This reminds me of the advice I got while in Montana last year when we had an encounter with what we thought was a bear (it was dusk and quite simple to confuse a huge black dog with a bear, trust me on this!) :shock:
When we got back to the lodge I got two pieces of advice when I mentioned we ran our butts off back to the car!
The first was to stand still, the other was to walk backwards slowly. The two who offered the advice are now the first on my ‘going fishin’ in bear country’ buddy list! 
I assume that is because it would be easier to outrun them while they are backing away slowly. :twisted::lol:
Ive always heard it is best to go fishing with someone slower than yourself. 
Eric
Elderly and overweight individuals should always be considered prime fishing partners when you venture into bear territory! 8T 
HAAA! Do that with me and you will see how fast an old fat guy can throw you to the bears!;):lol:
Eric X2 - 8T - etal -
As usual, my inclination upon reading Doug’s link was to post some serious minded comments.
I see that that would have been a HUGE mistake.
John
P.S. Do you know how to tell the difference between black bear scat and grizzly scat ??
Not sure, about the Black Bear, but Grizzly scat usually contains “Bear Whistles” and “little brass Bear Bells”.
Bears have feelings too! All we have to do is fish water that the Bears don’t fish;http://www.travel-destination-pictures.com/data/media/56/brooks-falls-grizzly-bears_492.jpg
Doug
Paul -
Yep - at least that is what they always say up in Montana.
A couple years ago my wife and I hiked from the Many Glacier campground in Glacier National Park to the Grinnell Glacier. About a twelve mile round trip with a couple thousand feet elevation gain into a spectacular, remote setting. Along the way, we had to contour around a couple lakes. On the way up, we kept seeing FRESH bear scat, big piles still practically steaming, along the trail.
On the way down, we were contouring around the larger lake. A tour boat was stopped about fifty yards off shore, every one was looking at the hillside above us with binoculars, and the tour boat operator was saying something like only 10% of the people who come to Glacier get to see a bear.
On down the trail, we ran into another couple, who were stopped, looking at the hillside above the trail we had just come across. They loaned us their binoculars so we could get a good look at the large grizzly which was munching his way through the berry bushes just above the trail.
The couple told us that the grizzly had been working his way down the slope on a course that would have almost exactly intersected our path on the trail - but it appeared he heard our bear bells and started back up the slope just before we got to the point of intersection !!
So all joking aside - get bear bells and use them !!
John
P. S. Inscribe your name and address on the bells so the S & R folks know where to send the remains.
Black bear scat has berries in it.
Grizzley bear scat has bear bells in it and smells like pepper spray.
So if you have climbed a tree for safety and are looking down at a bear do you know how to tell if it is Black or Grizzly?
If it climbs up after you its a black bear. If it pushes the tree over its a grizzly
As a child my grandfather told us kids to make noise while hiking in bear country and if ever a time came and we were attacked by a grizzle to curl up in a ball and protect our head and neck as best we can. If attacked by a black bear to fight back.
It is also established that most fatal bear attacks, well over 90% of them, are from black bears. While the black bear is more likely to run from you than the Grizzly if the black bear is starving or has lost it’s fear of humans you are dead meat.
The wildlife biologists that I have talked to about this seem to think it has a lot to do with size. The thinking is that a black bear due to it’s smaller size knows you can do real harm to it so, when it decides to attack a human, it has to kill the human.
I don’t profess to know much about the subject. I don’t think we will know for certain until we learn how to communicate with the bears. However, the statistics are very clear that the black bear is the most likely to kill a human during an attack. Only the bear knows for certain why.
I hunt fish and live in bear, black bear, country. I do know how to be safe in bear country. I have seen them in the wild too. Once, when I was squirrel hunting, I came eye to eye with a big boar black bear as I topped a ravine I was hunting. I surprised him, was downwind of him and silhouetted against the sky. All the wrong things to have going on and all I had was my .22 rifle! My knees were banging together like door knockers, my heart was about to leap out of my chest and I could see his nostrils flare trying to scent me. The bear kept looking back over his shoulder and then back to me. All I could think of was back off until the top of the ridge was between us, talk to the bear and DO NOT PANIC OR RUN!
When the ridge top came in to block our view of each other I heard the bear running through the leaves. I froze because I couldn’t tell if he was coming towards me or moving away. I was steeling myself for the fight. With a Grizzly you drop onto your belly and cover the back of your neck with your hands. With a black bear you fight. When I realized he was running away I walked to the top of the ravine and there he was standing on a log about half way up the other side. He gave me one more look then walked over the top of the opposite ridge line.
I never really panicked as I am not prone to that but I was startled. Once I got calmed down a bit I actually admired the beauty of this creature as I started to back off. His belly was almost dragging the ground. He made no noise but had the most beautiful black fur you ever saw. I think he was just a curious about me as I was about him.
Later that year a 416 pound boar was shot in that very spot during bear season. I never saw that particular bear again so I am positive that was the bear I saw.
Eric -
Keep in mind that there are thousands and thousands of black bears around the country, but relatively few grizzlies, mostly from Yellowstone to Glacier and into north eastern Washington State. The high number of black bears largely drives the high percentage of deaths attributed to black bears vs. grizzlies.
When it gets down to a one bear on one person encounter, from what I have read, it is more likely a grizzly will kill the person than a black bear will kill the person. If nothing else, grizzlies are much more unpredictable than black bears - and you can not outrun or beat down a grizzly.
Startling or surprising either is probably the biggest problem. Getting their attention in a “safe” way at a “safe” distance is your best defense. Bear spray is the next and last line of defense if they are really coming at you and not just bluffing ( unless you are carrying a powerful firearm ).
John
P.S. If you like to read about such things, there is a book by Doug Peacock titled “The Grizzly Years.” Peacock was a good friend of Edward Abbey, and was the model for one of the characters in Abbey’s book about eco-terrorism, “The Monkey Wrench Gang.”
Peacock was a Viet Nam veteran who could not adjust to society when he came back from the war. He isolated in the Glacier National Park area and became quite informed about grizzlies from personal observation over a period of something like twenty years. One point he made was the first thing a grizzly wants to do when it becomes aware of a human being is to run in the opposite direction.
I will warn you, maybe unnecessarily, that the first half of Peacock’s book is more about his struggle to recover from his experiences in Nam than it is about bears. The second half of the book is more about the bears. It is a marvelous story of healing and return.
Another really good book is “Grizzly Bears,” by Thomas McNamee. McNamee is a very learned student of wildlife and an excellent writer. Much more technical than Peacock’s book and complements it nicely.
I always say, when in bear country, carry a Busse Battle Mistress on the weak side, and a .44 Magnum on the other!
I used to use barbells. They didn’t work worth a darn…
Ed
I’m just going to bring Scuba Tim and a video camera on my nest trip to bear country. Master of martial arrts vs four inch razor claws!! It’ll sell like hotcakes! Just remember Tim, you mustn’t hurt the nice bear. We don’t want our film picketed by PETA.
What would you do if you came upon two bears fighting?http://www.myspacespells.com/files/6dd60c4b0183.jpg
Doug
I generally carry a 55 gallon drum of Dave’s Flexament when I go into bear country. The smell alone deters all but the most aggressive bears. For aggressive animals, one or two heavy coatings of Fleximent generally slow them down to the point that escape becomes quite easy. If I’m feeling particularly mean that day, I will add feathers to the animal as the fleximent begins to set. 8T