#Bear spray how to#

The bottom line? Although bear spray doesnвЂ™t offer a guarantee of coming out of a bear encounter unharmed, itвЂ™s still the most effective and reliable deterrent at your disposal вЂ“ and it is, of course, far better than carrying nothing at all.Д«ear sprays can deter both black bears and grizzlies (pictured) (Image credit: Getty) How to store bear spray Another studyВ published in the Journal of Wildlife Management (opens in new tab), moreover, revealed that the injury rates for those carrying firearms were the same whether the carrier used the firearm in the attack or not. According to National Geographic (opens in new tab), firearms are effective deterrents in bear attacks in only 50% of cases, mainly because bringing a bear down requires multiple hits and using more powerful firearms than any hiker is likely to carry. Secondly, an accurate shot is not all thatвЂ™s required. Given that your target will be a large, snarling mammal approaching at high speeds, this is something of a blessing for anyone with nerves made of anything other than the hardest steel. First of all, bear sprays emit a dense and diffuse fog, meaning you donвЂ™t have to be quite so accurate in order to hit your target. This may be hard to believe, we know, but there are several reasons why bear sprays trump bullets. Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (opens in new tab), which found that bear sprays effectively deterred 92% of brown bear attacks and 90% of black bear attacks.ДЄnotherВ study from Brigham Young University (opens in new tab)found bear sprays were more effective deterrents than firearms.

The most notable of these was a study by AlaskaвЂ™s U.S. Several studies have shown that bear sprays are highly effective in repelling attacks by different species of bears. Counter Assault bear spray: potent stuff (Image credit: Amazon) Are bear sprays effective?

Bear spray