Before you go there, you better read this.
Setting Up “Triangle” Camp to Avoid Bears
When you set up camp, there are procedures that should be followed to keep your food secure, to keep you safe, and to prevent bears from coming to the tent to look for snacks. I was taught to establish a camp in a type of triangle with each side at least fifty yards long.
Food Storage
At the first point of the triangle you should have your food storage area. Your food can be stored in bear-proof containers or on a line between two trees at least twenty feet off the ground. I have used Garcia Bear-Resistant containers and have not had any problems.
Homemade Bear Containers
Home made bear containers can be made from PVC pipe with a plug and a threaded cap. However, these are very heavy if you are traveling on foot. Buried caches are a bad idea in general for bear country, as bears are expert diggers.
Kitchen Area
The second point of the triangle should be your kitchen area. Keep all utensils, dishes, and vessels here, as well as any scented items, such as soap and toothpaste. You should keep any clothes you cook in here as well, but this is often not practical.
Sleeping Area
The third point of the triangle is the sleeping area. Keep it sanitary, and do not bring any food to this area. All human waste should be buried well away from the camp. In an unplanned survival situation, where you are unable to cache your food, you may have to combine all three stations into one, but don’t do this unless you have an appropriate fire arm. When you break camp, always exercise “leave no trace”– a trash discipline for military types– by packing out all garbage and burying human waste to prevent the habituation of wildlife to human food.
Bears Can Wreak Havoc at Your Homestead
Bears can wreak havoc at your homestead because of their curiosity and their perpetual hunt for food, but there are steps you can take to make your retreat secure. A good start is to make sure all structures are sturdy and “over built” (at least by the standards of what passes for construction in America nowadays.) Bears can easily claw through thin plywood and break down weak doors. Make sure your dwelling’s doors have strong hinges and bolts that can be locked from the outside on the top and bottom of the door.
Bear Boards
At remote areas in Alaska, we used “bear boards” as a deterrent for bears trying to break into unoccupied cabins. These are made from pieces of plywood with 16 penny nails driven through the whole area in every 1-2 square inch space. These were placed over every ground level window and in front of the door.
Electric Fences
For livestock pens, chicken coups, and other sensitive areas, electric fences can be effective for keeping curious bears out. One of my friends in Alaska, whose cabin was over a mile from his airstrip, used this concept to build a small solar powered electric fence enclosure around his Piper Super Cub, as bears are notorious for shredding cloth-covered bush planes. It is possible that concertina or barbed wire would be an effective alternative, but I have never seen this used.
Keep Garbage and Food Secure
Do your best to not give bears a reason to come around by keeping garbage and other food secure. “Haze” problem bears by firing warning shots or using air horns. When securing the homestead, think of bears as extra large puppies who will chew on anything they can reach. They are crafty scavengers and will exploit any shortcomings in your retreat’s security, as some friends of mine learned when they had a bear hibernate under their remote cabin up in Alaska.
Bear Firearms
I left the discussion of bear firearms for last because if you use “your smarts” in bear country, your likelihood of needing your firearm to kill a bear is low. Your good habits in the wilderness will be your first, best defense against bear attack. I have met far too many newcomers to Alaska who believed that their gun was a magical talisman against bears. The simple act of taking a gun into the woods is not a comprehensive plan on how to deal with bears. While I am usually the last person to enter into the endless debates on the pros and cons of this or that gun/caliber, I do have a few pretty strong opinions about bear guns.
An Inadequate Gun May Be Worse Than No Gun
When it comes to killing a bear, a gun inadequate for the job can be worse than no gun at all. Emptying your .22 or 9mm into a bear to get a bear that is twice as angry is clearly a counterproductive move. That being said, a firearm is as much a noise-making device for bear defense as anything else, because firing warning shots will send the vast majority of bears on the run. A bear is nature’s version of a Panzer tank, with dense bones, thick fir, and heavy layers of fat and muscle, calling for some serious firepower.
First, there is no such thing as an ideal bear pistol, because there simply isn’t a caliber powerful enough to guarantee that you can stop a charging grizzly in its tracks. However, a .44 Magnum is the minimum for an acceptable bear defense for those of you who don’t want to live by your long gun.
Love Automatics But Go Big Or Go Home
Just so you don’t think I am being biased here: I love automatics. The first paycheck I ever earned I used to buy a 1911, but no experienced woodsman I have ever met in grizzly country ever carried anything smaller than a .44 Magnum. If you are exclusively in black bear country, .45 ACP might be sufficient but a .357 Magnum or larger would be preferable. Go big or go home, when it comes to pistols for bear defense.
The King of Bear Defense Firearms
In my opinion, a semiautomatic 12 gauge shotgun is the king of bear defense firearms, and that is what I prefer to carry in the back country. I usually load the first two rounds as slugs, with the rest as three-inch double aught buck shot. If you don’t have a semi auto shotgun, a pump action 12 gauge is a close second. A lever action 45-70 is also a good choice, and some professional guides swear by them. A large caliber rifle can also be an effective defense, but you will have fewer shots, and it will be more difficult to aim and take quick follow up shots.
Survival Guns– Shotgun As Best First Gun
JWR/SurvivalBlog has a static page on survival guns that is well thought out and a good guide for building your battery. If you currently do not own any firearms, I believe that a shotgun is the first gun that you should get, simply because it is so inexpensive and versatile. Whether it is used for rabbit hunting, bear defense, or as a tactical weapon it is an indispensable tool for the survivalist. In no way am I suggesting that it should be the last firearm you should procure. Like JWR, I believe that the “ultimate survival gun” debate is irrelevant. If you are carrying a long gun that is under powered for the job (that includes assault rifles), you really should be backed up by a secondary weapon or bear spray.
Bear Spray
What about bear spray? If you are a good survivalist, you already have a bear gun. However, I think that bear spray, for casual purposes, such as backpacking and walking around the woods, can be an effective alternative in these pre-TEOTWAWKI times. Bear spray has been shown to be more effective than a firearm for stopping charging bears, so it definitely belongs with your preps. It is convenient because it is light to carry, requires virtually no training to use, and is easy to aim. It is five times hotter than pepper spray for human attacks, so don’t get any on you when using (pay attention to wind direction), and always put it on the outside of any vehicle or aircraft in case of accidental discharge.
Bear Fire Arms Drills
I think it is useful to do a few bear specific fire arms drills to prepare yourself for bear attack. To simulate a charging bear, set up three targets– one at 50 yards (a typical distance for a hostile bear encounter), one at 30 yards, and one at 10 yards. With your bear gun of choice, practice putting a third of your rounds into each target starting from the farthest and working to the nearest, with the goal of accurately emptying your weapon in 3-5 seconds. You need to be highly proficient with your weapon, if you hope to stop a charging bear.
Two Broad Schools of Thought
There are two broad schools of thought for bear-human encounters. On one side, there is the idea that as a visitor into a bear’s home, it is your duty to be respectful and do everything possible to avoid a confrontation with bears. On the other side, you have people, like the hunting guide I used to work for, who always said, “I’m sleeping on top of my food. If a bear wants my food, I’ll shoot him in the face!”
I’ve always believed that it is in everyone’s best interest to minimize bear-human confrontations, and people who come to the wilderness without the knowledge to stay safe are just asking for trouble, but we should never hesitate to defend our lives and property. Follow safe procedures for travel, camping, and securing your homestead, and the likelihood of needing to actually kill a bear is low. My greater fear while solo in the wilderness is death by hypothermia or being injured and not being rescued. Sometimes I think we survivalists can get too focused on the exciting, adrenaline-pumping aspects of survival and ignore the fact that the difference between life and death is often the mundane– starvation, exposure, disease, et cetera.
Bears Kill One Per Year in U.S.
Bears kill approximately one person per year in the United States, including Alaska. Almost all of these deaths are preventable, because bear behaviour is predictable. Bring your smarts and your means of defence into bear country, and you will be fine, and make sure to teach your children exactly what to do if they encounter a bear if they are alone. All in all, I think human predators are far more dangerous than bears. After all, when is the last time a bear killed someone to get $20 for their next crack cocaine fix? Stay safe out there.
