33
The short answer is "bear spray"; a firearm is really not the most effective option. That said...
I will assume you are looking for grizzly protection, since you didn't specify the bear and black bears are relatively shy. Again, using spray is a far more effective way of improving your odds; a review of its use in Alaska found a 98% success rate, with no ...
33
The question asks for an instance where a bear climbing a tree attacks a human. I found a news article of a hunter being attacked by a black bear in a tree.
I don't think this is a completely satisfying answer since the question implies the question: Why would a bear expend the effort to climb up a tree to attack a human? I am not a bear expert but I read ...
29
First of all the odds that you startle a bear in this way are quite low. There is a good chance that it would have heard or smelled you before you get that close.
That said, if you encounter a bear in the wilderness, your reaction depends on how the bear is acting. In most cases, the bear will be defensive. In this case you should stay calm, talk calmly ...
27
You can. Bear spray is a more humane option; however, you do ask about legal repercussions. You can shoot pretty much any animal in self defense in the USA. After you shoot the animal it is important what you do if you want to avoid fines. Once the fight is over and you know you are safe you need to call the forest service. If you don't know their number ...
27
I've been up close with grizzly and black bears before, I've had them come sniffing through my camp and I've done nothing but lay quiet in my sleeping bag and wait for them to wander off, which they usually do. Most of the time I don't even know they were there, I just find their tracks the next morning.
Believe it or not bears spook really easily. I've ...
26
First of all, DO NOT bring anything smelly into your tent. This includes food, tooth paste, deodorant, or anything else that has a smell. Also, keep fires away from the tent.
I recommend setting up a bear triangle campground. Cook your food in one corner, close to that corner–maybe 50 feet away–set up a latrine area. About 200 feet or more away from both, ...
23
Bears don’t really hibernate, although they lower their activity during winter. Here’s one sample study of Black Bear winter behaviour in Sierra Nevada, California:
Thirty-nine (62 %) bears were winter-dormant for at least 2 weeks; the
remaining 24 (38 %) remained active all winter.
Here in Czech Republic we don’t have many bears, most of them cross ...
23
Being in a hammock shouldn't change anything. A tent is not any safer, and may be more dangerous, since you don't have visibility of the area around you. Buy or borrow a copy of Trail Life, there's a good discussion of the issues with using a tent. A tarp is my preference over a hammock or a tent, because they make for a dryer and more comfortable night's ...
22
No, a tent will not give you any protection from bears that want what's inside. If you want to use one thats fine, but don't go getting a false sense of security.
In some ways a tent could be an attractant if:
You have eaten anything in it over the last 6 months.
You keep good smelling clothes in it (like the ones you wash in nice smelling detergent).
...
21
Use your ears. OK, Let me explain that.
But first things first. The direction of the wind is what we call “downwind”. If I throw a handful of white flour into the wind, the direction that flour travels is “downwind”.
The breeze picks up the scent of nearly everything it touches and carries that scent along wherever it goes. Like the white flour, but on a ...
20
Back away calmly. Be SURE not to separate a mother from her cubs. Other than that, the bear probably won't be too interested in you. (Except a polar bear, which may consider you food.)
If you see bear cubs, look for the mother and stay away.
20
When you meet a bear, keep several things in mind:
Never make eye contact with a bear.
Make yourself as large as possible - do this by standing on a stump or rock. take your coat and raise it above your shoulders, etc.
Never turn your back to the bear or run. This will make him think you are prey and encourage him to chase you.
Talk in a monotone and keep ...
20
Keep your dog on a leash.
According the the Scouts, dogs are a bad idea in bear country.
Leave your dog at home. A dog often infuriates a bear and may come
running back to you with the bear in pursuit!
New Hampshire department of wildlife agrees that, while small, the primary risk is that your dog agitates a bear then runs to you for protection with ...
18
With the exceptions of grizzly bears and polar bears, bears are nuisance animals that are after your food. They have no interest in you except as a source of food or as an obstacle to obtaining your food. In specific, extremely popular camping areas (e.g., Yosemite Valley), bears become habituated to people and are much more common, so they are more of a ...
18
It does. Rule of a bear cache is to put EVERYTHING that smells, in your bear cache and hang it. This applies to toothpaste, deodorant, food, lotions, perfumes, yes.
More info: What precautions should I take to protect myself and my camp from bears?
18
Why yes they can climb trees, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
A common misconception is that grizzly bears, unlike black bears, cannot climb trees. While its long claws make climbing more difficult for a grizzly than for a black bear, a grizzly can get to you in a tree – it will more
likely, however, be able to reach you before you reach ...
17
"Better" might be the wrong question. Here are few alternatives:
"Safer" - Canister, hands down. Depending on where you are, bears have been known to study brilliant bear hangs, find the critical tie point 3 trees over, and with a casual flick of a claw, order takeout. On the other hand, I have seen bear canisters take a tumble off a several hundred foot ...
17
By "black bear", I'll assume you mean Ursus americanus, the North American black bear.
These bears are opportunists and aren't looking for a fight. In all the encounters I have had with them in the wild that I know of, they have run away as soon as they noticed me. I probably had many more encounters where the bear noticed me and took off before I noticed ...
17
I know that if you cross the Bering Strait to Northern Asia (Siberia, etc.) you'll find that bears hibernate in huge nests in the tops of trees. So climbing trees is not a problem for bears. They must do it in that region because there are tigers about. The real question has to do with the nature of the bear in question. I've turned about in the woods to ...
16
A tent can provide a psychological barrier for the bear - which won't do much to deter it if it smells something it wants inside (food), but can prevent haphazard encounters.
For example, if a bear is wandering through your camp on its way to check out your expertly hung bear hang a tent will be a visual obstacle it will naturally move around / avoid, ...
16
Given that the active ingredient is capsaicin which is used in self-defence sprays for all types of purposes, bear spray should be effective on anything with tear ducts, soft tissue, sinuses, eyeballs, etc, (and will totally dominate a bean burrito**).
The discriminating difference between "bear spray" vs "self-defense" spray, vs. law enforcement "occupy-...
15
This answer will focus on food storage, since that's what I know the most about and it hasn't been addressed in other answers yet.
There are two common means of food storage in bear country:
Hanging and counter-balance methods
The basic idea behind these methods is to hang the food in a tree in such a way that a bear wouldn't be able to reach it. Remember ...
15
This answer may depend on the type of bear, but somehow I doubt it.
If you ever visit Yosemite National Park, go to the Happy Isles
Visitor Center. They have an old Jeep door on display. The Jeep had
once belonged by a camper who left a tube of chap stick in their car
as they slept.
A black bear smelled the chap stick inside the closed Jeep and ...
15
I almost always sleep with my backpack--in fact, I use it as part of my sleep system as I use a shorter sleeping pad, so the backpack goes under my feet. Keeping the pack in your tent gives maximum protection from the worst backcountry pests--mice and their kin.
In the past I've left my pack outside covered in a large, thick trash bag. I think once I ended ...
15
Bear canisters should not be suspended.
Doing so would make it possible for a bear to steal the canister and take it away. The shape of the canisters make it very challenging for a bear to hold or carry, and normally they will eventually give up and ditch the canister somewhere still close enough that you could find and retrieve it. If you have it hung, and ...
14
Bear canister rules are often relaxed in the winter. However, this will depend on where you are camping. On the east coast, in the Adirondacks, the rule is:
NYSDEC Regulation Requires The Use of Bear Resistant Canisters by
Overnight Users in The Eastern High Peaks Wilderness Between April 1
And November 30. NYSDEC encourages campers to use bear ...
14
US Fisheries and Wildlife (with black and grizzly bears) suggests that bear spray is statistically more effective.
A 2008 study by Smith et al included two polar bear encounters where the bears were successfully deterred with bear spray.
However, in polar bear country you have other considerations, as the Nunavut visitor information says
Pepper spray ...
14
It seems like you simply need to reverse the procedure you give. Since you initially had to pull the rope up far enough to tie the stick in to it, you can still pull it back up to the same point in order to untie the stick. Then let the bag lower down again, stick free.
Here is my hastily doodled interpretation of the process. The stick is represented by ...
13
A fuller history: They were approved for a few years (2004-2007) for use in Yosemite, which is a proving ground for bear-resistant containers. In 2007 I believe there were a couple incidents where bears were able to puncture an Ursack and "suck" food out of it. This led Yosemite to ban them from the park (and ultimately some other national parks followed ...
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