Tips for hiking in bear country

MurrayMinchin · 06-18-2008, 05:55 PM

This isn't about any specific geographic location, but what I hope will be a gathering of tips for hiking and photographing in bear country.

What I usually do is pick up a dried branch and whack tree trunks and rocks as I hike along, or if carrying a wooden tripod I'll clack the legs together occasionally. This idea came to me after watching a film documentary about bears on Princess Royal Island where a juvenile Kermodei (an all white black bear, also called a Spirit Bear) had befriended the film crew...it had discovered that mature bears wouldn't bother it if it hung around the people filming. The Kermodei would even take naps in the forest as the film crew sat nearby waiting for it to wake up, but would snap awake at the sound of an animal breaking a branch far off in the forest. That's why I do the tree/rock whacking thing now, as I figure if they're listening for it in their sleep then they'll be sure to hear me coming from a long ways away, giving them time to move off.

I've been doing this for years now and a couple days ago my daughter and I had a slam dunk confirmation the technique works. We were walking up an old overgrown logging road, me whacking trunks occasionally, when we came upon some really fresh tracks in the gravel which I thought might be moose at first, but about 20 feet further along there was a bunch of black bear crap. It wasn't the usual sloppy pile of crap but was taken on the run, scattered up the trail on top of the fresh tracks that showed the bear was moving away at a run. There was a creek beside the road and the scene played out on a long corner so we probably would have been face to face if not making any noise.

What do you do to avoid them?

Murray

Andy K · 06-18-2008, 06:02 PM

A story I once heard from a kayaker who had been paddling in remote Canada said a ranger explained that when in the wild they should carry bells and pepper spray just in case of bears. The bells are designed to jingle so that bears will hear you a long time before you get near them and they'll scarper away. The pepper spray is for if you have no other option. However the pepper spray works best on the black bears as it would just enrage a grizzly. He also suggested they study bear crap to see what type of bears were in the area. Upon asking the ranger how to tell the difference between the different types of bear crap the ranger replied "It is simple, just give the turd a kick, if it jingles and smells of pepper then its a grizzly".

GM Bennett · 06-18-2008, 06:04 PM

How about just hiking with someone who can't run as fast?!

MurrayMinchin · 06-18-2008, 06:08 PM

Those bells drive me nuts!

Grizzly crap is 'twistier' than black bear crap, and sometimes it's pretty easy to tell because you can just imagine how large the bear must have been to have a butt hole big enough to get a turd that huge out!!

Pepper spray does work on grizzlies, not that I've had to use it yet........

Murray

Christopher Walrath · 06-18-2008, 06:12 PM

But those bells can save a life. Put them on. And carry lots of peanut butter.

apochromatic · 06-18-2008, 07:11 PM

I was in the Rockies a while ago and my Canadian friend stopped to buy some 'Bear Scares' - they're essentially a whizz-bang firework but I was disappointed he never gave me a demonstration. Some care should be taken in their use because it's not as obvious as one might think. If faced with an angry bear, do not turn around: keep facing it and back up slowly but if it charges the Bear Scare should be discharged over one's shoulder. Why? Because if you fire it AT the bear it may well fly over its fast approaching body and then explode, thus making a charging bear run towards you even faster. So, rule of thumb: fire it over your shoulder.
As for the crap - any UK readers should rethink any notion of dog-poo in the park: these furry fellas eat berries most of the day and they dump in huge quantities. Think wheel-barrow sized dump.
Another extraordinary factoid about bears is that will quite happily eat 20,000 calories a day, which is 120 Cadbury creme eggs.
I got some good BW shots of mountains and lakes in Canada but only one distant shot of a bear!

Terence · 06-18-2008, 07:21 PM

I'm with "the bells drive me nuts" crowd. They always make me think Santy Claus is around the bend.

My normal technique is to always keep my eyes open for good photos. This usually ensures that I trip and fall and make a lot of noise every couple hundred of feet.

My first trip to Yellowstone involved me and my girlfriend back-country camping for a few days. One night as I climbed into the tent, I realized I didn't put my toothpaste in the bear canister. When I pulled it out of my shirt pocket and put it in the little tent pocket, my girlfriend INSISTED that we would surely be killed by a brown bear with a taste for peppermint. After 17 miles of hiking that day, I refused.

Using my stupid, male (redundant?), engineer brain, I replied, "He'll smell it on your teeth before he smells it in a sealed tube . . . " Needless to say, I immediately realized the error of my ways, and hauled my ass out to the canister, which I of course had pitched waaaaaaay out there, but it was too late. The damage was done. While my girlfriend spent a sleepless night imagining that every twig snap was Yogi and Boo Boo coming to rip her minty-fresh teeth from her face, I sat there praying it WOULD happen and I could finally get some sleep after being torn asunder.

Anscojohn · 06-18-2008, 07:36 PM

[Using my stupid, male (redundant?), engineer brain, I replied, "He'll smell it on your teeth before he smells it in a sealed tube . . .

*******
Had you been completely filled with wit, rather than half way, you would have cut open the tube of tooth paste, shown it to her, and then flung it as far away from her, you, and the tent as possible.

I agree, though, with your approach; however, with one addition: Spend all your time LOOKING for bears to photograph. You would then be as safe as at home in your darkroom.

johnnywalker · 06-18-2008, 07:46 PM

I carry the pepper spray and the bear bangers (bare scare). I agree with Murray and Terence about the bear bells. They drive me nuts. One should know that they won't always go away if they hear you. Sometimes (not often) they simply look at you as prey. Or if they have cubs they may just stand their ground. Or they may be in a bad mood. Blacks are more likely to disappear than grizzleys, but you can't count in it happening.
In my timber cruising youth (before the days of pepper spray) I spent 8 hours up a tree with a very angry (or hungry) black bear underneath that wouldn't let me down. I never have figured out why it didn't come up after me. If the bears were plentiful sometimes we'd carry a rifle, but they were heavy and interfered with the compass, so they would be left in the tent until someone had a close call.

Anscojohn · 06-18-2008, 07:49 PM

[
What I usually do is pick up a dried branch and whack tree trunks and rocks as I hike along, or if carrying a wooden tripod I'll clack the legs together occasionally.

******
This has its own dangers, if you happen to be out during moose rutting season. The bull mooses (meece?)bang their antlers on dry tree trunks to announce their presence and their prurient, primal interests. Thus, you might have a lust-craved, very ornery bull moose come bursting out of the sward looking to have a fight with that male interloper, whom he now sees cleverly disguised as a mild-mannered photographer.