Tips for Surviving Bears

Peter | August 12, 2015 | General, Hunting

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Bears. They are big, strong, wild animals, and sometimes, they freak us out. But should they?

Probably not, according to Dr. Lynn Rogers (pictured above). He is a biologist and researcher who has spent 48 years studying black, grizzly and polar bears around the world.

We spoke with Rogers to learn what is — and isn’t — important to consider when sharing the woods with bruins.

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What is the first piece of advice you’d give someone spending time in bear country?

Bears are not the animals we’ve always been taught. In a camping situation, don’t encourage them to come to your campsite. Use a bear-proof food container; they get no reward then. Another option is to hang food up. I’ve never really had problems with bears in a campsite.

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What are some general rules any outdoors-person should know?

What most advice sounds like is “you’ve gotta do this or you’ll be killed.” That advice doesn’t do anything good for bears. People have done everything, all over the board, but attacks are very rare no matter what.

Most of the attacks by bears are defensive and don’t do a lot of harm to a person. The rare predatory attacks are just unexplainable. I think there’s a rare gene that manifests one in a million black bears, who knows. In that situation, if you have bear spray, that would do the trick.

How can you safely observe bears in the wild?

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If you see a bear in the woods and want to observe, to watch, just be quiet and don’t move. If you want it to go, say “Hi, I’m a human,” and watch it run or just go about its business.

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What should you do when a bear charges? Is it the same for grizzlies and black bears?

It comes down to this: It doesn’t matter what you do, attacks are rare no matter what. The thing I’ve always heard is “don’t run from a bear, it could trigger a predatory response.” But I took to asking the people who say and write that, can you give me a “for instance.” I have yet to get one.

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If you’re in a tent at night and a bear comes into your campsite, what should you do?

I’ve never had this happen, so I might not be the best source. If I had bear spray, I’d make a little crack in the door and give him a little shot so he’d move along. If it’s in grizzly country, I wouldn’t go rushing or storming out of the tent!

If a bear comes into a camp, and it can see you… they are looking at the demeanor of the people. If you have a group of people, get them together. I’ve never seen a bear that would stand up to a stampede.

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Is there ever a time when a firearm is a better choice than bear spray?

Tom Smith did a study of that. The spray had a better result than firearms. Bear spray was more certain to avoid contact and any problems. With spray, there’s no question of, did you hit the bear in a vital place, or the bullet wasn’t enough to stop it…. With spray, the bear thinks, “whoa, I don’t want this!”

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