I've had several encounters with black bears. I think the scariest was when I was trail running, in the Porcupine Mountains, of Upper Michigan. It was a spur of the moment thing to take a run down to Mirror Lake. About 50 yards from the lake I stopped and peed behind a bush, and then continued to the lake. About 15 minutes later I started back up the trail, and was about 10 yards from the pee bush. There was a 2 year old black bear smelling the spot. We saw each other at the same time. He took off like a shot heading straight across the forest like it was nothing. I watched him go and started contemplating my poor choices. Running in late afternoon, with no one knowing where I was, in a big bear habitat. I also considered that if I was injured with a sprained ankle even I would most likely be spending the night in the forest alone, in the dark, with not even water, since I was planning on a fast run, and then back to the car. Never again did I choose to not be prepared, and not even tell someone where I was!

I see bears all the time , I carry a 357 and bear spray .

Great video nicely done, as someone that spends most of my time hiking alone in Alberta I have had many bear encounters, and in every one the bears took off or just plain ignored me, I always tell people to move slow and dont startle them. if you want a good photo use a 300 mm lens not a cell phone. most people bear interactions are either from moving fast like running or biking and in that case the bear is not trying to kill you just catch you as you have triggered the chase reflex. its the cat and the marble as I teach people. put a marble on the floor in front of a cat and it will ignore it, now flick that marble and the cat is all over it in seconds. same with a bear. move slow be bear aware. carry bear spray and know how to use it, and in over 25 years in these mountains i have never had to use it. The other trigger is when they are feeding, we had a bad bear encounter here a few years back people on a trail not paying attention came within 9 feet round a rock of a bear on a Caracas , just plain stupid and it did not end well. the people survived thanks to bear spray, the bear bit down hard on the guys pack, and bit into the can and whoosh spray everywhere it stopped the attack, and the people left. . could easily have been avoided just by paying attention, again great video one of the best i have seen on this subject. i added a sub and will keep up to date.,

Fantastic guide to sharing the bear's world... we are the visitors! 🐻 🥪

I like to enjoy hiking and camping and stuff but this is why I only do stuff in the desert now. I had a scary experience with a bear that ran at me up in Yosemite. I was hiking around a lake at around mid morning and about 200 ish yards from me out of the reeds popped a black bear. It looked at me and my dad for a little bit then started coming over to where we were. Once it got about 100 yards from us it started to pick up the pace into a gallop. Then it stopped again about 30 yards from us. At this point we were waving our hiking poles and holding our jackets above us. We were talking to it and shouting a little. Then it got scared and ran away into the forest. We just turned around and went back. This is why I only really camp and hike in the desert now - Joshua tree, Anza borrego, Mojave, Death Valley, some places in AZ, etc. Well, that’s partially because that’s the main places I find the stuff I like such as snakes and scorpions. I think the thing that really shook me about that experience was that we never carried bear spray or and weapons like a knife. Now I don’t go anywhere without at least a small knife and if I were to go back I would bring bear spray.

'' Be ready ...........to pull the TRIGGER ''.

The E.R is really a best case scenario if you encounter a curios (bad) bear. When I hiked the PCT I encountered many bears it’s amazing how many idiot keep telling people they’re harmless. Not trail squirrels. I have found the more remote and solo you are the better bears are looking for food more hikers more food. For the most part you are correct about dogs. keep in mind park services uses dogs to clear bears I make a living working with dog and wouldn’t hike without my dog. But to be sure my dog is trained for this. Bear spray is a good way to get in trouble. I have thousands of miles of hiking in wilderness areas.

Out on our farm in Central Virginia, my wife and I were out looking at crops a ways from the house. Our five kids were in the house as it was after dinner. We turned around and there was a black bear standing there staring at us about 20' away. He sized us up for 5-10 minutes and eventually walked off. He was slightly uphill and downwind. It was a rare occasion that we were unarmed, which is usually for self defense from venomous snakes. It was a beautiful animal.

One thing I would add about using bear spray is you better pay attention to the wind direction because if it’s blowing to you, you could get a face full and disable your ability to see and disable you.

Great video Grandpa! I have been fearful of bears because my aunt was bit up by a mother bear, when she was a small child. I carry 2 cans of bear spray. I finaly did see a bear ahead of my bicycle, in Washington. I stopped but needed to go down the road, so I started ringing my bell and rode up the road. When it turned around and saw me, it instantly dived in the berry bushes. I rode on and hopped the bears coat and thick hide protected it from the thorns.

This was a very helpful video! Although I’m not new to camping/hiking in Bear country it’s my first time in a few years, so I wanted to freshen up on some bear safety. I’ve never encountered a bear on the trail but I do have a very funny story involving my ex-boyfriend and I in the Canadian Rockies. We had decided we wanted to spend one evening in Kootenay National Park in Alberta, Canada since it’s a little less populated than Banff National Park. We were in a pretty empty primitive campground and needless to say we had done very little research regarding bear safety. However, we did do enough that we had bear spray but after getting ready that evening, I realized that I had accidentally grabbed the bag with snacks and toiletry items instead of the bag that had our bear spray. Our campsite was nestled in between some thick bushes which we thought nothing of. So, he volunteered to go switch out the bags. He hopped out of the tent and as he was approaching the passenger side door of the car he heard a low grunt. He immediately ran back into the tent and zipped up the flap, snacks still in hand. (We were basically a buffet at this point.) We are both wide eyed and listened intently for a few minutes but after beeping the car horn and not hearing anything we decided to both go back out together. Well we made the bag swap and as I have my first foot into the tent we hear a low growl, followed by some stomping and my ex-boyfriend shoved me into the tent and zipped up the flap. We did not sleep a wink that night and every little noise turned into something much bigger in our imagination! 😄

I carry an air horn, bear spray, and a handgun. Air horn is for when the bear is at some distance away but coming in my direction. Bear spray AND handgun is for when i consider the bear is dangerously close... haven't had to pull the trigger on either one of those yet, but with one in each hand I've been prepared to do so. *i would attempt to use the spray first...

when i backpack i carry a knife, bear spray, and pistol: i know how to handle each one

Wilderness Grandpa: You seem like a good fellow and clearly you work hard to provide a channel that offers content of value. I don't want to diminish that effort so I apologize for coming across a bit argumentative in a couple of my comments. I deleted the comments. Cheers.

I was never afraid to go hiking. But now I am 😲🤔 🙂

I live in western Colorado, born on a ranch and kept a small farm for retirement. You encountered four bears in your life, Zule and I encountered four last summer, in my life I could not count. Zule is only four years old, so we are still working on some of his finer skills but bears he has down pat. I still carry my Winchester model 94 on the saddle and at least one sidearm, but with Zule around the chance of them clearing leather is slim. A well-trained working dog is priceless in bear country, a worthless pet from the suburbs is a liability. Bear spray I never tried, it takes me a thousand rounds to get really good with a firearm, I would probably go broke trying to practice with bear spray, besides I really enjoy shooting. All bear encounters should be brief, and the bear must have a negative experience to eliminate the possibility of the bear becoming comfortable around humans. On the trail I do not give way at all, if the bear does not immediately turn tail, I allow Zule to escort him out of the area. At camp we set a perimeter all the way around, we pee on the bushes (well mostly Zule), that way when the bears smell our steak cooking, they at least get a warning before they get to camp and get the crap scared out of them.

I've seen lots of bears and they will mostly run away, or ignore you and leave you alone. Make sure you leave them alone. An enraged bear is going run through bear spray. Bear spray is good on a bear before it works itself into a frenzy. Once a bear is enraged you better have another plan. I've never encountered an aggressive bear, but If I do. I'm prepared for that. The bear is going to know why I'm at the top of the food chain.

Very well done, sir. One of the best presentations on this subject I’ve seen on the ‘Tube….

Ok good information to know, now I’m going to make sure I have my big side arm when in bear country.

Thanks for the advice. Bears are cool animals, would love to see some on my upcoming Appalachian Trail thru hike, hopefully they are friendly bears lol.

A bit of difference between black bear encounters and grizzly bear encounters. Take black bear any day.

Used to run into bears in the Kisatchie National Forrest in Louisiana while hunting. Never had a problem, they usually would turn and run in the other direction.

The only time a black Be ar went after me,was me on Horseback opening up my Lunch of smoked Salmon with the smell attracting it ,but it took only a yell to scare it of.Thats after 25years of Cowboying in British Columbia in the Bush with many Bear encounters and no problems.

I have come across what if you fare since moving to northeastern Pennsylvania my journey started in 96 here and I see the bear earlier on and ever since then I can generally see between 5 to 18 in a year. I spent a lot of time out in the woods looking for rattlesnakes, so I see them the whole season. I understand that the spring time is the worst for black bears because the Bruins are looking for the girls. I have found females that have had yesterday in calendars with meals and I don’t know that their cubs survived, I could see see the wounds . The female, only to have a male come up to my right triyn to track her that was a bit unnerving. I had a job in a private community for a while, chasing bears from peoples homes and trash. It gave me a lot more understanding of them. I got to chase a few and a few well they weren’t having been chased from nothing ha ha ha they could be quite belligerent when they want to be and they are explosive and they are fast and they can’t be unpredictable but fortunately they have a lot of tools in their body postures and their walking postures . I was doing mountain biking on a mountain and came around the corner only to have a bear no more than 20 feet from me that was a bit unnerving haha he stood his ground even Mock charged me while popping his jows in huffing I raised the bike up high in between us, and realize that Miss smiling and staring at him was threatening him so I acted like a dog that was a submissive, turning my head slightly from one side to another easily slowly and not staring him in the eyes and making sure I wasn’t smiling or showing my teeth and when I began to do that, the bear relaxed and back to work and turned an Run That was probably the closest that I had to a Bear gettn the better of me, and it was I was pedaling fast, and I come around the corner, and he was right there fortunately, I had had enough interactions prior to that I was somewhat conscious of my behavior and theirs . If he wanted to hurt me, he would’ve done it instantly most of the bear that I see just turn Runaway. Which makes me upset because I want to get photos of them. Ha ha ha I carry a camera wherever I go even the ones I see on the road generally take off before I even pick up my camera. All my encounters have been with black bears understand grizzly bears, are quite a bit different black bears. The male is more dangerous than a female I have followed, a female with four cubs for over 100 yards where she was leading in the Cubs score between her and I , and a friend of mine never to have that there threaten us or anything she just watched carefully and listen to her cubs. If her pups have made the wrong noise I’m sure she would’ve run us over like a freight train. We kept our distance about 20 to 35‘40 feet and she didn’t seem to have a problem a lot of the bears around here habituated people food, which is sad and you see the more in the development then you do out in the woods I love the bear they have been very rewarding for me to interact with ! I also would like to include that there was a guy here, Native American, that had permits to keep and raise bear black bear of course and he used to let me come over and interact with the male female could be somewhat edgy, but she let me pet her a few times, but I also was fortunate enough with my son, and I to feed the cubs one year with a bottle that was a really really cool experience ! I also love are coyotes And are venomous snakes I’ve always been one of those people that have loved and lost. Loved animals or respected animals. Oh, that guy that had the bears also had a Timberwolf that I got to interact with honey very very personal level where he was licking my face and loving me off. He stood up on his hind legs and his front elbows were on my shoulders, and I’m 5’8 it was a big wolf and awesome wolf

Saw a huge cinimmin bear in Yosemite on a popular hiking trail, no people were on the trail at that time except us. It was scary, but he/she did just look at us, and finally turned away. Though it seemed like forever. Ten minutes later, walking down the trail, saw a black bear run across the trail. I was not prepared to see bear on popular hiking trails, and was very afraid. No spray or weapons, or bear knowledge.

Great vid. Nothing to say really, as I'm in the uk, but commented and liked for the algorithm. New sub here.

Be alert, wear Pampers. Because of a bear's sense of smell, "bear spray" is not as strong as regular OC spray, but it shoots much further. I did encounter a bear in the Mt. Shasta area. It came up within 20 ft of us but did not care and veered off as it already had lunch that we found the remains of a little further down the trail. We were lucky. The pucker factor was quite high. And then there are those bears that will track you.

I carry a .44 magnum and the other person im with always has bearspray

I don't live in bear country but this was super interesting

Great advice, thank you.

This was very good information and presentation, thank you. I would like to hear more wisdom concerning black/browns vs grizzlies "ettiquette" (hey, you brought it up ;^) Also, more demonstration on talking and body language. I have plenty of experience there, but don't talk to many who do, so please do share (another vid sometime perhaps?). Just fyi, I've a bit of backcountry experience in the West, and live in the Sierras and see and deal with black/browns all the time. That said, its a little different thing out on the trail than on the property. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts about a camp incursion while you are in your tent waking up to it. "Should I stay or should I go" and modus' of behavior, kind of insights.

There was a Mother black bear & her cubs that lived @ a place I do sideline work at. I only get to see them once in real life but they didnt cause any problems. Because that place has CCTV, I saw them more on that then anywhere else. I may've run into another sometime back while going down to the convenirnce store for some late night snacks. There was a house that, up until this happened, had no outdoor sensor lights & the street there is also dark thanks to lack of street lamps. Anyway, I heard rather than full on saw a growling noise I associate with a bear coming from the backyard of this house & their trash can that they tied down was getting the crap knocked out of it. My eyes adjusted to the dark enough to make out the silhouette of this bear. I walked very briskly away & luckily, there was a cop by the store so I told them. It turned out it was a bear where there were tracks all over but the bear took off before the cop got there. I'm out in Western Massachusetts where, over here, it is black bear country so to speak!

I live in a mountain town and bears are all around us, they walk thru our yard almost every day during feasting season. Bears are not friendly but the bears around us are polite, sort of. Usually they will leave the trail or our yard when we let them know we are there with voice, horn or banging pots. Bears can be a pain a momma cleaned out our 4 chickens in a few nights and I was amazed at the power cuz it ripped open the coop. I moved into their neighborhood they are just being bears and its my responsibility not the bears to learn to coexist BE BEAR AWARE that means follow tried and true advice like this great vid because if I dont very bad things can happen.

I was in BC in June and this happened,….So we had heard sounds like sticks breaking around the area for an hour prior to this but didn't see anything. So while I was getting something from my hammock I heard a branch snap behind me and when I turned around I came face to face with a large black bear, at that point I yelled to my buddy "bear!" And fumbled into my pockets and at first pulling out a small party popper which I did fire off shooting confetti at him lol. He turned and stepped into the bush and my buddy came with a whistle and we started yelling, I then found my bear banger and finally got it to leave,

I get black bears in my back yard all the times even gave a few names,, they all run off as soon as they see me,,I even chase after them except MR.Fuggly, he don't run he will walk off slowly looking over his shoulder,, but I still pay attention because of 1 with cubs

Chances are, from my experience, that you will see a bear. I've seen bears many times. Spent times on northern Superior.

in all my years hiking in the woods ..Idaho mostly .. I never encountered a bear ... I saw scat still steaming but not an actual bear .. in Washington state while camped in a clear cut a very large black bear approached my camp but a loud shout sent him scurrying

Great video! Very informative, definitely gives me more confidence to go hiking and camping -VRA Fam

Lots of bears when I grew up in MT, and lots here in AK. Question, how am I suppose to pick berries when I avoid the big patches of bushes, and the fishing.... 😂😂 side note both blackies and brownies are very tasty, in the spring, before they get on the fish 😊

Summer of 2008, we once saw a huge bear sitting up and eating black berries about 75 yards off the main trail heading back from the falls in the Minnewaska State park in upstate NY and was startled by it's huge size. It was brown but massive, easily 350+ hundred pounds. It clearly heard us (bear bells and loud conversation) but just kept eating ignoring us. Darn it ... after getting back to the vehicle hours later I mentioned this to a park ranger and he clearly brushed me off thinking I was making this up as if not true. sadly I no longer have full faith in park rangers.

Good video. Thanks. Also, I like that hat! Who makes it?

I have heard that sound granade that gives 130 - 190 db explosion can also been useful 😊

Good advice

I had a bear come into a canoe camp in BWCA. Never was aggressive or afraid of us. I sat on the porch of my Adirondack shelter in mountains of WV as a big glossy bear walked by 2 arm lengths away. I said “hello bear” and it went from 0 to 60 and ran away.

I wonder if bears have meetings to tell each other what to do if they encounter a human ? 🐻🐻🐻🐻

That was a great video, before he disappeared without a trace….😂 Yeah, I’m still nervous about bears. Maybe more so? 😮 Thanks for trying though!

I keep on reading and hearig how unlikely am I to encounter a bear...Well we went to Algonquin for the first time and saw two bears - on two consecutive days. Four days, two bears. Not so unlikely anymore, perhaps due to extreme weather and their desparation to find food wherever they can.

Ok ok, wait, let me guess ... Uhhh ... open a jar of honey and present it as a peace offering ?

I’ve come across 5 bear encounters in my life. Nothing bad happened. I’ve had two moose encounters and they were the opposite. I’ve also seen three mountain lions and they were all going away from me. Moose are really sketchy in my opinion.

FYI to others, ...tree'd bear, does not mean you can screw around. Just because a bear is well up in tree does not mean he/she is any less a potential threat, and cannot get to you in literally moments (even if you are say within 100 feet) ...if you trigger him/her. Do not presume to "entertain yourself" and "take advantage", if you perceive something between you and a bear, including "well up in a tree". In fact, it can even be more scary being charged by a bear coming down out of tree and then toward you ...because it can be shocking to your 'unsuspecting mind' how fast they suddenly are on the ground and upon you ...and that can just mess up your whole "I got this" demeanor (you may have had moments before). Mithinks only little bears get stuck in trees (seen that many times). Mithinks a large bear in a tree is simply to be avoided ...you can (will?) scare them because they will feel you are a threat (which is in itself disturbing) and on top of that- potentially cutting off their exits (and now we're talking "upsetting").

I've encountered many bear while in the woods. Around where I live all black bear. They're generally not overly aggressive but fairly frequently there will be an encounter and it's usually the human who comes out 2nd best. Followed by the bear being euthanized for it's rudeness. I'm always careful to try to stay away from them. If I see a sow with cubs I'll turn around and slowly walk away while watching to make sure the female isn't irritated with me. Single bear I'll respond according to the specific incident. If it crosses a trail in front of me I'll give it some space and proceed cautiously. I've had bear walk directly towards me on a trail and when it got too close I let it know I was there. They make me nervous when I see them at dusk when I'm in a tree stand waiting for deer and then have to climb down in the dark not knowing where they are. Bear spray, by the way, is a more effective deterrent than firearms. If you spend a lot of time in the woods you probably have more bear encounters than you realize. A student was tracking bear in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, if I'm not mistaken, as part of a study and he documented several instances where he was watching a family of bears and a human showed up and the bears climbed a tree and let the humans pass under them. He spent so much tracking bear he sometimes was accepted by them and he followed them around almost as part of a family group. Usually accepted but one time a cub became too familiar and accepting of him and approached him while he was sitting on a log watching the family forage. The cub approached him on the same log and eventually got too close and the sow intervened. He claimed that several time black bear chewed on and flattened the tires on his vehicle. They're interesting animals. And I suspect as varied in temperament as people are. In the area where I live people hunt them using dogs and there is a time period when it is legal to "run" them on bear to train them but it is not legal to harvest them. So before harvesting is legal what happens is the dogs track and chase a bear until it stops and "goes to bay". It just stops and is surrounded by dogs. So the hunter comes in to get his dogs and takes them off their quarry. So apparently what's happening now is the the dogs will get on a bear and the bear will just run a relative short distance and stop. The hunter comes for his dogs, retrieves them, and the bear continue on their ways. More of that unplanned conditioning that we humans manage to do.

The first thing to do is unsling a Mossberg 500 and chamber a 12 ga. slug. Then calmly let the bear decide on his next move.

Nicly done

I’m relatively new to hiking Northern California in the Southern Cascades and most times I’m alone and I’m n very remote areas. I carry a handgun but that’s just for extreme circumstances the last thing I want to do is unnecessarily injure or kill one of these beautiful animals. Thank you for creating these videos they are a great help for o keep me more comfortable in the wilderness if I encounter a bear. Mountain lions…that’s another story

What about ammonia in a spray bottle set on stream? Used it before with wild dogs and coyotes

ANOTHER STORYTELLER!!!! ...1) try to persuade the beast 2) have a spray 3) do not turn your back on the beast and what’s most ridiculous and funny is - take a stick, a cobblestone, EVERYTHING YOU CAN FIND TO YOUR HAND and fight the BEAST.. ....PEOPLE, if you are going to VISIT THE BEAST or to its domain, THEN YOU MUST FORGET EVERYTHING that you did in your ordinary life among people like yourself...and know one thing - THE BEAST HAS CLAWS AND TEETH and he can attack you (there can be a variety of reasons...) and if he doesn’t kill you, he can cripple you... .... THEREFORE, no sprays and CONVINCES OF BEARS AND OTHER OMNIVORES - you need to have a BARREL LOADED WITH BULLETS PROPERLY AND the ability to shoot (at the very beginning amateur level) .... .....by the way, NOT NECESSARILY revolvers or pistols, - BUT AN ORDINARY SHOCKWAVE equipped not with bullets, but with the LARGEST BUCKSHOT... (the buckshot FLYS WITH A SMALL DISPERSION OF ALMOST 10-15 YARDS AS A LARGE BULLET THE SIZE OF HALF A BUCKET and if you DRIVE this charge into a bear or a cougar, and especially two or three, then you will no longer need to convince the BEAST with conversations...) ... don’t be careless and naive - TROUBLE ALWAYS COMES UNEXPECTEDLY - YOU HAVE ONE LIFE AND NO SPARE!!!! I am an old man and a hunter since childhood and have been in different places and in different situations - I AM NOT CALLING FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THE BEAST - I AM TALKING ABOUT YOU ....

Black Attack Brown Stay Down White Good Night

pepper spray lmao carry a large caliber handgun folks

My .44 magnum works purty good..if you can't find any bear spray get some hornet spray and remember the bears got it's nose to the ground.. consequently blast the spray at the ground where it's charging from.. when I'm in bear country I carry both , black bears are a different animal than a grizzly

Am not afraid of bears instead fear of rattle snakes in so. calif. do keep me away from hiking any suggestions

Hey Pops! Do you think a marine airhorn is good defense/offense? Thanks!

What do you mean chances are small of encountering a bear? Where do you hike? We see bear all the time.

How do you practice with bear spray??

Sounds like these are all black bears. Not grizzlies?

Did you play Freddy Krueger in the movies?

My last encounter was like your last. We lived in black bear country. I took a shortcut to the store through the woods. Now we were taught bear-safety as kids. So I was conditioned to look for signs. My trip to the store was uneventful. There were no signs of a bear. I was only in the store for a few minutes. On hitting the trail, there were tracks. Big tracks. I could fit both of my hands across the track. I looked up, no sign of the bear. The fact that there were no tracks a few minutes before meant it was walking behind me and I didn't know it. Naturally, I backed off the trail and took the road home. Took twice as long but I didn't want to meet up with it.

I carry a shot gun 🎉

Do not run , if you see a bear ; Jesus saves.

Just punch the bear out, c'mon man....I got hairy legs.

Find two palm size rocks and bang them together over your head.

ummm duhh, pull your high caliber hand gun out after using pepper spray. stupid to hike in bear, mountin lioncountry, etc with no gun

4:05 This is such good advice. I used to ride motorcycles and some guys I knew would wear earbuds when riding. So dangerous. Can't hear traffic, can't hear sirens, and very distracting. I NEVER wore earbuds for that reason, plus I just wanted to hear my motorcycle. Earbuds and headphone are for back at camp. But isn't one of the reasons you go camping is to get away from that crap anyway?!!