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I have seen this now three times in the past two years. A person is hiking, this time in WY, and there is a big grizzly nearby. She has a big canister of (I guess) bear spray in hand at the ready, and she is slowly walking away from the bear, constantly facing the bear. The bear is not walking towards her, but instead, appears to be walking perpendicular to her, and starts to forage, paying no attention to the woman. As this woman is walking backwards, and putting more and more distance between her and the bear, she is calling out...
HEY BEAR
HEY BEAR
Can someone explain the rationale behind this? I would tend to think the proper thing to do would be to keep walking backwards slowly, all the while keeping your mouth shut, but I assume I am missing something here?
Bears are near-sighted. They have pretty bad vision. They can smell fairly well.
Bears tend to react when surprised.
The thought behind calling out is that the surprised factor is removed. Now the bear knows your there and most bears are not aggressive except when with cubs.
When I worked in the woods in Idaho, the guy I worked with always left without calling out. Those were not grizzlies.
Bears are interesting creatures. You never know how they are going to react.
I once threw a onion at a bear ten feet from me at 3:00 am and he just sniffed and basically said I don't like onions.
But he did not start to leave until I banged a pot and woke up the whole camp.
If the bear was aware of me, I would probably do just like the woman. If not, I would slowly back away.
Good luck on making decisions when encountering bears. I have a lot of "funny" stories that are real funny in the telling, but not so funny in the living.
If a bear is not actively engaged with you (looking away, ignoring you, running away or retreating)-
Give the bear space by backing away slowly from the bear and going in the opposite direction of the bear.
If a bear shows agitated/defensive behavior (huffing, jaws clacking, head swaying back and forth, bellowing, swatting the ground, and excessively salivating at the mouth)-
Stand your ground, prepare your bear spray, and speak in a calm manner, until the bear retreats.
If a bear charges or appears ready to charge-
Stand your ground.
If it charges, use your bear spray, when the bear comes within 30-60 feet.
If the bear is going to touch you, go face down on the ground, cover your neck and head as much as possible, and deploy your bear spray in the bear’s face. If you do not have bear spray, play dead if it is a grizzly bear, fight back if it is a black bear.
If a bear follows you, or slowly, purposefully or methodically approaches you:
Stand your ground.
Get aggressive: [wave your arms and shout vigorously.
Get spray out and ready.
When hiking in grizzly country especially in creek bottoms with tall brush and scrub we routinely shout out "Hey Bear!! Hey Bear!!- we're letting them know we are here and don't want a surprise encounter.
I have seen this now three times in the past two years. A person is hiking, this time in WY, and there is a big grizzly nearby. She has a big canister of (I guess) bear spray in hand at the ready, and she is slowly walking away from the bear, constantly facing the bear. The bear is not walking towards her, but instead, appears to be walking perpendicular to her, and starts to forage, paying no attention to the woman. As this woman is walking backwards, and putting more and more distance between her and the bear, she is calling out...
HEY BEAR
HEY BEAR
Can someone explain the rationale behind this? I would tend to think the proper thing to do would be to keep walking backwards slowly, all the while keeping your mouth shut, but I assume I am missing something here?
The philosophy of making noise is based on the principal that bears in the wild do not want to approach you if they don't have to, and if they aren't trapped in a situation where they must approach you. Making noise alerts them to the fact that something else is out there and all things being equal, to just avoid you.
The thinking is, if you don't make any noise, there is a greater chance they will just "stumble" across you rather than actively avoid.
The philosophy of making noise is based on the principal that bears in the wild do not want to approach you if they don't have to, and if they aren't trapped in a situation where they must approach you. Making noise alerts them to the fact that something else is out there and all things being equal, to just avoid you.
The thinking is, if you don't make any noise, there is a greater chance they will just "stumble" across you rather than actively avoid.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Threerun
When hiking in grizzly country especially in creek bottoms with tall brush and scrub we routinely shout out "Hey Bear!! Hey Bear!!- we're letting them know we are here and don't want a surprise encounter.
Oh, I see. At first I thought it was stupid. "Hey bear - I am over here .... come and get me!!!"
Oh, I see. At first I thought it was stupid. "Hey bear - I am over here .... come and get me!!!"
But it makes sense now. Thanks!
Because the bears don't really want to come and get you. They want to stay well away from you. If you are in jaguar country, it might b different. A jaguar might want to stay away from you, or he might be hungry and think you are ringing the dinner bell. But the bears do not want any contact and humans are not in their regular diet..
Just a week ago. Man lost his lower jaw and part of his trachea to a big griz. Many have said this is the worst condition seen for a bear attack survivor.
I noticed three things while this group was out tracking for a shot deer.
1. You are tracking a wounded or downed animal hours after the fact. Warning #1- You need visibility where you are headed just in case there is a bear over the kill. I'd abort the attempt if it was in a low visibility area but that's just me.
2. If they spotted a young bear moving away- I would automatically think 'What spooked Jr. off the prey, me or a bigger bear?'
3. I doubt they were making any noise during their game search.
People get black and brown bears confused (or, rather, what to do if you encounter them). "Black, fight back; brown, lie down." I wouldn't go around aggressively shouting at a brown bear - or a black one, for that matter, or any wild animal. "Making your presence known" usually means carrying a bear bell or chatting among yourselves; not doing something the bear might interpret as a threat.
Then there are the people these days who DO try to lure bears in for their social media pics, but that's another thread for another day!
People get black and brown bears confused (or, rather, what to do if you encounter them). "Black, fight back; brown, lie down." I wouldn't go around aggressively shouting at a brown bear - or a black one, for that matter, or any wild animal. "Making your presence known" usually means carrying a bear bell or chatting among yourselves; not doing something the bear might interpret as a threat.
You say it loud enough when the environment you are in may limit the travel of your voice. I can tell you one hike we did in Jewel Basin MT took us down around a pretty good rushing mountain stream, in thick bush with lots of summer berries. You wouldn't hear bells on the other side of the brush- so yeah you uptempo your cadence and volume.
He talks to bears when they're approaching him, or he's somehow startled them. Making noise while walking through dense brush is not a bad idea.
Bears' vision is comparable to ours, despite rumors of poor vision. Their sense of smell is much more acute. Usually they would simply run away or possibly investigate if they smell you.
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