into Canada and Russia right now is not to easy either, or even possible at the moment.

To return to the subject at hand. I can not add anything to what has been said, just be smart, error on the side of caution. People amaze me sometimes when it comes to wild animals. they want to get an up close picture, or a picture of themself with the animal in the background, touch them, play with them, etc..

Respect them, stay alert and give them their space,

Vikingsguy : I wanted to say something here about how much bigger they look when they stand up, but I wont

 

[Gary]

I guess, I wouldn't classify that kind of encounter as "defensive" but more predatory. In a defensive situation when you surprise a bear (sow w/cubs for example), you suggest being more assertive/dominate/threatening?

"Assertive" - maybe; "dominate" - again, maybe; "threatening" - probably not. So much depends on each individual bear's behavior and your own reading of the situation. In bear country you need to maintain an "aura" of being unfearful, of being one bad ass dude, who fears nothing and eats bears for breakfast. IMO bears (and all animals) can sense "prey". They sense it as another animal being frightened of almost everything and being frightened of them especially. This trait is easily seen watching dogs interact amongst themselves and even with humans. Bears just as easily can sense when someone is comfortable in the woods and feels as though they are the ultimate predator (not the bear). Its never a good thing to allow a bear (or any animal) think it has the upper hand in a confrontation. There are times when acting intimidating is the right thing to do, but mostly its just the individual knowledge that you are capable of it that will turn the trick.

 

[Salmonchaser]

I guess, I wouldn't classify that kind of encounter as "defensive" but more predatory. In a defensive situation when you surprise a bear (sow w/cubs for example), you suggest being more assertive/dominate/threatening?

It’s a balancing act with the primary objective gaining distance. I say the same thing in a low voice, something like sorry mom I’m leaving and I take a quick route away from the cubs. Stand tall don’t dally and don’t turn your back. Do not take just a second for photos.
Once guiding an old swat buddy and his son on a photo safari, Hiking back to the float plane on a narrow beach, a spring cub shot out of the brush in front of us, nearly kicked him. Instantly we moved into the lake, by the time we were waist deep two more cubs were on the beach then mom came out. She was huge, pissed and all of 15 feet away. I had the rifle up we continued angling away. I walked back wards with them guiding me, holding my wading belt. Had she not immediately started cuffing her cubs around I would have shot her then. She seamed as eager to get away from us. I never saw both of her eyes, if she had turned towards me I would have shot her. I’ll see if I can get some pics from my old partner.

 

[OceanandMountains]

Great info everyone and thanks for sharing all that first hand experience @Salmonchaser !

 

[shrapnel]

I think there are many responses here of being in the woods and had no encounters, or not being in the woods at all. It is a practice to speculate without any experience, but it appears that it is best to leave the advice to those who have had the encounters and survived.

I have been around grizzlies most of my life and seen many bears with few ever charging. Out of the charges I have seen, all were bluffs. I would still be reserved about giving advice to others as what I have observed isn’t exactly what anyone else might encounter.

This isn’t the first bear prepared topic and won’t be the last, but I would guess having a early warning system like a dog, isn’t going to work in a hunting scenerio. Carrying a shotgun or rifle isn’t going to work for many hikers, and bells are for horses and sleighs.

Your best bet is to have bear spray, if you feel comfortable with it, or a sidearm for the same reason. Whichever you choose, you had better be quick and sure to deploy whichever you choose and to also be proficient with whatever that choice is.

I carry both when bow hunting and if I were to choose only one it would be the sidearm...

 

[Zootownelk]

I appreciate you all correcting me about appearing smaller in some situations. Ya'll might have saved my life-thanks!

 

[KB_]

After I got bluff charged I decided it was a good idea to blast Metallica on my phone the rest of the way to the truck. Bear must of been a Lady Gaga Fan.

 

[Salmonchaser]

When you think about it none of us have a very large data set to operate from. I’ve scared the shit out of my self a couple of times, been very lucky a couple of times.
There are people who have survived a bear attack by playing dead, unbelievable courage to stick with that plan. Not sure on the numbers but I’ll bet even more tried and didn’t survive. I’m showing my bias the way I wrote that. Regardless, the data set is pretty damn small for the conventional wisdom to be play dead. It seems to be the one thing everyone knows however.
The most important thing is to remain relatively calm. Easy to say, tough to do when face to face with a grizzly. A close encounter pushes about 25 % of the people I’m guiding into condition black. A bluff charge make that 75% go to black.
People don’t make good decisions in condition black.
Training and experience keep you operating in condition yellow, you’ve just gained some. I’m not saying I’m an expert on the subject, I’ve simply related what has worked for me a number of times, but I know I don’t know it all.
What I do know, every training program for cops, firefighters, military and E/R nurses; people who routinely make life and death decisions in low frequency high liability scenarios,
emphasize THE BODY CANNOT GO WHERE THE BRAIN HAS NEVER BEEN.
Preparing for a grizz encounter is much more than deciding between a 44 or a10mm.
When you bump into a grizz your on board computer will kick in accepting or rejecting things you gleaned from this discussion as they apply to that scenario. Most importantly you will remain calm and sound calm then you otherwise would have.
You will be better able to react and make good decisions.
Those two bastards were both 10 footers, followed us all day. We would circle around, get away from them, an hour later they would show up again. We were only about 400 yards from the plane when it started, in an area that is hunted by Phil Shoemaker. They really pissed me off!

 

[kwyeewyk]

When you think about it none of us have a very large data set to operate from.

And the data set from the lower 48 is really small. That's where generalized recommendations based on the sum of data come in, but as you say and was said before, every situation and bear is unique, which makes it even more important to be able to maintain mental functioning during an encounter so you are able to assess the situation and respond as well as possible.

My real world experience is with captive bears (other than 1 roadside grizzly in Yellowstone), which provides a different type of experience than you get from wild encounters, but also a lot of opportunity to observe behavior and to interact with bears. We essentially "commanded" the bears verbally and with hand signals backed up with a fire hose to move them around for cleaning, weighing, experiments, etc. We were never in direct exposure to them, but there were situations where they could grab you through a window or slam a door on your arms if they wanted to. One of the adult males made a move on me one day when I had my arms in his pen cleaning, he went from messing around with a tire to popping up right next to me in the blink of an eye. I told him to get back and hit him in the ear with the hose and he went pack to his side of the pen, but if he'd have really wanted to he could have slammed the door on me or tried to grab me, I got the feeling he was just playing around with me, showing how easy it would be.

I hope some of that experience as well as working with other dangerous large animals has given me some mental capacity to not go black, but you never know until it happens. I practice mentally and with my bear spray and handgun and try to develop a trained response. I walked up within 50 yards of two different black bears in the timber my first day archery hunting solo in Wyoming last year so I had a quick test of my initial response readying bear spray while IDing the bear and accessing it's general demeanor, but gave me a good impression of how easily a surprise encounter could happen and how little time you'd have if they were right on you.

 

[silasd]

Throw your trekking poles at it

Beers are on me for life for that one.

 

[Panda Bear]

we have between 30 and 50 DLP Grizzly kills each year, Was curious what are the average DLP Grizzly kills in Alaska ?

Sometimes they are not "bluffing"

Salmonchaser, you should post your 275 Rigby on the most accurate rifle thread

Randi. Hey, quit chasing people away from hunting with us

Salmonchaser: Your right, but both my brain and body has said to me "We are not going there! " however, you are correct !

 

[WyoDoug]

My understanding is grizzlies will ordinarily avoid you unless you manage to surprise one, young present, guarding a fresh kill or it regards you as prey. I have only had a bluff charge once by a black bear and that was enough to make me pee my pants because I didn't expect it.

A game warden explained to me that moose are far more aggressive than bears are.

 

[kwyeewyk]

My understanding is grizzlies will ordinarily avoid you unless you manage to surprise one, young present, guarding a fresh kill or it regards you as prey. I have only had a bluff charge once by a black bear and that was enough to make me pee my pants because I didn't expect it.

A game warden explained to me that moose are far more aggressive than bears are.

Moose can be very aggressive and dangerous, but since they aren't predators and don't have claws they don't get the same kind of attention as bears. Statistically speaking though, I don't hear of many people getting stomped by moose each year, with lots of them on the landscape, but not all that many bears tend to end up beating up a least a few people each year. Maybe the moose encounters just don't get the press.

 

[dgc1963]

I have never seen a grizzlie but I have been bluff charged by black bears here in Pa 5 or 6 times and had them huffing and poping jaws on the ground under my tree stand several times also that is enough to make your heart miss a few beats , looking forward to seeing a griz one day but I think abt 100 yrds would be good lol

 

[Randi]

we have between 30 and 50 DLP Grizzly kills each year, Was curious what are the average DLP Grizzly kills in Alaska ?

Sometimes they are not "bluffing"

Salmonchaser, you should post your 275 Rigby on the most accurate rifle thread

Randi. Hey, quit chasing people away from hunting with us

Salmonchaser: Your right, but both my brain and body has said to me "We are not going there! " however, you are correct !

I dont know, but I do know that around Haines this year they had a record number of DLP shootings. From memory as many as 30 I think. I think in an average year we would have at least 30 to 50 Statewide, but dont know that for sure. I do know that you better have claw or bite marks on your body if you shoot one. Actually, it is not that bad but you do have to make sure that you and your family did not create the problem, you need to report it immediately and the bear belongs to the State.

Hopefully others here will have more precise numbers.

 

[N_8]

I have a lot of experience with bears as well--19 years working and recreating on salmon streams in remote Alaska, one of my worst encounters was in my front yard--and can add a couple things to the perspectives already shared.

Almost every bad encounter I've had has involved surprising a bear or a food conditioned bear. Usually someone knows about food conditioned bears. I always ask pilots, land managers, ranger, etc when I'm researching a place.

If you pay attention to your surroundings you can minimize the chance of surprising a bear. You don't need to wear a bear bell or yell all day long, but plunging down into an alder filled gully, sure i'll make some noise.

I like bear spray. I hosed a bear at 5 yards one time and it sure departed the scene fast. I really like having it on my hip if my gun is strapped to my pack.

It is not that uncommon for a bear to approach you when it sees you. That doesn't mean an attack is imminent. Prepare you deterrent.

Maybe most importantly, I've seen fear of bears really mess up peoples experience in the woods. Bearanoia is a thing. With precautions and deterrent your chances of being mauled are very small. Think about Treadwell who did everything wrong for 10 years before he got eaten.

I really like parts of the video below. Hope that is helpful.

Safety in Bear Country - Dr. Tom Smith - 2012 NOLS Faculty Summit | OutdoorEd.com

www.outdoored.com

 

[duckhunt]

Personally I just dont want to hunt in grizzly country. My mind would be on bears all the time and I don't think I would enjoy the hunt. Unless the hunt was actually for the bear.