Personally I think
bear bangers should be legal in the US.
(The spray was more a security blanket for me than anything else, anyway. If I really thought I might have to use it, it would be logical to carry the big bottle.)
I'm not a bear expert so take what I say with a grain of salt, I'll probably be eaten tomorrow. If a bear is not pursuing me, and is far enough off the trail, I just carefully walk past it. I don't have all day, and being foolishly assertive goes a long way to getting them to yield. The difference is when it's pawing at the ground and asking for space, in which case I would yield. In my experience, after you chase them off the trail, they hide in the bushes but don't just run off towards the horizon in fear of their lives. They know what you are. I have mixed feelings about harassing them too much. Even if they haven't totally left the scene, once they're off the trail in front of me it has been safe to pass, while keeping an eye on them.
As for camp, or if a bear is approaching you, I was only half-kidding about the "angry chimp" act. Clap your hands, make a bunch of noise. Pick up a stick and beat it. (Against a tree, not the bear.) I used to bring my poles into my tent, when I carried them. Make it known that you will not go gentle into that big mouth. If you have a bunch of people it shouldn't be too hard to scare a bear away. Or you can just put in some ear plugs and forget about it. Lots of people on this board just sleep with their food. (Ok, kidding about the ear plugs.)
I'm a hiker, not a camper, so I've spent few nights outside when I can just go home and shower. But here are some examples of encounters and what I did:
We saw the resident bear at Mollies Ridge last week, and it was clearly heading toward the cables. One person yelling made it hesistate, but when two people got into the act, it turned tail and ran away. Neither of us had hiking poles, but hand clapping was very effective.
On my way towards Cosby Knob shelter, I ran into a smaller bear or female heading towards me on the trail, in the opposite direction. I "verbally assaulted" it and then picked up a stick. The bear went into the bushes, but just off the trail. I threw the stick in such a way that it hit some other bushes, and the bear went a little further. At that point I passed.
Last year, I turned a corner and saw a gigantic male walking towards town in the evening. It ignored me until I hit my sticks together, at which point it stopped and turned its head towards me. I decided that making a challenging display was probably not a good idea. I stopped hitting the sticks together, and then it just turned its head away and resumed its walk towards town.
On the same trail, I treed some cubs and the mother was sitting at the bottom of the tree watching me. It was probably less than 50' from me. I kept an eye on her but just walked down the trail, away from the scene.
In Shenandoah, I was doing one of the hikes and there was a bear in the river. When it heard me, it aggressively ran up the bank and perked up its ears. I said "hey bear" a few times so it could figure out where I was, and just slowly walked down the trail, making sure I wasn't being pursued. That was one of the more nervous encounters because it was one of my first.
On a lesser used trail, I encountered two bears. They scattered when they heard me, but I knocked the poles together to be sure. Instead of sideways into the bushes, they ran up the trail ahead of me and around the corner. I had to carefully round the corner and scare them again, before they went sideways into the bushes.
Anyway, its fun to tell stories, but I hope I'm not making it sound like a bigger deal than it is. Most of the time you won't have to do much, they'll just run away, and it's cool to see one. Seeing a bear makes you feel alive.... at least temporarily.
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Originally Posted by Rmcpeak
. The bear is the black thing in the middle fishing on the Chattooga River..
