Yah overweight..total right hip replacement, total right knee replacement...lol here I thought it was my moose calling abilities that got me in on this fly in gig..lol
Steven
Yah overweight..total right hip replacement, total right knee replacement...lol here I thought it was my moose calling abilities that got me in on this fly in gig..lol
Steven
"A 1990s U.S. Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team analysis determined that people who defended themselves with: guns suffered a 50% injury rate; with bear spray avoided injury most of the time.[3][4]
A 2008 "Efficacy of Bear Deterrent Spray in Alaska" study stated:
- "Red pepper spray stopped bears’ undesirable behavior 92% of the time when used on brown bears, 90% for black bears, and 100% for polar bears.
- Of all persons carrying sprays, 98% were uninjured by bears in close-range encounters.
- All bear-inflicted injuries (n = 3) associated with defensive spraying involved brown bears and were relatively minor (i.e., no hospitalization required).
- In 7% (5 of 71) of bear spray incidents, wind was reported to have interfered with spray accuracy, although it reached the bear in all cases.
- In 14% (10 of 71) of bear spray incidents, users reported the spray having had negative side effects upon themselves, ranging from minor irritation (11%, 8 of 71) to near incapacitation (3%, 2 of 71).
- Bear spray represents an effective alternative to lethal force and should be considered as an option for personal safety for those recreating and working in bear country."
Ah, yes, the famed "study" from, among other academics, Dr. Tom Smith, an American from the US "Midwest", who KNOWS so much more than anyone here could possibly do.......
Smith, IIRC, is also one of the founders/owners of UDAP, a company which makes and SELLS FOR PROFIT, spray, electric fences and so forth; his financial interests would never influence his "study" or would they? Correct me if I am wrong as I am too tired to look this up and my research books are currently in storage.
He, is one of a number of academics and public figures who adamantly oppose any killing of Grizzlies and some of these foreign-born and "educated" self-styled experts also reside here in BC and AB. My opinion of such characters is that they are usually more interested in personal self-aggrandizement and pecuniary issues than in field reality.
While spray has been effective in many instances and I would never deny this, the problems associated with field use are potentially dangerous to the user and companions and I prefer other means of dealing with aggressive bears.
I would ask, however, just what YOUR actual field experience with Grizzlies in BC is and how many years you have dealt with them? Are you a "forester", a trapper, guide, prospector or perhaps a solo hiker in remote Grizzly country?
here we go with the pepper spray bs again...I have seen first hand that it only goes 10 feet and if you have enough time to circle around the bear/cougar to get up wind you might be ok...cant imagine trying to use it in a tent...what a joke when this self serving study that included such things as spraying it around the camp at night as a "successful deterrent" ..ah ya ok heheheh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNYobXLCUhY
I've twice had good success with bear spray - both black bears.
Both times I had mild wind (didn't seem to be a factor) and the bears aggressive behaviour (#1 sneaking up behind me, #2 stalking me from head-on) instantly stopped and the bears each ran about 40 yards away before turning back to stare at me while coughing. I felt in those situations the bears were in pain, and somewhat "incapacitated", but could have charged again albeit a little slower/less efficiently. My gut feeling is bear spray did what it is intended to do, it worked to give me time and space. If either bear came back a second time I would have then had time to raise my rifle and shoot.
I now think of bear spray as a close encounter "give me a second to think" type of deterrent. I don't think it would stop a bear from coming back (just like an electric fence IMO) but I think it gives you time to think/reach for a firearm and take a kill shot if need be.
What goes around, comes around. Think first, and always act with respect.
I have first hand used it on my own 50lb dog as he was scalping another dog that tried to attack me, after 3 bursts directly into his face from 1foot away, I resorted to picking him up over my shoulder during a brief pause
Also a while back I broke the numbers down from this completely biased study. It's the most pathetic thing I've seen anyone waste time compiling. If you actually read the study, they include all kinds of encounters where spray was present including things like people spraying their camp equipment and watching the Bears come in and lick everything then leave after their curiosity had been filled as a success, spraying curious bears from the window of a vehicle. That's like me driving around with my rifle in the truck and counting each bear I drive by in my successful use of a rifle to deter an attack statistic. Talk about boosting numbers in their favour.
Now iirc there there was only about 7 aggressive charging bears that were sprayed, and 3 of them still resulted in physical contact.
Interestingly the group that did the efficacy of bear spray in Alaska study also did the same efficacy of firearms in Alaska study. The numbers were completely screwed there as well. They wrote it as if they had the data for every time a bear was shot or scared off by gunfire since the introduction of firearms to Alaska. They included people being attacked out in their yard when their firearm was still inside their home. How is that relevant?
Now ive got the links to both studies which had pages and pages and paaaaaages of numerical statistic. The fire arm one is still fully intact while the spray had been summarized.
Here they are. http://www.polarbearsinternational.o..._23_07_utc.pdf
http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/bear_coug...prayAlaska.pdf
Hmm polar bear study part was done in Church hill Manitoba..in the polar bear jail..agrees I've bear behavior was met with pepper spray..Hmmmmmmm the bars prevented the bears from really demonstrating what they really could and wanted to do
Steven