The big statistical numbers being shown to suggest low risk doesn't take into account your risk if you enter bear habitat.
As a geologist, I know other geologists who were attacked by black bears while doing field work in wild areas, generally alone and off trail. It happens. One man fought a bear in the dark for several hours, finally killing it with his rock hammer. I heard his story in person at a professional meeting. So I would not mislead with statistics with lots of zeros...
I wish there was a particular scent or sound that bears just really hate that we could just spray around our campsite
thats just called staying at home in the house.....
3. It's believed the woman was attacked while taking a nap
i dont think that is correct....
she was taking photos (the park has these and hasnt released them to my knowledge) of the bears as they were coming towards her.....
Theres many reports of scary encounters on trail in gsmnp, with people being pursued or approached by bears, etc. You just dont hear of them, cause not on AT or not post here. Fortunately most end well for all involved.
and most of these bear encounters are people chasing after the bears to get photos..
then the bear might turn and do a bluff charge---person falls over, and sprains their ankle........
or something like that...
happens a ton of times yearly......
I've often wondered that too. You have to compare numbers to exposure.Originally Posted by RockDoc
I could definitely be wrong about that... I'm going off of memory from new stories I read over 15 years ago. I must admit that I can't find any new story today that substantiates the claim... but I also can't find any new story that says she was actively taking pictures. The only thing known for sure was that there were no witnesses to her attack as her husband was down at the creek fishing while she was apparently some distance away.i dont think that is correct....
she was taking photos (the park has these and hasnt released them to my knowledge) of the bears as they were coming towards her.....
I covered the story for the station I was working for at the time....
and not only that---but this attack happened on a Sunday---on the Friday before--I saw the two bears near the intersection and was warned about them being aggressive...
ill do some googling later and see what I can pull up on it...
It's extremely easy to scare people by cherry-picking a handful of worse-case scenarios plucked from millions of people over several decades. Scaring people is the easiest of all with bears.
About 100 people a year die in horse accidents in the USA, about 1 is killed by bears. I think it's fair to say that there are far more man-days spent where there is bear risk than where there is horse risk, yet horses kill 100 times more people, and people are orders of magnitude more afraid of bears. Humans are not rational with their fears.
With about 16,929 murders a year in the US and Canada combined out of a total population of about 334,000,000, about 1 out of 19,625 people will be a murderer in a given year.
With about 3 fatal bear attacks per year in the US and Canada combined, and about 660,000 bears in the US and Canada total, about 1 out of 220,000 bears will be "murderers" in a given year.
People SHOULD be comforted by the stats with all the zeros.
If someone needs bear spray on the A.T. to sleep at night, Id' say to carry it until they are comfortable enough to get rid of it. I would definitely not carry bear spray on the A.T.
+1
Thank you.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Last fall did an AT section hike in GA. I live in western NC and all summer there had been several bear issues in the wilderness areas and the national forests which got a lot of airtime on local news outlets. Since I was backpacking alone, my wife insisted on me having bear spray, something I really didn't want to carry. On my section hike I was the only one staying in or around the shelter for three consecutive nights. It was kind of strange being the only one there. Having the spray gave me some peace of mind so I slept pretty well. No bears came around and neither did any mice.
And still no answer or thoughts, opinions, etc on whether or not a loud snorer would attract, deter or have no effect at all on a curious bear. I swear I think my husband sounds like a bear when he snores, and he has said the same about me. Wonder if a bear would think this campsite is already taken if they heard it or think "humans, gotta go". Am I the first to ever consider the question?
Staying home is not an option for me. I am just curious is all.
" Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt. "
+1 No need for bear spray in black bear country.
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no need to cherry pick, there aren't that many instances, but the ones that do exsist were 100% fatal. Horses are largely domestic animals, but for the circus bears are not...attacks happen there too. The fact remains if you come across an aggressive bear and don't have a rock, big stick, prepared to throw down, or some bear spray, science tells us it dosent end well for you. Now since you took a shot at people's sensibilities lemme just say this. I'm aware of your back ground in Alaska, awesome! But isn't all this flexing just a look at me I'm not afraid of bears?
"no need to cherry pick, there aren't that many instances" Focusing on those incredibly rare, once-in-millions-of-lifetimes events is the very definition of cherry picking.
Most people would agree that it is good to not be afraid of flying. Some would argue that 100% of fatal plane crashes don't end well, so the fear is justified, but flying is still "safe." And flying is dramatically more dangerous than black bears on the A.T.
"But isn't all this flexing just a look at me I'm not afraid of bears?" No, it's not. All of us have an irrational level of fear of something. I want to ease people's fear of bears. I think that's a good thing.
And yet being a commercial pilot or flight engineer is accepted to be the third most dangerous profession (fatality wise) in this country -- only after commercial fisherman and loggers.
Bears pose a super small risk on the AT, of course. That said, some of the anecdotal accounts of negative interactions in the east seem to be increasing -- not a bad reminder for people like me who have been thinking of them as no more of a danger than a spruce grouse.
I'm a geologist who's worked in the NE (Maine to NJ) for 33 years and neither had a issue myself nor heard of an issue among the the professional community in that time. (Lots of Lyme, but no bears...) Almost without exception, the bear issues reported have been associated with recreational users who did not bother to learn or refused to observe "bear safe" behaviors.
My advice to people wondering about bear safety is to ignore every bit of advice you find in a forum like this and look to the experts in your local area - park managers, rangers, etc. Sites like this are really just opinion sites that are heavy on anecdotal information and ideology. Looking at this site, one one hand you have the self-recognized experts who pontificate how its just fine to sleep with your food in bear territory, while on the the hand, are the risk assessment "pros" who are clutching their pearls in fear. Hiking and backpacking are not without risks, so go to recognized, verifiable, and credible sources for your data needed to mitigate the risks to point acceptable to you. If bear spray makes you feel better, take it (but be aware of the limitations). If you can't mitigate the risk, then stay home.
Good point! Take the advice of someone who has worked in the park service or otherwise in bear country for decades over anyone in a forum.
Fair enough. It's important to distinguish between the types of flying, which I didn't do. The type of flying most of us do, in jets from city to city, is very safe, even for the pilots. The commercial pilot stats are from a valid source but are a bit misleading, because those stats apparently include things like "bush flights" and crop dusting, firefighting, life-flights, and things of that nature.
I think that flying fire retardant planes is the most dangerous job in the U.S. by far.
It still boils down to how one feels about bear spray overall. If you feel better having it with you, then carry it. My daughter carries spray with her most of the time because it makes her feel a bit more secure. Oddly, the only one who has taken issue was a guy who came by us during a lunch break with a side arm jauntily hanging from a holster who, on seeing the bear spray can said there was no need for bear spray and it was silly to carry the weight.
Some stuff you just can't make up.....
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