if you're backpacking in bear country we
want to help you learn the best
practices for dealing with bears from
avoiding them on trail to keeping them
out of your camp or what to do if you
encounter a bear here's the deal with
backpacking in bear country when we're
hiking on trail we want to do everything
we can to avoid seeing a bear remember
that you are in their territory so we
want to alert the birds that we're
coming and make enough noise so
hopefully they'll move away from you
bears are most active at dusk and dawn
so consider hiking at a different time
of the day also if you're in a group of
four or more people you're a lot less
likely to be a target for a bear and
like I said before make a lot of noise
while you're hiking whether that's
singing talking loudly clapping randomly
things like that are really good to
alert the bears that you are on your way
however shrieking or whistling can sound
like a wounded animal and can sometimes
even attract the bear towards you bear
bells while they're a good idea are not
generally loud enough to be effective if
you're choosing to carry bear spray keep
it in a spot that's accessible on your
pack also make sure that you know how to
use your bear spray and check the
regulations forever you're going as some
parks may not allow you to carry this
sweet let's go set up camp so I've got
my camp all set up here and the number
one most important thing about keeping
bears and animals away from your camp is
properly handling your food and food
smells so this bear canister here has
anything with a scent in it has my
sunscreen bug spray as well as my snacks
and I'm gonna take that at least a
hundred feet away from my camp some
places will also ask you to cook away
from where you're storing your food and
you should always cook away from your
camp this is just a further dispel
disperse that smell of food so check
regulations and talk to a ranger food
handling of bear country is super
important we have an entire video on it
we'll leave the link for that at the end
of this video and in the description
below
so let's talk about what to do if you
encounter a bear how your respond is
going to depend on the type of bear you
come across so it's important to be able
to tell the difference we're gonna talk
about black bears versus grizzly bears
or brown bears and since black bears can
look Brown we like to be able to tell
the difference based on the shape of
their body and their face so black bears
have a straight shoulder no shoulder
hump and then tall slightly pointy ears
and their face is straight they're found
throughout the country grizzly bears do
have that shoulder hump and then they
have rounded ears and they have a
concave face profile so a curve from
their forehead into their nose grizzly
bears are found in Alaska Western Canada
Montana Wyoming Idaho in the North
Cascades in Washington seeing a bear in
the woods is usually no big deal but if
a black bear approaches you you want to
try and scare it off so pull out your
bear spray put your arms in the air and
make yourself as big as possible if you
have trekking poles you can hold those
up as well make a lot of noise and start
backing away slowly never turn your back
on a bear and never run this will
trigger a chase instinct and then
they'll treat us pray if a bear
continues to approach you then is the
time to use your bear spray if that
fails and a black bear attacks fight
back punch it in the face in the eyes in
the neck and in all the tender spots you
basically want to be as aggressive as
possible if a grizzly bear approaches
you you don't want to seem like a threat
speak in a low call voice and keep your
eyes averted and have your bear spray
out and ready to use if a grizzly bear
begins to retreat continue to back away
as well
you don't need to have that ground to
yourself a grizzly bear may do what's
called a bluff charge you can recognize
this because their ears will still be up
and they'll charge towards you huffing
and puffing and generally they'll stop
continue to stand your ground speak in
that low calm voice but have your bear
spray ready to use you can recognize an
actual charge because their ears will be
back and they'll move silently towards
you this is a good time to use your bear
spray if that fails
play dead put your hands behind your
neck to protect your spine and lie flat
on your stomach on the ground with your
feet spread wide so the bear can't flip
you
and get to your vital organs and do your
best to remain calm remember it's
important to carry bear spray whenever
you're going to be in bear country and
feel comfortable using it when you're
out in the field you'll need to be able
to remove the safety clip and aim it in
a pretty scary situation when using this
you'll aim low and shoot it in spurts so
the bear will walk through the cloud of
bear spray the idea with this is that it
can immobilize the bear for a period of
time giving you a chance to back away
and move to safer ground remember that
to deter Paris from Camp the most
important thing is proper food handling
so the video here that you can check out
for more information on that stay safe