Surviving Encounters with Black Bears

There are over 750,000 black bear in North America. That's a lot of bears. And black bears typically are not that aggressive. In fact, there's less than one fatal attack from a black bear a year. I mean, you're more likely to get killed by a dog, stung by a bee and die, or even hit by lightning. But bears can be aggressive and they can cause serious bodily injury. And the more people that are out on the trail, walking around, or even in a bug out situation where things are really upside down. You don't want to encounter a bear unprepared. And so we're gonna talk about some defenses against bear as far as just how bears react, what they do, just some different ideas, some different self-defense ideas against bear. How to know if they're really a threat or if they're just bluffing. Now, I just recently went to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and while I was up there, I had some bear encounters, which I've never had before. But I was at a cabin way up at the end of this road. It was up on a mountain. And I had a bear visit me almost every day that I was up there. At first, when I saw him coming down, he went over to my car. He was walking around. He was sniffing the car. And then he walked up to the porch. It's not huge, but he is about the size of a Great Smoky Mountains. That's interesting. Guys, that's why you always bring a Glock Model 29 when you're up in the Great Smoky Mountains. Now, obviously, somebody had fed that bear in the past. And so he was really accustomed to coming around. One of the things he did was he went around to the side of the house after he left the porch. He sniffed around this table at the patio where I had had lunch earlier and then walked over to the grill that was just a charcoal grill and knocked it over. And one of the big problems that I had was I'd bought a really nice ribeye steak that I was planning to grill out there. And obviously, because of what happened, I decided to cook it inside. You know, of course, that smell coming, I didn't want to lose my steak. But really, overall, the bear wasn't that aggressive. I didn't face him outside, you know, straight up, just face-to-face. But one time, I was taking my trash out, and I bagged it up, I got ready to go out the door, and it was two big glass doors. And I looked to see if I could see him, and he was standing right to the right of me, right there on the patio. So I just left the trash sitting there. He finally wandered off, and when he did, I took it around to a secure trash can that's made to keep bears from getting into trash. But the experience really was pretty surreal, and something that you could face. So the first off, when encountering bears, is just avoidance. You know, you want to be unseen. You can make noises to keep bears from coming around. One thing that they definitely do not like are loud noises. And typically, they'll just go off, if you're making any kind of racket. The park ranger, when I went to the park, and saw bears after that, was, she said that where she lives, bears come around, and she takes a pot with a big wooden spoon, and she just beats it, and the bears take off. But there are some different encounters with bears. Some bears will just be curious. You know, you may come up on them. Typically, if they know you're around, they're gonna avoid you. But if they do, if they're curious, and they kind of stand up, and they look at you, and they smell, they're just curious. They want to see what's going on. And typically, they're harmless, and they'll just kind of walk off, or they may hang around a little bit. One of the big things about this is you keep eye contact. Do not turn your back on a bear. Do not run from a bear. Keep your eye contact. Get your hands above your head. Start waving it around, talking calmly, in a voice that they identify as human. Especially if they've had some kind of contact with humans in the past. And so, they don't really look at you as prey. They look at you as just with curiosity. And then, just continue to kind of back away, slowly, as you're waving your hand, slowly. You want it just to be calm. You don't want to put the bear under stress. Now, there are two different charges, and one is a bluff charge. The bear comes up, and he starts huffing, and he's got his head down, and his ears are forward. Typically, this means that they're just bluffing. Now, when I say typical, there are, you know, bears are unpredictable, in a sense. I mean, there's certain things they'll do, but they can vary according to the bear. But usually, they'll kind of get their ears down, and then they'll charge at you, but then they'll veer off right before they get to you, or they'll stop, and they'll just kind of make some noise and huff a little bit, and then they'll kind of back off, and they may do it again. The big thing is, here again, is to back up slowly, hands over your head, stay calm. I know that may be hard to do with a big bear charging you, or even a small bear. A bear that weighs 100 pounds is still a wild animal. And so, waving your hands above your head, talking calmly, just backing off. You can go to the right or the left, and just kind of get out of the way. But the big thing is, you don't want to trap the bear. You don't want to leave it without a means of escape. And so, as you back up, just slowly, just back it up. Then there is the aggressive attack. Now, that's where a bear comes up, his ears are in the back position, his head's forward. He starts clacking with his teeth, he yawns, he takes his paws, and he starts beating on the ground. That is a sign that he is under stress, that he feels threatened, and so, really, he could be in his territory. With that, when they charge, they charge like a freight train and, honestly, you're gonna have to fight. And we're gonna talk about some options with fighting, but one of the things that the park rangers have said, and the different Forest Service, is that when you fight, you've gotta fight with everything. You just, you hit them in the face, if you have a rock, whatever you have, you use it, use your backpack, do whatever. One thing that is important is not to take your pack off, unless you're gonna swing it at the bear. If you have food in that pack, and that's one thing about hiking, is to not have food that bears are gonna eat. Now, bears eat, they're omnivores, so they eat meat and plants, and they can smell things. So, just be careful, but you can use that pack, but don't take your pack off. Now, one of the main things about a bear is you don't wanna surprise it. That is one of the problems. You know, a lot of times, they don't hear you, you just walk up around a corner, and there it is, and then it reacts to it. So, giving them a little bit of a warning is a huge help. One thing about whistles is that you can kinda blow them as you go down the trail, and it just lets the bear know that something is coming, and they can avoid the situation. There's a ton of different choices, obviously, but also, a lot of hikers put bells on their backpacks or around certain places to make just a noise, to continue to make that noise. And this, again, just gives the bear warning. Now, one problem is that if a bear is near a rushing stream, a lot of times, you can't hear, especially if they're down there fishing, looking for food, but also the wind. If the wind is blowing in a certain direction, they can't smell you, and sometimes, they can't even hear you. And so, you don't wanna come up and surprise them. So really, having some way to make a little bit of racket, maybe your cooking pot on the side of your hip, just making a little bit of sound. One thing, too, that deters bears, especially with people that live near bear country, is they'll have a metal pot with a spoon, and you just beat on it. And typically, that's enough, just the bear wants to get away. You can use air horns. You can use different things, but noise is your friend because it does give the bear warning. Now, the most recommended defense, though, if a bear attacks, and this is whether it's just a false charge or if it's more of an aggressive charge. If it's a bluff, this just lets the bear know that you're not playing around. This is your bear spray. One thing about bear spray is it shoots out a large fog, and so it just gets in a large general area. Bear can continue to come at you, but just keep this going. One thing you want to know, too, is how to activate this in a very fast manner, even with it in the holster. Of course, this one, you can put it on your belt. You may not have time to grab it and to pull it out. Of course, it comes straight out. But if a bear surprises you right when you're right there, I mean, this is really good to know exactly how to activate it, how to use it, and so get yourself familiar with bear spray and how it works. Just make sure you don't start it. But one thing about it, too, is just continue to spray. Don't just spray a little bit. Give it a good douse. Get it around the area. Sometimes bears will come back, so you need to be ready to spray it again, looking at the area. Don't just put it away. This is just your standard pepper spray, and this is great, especially for a self-defense against humans or dogs, things like that. But you really have to spray this into their eyes. The bear spray gets a large cloud, and so it is very recommended. If you only have pepper spray, it can be effective. So if that's what you have, that's what you have. But bear spray is the ultimate. Also, cougars and even raccoons, bull moose, different things like that, pepper spray really works well, the bear spray. So having this hiking really is a must. Of course, now comes the firearms. I would highly recommend having a firearm if it's allowed in your area. National forests sometimes are a little bit funny about it. But having a good high-caliber handgun. Here we have a Glock Model 20. This is in 10 millimeter. Of course, you can go with a compact Model 29. We have a Springfield Armory. This is a Ronin, and it's in 10 millimeter. You have limited round capacity. The Glock has top round capacity of 15 rounds. Of course, .357 Magnum. This works well. This is a Kimber K6S, and it's got the four-inch barrel. You can have a smaller little .357 Magnum. And then .44 Magnum is definitely really the optimum. I mean, it gives you more power out of these. And of course, you can go up to .454 Casull, .500 Smith & Wesson, but you don't wanna go below .357 or 10 millimeter. Nine millimeter is not gonna really be that effective. And actually, they bounce off the bear skull, according to what I've seen. So you definitely wanna have something capable. One thing about it, these guns are large, but you can get smaller versions, but then they're harder once you fire it. The recoil is pretty excessive. One thing about this Taurus, and this is just a Taurus .44 Magnum, is that it has ports. And this is a pleasure to shoot, honestly. And you still get that power coming out of the end of the barrel. But you're limited round count to six rounds, six rounds. So you just have to weigh out your options, but honestly, six rounds of .44 Magnum would probably do the job. Again, if you injure a bear, it becomes more aggressive. This is really your last resort. Bear spray is definitely superior to stop it. And so report the attack, though, to the Forest Service or the National Park Service, because bears that attack are more prone to attack in a second situation. So make sure that you do report it and any kind of information you can get from it. And if you can get a picture of it, that's even better. Now, no one wants to kill a bear. I mean, they're beautiful creatures. We're encroaching on their area. But one of the problems with an aggressive bear that will actually attack humans is that once they get started, they'll attack even more. A bear that's attacked someone is a much greater chance of it attacking someone else, because then it starts to see humans as a threat and as a prey. Again, do not turn your back. Keep eye contact, back away slowly, continue to wave your arm and hands above your head, and just try to stay calm. A scream, a squeal, things like that will identify you as prey. If you turn and run, that identifies you as prey. If you climb a tree, black bears climb trees. So do grizzlies. And so that's not necessarily gonna be a good defense. I have seen where people have climbed trees, and the bear's down there chomping at them and trying to bite them, and they just fight and kick until the bear finally just gives up. But sometimes they don't. And so one of the things is just don't try climbing trees. Just back up. Bears can outrun you. Bears are fast. And one thing I'd heard a few years ago is if you go downhill, a bear can't run that fast downhill. But from what I've studied and researched, they can. And so running away from a bear is not an option. Once it starts to chase, once it starts to charge, you've gotta stand your ground. And that's another thing that you need to do. Even if the bear charges, you gotta stand your ground. Look as big as you can. Wave your hands around. Again, calmly. Get on high ground if possible. And that way it just kind of intimidates the bear. It makes you a harder target. And so they're typically gonna leave you alone. Now, if you do encounter a bear, just some additional tips. If you have small children, pick them up. Hold on to them. And it makes you look bigger and you can protect your child or get even larger children behind you. But you wanna protect them. One thing they will do is attack pets. And so maybe if you have a small dog, you can tuck him away. If you have larger dogs, typically they can get away from the bear and they could probably help. But you wanna make yourself as less of a prey as possible, even with those around you. Don't give them your pack if possible. If you have food in there and they're after your pack, you wanna keep your pack on your back. And you can fight with the pack. And that is one defense. Get the pack in between you and the bear. Do not play dead with a black bear. Black bears, they'll attack you regardless if you play dead or not. Grizzly bears, the advice is to play dead. Lay on the ground. Keep your backpack on. Lay on your stomach. Do not turn over. And spread out your legs so it makes it very difficult for them to turn you over because that's where they'll attack you. They'll bite you. And so just play dead, lay there. Again, you make yourself as flat on the ground as you can where it makes it very difficult for them to turn you over. But again, the biggest thing is to walk away very slowly, backward, eye contact, hands moving, calm, smooth voice. And that seems to be one of the best ways just to avoid it. Now, if you're in a tent and a bear attacks, that is an aggressive attack and they'll see you as prey, especially if you have food in the tent. Years ago, we went and camped out in this one campground and the park ranger told us when we went, said, make sure you have a good size stick in your tent because we have rabid raccoons. And so they'll keep you in your tent if you're not careful. If you don't have a stick, you can drive them away. So I took a stick, put it in the tent. What I didn't know was one of the guys had donuts. He brought donuts in the tent. That was another thing they said is don't keep food in your tent. Take your food, tie it up, put it up high. Well, in the middle of the night, about three in the morning a raccoon tore through the tent, came in, grabbed the donuts and started eating and pulled the donuts out. Well, I had a stick and I started beating it and I beat the raccoon out of the tent. But definitely keep food and food source away from you. Keep it up high. Had a friend years ago was hiking and camping and so he was asleep and then all of a sudden he woke up and had a black bear with its jaws around his shoulder because he had a Milky Way in his pocket. So again, guys, keep food out of reach. Keep it tied up in a tree. Do not keep it in your tent. But now bears that typically don't have a lot of contact with humans, they are typically more aggressive. They're very territorial. They don't really see you as human. Again, all the steps we talked about, but they are more prone to attack. So if a bear is stalking you, that means that he sees you as prey and chances are you're gonna have to defend yourself. If you're on the trail and the bear keeps kind of walking around and he's following you and he's not really making himself known, definitely use a lot of caution. Now the general rule in most national park recommendations is to stay at least 150 feet from a bear. It's not threatening to the bear and they typically are used to humans in a point so they usually just kind of meander around. As I was in Cades Cove right outside of Gatlinburg, it's an area that there are a lot of bears that are sighted there. In fact, I saw four bear while I was there and there was one point where I'm driving and all these cars had stopped in front of me. It's a big loop so you get to just see this beautiful area. I highly recommend it. But while we were there, these cars stopped and so I got out and looked and sure enough, there was a mama bear and two baby cubs. They were really close to the road and there were people out of their cars. One guy had a really professional camera. He was probably 20 yards away from the bear. You know, with mama bears and baby bears, there's an added danger to that if she feels threatened and you don't want to ever get in between a mama bear and her cub. But generally, and this kind of surprised me, is that mama bears with baby cubs typically don't attack unless they feel threatened. And so there was probably 25, 30 people out there watching this bear and it was not that far off. Sooner or later, the bear just kind of took off across the field with the cubs and they just ran off into the woods. A little bit later, I saw another bear. I mean, they were just around and they're beautiful creatures and you love to see them. But you've got to use caution because they are a wild animal. And even though we think about old Smokey the bear, they have big teeth and claws and you don't want to be a part of their lunch. Years ago, there was a serial killer up in Pisgah National Forest where we lived not even five minutes from there. And there was a couple that was killed and they couldn't find the woman. There was a man and a woman, they were elderly. And so about a week later, they found her. She was only 150 feet away from her car down in the woods. But the reason why is because a bear had gotten ahold of her and had eaten part of her body. The problem is, is once they get the taste for human flesh, then they become very dangerous. And then park rangers have to go out, find that bear, and then they have to dispatch of it because it'll attack others. So guys, the big thing is, is we don't want to harm the bears again. We're in their territory. And so using the rules that we have set aside, just allow for human to bear contact to be just a beautiful sight and doesn't turn into tragedy. And that's tragedy for both parties. Again, once a bear attacks, typically they have to dispose of it. And so we don't want that, but even more so, I don't want to be attacked. And so using these simple things that you can do and just the knowledge can help you to survive any kind of bear encounter. So here, I got me a little souvenir because of my encounters with black bear and they're beautiful creatures, but you need to use caution. Be strong, be of good courage. God bless America. Long live the Republic. Now, the one thing you don't want to do is surprise a bear. Typically, if they know you're anywhere close, they're going to skedaddle. They're going to skedaddle. And black bears typically are pretty docile. They're pretty private. You know, they're pretty like pretty. They're pretty. They're pretty bears. They're kind of like Smokey the bear or maybe Smokey the bandit.