Email a copy of 'Into Bear Country- Part 1, by George Fox' to a friend
Loading ...E-Mail 'Into Bear Country- Part 1, by George Fox' To A Friend
Loading ... Loading ...35 Comments
- Ad L3 UNFILMED WHITE PHOSPHOR COMMERCIAL GRADE NIGHT VISION PACKAGEHuge Savings $400 off normal cost!
- Ad USA Berkey Water Filters - Start Drinking Purified Water Today!#1 Trusted Gravity Water Purification System! Start Drinking Purified Water now with a Berkey water filtration system. Find systems, replacement filters, parts and more here.
There is some good info in this article. I went to Alaska at the end of the pipeline construction and on my way met an old guy from the Kenai, he told a lot of bear stories. He told me never let a bear get any closer than 50 yards from you. They can run so fast you don’t have much time to react. Always be on the safe side. I don’t agree that bells, whistles, and noise work so well. I saw a video that was taken by biologist, and some bears did, but a sow and cubs walked right by bells ringing and didn’t pay any attention. I spent 30 years in Alaska , 22 were in the Arctic, and have seen all three type of bears in the wild. I never had to shoot a bear. I have fired shot to run them off. I do not like “BEARS” they can be a pain in the rear. It’s only you who need to be carefully. Always try and be armed with something that can take them down. I know two guy who had bear encounters in Alaska and both told how quick they could be on you.They rolled up and tried to play dead after they were attacked.Both have lots of scare to show from there experience.
Be safe . Gman
I read your article with interest and am glad for it. I am looking to move into a national forest setting to live and am wondering about those who plant gardens to sustain themselves in bear country. I am wondering about composting and bears, will this attract them?
Yep, I respect bears in their habitat. I am not much afraid of blacks, but I am of griz, brown, and polars. Blacks don’t normally consider us food, but the rest do. So you have to treat them different. If you have to use a firearm to defend yourself, a 44 magnum with a good stiff load should suffice for Black. There is no handgun in production now that is suitable for defense against other species of North American bears.
If you are hunting big game in brown/griz country, you better have a gun/load strong enough to take out the bear, even if you are hunting something else. Bears learn quick that a gunshot in the woods usually means a gut pile is waiting for them. Shooting a moose is like ringing a dinner bell, and they will come a-running to wherever they heard the shot from. So while you are dressing out that 1,000 lb bull, you better have a gun at hand and ready to go, or someone standing sentry while you work. It is for that reason I purchased a good all weather bolt gun in 375 Ruger and use 300 grain Barnes bullets even if I am hunting deer in Alaska. I’d take something bigger, but I found that rifle on a sweet deal and decided it was enough.
Bears have trouble going down steep hills. If you watch the movie “The Edge”, there’s a scene where Bart is basically sliding down the side of a hill pursuing the two men. If a bear gets too zealous in his pursuit, he will often end up tumbling down the hill out of control. It is amusing to watch, but doesn’t do a lot for the bear’s demeanor when he gets to the bottom.
I was in a drift boat with my son in law and another fellow coming down the upper Kenai river one time and as we turned a corner there was a big brownie right in our path in the middle of the river. We did what we could to give him as wide a berth as possible, but if he’d been interested, he could’ve just come and knocked us out of the boat and had his way with us. I had a bear sized cannister of pepper spray with me, and at that moment, I was wishing I had a whole lot more. We reckon he was around 800 lbs, and as we passed him by, we were damned grateful he was more interested in sushi than red meat at the time. Even if we’d have managed to beach the boat and run up the shoreline, he could’ve been on us in a moment. I’m 6’5″ and 260+, and I feel a lot smaller when I am in Alaska than when I am down here in the lower 48.
Every year it seems we hear about 3 or so folks who got themselves killed running a foot race somewhere around Anchorage. You’d think the organizers would take that into consideration sooner or later. Sadly, bears remain a short straw obstacle for some unlucky participants.
if I am tent camping in bear country in the lower 48, I have a perimeter string set to a piezo siren strung around my tent if I feel the need. I also tend to sleep with a loaded Super Redhawk handy. I also practice good camp hygiene so bears don’t have a big reason to come around. So far my alarm and my 44 haven’t gone off.
Don’t eat or prep food where you sleep. Just hanging your grub in a tree won’t work unless you situate it so bears and other critters can’t get at it just by climbing. Keep you cat holes away from camp too. Bells tied to sticks are great for warning off black bears. I wouldn’t rely on them alone, though.
I once heard of a couple of bubbas somewhere back east that rigged a snare using guy cable and big 40′ standing pine. They laid the noose over a fallen tree trunk and coated the bottom of the trunk with peanut butter and molasses. They ended up with a 600 lb black bear about 8 feet in the air with his neck broke. I reckon if you tried that with a griz, you’d just end up with a very pissed off bear hanging from the tree a kickin and a cussin. Up in Alaska, brownies prey on blackies pretty regular.
The SW 500 is one that I would rely on…
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger..except bears…bears will kill you
Grizzlies don’t climb trees.
They are also more aggressive than Alaska Browns.
A note about bear spray. Works fine if you’re facing a bear with the WIND BEHIND YOU.
Best to carry bear spray AND a sidearm in at least .44 mag.
Most people around here just carry the sidearm.
In the upper Rockies, we find plenty of bears in the timber well below the timber line, even in Town. They don’t necessarily prefer open areas.
The authors observations about browns in Alaska may be correct for Alaska, but the browns are quite different from the grizz we get here.
While hunting in Alaska I kept a couple of sow grizzlies with cubs coming through camp by peeing in spots to block where they were coming through camp. Man the sound of a grizzly huffing with each step then inches away from your head sucking in air to sniff for something to eat is indescribable. In the morning you could see by their tracks where they were turning when they got the sent. I found out later there was a large pool were salmon got trapped when the river dropped a few hundred yards down stream that they were going to.
While most bears will avoid you if they can it cannot be depended on. Simple curiosity can lead to aggressiveness. None of the non-lethal approaches to bears appeals to me. Let me say that a different way so you don’t misunderstand; I don’t want to fall to the ground and cover my neck as the bear mauls me because someone has decided that a non-lethal approach is the best choice. While you may be able to bluff or stare down a bear the cost if you are wrong is too great to contemplate.
As for the point made about dogs; I suppose what you said was correct but so what. IMHO if the dog fights the bear and distracts it from me and my family so we can get away how on earth can I consider that to be a bad thing? Now if the dog irritates the bear and then runs back to me that can be a problem, perhaps you need a bigger meaner dog. But in any potential wild animal encounter I would like to have a dog, or maybe two and the meaner the better. I would also like to have a gun, a big caliber would be nice but the gun I have with me at the time will be just fine.
Griz are a subspecies of Brown bear. Some folks down here in the lower 48 mistakenly refer to brown phased black bears as brown bears. They are not. Generally, most of the coastal brown bears are simply referred to as browns, while inland browns are more often called grizzly. Their diets are quite a bit different, and the coastals are generally a bit larger than the inland variety. Kodiaks are an isolated sub-species of browns and can get a bit larger than the rest. Russia has a large population of Browns from the same species.
Grizzly (Ursus Arctus Horriblis) are a subspecies of brown bears (Ursus Arctus) . Brown phased black bears are a different species, same as other phases of black bears (Ursus Americanus), on average much smaller and much less aggressive than brown bears, and also a lot more common in the lower 48. A 44 mag will not be an effective grizzly or brown bear deterrent on average, though it will suffice for most black bear pending proficiency and load.
Benjamin, you should have written this article. It is hard for the Grizzly bears around here to find salmon. (central Montana) In sum, I am skeptical of the authors credibility.
Bob, the behavioral differences towards to humans between browns/grizzlies is nonexistant in my experience. The genetic difference between the two (which doesn’t even exist in Alaska) is so minor that it is a fogey academic question.
here the grizzly likes killing calves, eating garbage and tearing up bee hives..along with chewing up a few hunters. They are in town …here being north central montana.
A big problem with dogs on the trail in bear country is a lot of dogs will challenge the bear, then lose their nerve and come a running back to you for moral support. When that happens, you’d better be able and willing to hobble that dog. The idea being I don’t have to outrun the bear as long as I can outrun the dog (variation on a theme, but you get the idea.
Officials in Alaska claim that bear spray has been far more effective than firearms at deterring bear attacks. While I might be willing to try that out, I will never go into Alaska bear country again without a suitable firearm if I am given that option.
In the movie “The Great Outdoors”, there’s a scene where Bart is in the cabin facing Dan Ackroyd’s character who has a fire poker in his hand. The look on his face is appropriate, and quite common I suspect on those who’ve encountered big browns at close quarters.
Reading the article and comments illustrates the confusion surrounding the subject of bears. This was a “bad” bear year near Glacier Bay, Alaska in that we had ten different bear in our yard at various times (1 brown sow with two cubs and ten blacks). Most were interested in eating vegetation …an area thick with wild strawberries. One seemingly aggressive black bear loved my compost which caused me to secure the compost. I later found out that a local woman was feeding that particular bear which caused it to approach people in an aggressive manner and generally hang around residences (this bear was later dispatched by a neighbor). When bears become accustomed to people something negative will eventually happen.
As for other comments…I don’t think brown bear “prey” on black bears. They will not, however, tolerate a black bear in their territory. Also, if you shoot a game animal in Alaska and a bear shows up to take it……..it belongs to the bear. That is the law.
I don’t profess to know everything about bears after 48 years up north except to say that we always check our surroundings when outside our residence and we are prepared to use any combination of pepper spray, firearms and/or distance whenever necessary. It always boils down to being aware, careful and lucky.
A great article. I live bordering grizzly habitat. It is also between two mountain ranges with known travel by them from one to the other. I don’t like spray as it requires the wind to be right, the same with dogs. I have a hybrid dog and it is a perfect detector if the wind is right. The dog is not the best for defending me. It has a high self-survival instinct. A pit bull would fight on your behalf. For convenience I always carry a 6” 44mag. If I am hiking in an area of a high probability of grizzlies I add my Remington 11-87 semi-auto police shotgun. This I load with 3-3”-15 pellet 00 alternated with 3-1oz slugs, plus a 7th round of 2-3/4”-00 9 pellet. In my opinion if I can get the gun to battery there isn’t any North American animal that can take that kind of firepower. There are lots of good guns such as a Marlin 45-70 guide gun but they are single rifle rounds which mean you have to hit something and if it’s a once in a lifetime experience you may not be up to par with your shooting capabilities.
If you must shoot, shoot for the head. Bears have alot of musculature that must be penetrated to do any appreciable damage before stopping the bear. The central nervous system should be your aiming point in the event deadly force is necessary.
Lots of good comments here. TominAlaska’s point about staying alert when outside in bear country is solid. You never know when a bear will simply walk out of the woods. A few years ago I had just finished grilling a couple of burgers and we had just sat down to eat when a 150 lb black bear decided to visit our back yard. Walking through with its big old snout pointing up in the air I figured it probably just wanted my hamburger. We watched from our dining room as it vanished slowly back into the woods. If you live in the woods and smoke or grill your food keep this in mind too.
150 lbs is about average for our part of Washington. They look bigger in real life.
I am looking forward to reading more.
When I was a kid, living in the UP when it was a no-man’s-land, we had a family friend named Tiny (Mr. Tiny to us kids). But tiny was the last thing this 6’7″ barrel chested giant of a man was.
One morning the guys had all gone hunting except Tiny who had stayed behind working through the woodpile. Around noon he broke for lunch and a ciesta. Shortly thereafter, thinking he was hearing the gang returning from hunting, he stood up to see what they had. Instead, he found himself eye to eye with a huge cinnamon colored black bear.
He had leaned his rifle against the woodpile when he’d sat down but hadn’t picked it up when he stood. Mr. Tiny said the two of them stood there for what seemed like hours before he took a step back, then another and another, trying to get some of his split woodpile between the bruin and himself. That was when the bear dropped to all fours and charged.
As Providence provided, he had burried his ax in a stump which was now right next to him. He said he had never swung an ax harder in his life, not even on iron wood.
The guys all came back just minutes afterwards to find Tiny sitting not 2 feet in front of a huge bear with an ax buried in its head.
But I supposed carrying bear spray, my 44, a rifle AND an ax might be too much…
I live in Western NC and we have a lot of blacks here. I have had them even on the front porch looking around for food. Our main problem is the local idiots who think the bears are cute and feed them and yes they do lose their fear of humans. When I go out at night I take my mag light and check the yard for bears just to be on the safe side. I do keep a 12ga pump loaded with OO buck and slugs for bear protection.
Noise– talking may help, but it seems that yelling at a bear is a good way to provoke a charge. Same with moose.
That hasn’t been my experience, but as I commented below, bears sometimes are unpredictable. That’s where the firearma and or bearspray come in.
Since moving off-grid a couple years ago, I have seen a lot of bears because I live in black bear country. The past few years has seen an increase in population. This spring, I had two encounters in one day that made me glad I was in a vehicle. The first was a male around 300 pounds. I pulled to a stop maybe 50 feet from him. He made eye contact with me, then approached straight at me to about 30 feet before turning and walking nonchalantly back into the woods. The second was about 3 hours later with an even larger lone male. He made the first one look like a cub. Again, I pulled to a stop. This time the bear was only 20 feet away. This bear also made direct eye contact with me and then walked straight towards me until he was only 10 feet away, then stopped, still watching me. He stayed there, 10 feet away, until I slowly pulled away. Two days later, my wife had the same type of encounter with a big lone bear right in our driveway when she was returning from town. There were more encounters, but, you get the picture.
We always, always carry when out walking the dogs or even cutting firewood. They are Great Pyrenees and they are great protectors. I carry so I can hopefully return the favor to them if necessary.
We also have a lot of wolves here and I have seen them within 50 yards of me when I was not armed. That was before the bears convinced me to not walk around unarmed anymore. 2 years ago, I was up to my elbows in blood in a deer carcass in pitch black conditions and had wolves start howling in at least three different directions out from my location, and they were not far away. That’ll raise the hair on the back of your neck! At least, that time was after I started going armed at all times.
Back to the bears. These bears rarely see humans. I have two neighbors within a mile and no more for several miles after that. I think they should have shown more fear, but, I go by what I see, not what someone else tells me. Be nice, and they’ll probably just amble away, but, don’t trust ’em. Protect yourself.
Re: Karen’s comment.
I meant to respond to you in my longer comment above. I do live in a national forest and I do have a large garden and I have had compost going for 5 years. So far, the bears have left it alone, but they did rip down a hummingbird feeder that was hanging on the house eaves 7 feet off the ground one morning.
We have both grizzlies and blacks in my part of Idaho. I once shot a black bear while archery hunting elk at about 20 feet with my ruger redhawk in .44. I came to the conculsion that I needed something larger. A rocket launcher came to mind
There’s no genetic difference in Alaska between brown bears and griz. Their size is difference purely from nutrition. I’ve never observed any difference in the two types behavior towards humans either.
I’m just going to say that all of what is in this article is either from my personal experience, the personal experience of people who are experienced woodsman, and scientific research. Having said that, the world is an unpredictable place, and bears are no exception. Black bears for instance, are usually not aggressive, but we had 2 bb fatalities in Alaska last summer after having only 4 others in 130 years.
My cousin worked as a federal game agent in the Yellowstone Park area for many years enforcing the endangered species act. They had a fatality of a single female woman in the park who was hiking by herself to catch up with a larger group that left a day earlier. She was menstruating when it happened. Though bears can smell anything for a long ways off, blood — whether it is human or animal — is a great attractant to the bear. The fact she was alone pretty much sealed her fate.
Bears, a great reason to live in Iowa!
I live in the Ca Sierras, home to black and brown bear. I’ve had two up close and personal ( thirty yards or less) encounters with Browns. Both times with my dogs and both times apparently all parties were surprised due to the dense national forest. The first time my dogs went bonkers and the bear hightailed it out of there. On the second occasion the brown had her cubs with her. My dogs went to ground and remained still. I went to a knee and remained quiet but vigilant, a .44 in my hand and ready. Mama bear stood in the dirt roadway and stared at us as her cubs came up out of the creek, crossed the road and went up the hill. Finally she followed them but stopped often to check on our activity. The dogs and I stayed down, watchful and non threatening until Mama and her cubs were gone. I was very lucky both times. I was also scared spitless both times. Can’t say what I did was right or wrong, but it seemed to work.
I once heard Paul Harvey give his advice on hiking in bear country. He said a person should tie a few small bells on their belt loops so that they will jingle as they walk along, alerting the bear that a human is approaching. The other thing is to learn what bear crap looks like so that the hiker will know that there are bears in the area. He said bear crap is usually several times larger than a large dog crap pile, it may have bits of hair or even bone in it and almost always it will have little bells in it.
There is also a sub-species of black bear that is white. This is the Kermode, (or spirit bear), which lives on the central coastal area of British Columbia.
Interesting. I didn’t know that
@grayhors
There are no brown bears in California, except in zoos.
S Helmick
Thank you for your input. It was a bear, it was brown. Call it what you may Sir, it was still a bear. Not looking for any argument, just relating a personal experience.
I’m in a First Suburb of a major American city,10 miles from the center of downtown. We had a 2 year old black bear take up residence under our rear deck about a dozen years ago. I had grown up in an area that saw an occasional bear, so the smell & evidence were something I recognized. After failing to convince our PD that we had a neighborhood bear I contacted the state Fish & Game people. They at least were able to convince our police chief that the scat & claw marks were bear. Luckily, while waiting for the trapper to arrive the next day, a major storm blew a tree over onto the deck, destroying it. And sending the bear on his way.