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Re: [at-l] scaring bears?

Jeff,

Bears were a problem in that section this summer. I didn't have any trouble
myself, though I saw several, but one thru-hiker, Mr. Clean, was chased by
a bear at Brink Road Shelter. I got this firsthand from him. Evidently he
was eating lunch in the shelter and a bear showed up. He put away his food
and left the shelter. The bear went in, then came out and started following
him. He tried to scare it off, making noise and jumping up and down, but it
was not deterred, so he began walking down a blue blaze trail in the
direction of a road. The bear followed. He began walking faster. The bear
followed faster. He broke into a run when he got within sight of some
houses, and the bear broke into a run too. He ended up vaulting over a
fence into someone's yard--the woman saw the bear and let him inside.

Mr. Clean was a former Marine, I think, and a wilderness survival
expert--very calm guy, rarely ruffled by anything, but this experience
spooked him. Not enough to make him reconsider his thruhike, though. Last
time I saw him, he was in a bivvy sack on top of Katahdin, where he was
planning to spend the night and then begin a flip-flop hike southbound.

--Rhymin' Worm

>I know that the subject of bears gets brought up like every other week,
>but my dad wanted me to ask about scaring off a bear once you are actually
>in visual contact with it.  He day hikes (in the northern-NJ/NY area near
>Harriman and te neighborhood, so there are enough bears around), and is
>wondering about bear-deterrents to carry (just out for a day, weight is
>not as big a deal so carrying something extra is more worthwhile). Bells,
>periodic whistles, noisy speech let them know you are coming but are not
>necessarily scary to them, I would think.
>
>If you do see one on the trail ahead (not directly threatening you) and
>want to scare it off, do people think that something louder like a
>personal alarm thingie that they sell to scare off muggers, or I'm told
>they now have very small but still loud boat horns or something like that
>would be a good idea or do people think that a loud shout or whistle is
>enough to deter a bear?
>
>thanks in advance for my dad,
>jeff
>
>(First snow in Chicago this weekend - its already turned to ice on the
>ground and will stay there for the next 5 months!)
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Jeffrey Mosenkis           MAPSS Student            University of Chicago
>
>                     j-mosenkis@uchicago.edu
>               *Freelance Joking Avunculate For Hire*
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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