Finding Wilderness

Okay, the teaser title may have been a little unfair.  This article is  not really about fighting bears, but it does distill my theory about the best way to resist an aggressive bear when you have done all you can to avoid an encounter and nevertheless end up in a confrontation.

This suggested method of resisting aggressive bears was developed over a 10-year period after reading hundreds of bear attack reports and interviewing many bear attack victims and officers who investigated fatal encounters.  This post is not about avoiding bear attacks.  That is another subject.  This article is about what to do if everything you have done to avoid a bear encounter has failed.  My theory is just that, a theory.  You can’t conduct controlled experiments of bear attacks.  If you choose  to apply my ideas, you do it at your own risk.

My method can be summarized as follows:

• Carry a weapon/deterrent if you can.  Handguns are illegal in many places, but there is no excuse not to have pepper spray or a marine flare and a sheath knife with you in grizzly country.
• Pepper spray is proven to be highly reliable in turning an aggressive bear and should be the first tool deployed.
• Another potentially effective bear deterrent is the Ikaros marine flare.
• A large bore handgun (.45 LC,  .44 or larger) is probably the best last resort defense (when your paper spray is depleted, in your tent, etc.)
• Shot guns and rifles are not ideal for surprise bear attacks.  Very frequently their length prevents them from being used when the bear gets in close.
• As a backup to pepper spray and/or a marine flare, knives, especially sheath knives, are surprisingly effective for last resort resistance and for inside tents.
• Don’t play dead, even with non-predatory surprise encounters.  (This is contrary to the advice of many experts, my rationale is detailed below)
• Resist the bear with your back against a rock, tree, or slope, feet always between you and the bear, pushing and kicking.  Your feet are your strongest weapon.  Like a mixed martial arts fighter, keep your feet between you and your aggressor when you are on the ground.  Under attack, most people are strong enough to push away a a black bear or small grizzly with their legs.
• Protect face, head and neck with hands.  Protect abdomen with feet and legs.
• If the bear tries to bite you face, head, or neck, which it will, offer it your pack, a stick, or as a last resort, your arm.
• If you choose to adopt a passive (non-fighting mode), do it while keeping your feet and hands towards the bear. Only consider a passive approach for sudden encounter (non-predatory) attacks by grizzlies.  For predatory attacks by grizzlies, and for all black bear attacks, fight back.
• While the bear is biting whatever was offered, attack its eyes and nostrils with your hands and fingers if you are unarmed.
• If you have a rock, stick, binoculars, or empty pepper spray can, strike the bear across the bridge of the nose.  Like dogs, bears seem sensitive in this area, and there are several cases where bears have retreated after being struck in such a way, in one case in my files, with an empty can of pepper spray.

Why not play dead?

First off, there appears to be a consensus among bear attack researchers that one should fight back in the case of all black bear attacks and in the case of predatory grizzly attacks.  There is not a consensus as to what to do in the case of surprise encounter, non-predatory grizzly attacks — those attacks where one has surprised a bear by getting too close to it and the bear is responding with aggression in more of a defensive, rather than predatory, reaction.

The reason there is lack of consensus as to what to do in the case of non-predatory grizzly attacks is that the available data upon which experts are making their recommendation is complex, ambiguous, and not subject to controlled testing.  Even the father of bear attack research, Dr. Steven Herrero, admits that his recommendation for remaining passive or motionless (playing dead) in the case of non-predatory grizzly bear attacks is based more on “impressions from examining similar incidents and [his] understanding of bear behavior” rather than quantifiable statistical analysis.  (See page 18 of the Revised Edition of his book“Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance,” Revised Edition 2002)   Indeed, if you look at the table on page 18 of his book, you see that the odds of a mother grizzly increasing the intensity of the attack is almost as high with those that played dead as with those that fought back (62% for playing dead, 54% for resisting).  Fighting back was more likely to increase the intensity of the attack, but only by 15% (8% for playing dead, 23% for resisting).  There were only 39 cases reviewed, however, so one should not give the exact percentages too much weight.

In any event, if you go with the recommendation of Herrero and others that you should play dead in the case of non-predatory grizzly attacks, it may be possible to keep your back to an object and a pack, branch, or something else between you and the bear, all the time keeping your hands and feet between you and the bear and with as little motion as possible.  While I suggest it as a possibility, I don’t necessarily recommend it.  Many people have survived while playing dead in the classic stomach on the ground, arm around head and neck approach.  I am not aware of anyone who has successfully attempted a “play dead” style response while trying to keep feet and hands between themselves and the bear.  I do know it is the rare victim who is able to remain motionless and dead-like when a bear is ripping parts of their body away.  On the other hand, there are numerous successful experiences of people who have fought a bear with knives or even their hands and feet while facing an attacking bear.

T. J. Langley surprised a sow with cubs in September 1999 while on a solo hike in Yellowstone National Park.  I interviewed him in the hospital after the attack.  His experience was informative because he switched tactics midway through the attack. He was carrying pepper spray on a chest harness, but when it became entangled with his binocular straps in the melee, he gave up on the pepper spray and tried to play dead for awhile.  But the grinding of the bear’s teeth on his head became too much for him.  He really felt like the bear’s canine’s were going to puncture his skull.  (It has happened in at least one case.  See Vol 1, Issue 2 of the magazine.)  T.J. decided to fight for his life.  “She didn’t outweigh me by that much,” I remember him telling me from his hospital bed, “but she was extremely powerful, much stronger than me.”  T.J. described how he was able to keep her jaws away from his face by basically straight-arming her, like a football player.  Eventually the sow broke off the attack, leaving him to stagger four miles to the highway with his lacerated skull and temporarily blinded in one eye with a fractured orbital socket.

So has my theory ever been tested?  Pretty close.  In 2005 Lyle Simpson was attacked by a sow grizzly while hiking west of Calgary, Alberta.  He followed my theory almost like textbook, except I hadn’t written the textbook yet, and in his case he was reacting in a conditioned way after years of martial arts training.  Lyle was hiking with seven others when surprised by the sow with cubs.  Everyone scattered, including Lyle, and he was the unlucky one who drew the bear’s attention.  Before the sow caught up to him he tripped and fell.  Reacting to his training, he quickly rolled on his back and faced the bear with his feet.  This is how he described it in a video interview on the web:

I ran instinctively.  I tripped and rolled on my back.  I put my arm in its face (to distract it, like you would do with a dog).  I pulled my arm out and kicked it at the same time.  I managed to get away, ended up running towards the cub.

Lyle’s story was especially meaningful to me when I learned that the martial art he had studied was Brazilian jujitsu.  It was my study of the same martial art that made me start thinking that a foot forward, kicking approach might be better than playing dead.  (By the way, if Lyle or one of his friends read this, please contact me.)

Most effective deterrent/weapons.

If you do choose to resist, it goes without saying that you should bring your best game.  So why not plan ahead and give yourself all of the advantages.  The most effective tools/weapons for turning an aggressive bear are, in descending order of effectiveness:

• Pepper spray. Strength: reliably proven to turn bears back in most cases without harming the bear.  Weaknesses: Limited amount – about a six second blast, not as effective in wind, problematic in tents, cannister may have leaked and be empty.  It needs to be immediately accessible and you need to practice taking the safety off.)
• Ikaros marine flare.   Strenghths:  These flares are operated by pulling a string.  (I.e., not by striking, as with a typical road flare.)  With a properly designed holster these can be ignited with one hand.  The are very bright (15,000 candles), hot, noisy and smoky.  They burn for 60 seconds.  Although I am unaware of any cases where they have been used, it is a good bet that the heat, brightness, and noise would be a good deterrent against an attacking bear, especially at close range.  Weaknesses:  Risky to use inside a tent.  May have to be close to the bear to be effective.  Forest fire risk.
• Large bore hand gun.   Strengths: best backup weapon if your pepper spray fails.  I am aware of several cases where a victim survived an attack by using it to get the bear off after the bear had the victim on the ground.  I am not aware of any fatality where the victim was carrying a large bore handgun in an exterior holster, although plenty of handgun carriers were injured badly on the ground before they got the bear off.  Weaknesses.  Heavy to carry.  Not best as a first line deterrent.  Bears don’t die quickly from gunshot wounds unless you strike the brain or, less quickly, heart or lungs.  When surprised, most people miss until the bear is essentially at point blank range.
• Long gun. Great for hunting and killing bears at a distance, not so great for defending against surprise attacks.  Once the bear gets in close, it is hard to bring the rifle or shotgun into action.  It gets pushed aside, sat on (yes, there is a case) and knocked away.  In my files are numerous cases where victims died with their long gun in their hand.)
• Edged weapons. This dated technology is surprisingly effective.  There is a growing number of cases where people have used hatchets, sheath knives, and even pocket knives to fight back effectively.  Sometimes even killing the bear.  A knife may be especially effective when attacked in a tent, although I am not aware of anyone who has used a knife under such circumstances. I am aware of someone who died with his rifle in hand, action open, tent wrapped around his legs, and pepper spray and knife in his backpack.
• Rocks, sticks, empty cans of pepper spray, other available objects. Don’t underestimate these objects.  There are numerous cases where they have been used effectively to help change a bear’s mind.  One person even killed a black bear with a stout stick he picked up on the trail.  Striking the bear across the bridge of the nose seems to be particularly effective.
• Hands and feet.    Poking the eyes and nostrils has worked in several instances.  T.J. Langley, discussed above, used his hands to keep the bear’s mouth away.  Lyle Simpson kicked the bear in his nose.

Last word

It is worth repeating that all of the above is theory.  Follow my suggestions at your own risk.  And of course the best defense is to avoid the encounter in the first place.  Go with a large group, make noise, keep your camp clean, cook away from your tent, and hang your food and odorous items or store them in a bear-proof container, far from where you sleep.