Bear Stopped With Pepper Spray

[Matt G]

Y'all who don't know Keith: Pay attention to his advice on this stuff. He's "seen the elephant," has the scars to prove it, and has made something of a study of this stuff. He's a hunter and a shooter, and if he's saying pepper spray's another good tool for the toolbox, well, I'm listening.

--Matt

 

[SteelyDan]

What you want for bear spray is not the keychain kind of stuff that some of us are referring to. It's closer to the size of a tall can of pop, and the effectiveness isn't measured by percentage of concentration but by some weird measure like Scoville Heat Units or something like that--I can't remember. The Counter Assault brand is well regarded, and it's less than 2 percent active ingredients. According to a friend who directs a bear and wolf management organization, it is effective about 70 percent of the time on black bears, and a little better on grizzlies.

 

[HBK]

Will it work on predatory attacks? Both Black and Brown bear, contrary to popular opinion, have been known to predate on humans. If you read "Bear Attacks" by Gary Sheldon, it will verify that fact.

 

[Keith]

A bear is not likely to stay in "hunting mode" when its two most important sensory streams are blocked (sight and smell).

In a lot of cases, aggressive the bears get a dose and depart only to return some minutes later when they begin to clear their sight and smell. Pepper spray should be regarded as a temporary measure that buys you some time to get out of the area.

 

[J. Parker]

99.99% of us won't ever see a Kodiak up close and personal. That said, I agree with the Counter Assault stratagy. I've only delt with black bears and never carried bear spray and I'm still here! (to the distain of some).
Bear spray in the lower 48? Go for it.....can't hurt. I prefer a handgun with hardcast bullets. One more twist- I've been approached twice in the woods by less than honorable scum. They might get a chuckle out of that pepper spray you're packin"!
Just my thoughts, John

 

[Keith]

I can agree with that, sort of... If you're in black bear country, an appropriate firearm would likely be an excellent choice all by itself since it's far easier to stop/kill a black bear. I can also agree that in the lower 48 you're more likely to run into two legged trouble than four legged, and again the gun makes the best choice.

The problem is... 95% of the bad bear encounters you are going to have is when the animal is simply "too close". Are you going to shoot every one of those animals? Why not carry some spray to squirt them - and give them the object lesson that it's bad business to approach humans?

It's just my opinion, but I think your best choice is to carry both items no matter what kind of bears you are likely to encounter.

Several people have mentioned Counter-Assault as the spray of choice. Actually though, I think the product put out by UDAP (udap.com) is probably the best on the market. It has the strongest formulation and the longest range of any of pepper spray on the market. In addition, it makes a loud whistling sound when discharged and this sound seems to frighten bears even if the spray somehow misses.