This video while long does a great job teaching you how to act in active bear territory.
The TLDW is: -
- In active bear territory carry bear spray and be ready to use it
- You can’t out run a bear don’t try
- bear bells don’t work
- playing dead makes it easier for the bear to maul you
- when hiking with a group and encounter an aggressive bear stand shoulder to shoulder and prepare your bear spray
- let the bear decide how they want to leave the encounter (if they are not attacking you)
- outside of a momma bear, most “attacks” are bluffs but can be scary as shit.
- guns work but you better be a good and quick shot cuz bears run fast and are very intimidating doing so
- a gun shot can help scare away most bears
My chance at pedantry! Also, some black bears are brown, and some grizzlies are black. If you live in overlapping territory, it may be easier to know them by shape… but if you’re close enough to discern shape, you’re already in a bad spot.
Rhymes don’t matter if it’s a polar bear.
“If it’s white, goodnight.” is the way I learned it.
So are polar bears considered more dangerous and aggro than grizzlies? I mean it wouldn’t be too crazy, particularly since it’s probably rare to encounter one, compare to grizzlies. But just had never really heard that.
Polar bears, because of their location, see everything as food. Black bears and grizzlies, while omnivores, are more specific.
And I feel like I have to say this to counter this weird perception online: black bears and grizzlies do not hunt humans. They generally don’t like humans and will stay away. But carry bear spray.
Polar bears don’t find food as readily as Grizzly bears. If a Grizzly hesitates on a salmon, it’ll find another salmon.
If a Polar hesitates on a penguin, it could starve.
Your point is correct, but for accuracy’s sake penguins live in the Antarctic and polar bears live in the Arctic.
So it’s really unlikely they’ll get a second one in time
