The Importance of Bear Spray When Out in the Wilderness
The importance of bear spray cannot be over exaggerated. Whenever you’re hiking, camping, or just out in the wilderness, you always have the chance of running into a bear. While there are many ways you can try to protect yourself from bears, bear spray is the recommended tool to use by the National Parks Service.
Bear spray can help deter bear attacks like no other method. Keep reading to learn more about why bear spray is so important!
The Importance of Bear Spray
Deters Bear Attacks
If you stumble upon a bear while you’re out in the wilderness on a backcountry trip, bears could potentially attack you in self-defense. Obviously, you’re going to want to have a way to protect yourself.
There are many ways people choose to protect themselves from bear attacks. Some people may think it’s wise to run — though you should never actually try to run away as a Brown Bear can run up to 35 MPH more than twice as fast as you.
Others believe strongly in carrying a firearm which is certainly a good method of protection however deterrence is always your first best option and bear spray has proven to be the best option available. We recommend that even if you prefer to carry a firearm that you also carry bear spray as a first line of defense.
Bear spray is the best way to deter bear attacks and keep you from being injured. It can persuade a bear from attacking and provide you and your fellow hikers time to extract yourself from the situation.
Limits a Bear’s Ability
When you spray bear spray at a bear, the spray completely impedes a bear’s ability to see and smell. This provides you with a few moments to evade the bear and prevent injury to you or them. Bear spray truly is unique in this regard as it's the only self defense product on the market that does this effectively!
Easy to Use
Bear spray is the easiest, and most successful, way to deter a bear attack, as we mentioned above. This is because you don’t need to aim the spray as it deploys a large cloud of irritant that's more than three times as strong as pepper spray most people carry in public.
With bear spray, all you need to do is spray it in the general direction of the bear and allow them to advance into the cloud. Once they encounter the spray they most often turn and run.
Q: Does bear spray expire?
A: Bear spray does expire, so you should always ensure you have a fresh can. On average, bear spray has a shelf life of three to four years. They do have an expiration date on the can for reference so ensure you check yours before leaving for the trail head.
Be Prepared
Whenever you go out in the wilderness, you should think about the importance of bear spray. Prepare yourself for any potential situations by buying a can of bear spray and understanding how to use it.
Practice — obviously without removing the safety to avoid actually spraying the bear spray — to be comfortable with it. Having the bear spray in an area where you can easily grab it is essential, as you don’t want it laying in the bottom of your backpack where you cannot reach it if you do stumble upon a bear.
We recommend keeping it attached to the outside of your backpack, on your belt, or where you can quickly grab and pull it to you if you do run into a bear.
Our QuickDraw Bear Spray Holder was designed to easily allow you to do this. Unlike other bear spray holders, our QuickDraw is made with a magnetized release — not a clip release or sock style holder that comes with the spray. So, if you do run into a bear, you don’t have to fight with getting the bear spray out of its cheap clunky holder. You can just grab it and pop it off the magnetic release for near instant deployment. Check it out now!