Do you need Bear spray?

[forestgnome]

Here in the northeast, my fear is that I'll scare the bear away before getting a nice photograph. I try to make slow moves, avoid excessive eye contact and loud noises, and I talk softly to them.

 

[sierra]

As a soloist, I have had proboly more bear encounters then most, between the Whites and the Sierra's at least 7 I can think of. Only once did I have trouble scaring away the bear, that was on the falling waters trail, my only conclusion was her cubs where close by and she didnt want to leave them. I would say bear spray is a waste imo. Look tall, make noise as your backing away and avoid direct eye contact for any length of time, it has worked for me.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

....Only once did I have trouble scaring away the bear, that was on the falling waters trail, my only conclusion was her cubs where close by and she didnt want to leave them.

I've run into bears half a dozen times or so. Once even on a bicycle comute coming home from work (through a woody trail).

Every single time, the bears ran away.

FAST!

Amazing how something so big can move so fast. Sometimes I even felt the ground shaking as they ran.

But about the mother and cubs thing. Once I met a mother and two cubs. The mother ran away, leaving the cubs. About 5-10 seconds passed, tehn the cubs ran off after the mother. I guess they don't read books to know how they're supposed to act.

The toughtst mother I ever met, was a deer. A very young fawn, about 2 feet tall, was barly standing in the path as I came 'round a bend. The mother jumped out in front, legs spread, head down, snorting at me. Scarey, beleive it or not. Bears never scared me like that.

 

[sierra]

Pete H,
I agree deer are tough. One day after coming off Adams, I saw a deer on the railtracks up a piece, so I thought Id see how close I could get. Anywho, Im quiet and a good stalker so here I go parrelling the bushes nice and slow and the deer is feeding and Im down wind to boot, I manage to get within 10 ft or so, the deer is a buck, and goes at least 200lbs, with a supurb rack, so I get bored sitting there so I stand up and say "gottcha" the buck was both scared and pissed like a moth......... he rears up, lets out a snort like Ive never heard, its then I realize, I have not exibited the most intelligent move in my hiking career I duck quickly behind a thick bush he advances a few feet see's me chickening out and bails off (thank god), the tough old bugger earned my respect that day.

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

"...the deer is a buck, and goes at least 200lbs, with a supurb rack..."
"...he rears up, lets out a snort like Ive never heard..."

I think I've heard this story a few times over the years.

 

[Fu Jow Pai]

Amazing how something so big can move so fast.

Flyin' down a woods road on my mountain bike in Northern Maine, doing an easy 35mph, caught a big black bear in the middle of the road, Started flat out screaming, as that was my first reaction and I didn't want to grab on the breaks too hard (for fear of crashing), never seen an animal move that fast! I couldn't have caught up that big boi if I'd wanted too (which I didn't)

Most of all, I carry it to defend myself from crazy people on the trails

Hiking outside of Paterson NJ once, ran into 3 skells. One of them convinced himself he knew me from some dealing gone awry. He started threatening me as his friends attempted to calm him, although it was clear they were way scared of him as well, rightfully so as he had very decent size knife in his back pocket. Thankfully, a group of hikers came through, just as the scene was getting way too intense, figured this was my only way out, asked if I could join them and got the hell out of there without further incident...would loved to have had a 45 magnum that day...or some bear spray

 

[ROCKYSUMMIT]

i hike mostly solo and have run across quite a few bears in the catskills, adks and n.j. i've never felt threatened in the company of bears, including one camp out around avalanche lake when sitting by a stream, a curious bear came up behind me and was practically looking over my shoulder. i could have reached back and squeezed his nose if i was that crazy! i had just finished eating and had my food hung when he showed up. i didn't feel threatened,but my heart was racing a bit. last summer alone i came across 6 bears, two seperate occurances on one long day hike in Norvin green s.p. in n.j. so far after my 25 years on trails i've found black bears to be just overstuffed raccoons, looking for easy food, maybe checking you out, and then running away.

 

[Lucky Laura]

10 years ago, I ran into 7 bears on the AT alone. Since then, I have run into over a dozen more hiking in the Whites, the Adirondacks and Maine. In every instance here in the Northeast but one, they ran away as soon as they detected me- including a mother, who abandoned her two cubs. There was one bear in Virginia who allowed me to photograph him for 15 minutes in Shenandoah National Park. I think that while they are unpredictable, it is not worth worrying about in our parts if one is reasonably cautious.

On the John Muir Trail out west, bear cannisters are required - and for good reason. The bears don't even wait for complete darkness to come out and raid your food. Two tenters next to my tent were eating a late dinner at dusk, and had the lid off their food cannister. Sensing a presence brushing up to them, they looked at what appeared to be a big dog- much like our esteemed hero, Brutus, at first. They quickly moved away, abandoning all the remaining food to Yogi, who just hung out until he finished off everything. The key is to not let them get a taste of our food- for their own best interests as well as ours.