Two more Bear Spray Failures in Montana

Gun Watch ^ | 5 November, 2015 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Bear spray is a useful tool that can help protect humans and bears in limited circumstances.  It seems that if a bear is not serious about mauling, killing, and/or eating the human, the spray can convince a bear to stop investigating the human and leave them alone.  But the ability of spray to stop bears bent on attack is far less certain.  Here are two more cases where bear spray failed and bullets were necessary.  From kxlo-clcm.com:

A lone female grizzly bear reportedly surprised a man hunting elk at Big Creek north of Gardiner on Oct. 28. The hunter reported to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks that he came upon the bear feeding on a carcass in the brush and that the bear charged him. The hunter said he first used bear spray to deter the attack then shot the bear in self defense.

The second incident was reported on Oct. 31 by a group of elk hunters who said they came upon and surprised a female grizzly bear with two young bears at Johnson Lake near West Yellowstone. The hunters said they first used bear spray on the charging bear but, as the bear continued to approach, they reportedly shot the bear in self defense.

I have a friend who is a mail carrier.  We had a conversation about the effectiveness of pepper spray on preventing attacks by dogs.  Dogs are relatively closely related to bears.  From natinalreographic.com:

Dogs and bears, which diverged some 50 million years ago, are 92 percent similar on the sequence level.

My postal carrier friend said that the stereotype of dogs attacking postmen is dead on accurate.  He said it is a challenge that he faces everyday.   Then he gave this assessment of the effectiveness of pepper spray.  I am paraphrasing from memory:

If a dog has made up his mind to bite you, the spray does not work.  If the dog is ambivalent about actually attacking you, the spray can have a deterrent effect. 

 I have had several peace officers say the same thing about men.

The fact is that firearms are much more effective at stopping aggressive bears than is bear spray.  The reputation of bear spray is built on its use on non-aggressive bears that are merely curious, and/or far too habituated to the presence of humans. 

The conundrum here is that bears that are that habituated to humans are a serious threat that should be eliminated.  They may be dissuaded by bear spray now, but in the future, when they are hungrier, larding up for hibernation, or are being more territorial, they will likely cause a serious problem for another human.  So bear spray just puts the problem off on someone else in the future, perhaps someone who does not have bear spray or a firearm.

The responsible thing to do is to put down bears that are habituated to humans before they become a deadly problem for someone else.  Transporting them does not work. 

This leaves the rare wilderness circumstance where a bear has never seen a human before and needs to be taught that they are best left alone.  Bear spray might serve in that circumstance.

Bear spray also serves as something of a defense for those who have a psychological fear of firearms, those who are willing to transport a holstered bear spray container, but not a holstered pistol, or who are forbidden by various governments from having a dependable means of defense.


©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch

[Blueflag]

Ah the tyranny of the imprecise antecedent.

[Moltke]

They just “claimed” to have used the spray first...attempt at CYA?

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Think that might have worked in Ferguson, MO?

[BBB333]

Yes.

It keeps the ‘cat tree’ company now that there is snow on the ground.

[mad_as_he$$]

Humm...to many cell phones around.

[WKUHilltopper]

“How could a tree be like a cat?”

A pussy willow?

[Salamander]

LMAO!

Sometimes I really love this place.

;D

[Sivad]

Have an adolescent black bear hanging around our
rural wooded neighborhood. We call him Mopy Dick.
My sister/neighbor texted yesterday that the bear
got into her garage and tipped over her freezer.
I came home early from work and there was a 4x3
Blacktail buck lieing down in my yard. The Blacktails
don’t get too big but he was huge. When I got close
he just stood up, moved a bit over, and lied down
again. He did this several times. At first I thought
he was sick but before he left he was up and browsing.
I concluded that he sensed the bear was fairly close
by in the woods and he thought he was safer near a house.
Little does he know about bears and houses......

[Blood of Tyrants]

It’s my luck that the bear I encountered would like spicy food.

[QBFimi]

All right, you guys - stop that.

“... climb a tree as a cat does.”

So there!

[Cen-Tejas]

I’ve spent approximately half of each summer going on 7 years on the Yukon River alone. It is estimated that there are some 17,000 bears in the Yukon’s drainage area.

I have had numerous encounters with these animals and always love to see them in the wild. But, I try all day each day to make sure that I see them at some distance. About the length of a football field is a nice minimum.

But, a few times, they were much closer and I confess to never having bear spray around for just the reasons the author stated. I do have a 50 caliber Smithy hanging around my shoulders (it’s heavy) and one time I did scare off a 300-400 lb black bear by firing it in the air. Who wouldn’t run at the sound of that cannon going off?

I disagree with the author though that the bears should be “put down” just for the sake of the poor bear “might” attack a human someday. With a little common sense the bears and humans can co-exist just fine and besides if a bear and a liberal were in a fight I would root for the bear.

[Airwinger]

The National Park Rangers are advising hikers in Glacier National Park and other Rocky Mountain parks to be alert for bears and take extra precautions to avoid an encounter.
They advise park visitors to wear little bells on their clothes so they make noise when hiking. The bell noise allows bears to hear them coming from a distance and not be startled by a hiker accidentally sneaking up on them. This might cause a bear to charge.
Visitors should also carry a pepper spray can just in case a bear is encountered. Spraying the pepper into the air will irritate the bear’s sensitive nose and it will run away.
It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for fresh bear scat so you have an idea if bears are in the area. People should be able to recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear scat.
Black bear droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur. Grizzly bear droppings tend to contain small bells and smell of pepper.

[Joe Boucher]

I have a neighbor that use to fed an gator boiled chicken.
She would go to Publix and get a whole chicken and boil it then feed it to a wild gator she named.
It got to be 8 feet long and about 300 pounds before they came and took it away for her safety.

[B4Ranch]

If you put a piece of plywood that has nails spaced 2 apart, covering the entire piece, you will have a nice unwelcome mat for the bears. They won’t want to stand on the nails if they are sticking up at least an inch.

[Idaho_Cowboy]

Don’t leave us hanging man. What did she name the gator?

[Billthedrill]

In theory I have a multi-layered defense in that I carry both spray and a firearm. In practice, however, it happens so fast it'll be whatever I can get to first. Average time from encounter to the bear physically on you is said to be around three seconds. If you can spray, drop, draw, present, and fire in that time you're a heckuva lot faster than I am.

The problem is that a bear coming at you presents a very small target to a bullet that will actually drop him. And it's entirely possible you may be under a bit of stress...

[marktwain]

Many bear encounters take many seconds. Often the bear is seen for minutes or hours before it attacks. Three seconds is likely the time you have in a full out charge.

Many predatory black bear encounters involve the bear testing the prey, to see if it is dangerous or not. They often approach closely to see if you will hurt them. Many of these enounters offer ample time to employ either spray or a gun.

[Joe Boucher]

Georgie

[Idaho_Cowboy]

Georgie Gator, well, it does have a certaing ring to it. LOL.

[Joe Boucher]

Man,
He was one fat boy.
Big enough to make luggage and a pair of nice boots.