Bear Spray is it needed on the AT?

[Lone Wolf]

bear spray is like bug spray, right?

[saltysack]

"Yea boy! You sure have a pretty mouth on you.." Classic.

I carry it. The real stuff I mean. There I said it. And it's a great feeling having it in the middle of the night when you are alone in unfamilliar territory. On the AT or any where else I go hiking.

Forgot to clarify.....I own plenty of guns...I'm not anti gun.....just anti idiots with guns! Especially scarred ones at that!


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[Sarcasm the elf]

bear spray is like bug spray, right?

That's what the guy ar REI told me.

[Lone Wolf]

That's what the guy ar REI told me.

REI workers don't hike.

[Uncle Joe]

I carry it. The real stuff I mean. There I said it. And it's a great feeling having it in the middle of the night when you are alone in unfamilliar territory. On the AT or any where else I go hiking.

Carry what U want..I've just never felt it was worth the weight!!! I've been on lots of so called crazy adventures...I paddleboard with gators and never felt a gun was worth carrying.....people scare me not animals...nuts with guns r even worse!

I think he meant bear spray, not guns.

[saltysack]

Ooops


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[Offshore]

bear spray is like bug spray, right?

In one sense, yes. Both have EPA registration numbers so are technically considered to be pesticides.

[Offshore]

The example you gave was of a bear that was habituated to the noise of people. People have steadily encroached on their habitat, so they will get used to the noises. Bears even get used to seeing hikers out on the trail. The AT is well-traveled. It sounds like the bears you saw were used to people being around, but that still does not mean they want anything to do with people. They were just going about their business. You happened to come along.

There is a huge difference between a bear not running away when it sees a person, and a bear that charges a person because it has issues. How many hikers - day hikers. section hikers, thru-hikers - travel the trail in NJ vs how many bear attacks have there been to date? The odds of being attacked by a black bear are still extremely low.

I have a black bear who frequently visits my yard. While we don't get together for BBQs, and I have never tried to get him to ride a unicycle, we are also very much aware of the other. My noises don't scare him and he doesn't frighten me. I use caution, but am not afraid. He's just being a bear and trying to survive. Is there a possibility he could snap someday? Well, yes. The possibility that something "could" happen is always there. Doesn't mean I have the right to take away his life because he "could" snap.

Too many people overreact rather than use common sense. That is why we hear about so-and-so was killed in a case of mistaken identity. The firearm option has the probability of carrying a much higher consequence than you mention. This is a rhetorical question, but what if that noise you hear at 3 am is a hiker with a young child, hiking down the trail to go home because the kid is sick? What if a person in the tent gets nervous because it could be a bear coming to git' 'em and just shoots at the noise? Then you have a very bad situation on your hands and it won't be just a penalty. What happens if someone is unfamiliar with their unlicensed weapon and actually hits the bear…but the bear doesn’t die? The bear that was previously unprovoked is now going to be very unhappy with you and everyone around you.

This is not a rant about guns. This is a call to think about all the consequences of any action (even the unintended consequences) before you choose that course of action. The trail has risks. If you are fearful of something that needs to be addressed long before you put yourself in the situation. What are all the possible consequences for your choice in dealing with your fear? The AT is heavily traveled and people do night hike. Noises outside the tent seem a lot bigger in the middle of the night. Your choice in handling a situation better not negatively impact the lives of others.

I really think the bear was just there for the music...

[Ktaadn]

bear spray is like bug spray, right?

My 5 yo daughter actually asked me this very thing last year. She was like 'oh, you spray it on your skin and it keeps the bears away?' Not exactly honey.

[NewHeart]

Pork is good but bear is naaaaaasty......I used to hunt. The last animal I shot w bow was a black bear in Canada years ago....haven't killed anything since........


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I don't like bear either, but I'm not going to let that stop me from hunting. There's nothing like sitting in a tree stand at first light. Watching and listening to the woods come to life is a marvelous thing!

[rocketsocks]

I don't like bear either, but I'm not going to let that stop me from hunting. There's nothing like sitting in a tree stand at first light. Watching and listening to the woods come to life is a marvelous thing!

...and then blast the life outta it. Ironic ain't it. I used to trap and hunt as well, and am glad I know how.

[saltysack]

I don't like bear either, but I'm not going to let that stop me from hunting. There's nothing like sitting in a tree stand at first light. Watching and listening to the woods come to life is a marvelous thing!

I love being in the woods more than anything.....just lost the desire to kill....I can still hear the sound the bear made after being shot years later. I have nothing against ethical fair chase hunting, I love venison......I'd rather shoot with a camera these days....


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[Miel]

I don't like bear either, but I'm not going to let that stop me from hunting. There's nothing like sitting in a tree stand at first light. Watching and listening to the woods come to life is a marvelous thing!

Oh dear. Your life was saved, and yet you want to take life? Why would you (or anyone else) want to take an animal's life for pleasure? Something so sadly ironic about your comment.

[saltysack]

Oh dear. Your life was saved, and yet you want to take life? Why would you (or anyone else) want to take an animal's life for pleasure? Something so sadly ironic about your comment.

Don't take what he said the wrong way.....nothing wrong with ETHICAL FAIR CHASE HUNTING....I'm an animal lover who just decided not to hunt anymore....yet I still eat meat...I now volunteer with a wildlife rehab facility near me....here is my latest catch, rehab and release.......


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[Miel]

Don't take what he said the wrong way.....nothing wrong with ETHICAL FAIR CHASE HUNTING....I'm an animal lover who just decided not to hunt anymore....yet I still eat meat...I now volunteer with a wildlife rehab facility near me....here is my latest catch, rehab and release.......


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That eagle is a beauty!
(Hunting, not so much.)

Thanks for helping to save the gorgeous bird.

[Miel]

"Never draw out the death of prey." http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/o...se-hunting.htm

Hiding in a stand seems to preclude that.

Frankly, I don't know why, with all our culinary (and fabric) choices in this wealthiest of nations, one would need to kill a bear. What joy is in it (unless one's life is in mortal danger?). Do what you can to protect yourself but don't kill or maim unless absolutely necessary. Ethical hunting is a slippery slope to poaching - poachers will ask, if other hunters can do it, why can't we? And yes, there is a market in some other countries for AMERICAN bear parts. Jesus guys-from-abroad, spend the money and get some Viagra and some believing in some folkloric superstition that animal "products" will make you more virile!

Make-a-Wish has been under tremendous pressure not to grant kills to the dying. I feel for those families, I really do, having a mother who died from complications from Alzheimer's and a father who was taken young from cancer. But I believe that even dying children, as heartbreaking as their illnesses are, should not be allowed to kill a beer (and, ultimately, he wasn't).

Slippery slope.

[Traveler]

"Never draw out the death of prey." http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/o...se-hunting.htm

Hiding in a stand seems to preclude that.

Frankly, I don't know why, with all our culinary (and fabric) choices in this wealthiest of nations, one would need to kill a bear. What joy is in it (unless one's life is in mortal danger?). Do what you can to protect yourself but don't kill or maim unless absolutely necessary. Ethical hunting is a slippery slope to poaching - poachers will ask, if other hunters can do it, why can't we? And yes, there is a market in some other countries for AMERICAN bear parts. Jesus guys-from-abroad, spend the money and get some Viagra and some believing in some folkloric superstition that animal "products" will make you more virile!

Make-a-Wish has been under tremendous pressure not to grant kills to the dying. I feel for those families, I really do, having a mother who died from complications from Alzheimer's and a father who was taken young from cancer. But I believe that even dying children, as heartbreaking as their illnesses are, should not be allowed to kill a beer (and, ultimately, he wasn't).

Slippery slope.

I'm not sure your presumption ethical hunting leads to poaching is well founded. Your postulation suggest ethical driving is a slippery slope to your driving a car into a crowd at the farmers market. Ethical hunting has as much a relationship with poaching as buying gas has with holding up the gas station. Disagreeing with an activity based on personal objections is fine, connecting participants with illegal activity in a broad brush smear is a bit over the top.

Regarding bears, the population is growing in some States where trap/release is no longer a sustainable option and the population is pushing into suburban and urban areas. Since bears have few if any predators outside of man, it pretty much falls to us on how to manage the issue. There are only two ways a bear population can be controlled, nature (disease, famine) and predation. Hunting can be an effective population control mechanism with bears, as opposed to deer that herd and can develop relatively huge populations in a very short period of time. Though I do not necessarily like that option, unless a better option comes along, its all we have at the moment.

No beers were injured in formation of this post.

[rickb]

Best to keep in mind that no AT thru hiker has ever been killed or seriously injured by a bear.

On the other hand 5 (or 6) AT thru hikers have been murdered by another human while many miles into thier AT thru hikes.

With that in mind, a case can be made to carry a defensive spray that might be effective against the greater risk-- and to also provide some comfort (security blanket?) should you hear some strange sounds in the middle of the night that could be a bear.

Fox Labs makes some well regarded (LEO grade) products that could be carried descreatly in a hip belt pouch or in your front pocket during a hitch. O

Its all all about choices-- no righr answer. The choice should be informed by the history of bear (and human) encounters, however.

[Miel]

Population control = an excuse to murder.

We need to be more aggressive in rethinking housing policy, and aggressively work with cities and towns on reducing housing footprints; encourage more cluster housing (away from woods across the country); more housing in urban areas and public transportation.

My BFF lives in Grand Isle, Nebraska. She loves the idea of returning much of the Plains states to the buffalo.

We did this human encroachment thing to ourselves, the bears didn't do it to us. Why should a bear lose his life over it?

Climate scientists say that once our species is gone, the planet will recover within 100 years. Will that happen to bear populations too? How will bears protect themselves from "overpopulation [of bears]" with no people around to kill them? Maybe nature should take its course. I for one will pick up neither gun nor arrow.

[Sarcasm the elf]

I will politely remind you that this is a hiking site and neither an animal rights nor hunting site. Hikers are a very diverse bunch, there are many of us who have strong opinions on the subject on both sides however we generally refrain from debating it here because it is not an appropriate use of the forum.