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Acknowledgments Preface: Close Encounters of the Furred Kind Warning & Disclaimer 1. Grizzly or Black Bear? / 1 2. Geographic Distribution of Each Species / 11 3. Arriving in Bear Country / 17 4. Hiking / 23 5. Fishing / 55 6. Camping / 79 7. Bear Viewing / 107 8. Watching Other Wildlife / 137 9. Hunting / 139 10. Coping With Aggression / 149 Recommended Reading / 181 ************************************************************************************************* INDEX OUTLINE FORMAT Dedication / ii Publisher information and search terms / iii Contents / iv B&W vs. color photographs / v Fonts and humor / v Metric measurements / v Acknowledgments / vi ♦ Close Encounters of the Furred Kind / xvii o Scenario of a fish-stealing grizzly / xviii o Encounter case histories / xix o Book overview / xxii o Should or should not? / xxiii ♦ Warning & Disclaimer / xxiv 1. GRIZZLY OR BLACK BEAR? / 1 ♦ Spinal profile / 1 D: Profile differences among species / 2 * P: Black bear with a grizzly-like shoulder hump / 2 ♦ Facial profile / 2 D: Profile differences among species / 3 ♦ Fur color / 3 P: Mother blackie with one black cub and one brown / 3 ♦ Claw length and footprints / 4 D: How footprints correspond to foot structure / 5 P: Hand print of blackie showing only four fingers / 5 D: Differences among species / 6 T: Key traits distinguishing blacks vs. grizzlies / 7 P: Ear length differences among species / 8 P: Brown and black bears / 8 ♦ Differences in temperament between species and varieties / 9 P: Black bears active during winter / 10 ___________________________________________________ * D = diagram, P = photo, M = map, T = table, SB = sidebar 2. GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION / 11 ♦ North America / 11 o Black bears / 11 o Grizzly/brown bears / 11 M: Distributions black and grizzly/brown bears / 12 ♦ Alaska / 13 o Grizzly/brown and black bears / 13 M: Distributions grizzly vs. brown bears / 13 M: Distributions of black bears and Kodiak bears / 14 M: Distributions of brown vs. black bears on AK islands / 15 o Polar Bears / 16 M: Distribution of polar bears / 16 3. ARRIVING IN BEAR COUNTRY / 17 P: Be prepared to meet bears as soon as you arrive / 17 P: Protect your gear & camp with an electric fence / 18 P: Bears that tried to raid my gear pile / 20 P: Unattended planes and boats are fair game for bears / 21 P: Black bears active during winter / 22 4. HIKING / 23 ♦ Help bears avoid you from afar / 23 o Visibility / 24 o Scent / 25 SB: Concern about artificial scents attracting bears / 22 o Sound / 26 • Imitating bear threats / 26 1. Breaking sticks / 26 2. Clapping / 27 • Bells, whistles and horns / 28 1. Horns / 28 2. Whistles / 29 3. Bells / 29 • Vocalizing / 32 1. Talking, yelling and shouting / 32 2. Singing and music / 33 ♦ Avoid bears from afar / 34 o Trails / 35 • Bear spoor / 35 1. Is this spoor from a bear? / 35 P: Tree bitten and rubbed on by a black bear / 36 P: Bear dung with clam shells and cow parsnip seeds / 36 D Track pattern of a walking bear / 37 P: Claw marks on trees / 37 2. How old is the spoor? / 37 3. Have the bears been getting food from people? / 38 • Scanning with your eyes / 38 P: Bears easily blend into vegetation / 39 P: Where does a bear sleep? / 41 P: Bear appear out of nowhere / 41 P: Stay alert / 42 P: Carrion-scavenging birds / 43 • Smelling / 43 • Listening / 43 SB: Dogs and bears / 44 o Beaches / 45 o Streams / 46 P: Bears catching and scavenging salmon / 46 P: Salmon vulnerability / 47 P: Bears chasing salmon / 48 P: School of salmon waiting to migrate upstream / 49 P: Watch for cubs on streambanks / 50 P: Bear that ate two people / 51 P: Streambank encounters / 52 P: Don’t fall asleep on a salmon stream / 53 P: Night fishing brown bear / 54 5. FISHING / 55 P: Author with salmon he caught “bear-handed” / 55 ♦ If you fish where bears do, you’re likely to meet one / 55 ♦ Fishing on foot / 56 o Selecting fishing sites / 56 T: Calendar of salmon runs on the Kenai and Russian Rivers / 56 o Splashing – an ursine dinner bell / 57 P: Splashing by a hooked salmon / 57 D: Whose fish? Bear tries to steal lunch / 58 o Visibility and watchfulness / 58 D: Avoid tunnel vision / 59 o Don’t surrender fish to a bear / 59 o Don’t leave your lunch or fish unguarded / 60 P: Angler wearing his pack while bear watches / 60 P: Backpacks stolen by bears / 61 P: Bandit bears being pepper-sprayed / 62 o Storing fish and food / 63 P: Sitting on your cooler reduces accessibility to bears / 63 P: Bear-resistant steel barrel / 64 o Disposing of fish wastes / 64 P: Bear-proof dumpster / 65 P: Discarded salmon carcass / 65 P: Use of filleting tables at Russian River / 66 o Picnics and barbeques / 67 P: Picnic table too close to dense brush / 67 P: Sign warning of bear danger / 68 o Pit stops / 68 ♦ Fishing from a boat / 69 o Encounters / 69 P: Anglers in a boat pass a brown bear / 69 P: Bear fishing within a few yards of anglers / 69 P: Anglers within touching distance of bears / 70 P: Brown bears “snorkeling” in search of fish / 70 P: Brown bears avoiding eye contact with people / 71 o Fish wastes / 72 o Avoiding bear damage to your craft / 72 P: Bears that damaged boats / 73 o Ursine ambushes / 74 P: Black bears waiting to dash-&-grab someone’s fish / 74 ♦ Coexisting with bears / 75 6. CAMPING / 79 ♦ Wilderness lodges / 79 ♦ Camp site selection / 80 P: Bear in camp / 81 P: Bear tipping garbage can / 82 ♦ Camp inconspicuously / 82 P: Inconspicuous camps / 83 ♦ Separate your sleeping and kitchen camps / 84 ♦ Tent designs and arrangements / 85 D: Don’t sleep where a bear can see you / 85 ♦ Latrine / 87 ♦ Protect gear and camps from bears / 87 o Electric fence / 87 • Warnings / 87 D: Grounding a fence / 88 • Grounding / 89 • Insulation / 89 • Size of area protected / 89 • Fencing wire / 90 • Flagging / 90 P: Bear investigating an electric fence / 90 D: Bears shocked by an electric fence / 91 D: Square vs. round fence setups / 91 • Fence posts / 91 • Guy wires / 92 • Testing voltage output / 92 o Intruder alarm / 92 • Trip wires / 93 • Motion detectors / 93 P: Radio Shack brand detector / 93 P: Gallagher and Pel fence chargers / 94 ♦ Don’t attract bears to your camp / 94 o Food conditioning / 94 P: Brown bears invading a camp / 95 o Storing fish, food and other attractants / 96 • Minimizing odors / 96 • Bear resistant food containers / 98 P: Bear investigating cooler / 98 P: Bear resistant container for backpacking / 98 • Elevated caches / 99 1. Hang your bag over a horizontal cable / 99 D: Tactics used by bears to reach suspended packs / 100 A. One bag on a cable / 100 B. Two bags on a cable / 101 2. Hang your pack over a branch / 102 o Cooking and cleaning / 102 • Preparations for cooking / 102 • Cooking / 103 1. Fresh fish and meat / 103 P: Fish frying on a camp fire / 103 D: Uninvited dinner guests / 104 2. Other foods / 103 • Cleaning and waste disposal / 104 ♦ Insect repellents and other miscellaneous attractants / 105 P: Three brown bears / 88 7. BEAR VIEWING / 107 P: Brownie cub and its mother / 108 ♦ Golden rules of bear viewing / 109 1. Be prepared / 110 • Spur of the moment viewing / 110 • Planned viewing / 110 2. Avoid bears and where you are not prepared to cope with them / 112 3. View from a bear-proof location unless you can cope with encounters / 112 • Vehicle / 113 P: Black bear near a car and driver / 113 P: Polar bears near a bus and mobile motel / 114 P: Bears viewed from boats / 115 • Observatory / 117 P: Elevated platform / 117 P: Viewers at unimproved observatories / 118 4. Avoid surprise encounters and tunnel vision / 119 P: Viewers unaware of an approaching bear / 120 5. Remain with at least five other people / 120 P: Stay together / 121 P: Bear jam at Yellowstone / 122 6. Be wary, sensitive, cooperative and adaptable / 123 7. View only trusting, respectful bears / 124 8. Don’t crowd bears or trespass on their turf / 125 • Crowding / 125 • Photographic distances / 126 • Trespassing / 127 9. Don’t smell or act like food; don’t compete with bears for food; don’t feed or touch them / 127 10. Don’t disturb bears or fellow viewers / 128 • Be polite / 128 • Be unobtrusive / 128 P: Viewers in brightly colored clothing marring another person’s view / 129 • Conserve viewing opportunities / 129 ♦ North American Bear Center / 132 P: NABC exhibits and bears / 132 ♦ Viewing opportunities in Southcentral Alaska / 136 P: Much too close / 136 8. WATCHING OTHER WILDLIFE / 137 9. HUNTING / 139 P: Alaskan hunter with a deer and moose / 140 ♦ Hazards / 141 o Surprise! /141 o Accidentally attracting bears / 142 o Boldness or aggressiveness / 142 o Shooting a bear in defense of life or property / 142 ♦ Defenses / 143 o Firearms and pepper spray / 143 o Electric fence and intruder alarm / 143 o Standing guard / 143 o Don’t contaminate your clothing / 143 o Lure bears away from your meat / 144 o Minimize attractiveness of your meat or trophy / 145 o Caching your meat or trophy / 145 o Packing out / 146 o Don’t get ambushed at your cache / 146 o Should you kill a bear to defend your meat or trophy? /147 ♦ Meat and trophies at camp / 148 10. COPING WITH AGGRESSION / 149 ♦ Assessing moods and intentions / 149 T: Body language used to assess mood and intentions / 150 D: Bear threat postures / 152 P: Head-low postures with and without a long-face threat / 153 ♦ Escape / 154 P: If you run, a bear might chase / 156 P: If you climb a tree, even a griz can follow / 157 ♦ Negotiation / 158 o Appeasement / 158 • Applications / 158 • Methods / 159 SB: Does staring provoke bears? / 159 o Intimidation / 161 ♦ Militant self-defense / 162 o Mid-tech deterrents / 162 • Aerial flares / 163 • Handheld flares / 163 • Pepper spray / 163 o Are deterrents really “better than bullets”? / 166 T: Planned vs. emergency shooting / 168 o Firearms and ammunition / 170 o Shooting to kill or crippled a bear / 171 P: Where a bear is most vulnerable / 172 P: Exposure of vulnerable spots as a bear charges and its vulnerabilities / 174 ♦ Surviving an attack / 177 o Protective or bullying / 177 • Grizzly/brown bears / 177 • Black bears / 178 o Predatory / 178 ♦ After an attack ends / 178 o Watch, look and listen / 178 o First Aid / 179 ♦ Firearm safety / 179 RECOMMENDED READING / 181 ♦ References cited / 181 ♦ Analysis of bear attacks and advice on how to avoid becoming a victim / 181 AUTHOR BIO & BOOK ORDERS / 194 click here  to read a preview of this book which is available for purchase from the Bear Viewing Association (all profits devoted to conserving viewable bears and bear viewing opportunities) Sneak%20Preview.html
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