what are you SUPPOSED to do when you see a bear?

My H and I just ate a delicious salmon for dinner cooked on the bar-b-que at the lake
The girls were fishing and my son was playing a game inside the cabin
We were kinda happily petting our dogs laughing at how they were soundly asleep
We were sitting in the cookhouse and I look over and see a HUGE brown/reddish bear looking at me from over by the outhouse!!!! It was HUGE (did I mention that?) We were in the part of the cookhouse which is screened in (and accessible to a bear) I just calmly said "Holy Fuuuuuuuuck there isssssssssss a bear" all quietly whispering. The bear just peered at us, then calmly walked out of the yard. My H ran to the water to see where the girls were and told me to "_______________________ " Couldnt hear him at all so I put one dog under each of my arms and ran inside. We didnt go out once that night.

Does anyone know what the best plan is for running into a bear?

I've always seen them near the store or on the road but on our property!??? Too close!

 

They can run pretty fast too.

It's best to have a rifle and dogs. They are terrified of dogs, believe me.

I mean, it's good to have a fire going and make sure that whatever food or trash you keep outside is bear-proof.

You never know if that bear was female and has cubs or whatever, too. There are people who wear bear bells when they go hiking, so it might be worthwhile to pick up a couple wind chimes to make noise so they won't stick around.

I hope that was somewhat helpful. I don't live in bear country and I've never seen one.

 

Um, oh yeah there are wind chimes around the cottage, but maybe I will get some more (X10) and louder ones. No we would never keep a gun at the cabin or shoot a bear for that matter. Last summer a neighbor shot a bear in the ass as he was LEAVING their property so that was pretty sad. We hate that neighbor now. I dont want to be the hated neighbor. I suppose all the neighbors out there have guns now dont they ....

One old man got eaten while berry picking last summer too, and he lived out there. Sheesh.

We have two dumb little dogs, would they be scared of them? Seriously.

 

In my experience, do not run or play dead. Either way you will wind up on the menu.... Serously!!! The best thing to do is to try and appear menacing, or frightening to them, in order to scare them away.

Grizzly's are known for decapitating their prey, INCLUDING HUMANS, and eating the remains. Black Bears which are also common in parts of the US, mostly in California aren't as agressive, but will attack. Some for no apparent reason, or if they feel threatened in an inescapable situation.

So my suggestion is to stay as far away as possible, and if they charge you, grab whatever you can to appear to be more menacing than you are, and make lots of noise by yelling out of the top of your lungs. Obviously defend yourself if possible, by going for their eyes, or wedging something inside their mouths to prevent them from biting you... Best of luck.

 

They are afraid of dogs and the barking noise that they make. Maybe you can get a German shepherd?

Dunno. I heard something once about obtaining bear urine to keep them away, but I'm not sure if that would attract some of them...

 

Hahaha, I found a How To Escape from a Bear article:

http://www.wikihow.com/Escape-from-a-Bear

 

that's weird, that article said to fight back if it continues to maul you... one that I looked up says just keep rolling onto stomach

it also says bear bells are no good.

I have alot more to read, thanks

 

Do you know what kind of bear it was?

 

It was a black bear which looked brown to me.

 

I had a dream about a bear and this thread last night... weird.

 

cool! tell us about it! you dont think you can say something like that and happily skip away do you?

 

It was all pretty vague. I don't remember much now except the image of this brown bear in the forest. And then I was trying to remember the thread to know what to do and all I could remember was someone asking 'What type of bear' so I looked at the bear and it seemed brown and I remember wondering if it was a grizzly or not.

Then the dream ended or faded or jumped to something else. I can't recall.

 

haha, I wonder if you knew which type it was, you'd change your game plan.

 

Bear Mace is a good thing to have when in the bush ... or even at your home if you live in an area that is known for bears.



Seen a squeegee kid get hit with one in Vancouver. Was not a pretty site.

 

hey warmhanded, I have lots of experiance with bears. oh and yeah your dogs would be a apetizer for even a small bear.

first it depends on the bear and the behavior of the bear.

If you see the bear and you are not sure if it see's you make lots of loud noises.
Bears have good ears and nose, but eyesite not so much. me and my family were picking beans in our garden once and I was on bear watch because we knew some were in the area. So basically it was my job to pass buckets around and keep an eye out. So out of the bush less then a hundred feet away comes this large bear. It was a black bear(it was brown in colour, go figure.) bear was comming closer so told everyone a bear was coming, my dad started talking in a loud angry voice to the bear and as soon as he/she heard a noise it stopped moving, stood up and sniffed the air a couple times. it went back down and was still coming towards us so we started to all make noise really loud. the bear stood up on hind legs again, sniffed some more and then turned around and went lumbering off in the other direction.

second don't face away from a bear, if the bear see's you and you are facing it good. if it see's you turn around and run it see's prey, bad... also if you can try and make yourself look biger by holding up something or holding your arms over your head, anything that looks big is not worth the trouble in the bear's mind, and remember poor eyesight so it doesn't have to look too convincing.

third, bears like a lot of predators double back, so even if the bear leaves and you can't see it anymore it may not be safe. two stories about this. first story is me and my sister about 8 years old in the camper notice a bear is sniffing at the screen door. I imediately tell my sister to "run go get mom's camera". then proceeded to take 4 pictures while standing less then a foot from the bear on the other side of this screen door. not the smartest thing I've ever done. anyways, the bear get's pissed off probably because of the flash on the camera and takes off. me and my sister seeing the bear is gone decide to get on our little bmx bikes and go find/warn/brag about the bear to our parents. lo and behold when we went the direction opposite the bear but when we got to our parents the bear was coming down the trail behind us. luckily it was a small bear and was more curious than hungry and was scared of by some loud noises. the second story was at about the same age. I was tanning on the dock when I decided to switch sides, while doing so spotted a bear at the base of the dock drinking water from the river. needless to say I was somewhat afraid and got up and stood up facing the bear, a passing boat frightened it a bit or it wasn't thirsty anymore and so it took the left trail to leave. After catching my breath I decided to get the F#@ off the dock and get indoors so started running up the right hand trail. 20 seconds later I come face to face with this same bear coming towards the dock, I guess it was still thirsty or curious. anyways I'm a few feet away(felt like inches) and just scream right in the bear's face, the bear being caught coming back down on the second trail screams in my face. the bear jumps in the bush, I rush past the bear and in record time was up a hill and in the cabin swear I took 4 steps to cover the ground that would normally take 150...
so don't double back cause the bear will...

anyways the point is bear may still be around so be extra cautious and tell your kids about this kind of stuff. also don't run up hill bears are faster than you are uphill.

also like a few people mentionned keeping no food around and making noise when out is usually enough to keep them away.

I wanted to mention too that if the bear is stalking you like prey then the only option you have is to back away from it, make lots of noise and try and find help/shelter. it's actively looking for food. if nothing else attack it's eyes and nose.

oh also we mostly have black bears here in mb so the stuff I mentionned is for those, brown bears are more rare here and they will be more prone to the play dead stuff, or so I hear... also I hear one of the two(brown or black) can't climb trees so that's a possibly option. best bet is to make noise, educate kids and H, and keep on the lookout now that you know a bear is in the area.

hope this was helpfull and entertaining.

 

oh and if you figure which bears can't climb trees I have an extra warning make sure if you do climb a tree that it's not one the bear can push over. I have seen bears push down trees to get to food.

happy camping!

 

hey SSS, would throwing things in the direction of the bear be good? It seems like throwing something at its face would scare it since it would be confused by a creature that could strike a blow from a distance much longer than armspan.

Would even objects hitting the ground around it make it trip out and go away?

 

I'm amazed that what I said ended up in a dream. It's like, the bear has brought us all together.

 

Run fast... If its a Black Bear then try to scare it up a tree, if its a Grizzly then just run away as fast as you can before it chases you.

 

Bear mace will fuck anybody up big time... You could drop just about anything with it.