Bill Schneider - Bear Aware: The Quick Reference Bear Country Survival Guide

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Copyright 2001, 2004, 2012 by Morris Book Publishing, LLC

A previous edition was published in 1996 by Falcon Publishing, Inc.

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Illustrations by Robert Prince based on originals by Kirk Botero.

Text design: Sheryl Kober
Layout: Justin Marciano
Project editor: Ellen Urban

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN 978-0-7627-7963-5

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The author and Globe Pequot Press assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.

We are apprehensive that as more people make use of the bears shrinking domain, an increase in bear attacks or maulings might precipitate a reaction that could result in wholesale destruction of the animals.

Frank C. Craighead Jr., famed National Geographic bear scientist

S tatistically, youre very safe from bearsbut are you safe from statistics?

The answer: Dont rely on statistics, because these numbers can give you false confidence that might prompt you to skip some of the precautions recommended in this book.

Following the advice in these pages will make you safer. Bears definitely add an additional risk to your outdoor adventure, but you take a much greater risk driving to the trailhead. Youre much more likely to drown, fall off a cliff, suffer a heart attack or other sudden illness, or succumb to hypothermia on your hike.

Every year, for example, drivers in the United States alone have at least six million auto accidents, some very grisly. These vehicle mishaps claim about 40,000 lives, but the news stories about them hardly make the local front page. On the other hand, any bear mauling, even one resulting in minor injuries, commands banner headlines, which send us a subliminal message that bears are more dangerous than they actually are. This phenomenon wont change, so the bottom line is to keep the danger posed by bears in perspective regardless of how the media covers bear stories.

North America has about a half-million bears, mostly black bears. Yet in our recorded history, bears have killed fewer than 50 people, an average of less than one person per year. For each recorded fatality caused by bears (all species), we have approximately 8 caused by spiders, 13 by snakes, 34 by domestic dogs, 90 by bees and wasps, and 190 by lightning. In the United States alone, domestic dogs bite about 2 percent of the population every year, about five million people, and kill around 25 people per year. Even Western national parks with large grizzly bear populations average fewer than one bear-caused fatality per year, despite the fact that millions of tourists travel through the entrance stations annually.

So, statistically speaking, walking the streets of a big city is more hazardous than walking the trails of bear country. Nonetheless, bears are dangerous. Hopefully, however, with the distribution of more information on how to safely hike and camp in bear country, fewer and fewer bears will make the front page and more and more people will be able to enjoy bear country.

Thats our side of the story. Theres also the bears side.

Carelessness can kill not only you or the next person coming down the trail, but also a bear. Most bear attacks, including nonfatal encounters, result in dead bears. Worse, many surprise encounters involve mother bears with cubs, and in far too many cases, both the mother bear and cubs are removed from the population, which means euthanized or, arguably worse, imprisoned for life without parole in a zoo, research lab, or drive-through wildlife park.

When bears lose their fear of humankind, wildlife managers have little choice but to remove them. In certain circumstances, usually our fault, a bear can gradually become more conditioned to human food or garbage. Once a bear picks up this nasty habit, its the start of a slow, but virtually guaranteed, death march. Hence the saying, A fed bear is a dead bear. The bear might avoid its fate for years, but sooner or later it crosses the line and authorities take it out.

Heres the bottom line: Bear encounters obviously pose a threat to human safety, but they also pose a threat to bear safetyand not just the safety of individual bears, but of the entire population. This side of the story doesnt make many headlines, but its another reason we should take every precaution to avoid an encounter. Too many bloody bear encounters could even lead to a movement to rid the forests of bears.

Therefore, this book has two goalsto save you and a bear.

Much of the information in this appendix came from the Living with Wildlife Foundation, which contracts with bear managers to keep a current list of manufacturers and sources of bear-resistant products and to coordinate testing and certification protocol. You can find the resource guides online at www.lwwf.org. Contact the foundation at Living with Wildlife Foundation, P.O. Box 1152, Condon, MT 59826; landline (406) 754-0010, cell (406) 544-5307; info@lwwf.org.

These companies sell EPA-registered bear deterrent sprays. Manufacturers not registered by the EPA have not been included.

Counter Assault

120 Industrial Ct.

Kalispell, MT 59901

(800) 695-3394

www.counterassault.com

Security Equipment Corp.

330 Sun Valley Circle

Fenton, MO 63036

(314) 343-2000

www.sabredefensesprays.com

McNeil River Enterprises, Inc.

750 West Diamond, Ste. 203

Anchorage, AK 99515

(888) 419-9695

www.guardalaska.com

Universal Defense Alternative Products

13160 Yonder Rd.

Bozeman, MT 59715

(800) 232-7941

www.udap.com

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee has certified the products of these companies.

Garcia Machine

14097 Avenue 272

Visalia, CA 93292

(559) 732-3785

www.backpackerscache.com

Golf City Products

9614 Cozycraft Ave. Suite D

Chatsworth, CA 91311

www.bareboxer.com

Counter Assault

120 Industry Ct.