What Two Hikers Who Successfully Fended Off Attacking Bears Had in Common

Hikers in British Columbia and Montana used bear spray to fend off attacking bears in two separate incidents this week, supporting use of the deterrent in backcountry settings.

In a Facebook post, hiker Shalee Super said that she was camping near Assiniboine Lake in British Columbia when a grizzly bear visited her campsite. The Michigan native was alone—she had been backpacking with her partner, but he had set out before sunrise to climb a nearby mountain. Super had stayed at the campsite and was planning to hike out to the trailhead that morning. As she was getting ready to leave the tent to use the restroom, she “heard something that sounded very big outside.”

Remaining as quiet as possible, Super grabbed her bear spray, an aerosol repellent loaded with the chemical compound capsaicin, which is also found in human pepper spray.

“Five seconds later, I had a bear claw in my tent,” she said, recounting seeing a grizzly bear “about one foot from me, staring me in the face.”

Super sprayed the bear in the face, point-blank, deterring it long enough for her to escape the tent and scramble up a nearby loose-rock talus slope. Soon after, the animal returned with another bear and ransacked the tent as she watched from a nearby hillside a few hundred feet away. The event occurred on August 21.

In a separate incident on August 28, a pair of hikers in Montana’s Glacier National Park also came face-to-face with a bear.

“The hiking party of two was hiking westbound near Lake Janet, when a medium brown colored bear with two cubs charged out of the brush, toward the woman,” NPS wrote in a press release.

“The woman dove off the trail, while covering her head. The bear swiped at her, injuring her shoulder and arm.” The woman’s hiking partner quickly deployed bear spray, and almost as soon as the bear had attacked, it was gone. The woman was only mildly injured, and “the entire incident lasted fewer than 30 seconds.”

NPS did not identify the species of bear involved, noting that it could have been either a black or grizzly bear. No punitive action is to be taken against the animal, as there was no indication that the bear was behaving more aggressively than usual.

“The encounter was a surprise to a sow with two cubs that reacted defensively,” the NPS said. “The area of the trail the hiking party was on is confined by the lake and dense brush, which the bear came out of.”

The release added that visitors to Glacier National Park should exercise extra caution when hiking during the fall months, when bears are more active while they consume more food in preparation for their winter hibernation.

The Efficacy of Bear Spray

Some experts suggest that bear spray is more effective than firearms when it comes to fending off an aggressive bear—so long as a person doesn’t accidentally spray themself in the face. Bear spray can also be lighter, less expensive, and easier to use than a firearm.

However, Outside columnist Wes Siler wrote that many studies supporting bear spray’s efficacy show discrepancies between the spray’s utility in deterring a curious bear, like the one poking its head into Super’s tent, and fending off a full-blown attack.

A decade-long study of bear spray found that “in 15 of 16 close encounters with aggressive brown bears, bear spray was effective in stopping the bear’s unwanted behavior.” In six of those cases, “the bear hung around and continued to act aggressively.” In another three cases, the bear attacked the human after being sprayed, despite receiving what the study refers to as “a substantial dose of spray to the face.”

Bear spray is shown to be 85 percent effective at deterring a curious bear, another study found. However, when it came to stopping a bear that was already charging, success dropped by one-third.

“The exaggerated effectiveness of bear spray is getting in the way of more important advice on bear safety,” Siler concluded in his 2019 report.

Being Bear Aware Saves Lives

For both hikers in the incidents this past week, however, carrying bear spray prevented an attack. Super said that although the bear destroyed most of her and her partner’s belongings, she harbored “no ill will” towards the animal.

“I am well aware that I was the outlier in his home, the unfamiliar weed in his garden,” she said. “Bear vs. man debate? Still bear, every time. Although I would like to never see one even remotely close again.”