Bear Safety

[Mellow]

Just curious, I was looking for some info on what to do if encountering a bear. I've heard many things from playing dead to presenting a large presence.

http://www.yellowstone-bearman.com/jpgs/madgrizzlybear.jpeg

Here's an interesting site w/suggestions:
http://www.yellowstone-bearman.com/b_spray.html

Anyone have any other interesting things to see?

[dannyk]

My thoughts are this, when encountering a grizzly you don't have to play dead you probably will be. Black bears will bluff charge you sometimes if you get to close, in my case if that were to happen I probably wouldn't be able to play dead I probably would be from heart failure. Neither species is predictable or something to take for granted. Pepper spray works or so I have read but it must be readily available, if in a tent at night and sound asleep and a bear takes a notion to have you for a snack your in trouble. Take all the precautions you can and hope for the best. A karilian bear dog would be good insurance, but kind of hard to pack on a motorcycle.

[BobKat]

I have motorcycled through Yellowstone several times and I always wondered what you would do if/when you enounter all cars stopped in the middle of the road, and bears walking right down the road toward you! Now most often in thinking about this and looking around I could plainly see there was no way to turn around!

So figured I would simply blow the horn and try to scare them off, and if that fails, abandon the bike and beat my way into a nearby auto!

[Mellow]

This wasn't a bear incident but when Trailace and I were in Yellowstone last year
we came up on a herd of Buffalo and these two all off a sudden started running
across the road. I stopped, on a downhill, started using the Wing's reverse
slowly and they just started staring at me... Then, I thought to myself
"The Wing is kinda shaped like a Buffalo, do they have good eyesight?"

They turned the other way and I zoomed by without incident.

A bear might be a different issue.


http://blink.smugmug.com/photos/36557666-M.jpg

[dannyk]

This time of year is a dangerous time, they are just coming out of their den?s from winters hibernation, they are hungry, and of course most of the females of breeding age may have young. A bear is an opportunist they will feed on anything and everything they can, that?s why the slogan don?t wear what you eat when you go to bed at night. No food in the tent, or close by. They will rip open a pannier or top box on a bike to get food or candy if its stored in there. The local bear expert in our area was just on the news telling people that if they encounter a bear (referring to black bears) only, to make themselves as big as possible, wave your arms, (kind of like mellow does when he encounters a DQ) and holler like hell. I personally know of a couple of instances that a friend of mine had with black bear bluff charges, it is funny to hear when he tells the story now, but, it sure wasn?t to him when it happened. The bear stopped about five feet from him, popping its teeth and a low growl then slowly backed off. I don?t know about anybody else, but he said the bear was on him so quick that he could do nothing, When he got back to his vehicle and got inside he started to shake like crazy.

[Mellow]

Wow.... if it were me the bear would have run away due to the sudden smell of feces....:eek:

I always wondered if one of those compact air horns that people take to football games would be enough to scare off a bear of if it would just be considered a challenge.

In Yellowstone last year, they said not to even keep chapstick with you as Bears can smell it, guess Bears get chap lips too. Yeah, I'll put a lot of chapstick on right before I go to bed.. LOL

When I picked up my Wing last year in MS, I stayed at Mt Magazine State Park in Arkansas and the ranger said the prior weekend a guy kept some meat he wanted to BBQ in his bike trunk. The Black bear tore the bike apart trying to get to it and all the guy could do was watch... I think I'd be running...

[Fireball18]

How do you keep a bear safe?

[Fireball18]

In 2001 we went for a long day ride up in Alaska, that wound up taking us inside Denali Nat'l Park. We went as far as the end of the pavement, about 15 or so miles inside the park, and took some group photos, and all that. On the way out of the park, and we had only gone a few miles, traffic was stopped on the road. We stopped behind a couple of cars, and realized that they had stopped because of the grizzly bear that was walking up the road--TOWARDS US!!!!!:eek:

As soon as he saw all the motorcycles, he stopped and then stood up to check us out. Not that we were concerned at all. Right! He then started trotting up the road towards us, but at the last moment, he ran off into the brush. Sort of raised the hearbeat level and adrenalin. At least in a car you have some protection. I consider it a close call. The bear is hard to see. It just in front of the white car, heading towards the bikes.

[Alan]

Seeing the buffalo picture from Mellow reminded me that my wife and I drove through Yellowstone about six years ago and also saw buffalo walking down the road with a long string of cars following.

That night while watching the news in our hotel room, my wife does not camp, the news was about a tourist being killed in Yellowstone by a buffalo. The idiot walked up close to the buffalo to get a nice closeup picture. The buffalo took exception to the tourist and stomped him. Helped to clean up the gene pool.:D

[Mellow]

I just saw An Unfinished Life w/Robert Redford and the bear, I'm assuming Grizzly, was not something I'd want to come up on.

[STeveGray]

Hmmm. Never really thought about it before. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking that with a bear in the road and traffic stopped I'd want to position my bike near the center lane. I'm assuming traffic in the opposite direction has stopped, too so you'd have an open lane to your left (unless you're in the UK ;) ) I'm also assuming bears would figure a trajectory to intercept a target the same way dogs do so I think I'd use basically the same technique that works with an attacking dog. Either take off suddenly when he's too close to adjust to the still target that suddenly took off (being careful not to pop the clutch and kill the engine :eek: ) or start rolling slowly by then suddenly gas it when close to him.

Tough call. Timing would be important.

Whaddaya think? I never really gave this much thought before.

[Fireball18]

They don't look like it, but bears are amazingly agile and can spin on a dime. Since they're also highly unpredictable, I'm not sure what would be the best course of action or position to take on the road. Often, if left alone nothing will happen. Bears are very curious critters and once their curiosity is satisfied, they amble off. I guess this guy was either satisfied that nothing bad was going to come from us, or he got wary because he'd never seen motorcycles before and decided to leave before HE got the short end of the stick. Either way, we were relieved after a short, but tense moment. Sure gave us something to talk about.

[BobKat]

In 2001 we went for a long day ride up in Alaska, that wound up taking us inside Denali Nat'l Park. We went as far as the end of the pavement, about 15 or so miles inside the park, and took some group photos, and all that. On the way out of the park, and we had only gone a few miles, traffic was stopped on the road. We stopped behind a couple of cars, and realized that they had stopped because of the grizzly bear that was walking up the road--TOWARDS US!!!!!:eek:

As soon as he saw all the motorcycles, he stopped and then stood up to check us out. Not that we were concerned at all. Right! He then started trotting up the road towards us, but at the last moment, he ran off into the brush. Sort of raised the hearbeat level and adrenalin. At least in a car you have some protection. I consider it a close call. The bear is hard to see. It just in front of the white car, heading towards the bikes.

OK Greg,
What I want to know is WHY, OH WHY were none of the bikes in the pic turning around!!!:eek:

[Fireball18]

Where would we go? No one wanted to agitate the bear, I guess. I dunno.

This was a "bug" run, and about an hour and a half after this, it started to get dark. I couldn't see squat, and I thought my headlight was aimed wrong. We finally stopped for gas, and that's when I discovered that I'd forgotten to remove my "target" card from the front of my headlight!!! Then I could see down the road. And you want to know why no one turned around? Hah!! LOL Good thing I wasn't leading the group at that moment.:D :p

[Mellow]

Target Card? I don't think I'm aware of that trick...

[Fireball18]

Target Card? I don't think I'm aware of that trick...





Yeah, we each taped a small card, slightly larger than a business card, somewhere on the front of the bike. The card had a "target" or bullseye on it. The one with a bug closest to the center, at the end of the ride, won the post. We all paid $5.00 to participate. Sort of like a poker run, but without checkpoints. Oddly, there didn't seem to be many bugs out, so we just kept riding until someone hit a bug on the target. 543 miles that day. Not bad for a group of nearly 20 motorcycles.

[Doobage]

Bear safety...

When hiking, it's good to make noise while walking along. This is done for two primary reasons. First, it prevents you from accidentally sneaking up on a bear. Bears don't like being surprised. Second, Bears will most likely stay away from a clanky loud source.

If you are in sight of a black bear, you can almost always back away (while facing them).

Grizzlies it's complete luck to get away.

As with any predator, if there main source of food is limited (and they are starving) it is highly likely for them to eat whatever they can find.

The best thing to do in any area where you are unfamiliar with the wildlife is to talk to the rangers. They can tell you everything about the area and what to be concerned about. And more importantly, they can tell you the cool stuff to look for as well.

Lastly, the afore mentioned pepper spray has been mentioned as a tool, but I probably wouldn't be carrying that around unless it was part of my everyday job/recreation to be in the back wilderness.

[10-96]

I always thought I'm one of the few people alive that has literally ran head on into a black bear and lived to tell about it. In 1965, I was 6 years old and camping with my parents at Yellowstone. I had gone to the bathroom and was running out and as I ran around the corner of a small outbuilding, I ran head-on into a full size black bear coming in the opposite direction. The impact caused me to fall backward & scream like I've never screamed before...the bear reared up, turned and ran. I remember sitting on the ground crying and watching the bear run away. Then, i remember many campers running toward me.... I guess I was damn lucky...

[Mellow]

I always thought I'm one of the few people alive that has literally ran head on into a black bear and lived to tell about it. In 1965, I was 6 years old and camping with my parents at Yellowstone. I had gone to the bathroom and was running out and as I ran around the corner of a small outbuilding, I ran head-on into a full size black bear coming in the opposite direction. The impact caused me to fall backward & scream like I've never screamed before...the bear reared up, turned and ran. I remember sitting on the ground crying and watching the bear run away. Then, i remember many campers running toward me.... I guess I was damn lucky...

That's pretty close... either you're very lucky or you were a very ugly kid.. LOL..

Glad you came out of that one with a good story.

[Boomer503]

How do you keep a bear safe?

:confused: :eek:

[sandman]

Although I've never had any experience with bears it's my understanding that you should always be with a buddy when you encounter a bear. In that instance you don't need to outrun the bear you only need to outrun your buddy.:run1: :run1:

Gordon

[Trailace]

Although I've never had any experience with bears it's my understanding that you should always be with a buddy when you encounter a bear. In that instance you don't need to outrun the bear you only need to outrun your buddy.:run1: :run1:

Gordon
So Gordon how fast are you? :rolleyes:

[georgeorge]

Although I've never had any experience with bears it's my understanding that you should always be with a buddy when you encounter a bear. In that instance you don't need to outrun the bear you only need to outrun your buddy.:run1: :run1:

Gordon

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[msscull]

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