CAMP weekend reading - of bear attacks and how to survive them
CAMP weekend reading is back - a collection of several stories for you to read and mull over the weekend (or wherever you want). Today we are focusing on bears, and on how to survive bear attacks specifically. Many of CAMP’s motocamping events this year are in bear country, and at least a few of the Temple of Moto tours I lead are in Grizzly Country, which is a different situation entirely.
Allegedly, bear attacks on humans are on a sharp rise, both in the US, in Japan, and even in my homeland, Italy, where in 2023 they had the first mortal attack in 150 years. I remember watching this scene from the movie The Revenant when Leonardo Di Caprio is attacked by a Grizzly, and I haven’t been sleeping that well in Yellowstone ever since…
Interestingly, there aren’t recent comprehensive world wide studies on bear attacks, or at least I couldn’t find one. The last study I could find is one published on Nature in 2019, which looks at world data from 2000 to 2015, before the “sharp” rise in attacks. And even more interestingly, according to the data, the largest number of attacks on humans in that timeframe was in Europe, with 291 registered attacks (mostly in the Romanian area), followed by “East”, which groups Russia, Turkey, and Iran, with 190 attacks, and finally North America, with 183 attacks. The numbers for “East” are probably way higher if we included Japan, China and every other Eastern country, but that data is missing from this study.
According to the study, “most attacks, 85.7% (n = 568), resulted in human injury and 14.3% (n = 95) ended with the death of the person involved. Specifically, 19 deaths occurred in Europe (6.6% of the attacks recorded in Europe), 24 in North America (13.1% of the total attacks in North America) and 52 in the East (32.0% of the total attacks in the East).” So, interestingly, North America has fewer bear attacks than Europe, but if you are attacked in North America you have a 50% higher chance of dying. Good luck in Romania.
Bear attacks - 2019 Nature study
So how do you survive a bear attack?
This article looks at whether bear spray or a gun is more effective in defending yourself from a bear in the United States. The article quotes a now inaccessible Government’s pamphlet, which allegedly stated that “since 1992, 50% of all people that attempt to protect themselves from grizzly bear attacks with a firearm were injured. Those that used pepper spray “escaped injury most of the time”, and if they were attacked, their injuries were less serious and the attacks did not last as long.” The article has a good overview of why you always need to carry bear spray and on how to use it. I am always amazed at the number of people who show up in bear country without bear spray.
So you got you bear spray and you don’t need a gun, right? Well, not so fast. Bear spray can work if the wind is cooperating and is not pushing the spray into your eyes. When that happens, you are in a slight pickle. Don’t believe me? Read the first account story of this guy. He was charged by a mama Grizzly bear last year in the Yellowstone area, and survived ONLY because he and his friend, after spraying themselves in the eyes, managed to somehow place many 10mm rounds on the charging bear. Key takeaways from this story? Bear are FAST. They may be chunky, but according to the State Wardens who got involved in this attack, they can cover 17 yards in less than a second. Please read it again: 17 yards. Less than one second. 600 pounds Grizzly. The second take away is that a gun will be absolutely useless if you don’t have it IMMEDIATELY accessible and if you haven’t put in a good amount of training on how to use it. The survivor in this story practiced for months, in case he was ever attacked.
The need to carry BOTH bear spray AND a gun in bear country, is repeated by a representative of Wyoming Game and Fish Department interviewed in this article: “This question (bear spray or firearms) is something brought to Game and Fish fairly regularly,” he said. “It’s not so much of an ‘either/or’ statement, but rather people having multiple options and tools to deal with an aggressive bear encounter and the wherewithal to properly use them”. He goes on to state what I believe is a key component: “The best tool you have is your own situational awareness and both mental and physical preparedness when in grizzly bear occupied areas”. I have the impression that people tend to forget that once a human is in bear country, he or she is not the apex predator anymore. We are food. This requires a change in your mindset that I don’t see practiced by all those who lallygag into multi-day backpacking trips in Yellowstone or Glacier NP. And this stupidity results in people and bears getting killed.
One of the reasons NOT to carry a gun, aside from the key fact that in many jurisdictions you cannot legally do it, or you are severely limited in your ability to do it, is related to the story of the survivor I pasted above. “One drawback of firearms they cite is the inability of many shooters to make accurate, quick-kill shots under the extreme stress of a bear attack”. If you bring a gun, you need to know how to shoot it. And you need to be lucky, and possibly have a friend with a gun too there with you. However, may I add that if you bring bear spray you also need to know how to spray it? Raise your hands if you have a bear spray canister and yet you have NEVER practiced discharging it. Yes…I see you.
Ok, so you want to bring a gun. Which gun? Search bear gun online and you are inundated with options. I am just going to link this article that talks about the most basic options (big revolvers, 10mm semiautomatic, rifles) and then you take it from there. Please notice how ANY article you read will focus on TRAINING. A gun I shoot my foot with will not help me. A gun I can put lead in the beast will. Now, this article is very interesting, as it collects data from 37 bear encounters in which the human shot a gun, comparing the efficacy of the different calibers.
Alright, so you don’t have a gun, and you don’t have bear spray, for whatever reason. Well, if you are as badass as this Canadian man, you can fight off an attacking bear with a pocket knife after it bites your stomach. Yes. But let’s say that that shouldn’t be your approach. So what can you do? According to Paul Ulgritch, a Wyoming outdoorsman of some renown, the best “grizzly deterrent is to bring a friend from Utah or Colorado”. This reminds me of anther suggestion I often hear: bring a friend who is less in shape than you so that you can outrun him/her. But on a serious note, what you need to do seems to depends on the bear. The theory is that you should scare away the black bears and play dead with the Grizzly. Again, from this article: “if a 300 lb black bear grabs you, it is probably trying to eat you, so your best chance is to fight back. A big black bear will be formidable, but not invincible. If a 600 – 1,000 lb “grizz” grabs you, you better go limp. Fighting will just make them try harder to subdue you. You would have a better chance trying to fight an entire NFL football team armed with knives”. Think Leonardo di Caprio in The Revenant.
This Alaskan State Department pamphlet goes into some details on how to react to a bear encounter, and it has some very, very good advice. It points out the difference between defensive and non defensive bears, and it seems to make sense.
