Originally Posted by
Wlfdg
How many of you who answered here have had close encounters with grizzlies?
Not just been in bear country but have had that "OH S#!+!" feeling? Entirely too close for comfort?
Just curious.
Not Grizzlies, but black bear. Never had one attack me (Thank God, as I write this, I'm waiting the last four hours before leaving for deer camp....middle of black bear country.), but I've had several black bear challenges, and a few stalk me.
Every time, I was very close to a vehicle except once. And that bear seemed to just be content to help me wet my shorts as a slowly backed up 150 yards to the truck. He/she was pretty far away at first, but even at a leisurly walk, he caught up to me. When I hit my truck, it was only about 35 yards away.
All the challenges seemed to be false charges. Just to scare me out of their territory I guess. You can never guess why a wild animal will think you're a threat.
On one of those "false charges" the bear got within 20 yards of my partner, as he was jumping into the truck. As he did that, he emptied a 24oz bear spray can into the direction of the bear. Now it wasn't a direct hit, but that bear jogged right into the mist. Didn't seem to bother it a bit. It did grab his attention, but I didn't feel confident that it would have stopped him.
Since then, still carry bear spray, but would not rely on it. I'll spray him after I run out of bullets.