Keep Bear Spray Accessible

It should now be common knowledge that carrying your bear spray on your person where you can quickly access it is standard operating procedure; however while it may seem that way for many veteran hikers it isn’t for many others.

Before leaving home for a hike the first thing a person must do is first place their spray canister where they can retrieve it in a quick amount of time. This means that they shouldn’t simply place it in their back pocket or even think about putting it in their backpack where it could end up getting lost at the bottom of everything else.

One Glacier Bay National Park biologist who was conducting a fisheries survey on the Bartlett River found himself being charged by a brown bear. Brown bears are also known to fish for sockeye salmon in this river.

As the biologist walked along the river shore he heard a movement in the grass 150 feet away. As he turned he became aware that an adult brown bear was charging towards him. Shouting at the bear the biologist grabbed his bear spray that was in his backpack, before being able to spray the bear who was 15 feet away.

Even though the biologist was successful at getting the bear to veer away, he didn’t leave himself room to do so. Of course training is ultimately provided for all the Glacier Bay National Park staff when it comes to knowing how to successfully utilize and deploy the spray canister.

But maybe this biologist happened to miss that training class.

However it should also be looked at another way. Even though he grabbed his self defense spray from in his backpack that could mean that it was clipped to a shoulder spray on his backpack. This is after all a way that many people carry their protective sprays with them as it provides easy access.

And yet, whatever the meaning involved the bottom line is that if you intend to go hiking in an area that is frequented by bears it’s important that you have your bear spray located on your person that provides you the chance to employ it in an effective and quick manner.

Bears are fast, which means that you will need to be even quicker if you expect to successfully utilize your spray canister in a bid to save your life from one.