If you trek into the wilderness where the need to survive a bear attack is a required skill, then the video below will have some very good information for you…
In the above video on How To Survive A Bear Attack, Outdoor Survival Expert Dale Collett offers up some advise on your best course of action if confronted with a bear or while traveling in bear country. Here are several points Dale points out about the nature of bears.
One of the best things to do is make noise when traveling in where bears may be present
- You could sing
- Call out Occasionally
- Wear bells (bear bells)
Much of the time this will cause bears to disappear before you ever have contact with them, but if you happen to stumble upon a;
- bear with cubs
- bear that is feeding
- bear that is particularly aggressive (like a grizzly bear)
Grizzly bears can attack for no reason, they are quite vicious. Black bears on the other hand are slightly less aggressive. I wise not to trust either of them.
If you are confronted by any one of these bears,
- The first thing to do is stop
- The second is to fight the urge to run
- Next Do Not stare in the bears eyes (it is a sign of aggression)
- Travel in a groups (groups are far less likely to be attacked)
Running will only cause the bear to view you as prey and cause it to chase you down. Bears can get up to speeds of 25 to 35 miles an hour very fast, quicker than we humans can. Don’t forget that bears can climb, basically they can go anywhere you can.
Most of the time a bear will simply ignore you and turn or walk away, wanting nothing to do with you. This doesn’t always work, so If the bear does charge you, Stand your ground. Charges from a bear are a bluff. They can be as scared of us as we are of them. They may even charge at you a few times. Just keep walking away, talking to the bear, keeping your eye contact off the bear and don’t run.
If the worst does happen and the bear attacks, keep the following things in mind:
- Keep your back sack on
- Fall to the ground
- Play dead
- Curl up in the fetal position
- Protect the back of your neck and your head
- Curl as much as possible to keep your vulnerable parts safe
He may bite you, he may scratch you and this is where the difference is between a black bear attack and surviving a grizzly bear attack differ. It is important to understand and know both species of bear when traveling where they call home.
Things to know about when surviving a Black bear attack:
- Black Bears have short claws
- You can fight back with a black bear (only if needed
- Hit them with knives, sticks, rocks, whatever you can
- Scream and Make lots of noise
- You may convince him to leave and thus you will have survived the bear attack .
The thing to know if you are to survive a grizzly bear attack, do none of the above other than to just continue playing dead and hope for the best.
A great thing you can do protect yourself from a bear attack is to carry bear spray with you. It’s a pepper spray made from capsicum. If you spray it at a bears face when the bear is really close, it can deter its attack.
Another tactic you can take when surviving bear attacks is to climb a tree. Yes, Bears can climb trees but they are more reluctant to do so. Not just any tree will do it must be a very sturdy tree, at least 15 inches in diameter. Smaller trees can be pushed over by the bear, They have even been known to chew through them to get at you.
Let’s go over the points of how to survive a bear attack in the wild:
- The best thing for you to do is to play dead.
- If the bear is on top of you, do nothing unless it’s a black bear when you want to fight back.
- Grizzly bear – don’t fight back.
- The best thing to do is to avoid it in the first place.