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The Sierra Club wants the Forest Service to require everyone who enters a national forest in grizzly bear country to carry Bear Repellent Pepper Spray. Spokeswoman Heidi Godwin said in a news release, "The proper use of Bear Repellent Pepper Spray will reduce human injuries caused by bears, reduce the number of grizzly bears killed inself defense, and help promote the recovery and survival of the grizzly bear." We don't necessarily approve of making new laws, but it does show how effective bear spray is against bears. Also, make sure that the spray you are using is registered with the EPA for use against bears. There is a special formula for this and ordinary pepper spray is not recommended.
I think anyone who has a chance of being in or around Bear Country is foolish not to carry Bear Repellent Pepper Spray. I mean, why take your chances? Just carrying Bear Repellent Pepper Spray with you while your in the woods or anywhere near Bear Country will make you feel more comfortable and more confident. Hopefully, you will never need to use your Bear Repellent Pepper Spray, but if you do, you will be very glad that you have it. One canister of Bear Repellent Pepper Spray should last for 3-4 years. In other words, the shelf life of Bear Repellent Pepper Spray is 3-4 years. After that time you should buy a new canister to ensure maximum effectiveness.
I remember one time when I was younger, probably about 12 years old, when my family was camping in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park on the Western edge of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I was with my parents and my two older brothers, but I was too young to go backpacking overnight in the woods. Instead, I had to stay back with my mom in our 35' travel trailer. It was much more comfortable in the trailer, but I thought I was really missing out by not being able to go backpacking with my dad and brothers.
On my their last night out, my dad had decided he had enough of sleeping on the hard ground and wanted to get back to sleep in his nice, comfortable bed in the trailer with my mom. Dad left my two high school aged brothers with their tent and made it back to our trailer by sunset.
In the middle of the night, my mom, dad and I were all rudely awoken by my brothers pounding on the trailer door. They were quite excited and out of breath and they told us that a bear had attacked their tent during the night and they ran all the way back leaving their backpacks, tent, food and equipment at the campsite.
Bear attacks are not all that uncommon in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness. Every year there are several bear encounters that are reported to state park officials.
My brothers had just climbed into their tent for the evening when they heard and felt something brush against the tent. They said they just looked at each other, without saying a word, but each knew what the other was thinking: "Was that a bear that just brushed up against our tent?" They waited for some sign of confirmation while my oldest brother pulled out his 2" long pocket knife that he always carried with him while backpacking, not that such a small knife would do much good against a bear. Then the animal clawed at the corner of the tent and knocked out a tent stake, collapsing the tent. My brothers, still looking at each other, no knew they had a bear just outside their tent. They sat motionless, just looking at each other and trying to think to themselves what to do next. When they heard the bear off in the distance, probably going after their food hanging in a tree, they made a break for it.
They quickly unzipped the tent and, without looking back, ran as fast as they could down the trail. It was a good thing they were in shape from running on the cross-country running team in high school because they had 4 to 5 miles of wilderness trail to cover before the trail intersected with a county road where they were able to flag someone who could give them a ride back to the State Park where the trailer was parked. It was a clear night, so they were able to make out the trail fairly well by the moon light.
The next morning, our whole family hiked back to where my brothers had been camping to collect everything they left at the camp site. We weren't sure what to expect, but I was picturing a tent that would have been ripped up to shreds. In reality, the tent was just fine and still in one piece. One of the backpacks that must have had the scent of food on it was clawed up and had been dragged into the woods. The food bag that was hanging in the tree had been pulled down and there was a trail of food wrappers and packaging leading into the woods. Our dog picked up the scent and followed it into the woods where we found an empty food bag and a can of soup that had tooth marks on it. That was all that was left.
The following information came from Wikipedia:
List of fatal bear attacks, by year, in North America:
Three species of bear, the Brown Bear (Ursus arctos), the American Black Bear (Ursus americanus) and the Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) are identified in the article. The Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), the Kodiak Bear and the Mexican Brown Bear are treated as subspecies of the Brown Bear. There were about 52 recorded deaths due to black bears between 1900 and 2003 and about 50 deaths due to brown bears and about 5 due to polar bears in the same period. The most recent data is the most reliable and complete, but does not necessarily include all of the fatal attacks that have occurred in North America.
Prior to recent decades bear attacks were not well documented, particularly those which took place in isolated regions. As a result there were more attacks and fatalities than have been recorded as shown here, particularly in Canada and Alaska.
2005 was a notably bad year for fatal bear attacks in Canada with 5 in the span of only a few months, generating increased media attention on the subject. Wildlife conservation officials issued public warnings in certain areas known to have large bear populations in close proximity to humans.
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