Bear Spray | Bear Pepper Spray | Black Bear Spray

Does bear spray really work? This is one of the most common questions that is going to be asked by concerned hikers and travlers, and for good reason. Whether or not bear spray works is not a question that you want to find out the answer to with a grizzly bear charging full speed.

There are several recent lab studies that suggest that bear spray is better than a gun. Over 20 years of data was used on aggressive bear behavior showed conclusively that a bear that suffered a direct hit from bear spray is more likely than a gun to stop aggression. This is perhaps the major reason that learning how to use bear spray is so important.

The study was done by both American and Canadian researchers and showed that bear spray stopped aggressive bears - whether they were attacking or foraging for food - over 92% of the time. Guns only worked 2/3, meaning a 1/3 chance that you end up as lunch.

Below is an example of some fine bear spray that can help protect you outdoors from bears and bear attacks.

True Stories of Bear Attacks: The Case for Pepper Spray

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A common mistake that is made about bear pepper spray is confusing regular pepper spray for the same thing, which doesn't make any sense. Normal pepper spray won't do anything to a bear other than maybe get it's appetite going.

Bear pepper spray is specifically designed to take down bears, making it overwhelmingly strong when used on anything else. In fact, bear spray should never be used on people, dogs, or anything else.

Bear pepper spray is designed specifically to take down overly curious or charging bears. Never use bear spray for anything other than its intended use.

There are a lot of questions about does bear spray work. Bear Spray has been proven to be more effective at deterring attacking or overly curious bears than a firearm, and yet reports of bear spray not working continue to muddle the issue.

Usually if bear spray fails, it's because the person using it doesn't understand how it works. Bear spray and bear mace used to often be called bear deterrant or bear repellant, but the name was changed because people would spray their tent, car, or campsite with it.

The problem is after this wears off, it basically means you made everything smell like pepper, which will actually attract bears to your camp. Bears have extra sensitive sense of smell, so when a grizzly charges, the bear spray is supposed to be used right then, creating a cloud of incredibly strong smelling stuff in the air.

Literally 98%+ of the time the bear will hit the spray, sit back, and then run away. This is strong enough to put a human down for five minutes or more, and bears have a nose that is well over 100 times more sensitive.

This is a far better response, according to the study, then what happens if you shoot a bear with a handgun. In fact, not only do reports show that bear spray is better than hand guns for deterring grizzlies, but almost a quarter of the time bears were shot, they became MORE aggressive, and more likely to continue the attack.

The key to successful bear spray use, and the key to avoiding bear spray disaster, is knowing how to use it properly. Doing so will keep you safe in a dire situation. Using it the wrong way could make you lunch.