Travelling across Canada makes encounters with bears a real possibility. The summer season creates a bear fever of sorts as all tourists seem to chat about is bears. Talk of bears is a real conversation starter as people ask you if you have seen one just so that they can smugly tell you their bear story. Indeed, bear-jams are common as drivers dangerously pull over or fail to pull over on sight of a bear creating serious obstacles on the highways. Often I have pulled over for a scenic photo-stop and people think I have spotted a bear and so they pull over too. It's pretty crazy stuff. The fever intensifies off the highways in the back-country as everywhere there are signs warning you of the 'danger' of bears and telling you to be 'bear aware'. To a large extent it feels like these great creatures have been demonised much like the movie 'Jaws' did to sharks. It is hard for me to accept that bears are dangerous since the only bears I know are Paddington Bear, Winnie the Pooh and Baloo; all of whom are very friendly characters.
Bears can maul humans and it is important that people understand how not to antagonise them, however, the signs telling us to beware of bears are equally signs telling bears to beware of morons. A bear has no desire to meet us whatsoever. It is not his fault that we have placed roads and trails through his foraging terrain. The reality is that if you leave your food out then a bear's sense of smell will pick up on it. I do not know any species that does not enjoy a free lunch so to speak. He is simply hungry and he is certainly not coming over 'to bite your head off' because you shouldn't have left food out for him and now he is going to be shot by the ranger because he has come too close to humans. While he is omnivorous he will not kill you to eat you. 80% of his food is roots and berries and the meat he does eat is usually kill that he picks up on. Usually they will eat a lot of meat when they come out of their dens for the winter as the cold has naturally killed elk and deer off creating easy pickings for the hungry bear. Certainly, if he wanted to kill game he could but he is more interested in berries than anything else. He has to pack in enough food during August and September so that he can survive the winter in his den hibernating. He spends twenty hours a day foraging and so I need to make sure that I keep any attractants away from my tent by hanging them since I'm asleep when he's awake. If the berry crop has been poor then he is likely to be late into his den and so may have to kill to get the food he needs into him.
Bears must be among the most majestic of creatures. They can climb trees to 'poach' eggs, they can swim for fish and they can run 55kph when they have to (Olympic sprinters run 35kph). Of course, they are immensely strong too and so it is important not to antagonise them. Mountain-bikers on back-county trails (like me) are the most likely to come upon wildlife as bikes are pretty silent and move quickly. On encountering a bear you should back away as he was there first and you don't know if it is a mother with cubs nearby. Apparently it is not prudent to break into a chorus of "I'm the king of the jungle, the jungle's VIP ... " and barge your way through as then you may start a turf war. The only way to win in that situation is to throw rocks at the bear so he knows you can hurt him ... but what if there are no rocks? If you make yourself big and threaten him he may back away but he may not. The other thing not to do is to be afraid. Animals can smell fear and will react to it in one way or another.
So far I have seen two black bears. While I can't be certain they were black bears as the colour of a bear does not determine whether it is a grizzly or a black bear, they did not seem to have the hump that grizzlies tend to have. Both of them were very big. One I saw scampering from an oncoming freight train; one of those Canadian Pacific Rail-road trains that goes on for miles. He was about 300 metres away. The other one was 10 metres away but I got there just as the Ranger fired a flare near him to scare him back into the woods. If I have a close encounter with a bear I want it to be alone and one where we are both aware of each other. I respect his majesty and he respects that I'm not a moron. We'll nod to each other like old friends (as man likely once was). The two of us will be sitting there sharing in the spoils of nature knowing that neither of us has the desire to kill, rather we both just love the sweet taste of Huckleberries.
Over and out
Marco
suspending food from trees to keep the bears and racoons away