Grizzly Bears and Pepper Spray

azbackpackr · Posted: 8/29/2006, 9:45 pm Post subject: Grizzly Bears and Pepper Spray

Today I met a man who said he had worked two seasons as a guide for a remote hunting lodge southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. He said that the pepper sprays sold for use against bears were not allowed in the camps of the lodge he worked for. He said that at first the bears will run away after they've been sprayed, but after that they'll lick that stuff off their faces and come back for more--they like that hot spicy taste, he claimed. I tried to find some corroboration for this, but the following website does not completely agree with what the man told me, although it does say that bears love to roll in pepper spray residue if they smell it on the ground.
http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/brownbears/pepperspray/pepperspray.htm

Sparrish · Joined: 04 Jul 2004 Posts: 239 Location: Phleeenix

Perhaps bears can acquire a taste for pepper much like I did.

When I was a wee lad, my poor mother would place pepper on my tongue as punishment for swearing. By the time I was eight or nine, I had acquired a taste for pepper and could swear like a trooper.
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“And all her face was honey to my mouth,
And all her body pasture to mine eyes;”
--A. C. Swinburne

PageRob · Joined: 03 Mar 2005 Posts: 859 Location: Page, Az.

Have to pack vinegar then... Wink

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Anywhere is within walking distance if you spend the time.

GeorgAz · Joined: 04 Jan 2003 Posts: 815 Location: Scottsdale

A research biologist that goes to my gym was in Alaska doing a study on grizzlies with 3 associates. They purchased some" bear "spray from a hiking or back country outfit that shot about 30' and would almost knock a person out...don't know what the ingredient was, but worked for them; a co-worker of theirs even routed a peeping tom with it back home!Gotta get some o'that!! Wink

Davis2001R6 · Joined: 12 Dec 2003 Posts: 5591 Location: Italy

To change the subject a bit, I went to Canada this June for the Air Force. I was supporting a squadron from Singapore that we have at look. When they went there the previous year, one of their Airman purchased a bottle of the "Bear Spray". There is a good population of Bears up there so they were warned about them.

Needless to say he thought that you were supposed to spray it on as you would for bug spray to prevent a Bear from attacking. Well it did work in that regard but lets just say it wasn't the greatest experience for him.

LongStoryShort · Joined: 04 Oct 2004 Posts: 402 Location: Doha, Qatar

A gun works even better.
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azbackpackr · Posted: 8/31/2006, 7:08 am Post subject:

Hmmm, if I follow these lines of thought logically then, a gun works better than pepper spray, but you need to read the directions and not apply it to yourself! Very Happy

LongStoryShort · Joined: 04 Oct 2004 Posts: 402 Location: Doha, Qatar

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Happiness is being high on the food chain.

Davis2001R6 · Joined: 12 Dec 2003 Posts: 5591 Location: Italy

Now would that qualify of Natural Selection or Darwin Selection?

LongStoryShort · Joined: 04 Oct 2004 Posts: 402 Location: Doha, Qatar

That would qualify for a Darwin award.
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Happiness is being high on the food chain.

Sparrish · Joined: 04 Jul 2004 Posts: 239 Location: Phleeenix