He looked petrified and I reassured him it's so uncommon to actually have a ticked off bear to deal with. If he follows some simple common sense precautions, he won't have to resort to evasions my buddies have escaped with their lives. Don't take just my word for it, as I'm no scout-leader. Read up on the Parks Canada website and talk to awesome park rangers who know their stuff better than I. That said, there's some easy ways to keep these gentle giants non-growling as they are shy by nature.
1) Don't feed wild-life
Applies to all large predators for obvious reasons. Don't leave your food, even your beer (a bear broke into a cabin in Banff and drank the Molson but left the imports) anywhere near where you sleep. Even dumping out your dishwater by your campsite is a good way to get 500lb teddy bears sniffing around your tent.
Air-tight coolers are one way to go and so does leaving your food in the trunk of your car. A better way is to put it up a tree. Yes there's a chance the bear might knock the tree down, so use a sturdier tree. Rigging it up with a simple rope toss with a weight on it will do.
2) Don't have a surprise party
Another thing to avoid these furry fellows is to make a lot of noise. Bear bells are so cheap and good to put on back-packs, bike handle bars and walking staffs. Singing, laughter and good loud conversation are a bonus.
The less likely a bear is to be startled the better. Even hanging bear bell on the tent is a good thing in case the bear brushes up against your tent.
3) Climb like Tarzan
Bears weigh more than you do and if you have the option between running or not, make like a five year old and scale a tree like Tarzan. Honestly this works better than you think. Bears stop climbing trees after they grow up from cub sized. He will be miffed but if you stay real quiet, he will lose interest after a little while.
Hold on because a bear will try to shake you out like a ripe apple, but you'll be better off twenty feet up. And a common sense FYI is climbing faster if you lose extra weight. So drop your backpack and hope there's nothing good smelling in it.
4) Drop the blue cheese
Ignoring the first tip, if you are being chased, keep your wits and if handy throw food at the bear. This also sounds ridiculous but works because he's more interested in food that doesn't fight back or run away. You shouldn't have had that strong smelling beef jerky or whatever in your hand anyway. It might just buy you a bit of time to climb the tree in case you're out of practice.
5) Leave dogs at home
My friend found out the hard way because his stupid dog was running up the trail into the bushes. He ran out in a hurry and through my buddy's legs followed by a much larger furry black cannon-ball.
Hikers was very quick to follow the dog who found an angry startled black bear. Up the tree they went and the dog stayed home next hike.
6) If you gotta fight, be mighty scary looking
The law of the jungle states that king of the hill wins. It sounds silly if you actually come face to face with a grizzly bear, don't cower or run. Even waving your backpack or tent around, flapping your jacket and yelling like a madman.
You have 50/50 odds that you'll scare him off by being crazy enough not to want to fight. Remember he will probably look for easy prey that doesn't cheap shots.
So grab a big stick and try to nail a bear on the muzzle. You will have stories to tell your grand-kids because you'll likely survive to tell the tale. Throw big rocks and aim for the face or the other end like one of my friends found out.
7) Luck out
My friend was out with his scout group when he was a kid, they ran into a bear. Scout leader's worst nightmare, but he stayed calm. Told the boys to freeze and slowly reach down for a rock and take aim. On the count of three, over eager and freaked out scouts pelted the bear who turned tail. They earned a badge of courage and perhaps soiled underwear.
The unlucky bear earned a particularly lucky rock in the bum. Worse, whimpering violated bear ran off and my buddy swears the rock popped out again. You might just luck out better than the bear does.
8) Dumb-luck
Another one of my buddies had to deck a tourist to get him from trying to get a free bear ride. He was working the summer as a wilderness guide. He couldn't make this up, but some father wanted to get his toddler to ride the grizzly bear.
There was a language barrier going on and my buddy couldn't get it into the guy's head about the danger involved because this wasn't Disneyland that sure wasn't a tame grizzly.
He stopped trying to pull him back from rushing the bear and swung a right hook. The guy paid attention after that and didn't lose his toddler as a free lunch.
Speaking of off-spring, never get between a mama bear and her cub. That won't end well so beat a hasty retreat out of line of sight.
So in summary of all seriousness
Respect nature and fuzzy cute animals that can break a deer's neck with one swing, razor sharp claws a few inches long and run like an angry Juggernaut as fast as your car can pedal to metal. My friends don't make this stuff up and nor do park rangers who are amazed when they find people who had their car ripped up for trying to feed the bear and figured a rolled up window would stop them.
Enjoy outdoor beauty but beware of the beast
My cat is harmless to spiders but when in the wild, a cougar will not nuzzle me. Same rules apply to any cornered creature you run into close encounters. Don't let it keep you out of the woods when the teddy bears have their picnic. Yet have a healthy amount of caution of them feeding in late summer for winter.
Although park rangers do tag and track bears in provincial parks and around campsites and update a report. They catch and releasing bears somewhere else if they get too close to where humans frequent, but still be careful. Like my brief stay as a boy scout, being prepared takes half of the danger out of the situation and have fun. Take some clean extra boxers anyway.
-- PLR --
p.s. I came as close as I ever hope to be to a bear at Calgary Zoo for the fun shot grabbing a small trout. The bear print is from http://www.trophydrifters.com/
