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The Compleat Guide to Modern Bear Deterrence

ppine said:
There are more incidents of people/bear problems in Alaska with black bears than any other kind.
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I have an early edition of Herrero’s book, “Bear Attacks,” in which he seeks to describe and explain every documented bear attack in North America. He concluded that Grizzly attacks almost always result from sudden encounters. Black bears, however, will stalk humans. Herrero recommended that if you see the same black bear in your general vicinity throughout the day, it is likely stalking you. I don’t know if he would still make the same generalizations.
 
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I would make that generalization any time. They leave and then they come back, always on your 6. They are looking for an opportunity.
A friend of mine was doing some timber framing up at Lake Tahoe on the Cal-Neva peninsula. The rich people have big lots and there are lots of big rocks around and den sites. Sam said he saw the same 4 bears every day working on the house. One day a new bear showed up, kind of underweight and beat up looking. Likely a young male, looking a territory. Sam watched the bear for around 2 hours, always hanging around. Finally out of the corner of his eye, Sam could see the bear drop his shoulder and charge right at him. It was a race to the truck. My friend got inside with about 25 yards to spare. He had a pistol but did not use it. This was a predatory attack in broad daylight. I called it in to the Dept of Wildlife.
 
Does anyone have any experience setting up a portable electric fence on rocky/frozen tundra ground? How‘d you do it?
 
I am surprised that no one mentioned a .22 Derringer pistol in a pocket, to knee cap a companion, so as to be able to out run them. Predators only take the old, lame, or sick according to biology professors. Having a .22 forty grain slug in your knee will make your companion lame & sick, two out of three is pretty good odds if said companion are already old, they are a goner.
 
...so as to be able to out run them.
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My girls & I did a lot of hiking when they were young and they were plenty worried when the ex father-in-law (I think that makes him an outlaw rather than in in-law but I'm not sure) got pictures of a lion (although the Game Commission swears they don't live in PA, we know better). I told them that they didn't have to worry about outrunning the cat; just outrun your sister.

They actually practiced dropping their packs quickly so they could make a break for it. :LOL:

PS: lots of bears here as the Game Commission releases nuisance bears locally. Even those mostly only bother people who do dumb things (the bears that insist on continuing their nuisance behavior find the environment a bit hostile)
 
billconner said:
Canoecopia session on Noatak recommended 10 guage shot gun. Lots of photos of grizzlies.
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I was up there two years ago. Yes, there are a lot of bears. NPS now requires rigid food canisters, available for loan by NPS. 12 gauge is nice to have --10 gauge is rare. I took a 45-70 rifle, and used it once, unsuccessfully, to keep a sow and a couple of cubs from coming into camp. They moved on, ignoring the noise. We had bears very close to camp while we were asleep, one walking on, and tweaking, one of our PakCanoes.
 
He recommended a steel barrel with a pretty sturdy looking steel top. Side by side with the NPS loaners, the steel barrels looked much more bear proof.
 
billconner said:
He recommended a steel barrel with a pretty sturdy looking steel top. Side by side with the NPS loaners, the steel barrels looked much more bear proof.
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The steel containers are only available at Bettles. Kotzebue only has Garcia canisters. The steel ones are 15 pounds each, and suck for carrying, and are a difficult size/shape to manage in a canoe. We were out for a month, and each of us had 5 canisters. They sorta sucked too, but were manageable--we just put them in our portage packs. Both are adequately bear resistant, and meet IGBC standards, which most federal land managers use as the standard.
 
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