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Total Members Voted: 68

Voting closed: November 01, 2014, 10:30:34 PM

[Shmoke Shaman]

Curious to see if people take extra measures while fishing. I encountered a bear on a river, freaked out my wife.

[RalphH]

I've only encountered black bears up close but when I did they either took off faster than a greyhound or seemed oblivious to me.

[A Frayed Knot]

I carry bear spray all the time in canada, when I am up in AK its gun + spray. I am not sure what the rules are down here for carrying a side arm I never really looked into it other than when I used to go hunting.

[Lyall]

Depends where I am....

Van Island - sometimes
Lower mainland - no
Skeena and tribs - YES

[flyguy1]

I've never carried bear spray nor do I feel the need as most of my hiking, fishing trips are in the fraser valley. Out of all my sightings of black bears  they simply run away except for once.

I was walking my dog to the mouth of the spawning channel on the east side of Stave river . On our way back we encountered a bear that poked its head out from the trail  and growled at the dog. Needless to say we headed back to the mouth and returned to the parking lot via a very long swampy trek. Fortunately I had the dog on its leash and the bear stayed where it was...

This was the only real encounter where I had to back track and get out of its territory. Strangely enough I have yet to see a bear during the salmon  spawning season   probably due to all the noise.
We get plenty of bears in the trailer park at night looking for garbage  that people have left out to be picked up that morning so I imagine they also go down to the river at night.

[DRP79]

I carried mine for the first time yesterday. I remember hearing a report of a cougar siting where I Was going so I took it along. I would be tempted to take it with me to the upper river but I dont get up there often when fishing by myself.

[ChumChaser]

I take it when fishing the Chehalis,  Squamish,  and Cheakamus.  I have seen larger bears on those systems,  including  grizzly tracks. When fishing the Vedder I don't bother as all the bears I have seen are small and flee quickly,  guess I view them as less of a threat.

[Floater]

I carried mine for the first time yesterday. I remember hearing a report of a cougar siting where I Was going so I took it along. I would be tempted to take it with me to the upper river but I dont get up there often when fishing by myself.

Leave the Spray at home if cougars is what your worried about, you wont see the attack coming. A knife with easy access is what you want. Cougars are pretty cowardly and any kind of resistance like a couple good knife stabs will have them thinking twice about their attack.

That being said there is a teenage black bear in the upper river around Alison i have spotted it for two seasons now and its getting pretty damn big. The house right by Alison has two dogs when they are barking like crazy thats a good sign its in the area.

[chronicfisher]

Leave the Spray at home if cougars is what your worried about, you wont see the attack coming. A knife with easy access is what you want. Cougars are pretty cowardly and any kind of resistance like a couple good knife stabs will have them thinking twice about their attack.

That being said there is a teenage black bear in the upper river around Alison i have spotted it for two seasons now and its getting pretty damn big. The house right by Alison has two dogs when they are barking like crazy thats a good sign its in the area.

May I suggest a full tang blade,don't want to be carrying  a folding blade.

[KarateKick]

I don't go into the woods anymore, but when I was young I used to carry a Cold Steel Trail Master bowie.  It's not great for stabbing but it's nicely balanced for slashing.

[DRP79]

I always keep my blade in my hand warmer pocket for easy access.

[nosey]

Had a cougar come after my dog and I this spring mushroom picking in a burn. I saw it coming for the dog from over 200 mtrs away, when I called the dog in it came straight towards us it got about half way then layed behind a big log and watched us for 10 or 15 min. when we tried to make our escape it came right towards us again with me waving my arms and yelling to let it know I was a person. It came to about 35ft away and I tried the bear spray hitting it a little on its feet and just a touch on it's nose, it snorted and circled us real real slowly at about the same distance, it got up wind and I was afraid I'd mace myself and the dog if I sprayed again and didn't hit it full in the face. When it got about 1/2 way around us my dog finally freaked out (I had ahold of his collar) so I waved my arms and yelled too. The cougar walked slowly downhill about 40 yds and lay down and watched us. then it started to rub it's nose with its paws and you could see the bear spray was starting to bug it. It started to rub it's nose on the ground like a kitten that just had it's face rubbed in poop so the dog and I slowly backed out then and it didn't follow us.It was still a km back to the truck so that was scary as it gets after we got around the corner and I had to turn my back! I'm sure without the bear spray at least one of us would be dead now, that cat had way longer arms than me, I don't think I'd of had a chance with just a knife.

[ChumChaser]

Here is some good info on how to deal with a cougar attack.

http://wildernessarena.com/dangers/animals/other-dangerous-animals/mountain-lion-danger-and-defense-against-attack

[A Frayed Knot]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VshBT5Ua4uo

The best cougar attack video out there, guaranteed to safer trips after this video

[Shmoke Shaman]

Great response! I think I will pick up a can the next time I head out.