As someone who has spent lots of time in the woods,
along rivers, and is addicted to nature shows, my 2
cents about bears.
Your response should be : It depends on the
circumstances and the bear.
If you can slip away without being seen or sensed,
that is the best. Enjoy the sighting, they are neat
animals. I generally stand quietly and get out my
camera ;)
If the bear sees you and starts walking towards you -
DO NOT RUN (everyone should have this figured out by
now ;). If it is walking towards you, it is probably
curious and does not realize what (or really WHERE
exactly) you are, so it is trying to figure it out.
They are intelligent critters, and therefore are
curious. And they have bad eyesight but great noses.
They are coming closer because they can't SEE you
well, and can't ID you if you are down-wind of them.
Let the bear know what you are. Raise your hands
above your head and wave your arms slowly. Then talk
to the bear (softly, non-aggressive tone) to let it
know that you are a human being (Hey bear, nice bear,
Yada Yada). I've done this with Black Bears, and
talked to several people (one a Park Ranger) who did
this with Grizzly Bears. In all cases, the bear
generally leaves in a hurry. This can be tough to do
under these circumstances. Last year my dad was
fishing in Alaska, and a Grizzly and cub came out of
the willows about 50' from him, up-wind. He KNEW to
do this, and did not, and he started backing slowly
away. The bear saw him, and started to follow,
because it was curious. When it got to where he had
been standing, the bear caught his scent, figured out
what he was, turned around and left. But he had some
anxious moments ;)

If the bear keeps coming, your response should be
dictated by what the bear is doing, and the species of
the bear.
If a bear (Grizzly especially, but probably Black as
well) charges you, you need to remove the threat he
perceives you to be. Do the classic "Play Dead". You
are NOT going to out-run a charging bear anyway (35
MPH!), and unless you can get up a tree REALLY fast,
this is your best bet. Grizzlies are mostly geared
towards removing a threat, and do not generally see
people as prey. Generally, most folks at this point
get hurt, but generally survive. The bear usually
leaves after making his point.
A Black Bear is much more likely to view people as
food at this point. There have been cases where Black
Bears have stalked people. If the Black Bear comes
after you, after figuring that you are a person, get
ready to fight! The several cases like this I've
heard about, the person reacted aggressively, charging
back and driving the bear away, like you would do for
an agressive dog. Do not turn your back, meet
agressive stance with your own agression, but try to
slowly back away and get to somewhere safe. One guy
was pursued (slowly) thru the woods like this for
miles, trying to get back to his car. This is a RARE
response by Black Bears, I've only heard of a couple
of cases. Playing dead in these cases would have been
bad. The bear would simply have walked up and started
to chow down (ugh!)

There has only been one recorded case I've heard about
in recent times of a Grizzly pursuing a person like
this. The couple saw the bear, waved and yelled, but
the bear kept coming, slowly stalking them. They
dropped their packs, and kept slowly backing away.
The bear pursued, again not charging, but slowly
following/stalking them. The couple eventually
decided to stop and play dead. Wrong idea. They
should have kept moving and tried to find somewhere
safe to hole up, or gotten up a tree. The ending was
not pretty, so I will not relate the ending here.

Bears are animals to be respected, but not necesarily
feared. I've seen several up close and personal
(Blacks and Grizzly), and have never really felt
threatened or in danger. AndI also believe a lot more
have seen or sensed me than I ever saw! But they are
complex animals, and they have their individual
foibles as well. You may have a dozen encounters, and
come away without a problem. Until you meet that 13th
bear that is having a BAAAD day, that may spread the
joy to you.
All that being said, I still go out into the woods
alone, and fishing along rivers, without any real
worry about bears.

Guy McWethy

Guy McWethy
Renton, WA
mailto: lguy_mcw at yahoo.com

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com