Hi Scott:
The idea of wearing bells or other noise makers is to announce your arrival,
for most bears that allows them to manouver away as they don't generally
like to make contact. For the rogue bear, hurt bear, or hungry bear it is a
dinner chime. The Grizzly is a creature of the Rockies in N.A. Kodiacs are
even bigger and feed mostly on Salmon and dont range as far west as the
Grizzly. As pointed out neither one resides in Algonquin Park in Northern
Ontario.
The number one rule of bear encounters is to always travel in the mountains
with a fatter and slower friend, as pointed out earlier you can't outrun a
grizzly but you only have to outrun your companion. Joking aside, survivors
have 'played dead' and 'fought back' etc., the play dead philosophy has
merit and you may lose a bit of your scalp or butt, but women find scars
attractive, right? The logic is that the bear sees that you are dead or a
wimp and pose no harm to cubs, or food supply and loses interest. Pepper
spray will cause the bears eyes to water while they rip you limb from limb,
a little like bringing a knife to a gunfight. There aren't many encounters
on well travelled trails that are not too deep into the wild, Park Wardens
can be consulted and will warn of any problem spots.
Gord
----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Gomez" <scott@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 8:14 PM
Subject: [OM] Re: OT: Treadwell and Bears
>
> An old one, on the "Off" topic:
>
> MONTANA GRIZZLY WARNING!
>
> Posted by Montana Fish and Game Dept. on Jan. 28, 1999 at 00:36:19.
>
> In light of the rising frequency of human/grizzly bear conflicts, the
> Montana Dept. of Fish and Game is advising hikers, hunters, and
> fishermen to take precautions and keep alert for bears while in the
> field.
>
> We advise that outdoorsmen wear noisy little bells on their clothing so
> as not to startle bears that aren't expecting them. We also advise
> outdoorsmen to carry pepper spray with them in case of an encounter with
> a bear. It is also a good idea to watch out for signs of bear activity.
> Outdoorsmen should recognize the difference between black bear and
> grizzly bear feces.
>
> Black bear feces is smaller and contains lots of berries and squirrel
> fur.
>
> Grizzly bear feces is larger, has little bells in it and smells like
> pepper.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gregg Iverson [mailto:golftooter@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Subject: [OM] Re: OT: Treadwell and Bears
>
> Folk lore used to say to wear a small bell on your pack while hiking in
> bear country, but I had heard that in the last few years bears had
> actually been tracking humans by the sound of the bell in some
> localities.
>
> gregg
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