I camp at places where I'm allowed to carry protection. Not talking about mosquito repellent.

Just follow the Park Service rules and you'll be fine.

Hubba hubba I suspect there is a story behind that advice. Would you care to share?

Vee..roflmao, there are 2 people in my group who have dropped by helicopter into remote locations. Everyone in my group has significant outdoor experience. My attitude has been the same as if I was swimming in ocean with the sharks. Figured I had equal chance of shark attack as bear attack. Then they all went paranoid about bear repellent and should we bring a gun and I started second guessing my casual acceptance of possible bears.

Hubba hubba I suspect there is a story behind that advice. Would you care to share?

Vee..roflmao, there are 2 people in my group who have dropped by helicopter into remote locations. Everyone in my group has significant outdoor experience. My attitude has been the same as if I was swimming in ocean with the sharks. Figured I had equal chance of shark attack as bear attack. Then they all went paranoid about bear repellent and should we bring a gun and I started second guessing my casual acceptance of possible bears.

Hubba hubba I suspect there is a story behind that advice. Would you care to share?

Vee..roflmao, there are 2 people in my group who have dropped by helicopter into remote locations. Everyone in my group has significant outdoor experience. My attitude has been the same as if I was swimming in ocean with the sharks. Figured I had equal chance of shark attack as bear attack. Then they all went paranoid about bear repellent and should we bring a gun and I started second guessing my casual acceptance of possible bears.

This was in Truckee CA.

Forgot about some dinner roles I left in the car trunk.

Truckee bears understand cars. I left the car unlocked and the bear came by and just opened the door. Bear figures out the rolls are in the trunk and promptly started tearing out the back seat of the car.

Bear got the rolls. Bear didn't like the rolls and tore off my right side mirror on my car. Bear left the rolls.

Coulda been worse.

Remember, not a speck of food. You'll be fine.

They say a bear can smell food for over 13 miles so do not take snacks in your backpack.

Wear a flannel shirt and keep it unbuttoned. If you see a bear, bring the shirt up with your arms so it makes you look bigger than you are.

Stand your ground, do not make eye contact and NEVER turn your back on them and run. Try not to show fear. Hard to do, but animals have senses we only dream about. They can sense fear, easily.

Bears are predators and it is just second nature for a predator to chase anything that runs from them.

A sow is a bit different, especially if she has cubs. Again, never turn your back, just face them and step back slowly.

I would not recommend a gun. Unless you are a crack shot, you may wound it, in which case you would be facing an animal intent on killing you instead of running away.

Barbara, unprovoked bear attacks are extremely rare. Don't get between a mama bear and her cubs and keep all food and toiletries far away from where you sleep.

Yes, toiletries. Bears can be attracted to the scents of deodorant and perfume and soap.

A big no-no is bacon grease. Bacon is what you want for breakfast when you are camping and bacon grease is the world's best bear attractant.

Based on experience, I would only feel safe with .44 magnum under my pillow.

20 years ago, I took a 4 day /3 night river-rafting trip on one of the Class 4 rivers up there. At night, when you are trying to sleep inside your tent, you will hear sounds

Poor Bears can't have peace and quiet.

The bears are not the problem as it is the humans invading there space. I would say that if you leave them alone then they will probably do the same. I personally would like to pet one but that is probably not a reasonable request as far as the bear is concerned. I wonder if I can pet one at the zoo?

Keep the food in sealed containers is what I have heard but you have to get it out to eat at some point.

We've learned from OTHER campers some no-no's:

Never cook after dark.

Never cook bacon inside the camper.

Don't leave coolers on the picnic table.

Always chuck the trash in the secure campground receptacle before dark. Don't even keep a paper towel that got a little bit of grease on it to use to light your campfire later.

Don't leave even a candy bar wrapper in your car. (Well, that was our daughter, and only mice got in - but she then knew that she had a rust hole into her car's interior.)

LOL - Anything you need to know - ask a Landlord! :D

This is long, so go get a beverage...

I love telling bear stories, I can go all day. :D I have had many close bear encounters, maybe over a thousand. As a kid we split our time between the beach and the mountains. My mother was an administrator in Yosemite, and when I was about 11-15 and I spent part of the summers there. Our nightly entertainment was "helping" the rangers chase the bears out of the campgrounds. I met Todd Orr a few years ago, he's the forestry guy who was attacked twice by a grizzly near Bozeman and lived to tell the tale. Google his story and learn. His cousin is Mike Seeklander, the firearm instructor on the Outdoor channel TV show "Best Defense."

The past several summers (pre covid) my spouse and I have spent mostly in the Rockies. We've had a number of grizzly encounters, especially up in the Flathead Valley and around Glacier Pk. Also in western Wyoming. We have black bear here in AZ, quite a few actually. I encountered one in downtown Telluride 3 or 4 years ago in the middle of the day. Came out from between houses about 30 feet away. Took a look at us, we waved our arms in the air and yelled. It was not impressed, but turned and sauntered on down the sidewalk like it owned the place. We "sauntered" at a brisk pace the opposite direction! LOL

This is where a hiking buddy is invaluable. Remember, you don't gotta outrun the bear, just your buddy. ;)

Be "bear aware," but do not be paranoid about bears. People get attacked because they surprise the bear, or because they have something the bear wants (food). Some Grizzly are just bullys. Bear do not like to be surprised. Bears also get really upset when you throw rocks at them, so don't do it, unless you can swim. Ask me how I know this...

PLEASE DON'T SHOOT BEARS, you are in THEIR yard. A bear 50, 100, 500 feet away is not going to eat you... yet. More on guns in a minute.

BEAR SPRAY will suffice in 99.9% of encounters where other measures don't work.

Black bear: You overwhelmingly will encounter black bear. They are easily frightened and will generally run off with a little persuasion. Some urban bear are getting more acclimated to humans and are more insistent on getting their way, breaking into camps, cars, and even buildings. This is OUR fault. There are somewhere between 300-600,000 black bear in the US, overwhelmingly you will encounter them.

With a black bear, look at big as you can, wave your hands, yell, jump. DON'T charge it. If you have a group don't bunch up, spread out so the bear knows he's outnumbered. DON'T throw things at it. Loud noise will scare them off, usually. But in most states you can't just fire into the air anymore due to stupid laws.

Grizzly bear: Are another matter. They can, will and DO eat people! You are not the apex predator in the Rockies. They are. With black bear, moose and cougar close behind. There are only about 1,500 grizzly in the lower 48 and half of those are around Yellowstone. They are expanding their habitat, but the attrition rate is taking a toll as humans interact and decimate their population, again.

With a grizzly you DO NOT want to seem aggressive. Kneel down, talk quietly, don't move fast. SLOWLY BACK OFF while facing the bear. DO NOT run, ever. You will die!

And do this with a can of bear spray in one hand and a gun in the other!

More on this in Part Two...

PART TWO:

Sorry for the delay, we had a hellacious thunderstorm and lost internet. We got RAIN! Woot-woot! Thought the roof was going to blow off.

OK, let's talk defense against aggressive bears.

BEAR SPRAY is very effective. They say. I've never actually sprayed a bear. We were bluff charged in Yellowstone 4 or 5 years ago during a "bear jam." That's when stupid tourists stop along the road and create a traffic jam to watch a bear do what bears do in the woods. "Oh, how cute, let's get a selfie..."

This one was about 300 ft away and I guess it had "enough" and charged the whole bunch of us. It stopped about 150 feet away, probably because of the blood curdling screams of people scrambling for their cars. Or it may have realized there were about 20 cans of bear spray aimed at it. My pistol was safely stored in the car console across the road. LOL

Having never seen a big grizzly running full tilt boogie before let me say I was, impressed. And we made some protocol changes...

We carry the Counter Assault brand, which is the original, made in Kalispell, MT. It shoots "up to" 40 feet in a fog. It's a bit pricey at around $50 a can. If you are around Glacier or Yellowstone, you can sometimes score free cans from tourists flying home. They also rent them in the Natl Parks. I got some holsters at a police supply so we can wear on our belt or strap to a pack strap. The little pouches they come with are junk. If you need spray you probably need it PDQ, so you want it ready.

GUNS:

Again - PLEASE DON'T SHOOT BEARS!

I am not against lethal force, but it is seldom warranted. I usually just carry my 9mm, concealed.

After a couple of close encounters and talking to Todd, when in grizzly areas I started swapping out my regular ammo to hard cast "Buffalo Bore" ammo which is designed specifically for predatory game. If we are doing a planned hike in grizzly country we'll take our .44 magnum revolvers.

IMHO it really doesn't matter what you shoot a bear with, unless it's a Kodiak grizzly. There are reports of everything from .38's to big game guns being used successfully... and unsuccessfully.

LTD, you mentioned a good point that I hope everyone caught.

"This one was about 300 ft away and I guess it had "enough" and charged the whole bunch of us. It stopped about 150 feet away, probably because of the blood curdling screams of people scrambling for their cars."

To me, this says that, if you leave them alone then they will leave you alone. I think there are a lot of innocent bears and other animals that get killed or put down because of something a human caused.

I may have come across as more paranoid than I am about it. Oddly I will be in the Bozeman Yellowstone area. We are launching at Livingston and travel to Bozeman? Not completely sure of exact itenary meeting up with everyone Wend. And will get complete plans then.

But, I knew this was where to go for info. And loving what Has been shared!