What Is Bear Spray And How To Use It   by Jackie Brownstein

in Outdoors / Camping    (submitted 2010-11-30)

Bear Spray is also known as bear mace, or in some circles as bear repellent. It is primarily made up of a substance called Oleoresin Capsicum which in common terms is a dried and ground Chile peppers that is designed upon spraying too release capsicum.

Capsicum causes a burning sensation in eyes nose and lungs of a charging predator and due to the sound and unfamiliar sight startles a bear and in most cases causes it to retreat,

Because of these properties it is the prefect defense against bears and other aggressive mammals. In fact studies made by the US fish and wildlife department has shown that those who have used firearms in the defense of an aggressive bear attack suffered injury in approximately 50 percent of all encounters.

By comparison those who used a bear repellent escaped any injury over 90% of the time. Several brands of bear spray are currently available on the market, the effectiveness of each varies depending on the percentage of active pepper ingredient, combined with spray duration and delivery.

When choosing a bear spray one should try and obtain the one with the highest percentage of pepper with length of spray duration being the second important consideration.

When faced with a dangerous encounter with an aggressive bear it is important to remain calm and not to run. Without any rapid or sudden moves reach for your bear spray and slowly begin to back away. If the bear does not retreat fire a small warning shot in it's general direction.

Frequently the warning shot is sufficient to cause the bear to retreat. However if the bear becomes aggressive and begins to charge than empty the entire canister of repellent when the bear is approximately 40 feet away.

You want to create a cloud of spray that the charging bear will run into. Once the bear has entered the cloud it's nose and eyes will begin to burn and tear up, and the vast majority of cases the animal will quickly turn and retreat.

At this point remove yourself from the vicinity of the bear and seek a place of safety. As within all dangerous encounters the import thing is to ember to remain calm and not let the dangerous situation create a sense of panic in you.

Used properly bear spray is highly effective and should be your first choice when hiking or camping in areas where bears are known to be present.

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