NON-PYROTECHNIC DETERRENTS
PEPPER SPRAY-
Is It Really “Better Than Bullents”?
Method of Use
1. Carry spray in a holster where you can reach it, flick off the safety tab, aim and fire at a moment’s notice. You should be able to flick off the safety tab using just one or two fingers of one hand, then aim and fire, without ever removing the can from its holster. Practice until you can do this in your sleep. During an emergency, a surprising number of people are so intimidated and confused that they cannot even remove the safety tab, much less use the spray effectively. During an emergency, spray cans that are out of reach under a jacket or in a backpack might as well be on the moon for all the good they will do you.
2. Holsters: We carry 1 can in a belt-holster and 1 can in a UDAP chest-holster.
2a. If we end up on the ground, on my chest, we may not be able to reach a chest-holster, but might be able to reach a belt-holster, or vice versa.
2a1. This way, we have one can for each hand, in case we have to deter bears in two or more directions.
2a2. If one can is exhausted (which happens very very fast) or fails, the other is a backup.
2a3. We carry 1 can of oily spray (Pepper Power) and 1 can of oil-free spray (Bear Back), each of which has its advantages and disadvantages .
3. Spray is best used in combination with dominance behavior. When using any deterrent, we behave confidently, calmly and decisively – i.e., like a highly dominant bear. We do not use the deterrent unless the bear fails to comply – for instance to retreat from us. To the extent that a deterrent is unpleasant, it punishes the bear. We do not want to punish a bear for complying with us – only for failure to comply. It needs to recognize that failure to comply is punished, but compliance is rewarded. So we try to be as clear as possible about what we want the bear to do – not merely what we want it to stop doing.
4. Aiming
4a. If the bear is close, we aim for its face, especially its mouth and eyes.
4b. If the bear is too far away to aim that way, we fire horizontally or slightly below horizontal, so that a cone of spray shoots out towards the bear.
4c. If the bear is within 15 yards (1 sec away) and apparently about to make contact with you, we fire at least a 1-2 second blast. If the bear keeps coming and doesn’t appear to be halting or veering around us, we continue spraying with our arm outstretched. Beware that few cans last longer than 9 seconds, and some not that long. Taking short blasts reduces likelihood of running out before the bear is stopped.
4d. If the bear is farther away, and we are not directly upwind of it, we might have to adjust our aim to compensate for wind blowing the spray away from its target (see below).
4e. Ideally, the spray should hang in the air long enough that it is still there when the bear arrives, so that the bear cannot approach us without first passing through the spray – giving the spray a chance to enter its eyes, nostrils and mouth.
5. Compensating for Wind Direction
5a. Our first blast of spray should be no longer than ½ to 1 second.
We watch to see whether it is blown off target.
5b. Is the wind blowing crossways between us and the bear? If so, we compensate for wind direction by shifting our aim upwind.
5c. Is the wind blowing towards is? If so, we try to move upwind of the bear, using one or more of three tactics:
5c1. Circle the bear until we are upwind of it.
5c2. Let the bear follow us as we move around something large like a log until we are upwind of the bear – with the log between us and the bruin.
5c3. On rare occasions, when there was no other way of getting upwind, we have charged past a bear – angling to the upwind side of it so that it would veer away downwind
How Pepper Spray Affects a Bear
1. Pepper spray is NOT A REPELLENT but a deterrent. The odor attracts some bears but does not repel any ears. It is the burning sensation that does the trick.
2. Some bears are readily deterred by spray; others virtually ignore it. Using spray lessens your risk, but it is not 100% effective.
3. Spray deters a bear in at least 3 ways:
3a. Tearing (eye watering) can impair a bear’s vision for a few minutes.
3b. Pain: can distract a bear and perhaps discourage it from further aggression. This is most likely if the bear is hit before it becomes highly aroused. Once arousal is high, elevated adrenaline can inure the animal to pain.
3c. Asphyxiation: Difficulty breathing not only distracts a bear, but impairs its ability to run, attack, etc. This is probably the most effective impact by pepper spray – but one that works only if spray gets into the bronchii and lungs.
Range
1. How far spray shoots depends on how much pressure it is under in the can, which in turn depends on the amount of propellant gas put there by the manufacturer, and on the can’s temperature. At sub-freezing temperatures, no brand that I’ve tried shoots beyond 10-15 ft. Performance of spray is impaired even at 50 degrees -- a common summer temperature on cloudy or rainy days in Alaska.
At these temperatures, spray may also fail to atomize well. You can’t control outdoor temperature to reduce those problems. But you may be able to keep your spray warm enough to function well by placing the cans next to your body, under an insulated cover. (Just make sure that any such cover does not slow you down in reaching the spray and bringing it into action. I surround the outside of my holster with a neoprene cup designed for keeping beer cans cold or coffee cups warm.)
2. Spray emerges from the canister’s nozzle in a cone-shaped pattern, fanning out ever wider the farther it goes. The wider the pattern, the less spray is in any spot the size of a bear’s face. The amount of spray hitting a bear at 20 feet away would be about 10% of the amount hitting it at 10 feet away. Even if some brands of spray are under high enough pressure to carry farther than 20 ft, the amount reaching a bear there is likely too tiny to have any effect.
3. How close should the bear be allowed to approach before being sprayed?
3a. If a bear is circling us at least 20 feet away, trying to spray it would be a waste of spray that we might desperately need within the next few minutes.
3b. If a bear is walking towards us, it will likely cover 5-10 feet per second. So if we start spraying for 1-2 seconds when the bear is 30 ft. away, it could be around 20 ft. away when we stop spraying, and then walk into a dilute cloud of spray, and continue a few more paces before it begins to feel the effects -- by which time it could be only 10-15 ft away. That would be a good time to release another 1-2 second blast of spray -- at which point we would have used about one-third of your spray. Even if a bear walks to within 5 ft of us, we would not keep the spray trigger pressed down for more that 2 seconds unless the bear’s mouth is open and we could spray down its throat -- hopefully getting spray into its lungs.
3c. If a bear were charging us at full speed, it could cover 15-20 ft per second. If we start a 1-2 second blast when it is 20 ft away, we have a fairly good chance of getting a substantial amount of spray into its lungs.
If we limit ourselves to 1-2 second blasts of spray, we reduce risk of running out before the crisis is over.
4. A charging bear can cover 30 ft in less than 1 second. At this distance, even a good dose of spray might not stop the animal before it reaches us. So we’d be a lot more comfortable with a devise that allowed us to delivering spray at least 50 to 100 ft. Kate and Cody Dwire have a team working to develop “balls” filled with pepper powder that can be fired from a gun. But it is still a year or more away from market.
Effectiveness
For testimonials about the effectiveness of OC pepper spray, read Mike Lapinski’s book “True Stories of Bear Attacks: Who Survived and Why.” It contains a lot of valuable information -- even if, as one critic said, “It reads like an infomercial for pepper spray, especially Pepper Power.”
Of all the OC sprays I have tried, the only one that has not given me trouble is Pepper Power, produced by Mark Matheny. Mark got into the business after being mauled by a grizzly, and he is dedicated to producing first class products.
Click here 
for advanced information on pepper sprays concerning
for advanced information on pepper sprays concerning * Ingredients
* Atomization
* OC (oily) vs. oil-free sprays
* Summary of limitations and side-effects
* Transporting pepper spray in a vehicle or on your person
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WARNING & DISCLAIMER
The techniques and products described in this website, or in other Bear Viewing Association (BVA) materials, are meant to minimize your risk of bear-inflicted injury. They are based on a synthesis of current research, writings, and informed opinion. However, because of the unique and unpredictable circumstances of each human-bear encounter, even the best techniques cannot guarantee anyone’s safety. Furthermore, we have no control how you apply these techniques or products.
You are solely responsible to make appropriate decisions for the unique situations you encounter. Any actions you take should be based on your wisest decisions and your sound judgment. It is your responsibility to be cautious in bear habitat. Nothing in this book or in other BVA materials should be interpreted to mean that you can reduce the degree of caution necessary in dealing with bears, especially in situations where bears should be avoided, and where diplomacy is less appropriate for dealing with bears than is deterring or killing them.
Neither the author of this website, nor anyone else involved in its publication or dissemination, warranties that following its advice will protect you from injury by bears or other animals. We shall have no responsibility nor accept any liability for any actions you take as a result of information in this website or other BVA materials. Not all bear-safety experts agree on everything said in this (or any other) website on the subject.
Keep in mind too that research on bear behavior and on safety precautions is ongoing and continues to provide new insights, approaches, and solutions.
To round out your education on bear safety, you should consult additional sources, written and otherwise, including the book BEAR AGGRESSION: A New Approach To Staying Safe And Enjoying Adventures Among Alaska’s Wild Bruins 
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. It is extremely difficult to discern reliable patterns in the behaviors of bears and people, and then to convey those very complex patterns in words that are sufficiently simple, brief and clear to satisfy readers. Given the limitations on what words can convey, you should supplement reading this and other written material with careful study of video footage on bear behavior. BVA has produced videos for this purpose, including one to supplement the book BEAR AGGRESSION, showing many of the encounters described therein. Also consult Staying Safe in Bear Country video. All of these videos area available through 
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. You should also get field training under the guidance of a certified expert in both diplomatic and militant safety strategies.
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