How to Avoid an Encounter With a Bear

Bears in the wilderness are usually more interested in finding food than attacking you. Preventing encounters is the best way to avoid trouble.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Hiking Boots
• Binoculars
• Bear Safety Devices
• Tents

1. Learn and obey the rules and regulations of the wilderness and other areas where you hike and camp.
2. Get as much distance as you can between your eating/food-preparation area and your sleeping area, preferably with natural barriers such as rocks, trees and creeks in between.
3. Keep your food in a bear-resistant container, which generally comes in the form of a locking metal cylinder.
4. Try to cook downwind from your sleeping area, and eat everything you cook. Do not burn your scraps'keep these and any other leftovers with your other food in the bear-resistant container, then pack them out when you leave.
5. Sleep in a tent. Do not allow any food odors to get inside your tent. Otherwise, bears might come into your tent looking for food'and find you.
6. Gather your group together as one mass and make a ruckus if a bear wanders into your campsite: wave arms, yell, bang pots together and throw rocks. The bear will probably mistake you for a larger, aggressive animal and retreat.
7. Hike in a large group and stay together.
8. Stay on the trail and hike during the middle of the day, when bears are least active.
9. Wear bells while hiking. If bells are too annoying, try talking, singing and clapping as you hike. The important thing is to make lots of noise so bears will know to avoid you.
10. Scan ahead with binoculars when hiking in bear country. If you spot a bear, change your course to avoid it'especially if you spot a mother with her cubs.

Tips & Warnings

• Grizzly bears are responsible for most bear-attack fatalities, while black bears are generally more interested in making a meal out of your food than out of you.
• Most bear encounters are at short range and in the brush, rather than on a worn trail.
• Of the few attacks that do occur, most involve a mother and her cubs. Always stay well clear of cubs'Mom may not be visible, but you can be sure she's not far away.