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Bear Spray Campaign Endangers Hunters, Grizzlies

By David Smith, Unfiltered 9-20-09

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Rita Mae Brown

For years, the centerpiece of Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee’s bear spray campaign has been a simple slogan: Carry bear spray and know how to use it. For years, the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) has urged big game hunters in grizzly country to “use a weapon only if bear spray is unavailable.” For years the IGBC, which includes the National Park Service, US Forest Service, US Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho fish and game departments, has failed to provide hunters with essential information on how to use their firearm effectively for self-defense in grizzly country. For years, the IGBC has claimed that research shows bear spray is more effective than a firearm during dangerous encounters with grizzlies.

Results? Grizzlies injure too many hunters. Hunters kill too many grizzlies. Less than 50% of all big-game hunters carry bear spray. It’s rare for a hunter to use bear spray.

With fall hunting seasons getting underway, the IGBC has just begun it’s 2009 bear spray campaign. If the IGBC wants better results, it needs to make eight major changes.

1.) The IGBC should change its bear spray campaign slogan to “Carry bear spray and know when to use it.”

2.) Inform people that research on bear spray use in Alaska by non-hunters shows the spray stopped bears—including grizzlies—over 90% of the time. During close range encounters, people escaped injury 98% of the time. (T.Smith, 2008)

3.) Suggest that bear spray would be an excellent choice for hunters in four situations: A.) When field dressing game. B.) When in camp. C.) When packing out game. In these situations, bear spray is easy to carry or keep nearby, and it can be brought into action quickly. In general, hunters would be wise to use bear spray whenever it’s inconvenient or impossible to have a firearm in hand.

4.) Provide hunters with instructions and training on how to use their firearm effectively for self-defense during a surprise encounter with a nearby grizzly. Space considerations preclude listing all firearms tips, but here are three examples. One, hunters in grizzly country should not carry a rifle on their shoulder with a sling—they won’t have time to use it during a sudden encounter with a grizzly. For fast shooting, the two-hand/safe carry is the best way to carry a rifle in grizzly country. Two, the IGBC needs to give hunters a recommendation on when to shoot at a charging grizzly: 25 yards? 15 yards? Closer? People who don’t know when to shoot tend to panic and fire too soon, or panic and fire a wild shot at the last second. 3.) Practice, practice, practice bringing your rifle into action quickly. Practice until your moves are instinctive.

5.) Warn hunters that trying to use bear spray while holding a rifle in hand is unsafe. A hunter using a two-hand rifle carry would have to let go of his rifle with one hand, and reach for bear spray with his free hand. Some one-handed rifle carries would require that a hunter try to operate bear spray with his “weak” hand—while facing a charging grizzly. It’s pointless for the IGBC to tell hunters to “carry bear spray and know how to use it” when firearms instructors for the Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho fish and game departments don’t teach hunters how to use bear spray while carrying a rifle due to safety considerations.

6.) Emphasize that bear spray is not an alternative to a firearm when a big game hunter gets charged after startling a nearby grizzly. Biologist Chuck Schwartz with the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study team did an informal study on grizzly bear mortality in the Yellowstone region from 1992-2004. Hunters got charged by grizzlies 24 times. Schwartz told the Casper Star-Tribune "Time and again, hunters said it happened so fast that when they shot, the bear fell right at their feet."

7.) The IGBC must clearly state that there is no data on the use of firearms for self defense from bears. There have been two studies on bear spray (S. Herrero, 1998; T. Smith, 2008), but they do not include data on firearms. There is no comparable research on firearms. (Smith and Herrero are currently working on a paper about firearms use in Alaska.)

8.) The IGBC should caution people that comparing statistics on the success rate of bear spray to statistics on the success rate for firearms merely proves the adage “statistics are meaningless.” Hikers do well with bear spray, but hikers are not holding a rifle when they startle a nearby grizzly. Bear spray is not an option for hunters carrying a rifle in hand while hunting.

Efficacy of Bear Deterrent Spray in Alaska found that people using bear spray successfully deterred 31 different brown bears that approached camps and cabins out of curiosity or in search of food. Any reasonably proficient hunter armed with a 30/06 would enjoy equal success in the same situation. If big game hunters in the Yellowstone region blasted every curious bear that approached a camp, they could easily pad the statistical success rate for firearms, but the end result—31dead grizzlies—would no doubt enrage bear spray advocates.

Carry bear spray and know when to use it.

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