Easy-To-Follow Guide For Carrying, Storing, & Using Bear Spray

It’s a situation you never want to be in, but sometimes, even with the best preparation and planning, it can still happen. A close encounter with a bear can end in disaster if you’re not carrying an important essential item with you–bear spray. 

Not only do you need to carry bear spray, you must know who to use it. While bears will generally avoid people (who follow all wildlife safety precautions) sometimes an encounter is unavoidable. 

In this blog we’ll take a look at what bear spray is, how to store it, and how to use it in the event of an emergency. 

What Is Bear Spray

An aerosol extract of hot peppers, bear spray is designed to stop aggressive bear behavior. It’s loaded with highly concentrated capsaicin and capsaicinoids that you would find in over-the-counter pepper spray. 

Bear spray is designed to temporarily cause a burning sensation to the animal. This cloud of vapor incapacities the bear by irritating the mucus membranes, eyes, mouth, and ears allowing you time to make a hasty escape. 

The concentration of capsaicin in bear spray is between 1.0% to 2.0% where as civilian pepper spray contains around 0.4% to 0.5%. It’s much more potent and obviously not something that should ever be used on anything other than bears.  

How To Store Bear Spray 

Now that you know the potential dangers of bear spray to humans, you need to know how to store it safely. First off, like any canister containing compressed air, it must be kept away from high heat or it could explode. 

Using a secure, locking container is a must to keep it away from kids and pets. It’s also important to check the shelf-life of your specific brand of bear spray as an expired product is far less effective. 

Purchasing a new one every year is the best plan to make sure your spray is fresh. You also need to check the regulations of the area you plan on visiting to be sure bear spray is allowed to be carried. 

How To Carry Bear Spray

Knowing how to carry bear spray is just as important as knowing how to use it. One of the most important practices is to keep it on your person at all times as a charging bear won’t wait for you to search for it in your backpack. 

You can find holsters that will clip to your belt or your chest so the bear spray will be easy to access. While it’s clipped on your person, be sure that the safety clip on the canister is on to avoid an accidental discharge.

The bear spray should be taken into your tent with you at night and be easily located quickly without needing a flashlight. Be sure to watch out for anything sharp that could puncture the container and that the safety pin is on. 

Don’t spray your tent, equipment, or vehicle thinking it will be a deterrent to bears. While it works during a bear attack, the pepper scent will do the opposite and actually attract bears to your campsite.    

How To Use Bear Spray

Now that you understand what bear spray is and how to handle it safely, the most important part is knowing how to use it. In the event of a bear attack, you may only have a few seconds to react and that’s a bad time to realize you having no idea how to make it work.

Bear spray should only be used as a last resort, after you’ve exhausted all your other options. If you encounter a bear, you should first back away slowly while speaking to it in a calm and loud voice. 

If you are able to back away without the bear charging, hastily make your way to a safe place and alert authorities in the area if applicable. This method works most of the time, but if the bear does charge you need to act fast. 

Unclip your bear spray from its holster and remove the safety clip. Hold the spray in front of you with one hand on the can and the other on the trigger. 

Wait until the bear is within 30 feet and begin spraying, first in a zigzag pattern and then directly at the bears face if it continues to charge. Take up a position downwind if possible to avoid any of the spray blowing back into your face. 

When the bear stops charging or changes direction, leave the area immediately. Follow the earlier instructions of backing away calmly and slowly and also be sure to that the bear doesn’t continue to follow you.  

Conclusion

With proper knowledge and quick reaction time, an aggressive bear encounter can end safely. If using bear spray becomes your only option, these tips will help deter this dangerous animal from engaging in an attack.