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  1. #21
    Registered User egilbe's Avatar
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    A strange reaction to an extremely unlikely occurrence. Do you go around staring at the sky to avoid getting hit in the head by an asteroid?
    Last edited by egilbe; 06-23-2017 at 11:38.

  2. #22
    Registered User BuckeyeBill's Avatar
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    no but I do look up when I am setting up my tarp and hammock to make sure there are no dead hanging branches over me. I also like to eat at the farthest table from the door with my back to a wall. I'm not paranoid, I just don't like people behind me when I eat.
    Blackheart

  3. #23
    Registered User egilbe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BuckeyeBill View Post
    no but I do look up when I am setting up my tarp and hammock to make sure there are no dead hanging branches over me. I also like to eat at the farthest table from the door with my back to a wall. I'm not paranoid, I just don't like people behind me when I eat.
    I do that too, that reasonable.

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by stephanD View Post
    Thanks for the feedback. I think the extra weight (11 ounces for the 8.1 fluid ounces size) well worth the peace of mind. I never thought I will be needing one, but i changed my mind, and i wonder how many more out there feel this way?
    If it increases your comfort level and lets you sleep better at night, then carry it.

  5. #25
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    On one of the Alaska settler TV shows they were showing the equipment of a guy who was out hunting deer. He had a rifle for the deer, then a shotgun with deer slugs for bear, plus a .357 as a backup, then a big knife. I think he also carried bear spray. That would kind of mess up your base weight! On you-tube there are videos of people spraying agitated bears and they back off. Of course, we don't have the video of anyone where the bear didn't back off...

    I think over time black bears will revert to a more aggressive personality. We did such a good job of killing any we saw for a couple hundred years the only ones left were the super-shy ones, a kind of an evolution by lead. Alaska might already be at that point. Plus they have brown and grizzly bears, so I can't imagine going in the woods up there without spray.

  6. #26

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    Quote Originally Posted by mateozzz View Post
    On one of the Alaska settler TV shows they were showing the equipment of a guy who was out hunting deer. He had a rifle for the deer, then a shotgun with deer slugs for bear, plus a .357 as a backup, then a big knife. I think he also carried bear spray. That would kind of mess up your base weight! On you-tube there are videos of people spraying agitated bears and they back off. Of course, we don't have the video of anyone where the bear didn't back off...

    I think over time black bears will revert to a more aggressive personality. We did such a good job of killing any we saw for a couple hundred years the only ones left were the super-shy ones, a kind of an evolution by lead. Alaska might already be at that point. Plus they have brown and grizzly bears, so I can't imagine going in the woods up there without spray.
    After reading Lewis and Clark's journals, it is my opinion that a pistol or even rifle with slugs is almost useless against a charging griz.
    (they shot one with 50 caliber rifles and later counted 11 slugs in it's lungs and heart, but it kept coming)
    Give me bear spray over a gun. (and a knife? maybe for mountain lion, not griz))
    Don't let your fears stand in the way of your dreams

  7. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by fiddlehead View Post
    After reading Lewis and Clark's journals, it is my opinion that a pistol or even rifle with slugs is almost useless against a charging griz.
    (they shot one with 50 caliber rifles and later counted 11 slugs in it's lungs and heart, but it kept coming)
    Give me bear spray over a gun. (and a knife? maybe for mountain lion, not griz))
    Grizzly, yes. I'd probably carry spray and a pistol. Black Bear you'd likely have some time. And if you have time for spray I don't know why you wouldn't with a pistol depending on how you carried it.

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  9. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by Uncle Joe View Post
    Is bear spray flammable? Maybe you could hold a lighter in front of it and make a mini flame thrower. I've done that other sprays.

  10. #30
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    It usually not the actual spray contents, but the propellant use to get it out of the container that is flammable.
    Blackheart

  11. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by BuckeyeBill View Post
    It usually not the actual spray contents, but the propellant use to get it out of the container that is flammable.
    There you go! Now we just need the bear spray manufacturers to add a second trigger to spark the spray - instant bear flambe. Wonder what burnt bear smells like in the morning?

  12. #32
    Registered User BuckeyeBill's Avatar
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    Be some hiker's luck the the hair of the bear would catch on fire and start a forest fire.
    Blackheart

  13. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by Uncle Joe View Post
    ...or this, where it did work. I'd rather be able to at least try then not.

    https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2017...aska-saturday/

  14. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tundracamper View Post
    ...or this, where it did work. I'd rather be able to at least try then not.
    https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2017...aska-saturday/
    Agreed. There's a reason experts advocate it's use, esp. in Grizzly country.

  15. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by egilbe View Post
    A strange reaction to an extremely unlikely occurrence. Do you go around staring at the sky to avoid getting hit in the head by an asteroid?
    Two people in recorded history have been hit by meteorites (only one died, the other was bruised, because it went through her roof and ceiling before hitting her.) Not quite the same thing. I do agree that the chances of being attacked by a bear on the AT are slim, but not nearly as slim as the chance of being hit in the head by an asteroid. Orders of magnitude difference.
    Time is but the stream I go afishin' in.
    Thoreau

  16. #36

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    I used to think bear spray was a needless item, too, until I had a run-in with a problem bear at #41 in GSMNP. This bear wandered into camp shortly before dark and no amount of yelling or pot-banging would scare it off. It started to come across the trail, directly into our camp area and I grabbed a couple of good-sized rocks, lobbed them close to the bear and managed to get it to run off.

    After a discussion, it was nearly dark, we hung to food on the cables and camped up the trail a ways. Later that night we could hear the bear shaking the cables, trying to get the food (it didn't get it). Since then, I've carried spray because you always think things like this aren't going to happen to you, until they do. I do not fear being killed by a back bear but I do not want to be injured, miles from help, or have my gear destroyed all because I was adverse to carrying a few extra ounces. As always, HYOH.

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