Bear Aware presentation includes live fire demo

This wasn’t an ordinary bear aware talk.

The one held in Libby on June 18 included practice rounds of firing bear deterrent spray at a bear researcher.

But the substance that emitted from the canisters was not the real thing as area folks from the ages of 7 to 70 took turns spraying inert canisters at Liz Templin, a bear management technician with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, who is working under the direction of state Bear Management Specialist Kim Annis.

The event was sponsored by the Libby Outdoor Recreation Association. Tony Petrusha wanted to host the event to help people learn more about living in bear country.

Annis is known well in Lincoln County after 15 years of responding to calls about bears - grizzly and black - getting into garbage cans, chicken coops and places where pet or animal food was left unsecured. She’s trapped the animals to move them to more wild areas and had to euthanize some, too. Annis has also investigated bear attacks and encounters with people.

“My job is to mitigate conflicts with bears and help people understand bears,” Annis said.

There’s no question Northwest Montana has quality bear habitat and with more people living in and around it, conflicts will occur, but decreasing them is Annis’ goal.

One woman who attended the presentation said she recently moved to the area and lives near J. Neils Memorial Park. She said she saw a black bear near where she lived and was concerned, but wanted to find out more about the animals.

“We have about 1,100 grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem and 60 grizzlies in the Cabinet-Yaak. Plus we have about one black bear for every 1.5 square miles, so there are a lot of bears in the region,” Annis said.

The presentation centered on the top two sources of bear conflicts - food attractants and surprise encounters during recreation.

When it comes to unplanned encounters, Annis said having an idea of how the animal is behaving will determine how people should behave.

“Predatory attacks are rare and those mostly involve black bears. In 15 years of this work, I’ver had three predatory or curious encounters with black bears and none with grizzlies,” Annis said. “Bear encounters are largely because of surprising them at close range, defending their young or a food source.”

“A defensive or agitated bear may clack its jaws, slap the ground with its paws, making a short bluff charge and hop around, sway or make a moaning sound when they inhale and exhale air,” Annis said. “For a bear with those type of behaviors, you want to stand your ground, talk calmly, move away when the bear moves away, use spray or play dead if you feel the bear may touch you.”

For a bear that follows or purposefully approaches a person, Annis says standing your ground, being aggressive by waving your arms or shouting is recommended. She also says to have bear spray ready and if the bear makes contact, fighting back is the best approach.

For bears that charge or appear ready to charge, standing your ground and using spray when the bear comes within 30-60 feet is the best plan.

“If the bear is going to touch you, go face down on the ground, cover your neck and head as much as possible, and deploy your bear spray in the bear’s face,” Annis said. “If you do not have bear spray, play dead if it is a grizzly bear, fight back if it is a black bear.”

Annis said one misconception about bears is when they are on their hind feet.

“A standing bear is acting neither defensively nor predatory,” she said. “They are smell better, see better, figure out what the heck is going on.”

Paying attention to bear sign, such as scat, excavated anthills, rocks or boulders that are flopped over or torn-up logs, is important, too. Making noise in areas where visibility is poor or in noisy places such as creek bottoms are good ideas, Annis said.

In the debate over using bear spray or guns, as more encounters happen between bears and people, the evidence is piling up that indicates a deterrent spray is the best method of.

While carrying a firearm isn’t a bad idea, the odds are better that stopping a curious or charging bear will be done with spray.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Bear Management Specialist Kim Annis doesn’t tell people to not carry guns, but she has very good reasons for recommending spray in stopping a bad bear encounter.

“Several years ago, a group of black bear hunters were on Buckhorn Ridge when one of them shot a grizzly bear, believing it was a black bear,” Annis said. “When they tracked it into some brush, it came after them and one of the men shot his friend in the process of shooting the bear. They weren’t carrying spray.”

Another occurred in the Spread Creek area, also in the Yaak Valley.

“Two hunters encountered a sow with two yearlings and one of them shot the sow in self-defense,” Annis said. “I spoke to the hunter and he said if he knew then what he knows now, he would’ve used spray.”

Annis also referenced a bear attack in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, near Island Park, Idaho, area.

“They used spray during an attack and it left,” Annis said.

Both hunters were able to walk out of the backcountry and call for help, according to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Annis also mentioned the May 2018 grizzly attack on Amber Kornak, a field assistant for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“She was making noise, but she was near a stream and the bear didn’t hear her,” Annis said. “When it came after her, she crouched down and the bear jumped on her and bit her head. She accidentally sprayed herself, but it was enough for the bear to leave. She’s still a bear biologist today.”

Annis offered some bear spray tips:

Spray is not a repellant. It’s meant to be shot into the animal’s mucous membrane (mouth, nose, eyelids).

It is meant to keep a bear away from you and it should not be sprayed on a pack, a person or a person’s clothes.

Make sure the can says “not for use on humans” and “deterrent.”

Annis said how a person carries bear spray is up to them. Using a carabiner isn’t preferred, but if it works best for someone, they should do it. She also said trying to take a canister off a carabiner is not a good idea.

“Just spray it,” Annis said.

Templin also offered an important tip about bear spray.

“Don’t leave it in your vehicle in the summer because the contents are under pressure and if it gets too hot and the can explodes, it will complete ruin your vehicle,” she said.

For more information on bears, see https://fwp.mt.gov/conservation/wildlife-management/bear.

For more information on LORA, contact Petrusha at tpetrusha@yahoo.com or 406-422-3528.