I have not been afraid of black bears

[tdoczi]

MY guess is that not one in ten people on this list could accurately state the leading cause of death of healthy thru hikers on the AT.

do you know the leading cause of death in national parks? drowning and other water related deaths

would be ironic to drown while swimming or fording with a pack full of guns and permethrin soaked clothing and bear spray covered in bells. perhaps at least a snorkel is in order if you plan on swimming?

[swjohnsey]

Ban water!

[tdoczi]

I'm super late in on this one (there's already 6 pages of comments) and someone may have already mentioned this, but predatory bear attacks (i.e. where a bear stalks and attacks a human for food) are very rare. Stephen Herrero wrote a great book called "Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance" where he studies many bear attacks. Very few of them are predatory, and he discusses the rarity of this in his book. From my recollection (haven't read the book in a long time) most of the attacks were food related...go figure.

actually that same person wrote the article i linked in the first reply in which he states that BLACK bear attacks are almost ALWAYS predatory.

[ranger2012]

Its like a horror movie!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTiq-gMpUtI

[Colter]

On a typical day, as many people die in the United States by 12:21 AM (the first 21 minutes of the day) as have been killed by bears in all of the United States in all of recorded history.

[Fredt4]

If a bear is biting me what difference does it make what the bear is thinking? It's current actions are the problem.

If you're looking for a difference in what the bear is thinking I'll suggest that a predatory bear is far more dangerous than a bear looking for food. If it's a bear looking for food your excited yell and actions will probably startle the bear and it'll run away leaving you to tend to your injuries. Whereas a predatory bear isn't likely to give up by a few yells.

Either way the actions of the bear are merely hypothetical as to hiking the AT as you'll never have either one. Black bears just don't attack hikers on the AT and your actions to stop them are wasted time and energy. You can HYOH an carry bear spray or hang your food bags as you wish but you won't be any safer. Hanging your food only increases the probability a bear will get it but it doesn't increase or decrease your safety. By keeping your food with you and not allowing it to be unattended you are not only providing greater security for your food but your also showing greater affection for bears by not allowing them to get your food and avoid all the potential negative consequences that may follow.

[Uncle Joe]

Edited: Somethings best kept to one's self.

Blacks bears on the AT are still bears.

[zelph]

In India they wear masks on the back of their heads to fool predator tigers. Maybe it might work for predator bears.

mask for predator bears.JPG

[Uncle Joe]

I heard something about this for mountain lions. Something about wearing your hat backwards. I'd think something with some "eyes" on the back might work also.

[Traveler]

In India they wear masks on the back of their heads to fool predator tigers. Maybe it might work for predator bears.

mask for predator bears.JPG

The dreaded India Water Tigers must be particularly ferocious.

[wiiawiwb]

the brown ones were grizzlies my friend

Actually it's the other way around. Grizzlies are a subspecies of brown bear. A brown bear might be a grizzly but it also might not be a grizzly. It could be a Kodiak which is another subspecies of brown bear.

Generally, in Alaska, coastal bears are brown bears and the interior ones are grizzlies.

[tdoczi]

Actually it's the other way around. Grizzlies are a subspecies of brown bear. A brown bear might be a grizzly but it also might not be a grizzly. It could be a Kodiak which is another subspecies of brown bear.

Generally, in Alaska, coastal bears are brown bears and the interior ones are grizzlies.

they are all biologically the same animal. the correct scientific name for all of them is "north american brown bear."

[tdoczi]

Actually it's the other way around. Grizzlies are a subspecies of brown bear. A brown bear might be a grizzly but it also might not be a grizzly. It could be a Kodiak which is another subspecies of brown bear.

Generally, in Alaska, coastal bears are brown bears and the interior ones are grizzlies.

further, unless one is on the kodiak islands, they are not kodiak bears.

any other brown bear you would see in alaska is most definitely a grizzly.

[Traveler]

"All grizzly bears are brown bear, but not all brown bears are grizzlies" - Bear Grylls

[tdoczi]

"All grizzly bears are brown bear, but not all brown bears are grizzlies" - Bear Grylls

Ursus arctos - the brown bear

Brown bears originated in Eurasia and traveled to North America approximately 50,000 years ago,^[9][10] spreading into the contiguous United States about 13,000 years ago.^[11] In the 19th century, the grizzly was classified as 86 distinct species. However, by 1928 only seven grizzlies remained^[2] and by 1953 only one species remained globally.^[12] However, modern genetic testing reveals the grizzly to be a subspecies of the brown bear (Ursus arctos). Rausch found that North America has but one species of grizzly.^[13] Therefore, everywhere it is the "brown bear"; in North America, it is the "grizzly", but these are all the same species, Ursus arctos.
Ursus arctos subspecies in North America

In 1963 Rausch reduced the number of North American subspecies to one, Ursus arctos middendorffi^[14]
Further testing of Y-chromosomes is required to yield an accurate new taxonomy with different subspecies.^[1]
Coastal grizzlies, often referred to by the popular but geographically redundant synonym of "brown bear" or "Alaskan brown bear" are larger and darker than inland grizzlies, which is why they, too, were considered a different species from grizzlies. Kodiak grizzly bears were also at one time considered distinct. Therefore, at one time there were five different "species" of brown bear, including three in North America.<sup>[15]

The Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi), also known as the Kodiak brown bear, sometimes the Alaskan brown bear, inhabits the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in southwest Alaska. Its Alutiiq name is taquka-aq.[1] It is the largest recognized subspecies of brown bear, and one of the two largest bears alive today, the other being the polar bear.[2]


morals here are two fold-

if you are not literally ON the lodiak islands, you are not looking at a kodiak bear.
if you're in north america and not on the aforementioned kodiak islands, you are looking at a "grizzly bear."

the idea that there are brown bears on the alaska mainland that are not grizzlies is like arguing over whether that big cat you just saw was a puma, a panther, a mountain lion, a cougar or a cantamount.</sup>
and i fear for anyone who looks at a brown bear anywhere in north america and worries less about it because "thats not a grizzly."

[TexasBob]

Actually it's the other way around. Grizzlies are a subspecies of brown bear. A brown bear might be a grizzly but it also might not be a grizzly. It could be a Kodiak which is another subspecies of brown bear.

Generally, in Alaska, coastal bears are brown bears and the interior ones are grizzlies.

Good explanation here:

https://www.bear.org/website/bear-pa...ear-facts.html

[Sarcasm the elf]

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[Uncle Joe]

^This..............

[Another Kevin]

I'm still not terribly afraid of black bears. Mainly because I do NOT leave food unattended unless it's properly stored (hung, bear-boxed, in a canister, whatever suits the circumstances).

I'm willing to accept the risk of sleeping with food - but I virtually always hang it. Why? Because if I have to get up in the night, I have to take my food with me, because I do NOT leave food unattended unless it's properly stored. That's a pain in the arse. It's less annoying just to hang it. (Plus, almost anywhere I hike, that's what the law says I have to do. I'm occasionally less than scrupulous about following the law. There are some small flaws in my character.)

Having two events a week apart is unusual, but with the fact that we've historically had one every couple or three years, a one-week interval isn't enough outside what you'd expect to really raise eyebrows. (Google 'exponential distribution'. I suppose that one bear's meat is another bear's Poisson.) Random events come in clusters more often than people guess.

In brown bear country, I'm sure that I'd behave differently. (I've heard of people who eat wearing their rain suits and then hang the suits with their food, so as to smell less tasty to Bruin.) But I don't hike in brown bear country.

[tdoczi]

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i saw this on a tshirt just yesterday...129809_0000.jpg