When things go wrong in grizzly country, they go wrong quickly, so you have to be even quicker with your bear spray.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s “Robobear” is there to help teach people just how quick they must be to avoid a mauling.
Robobear is a wheeled contraption with a facsimile of a bear mounted atop it that can reach speeds 20 mph or more as it charges.
Cowboy State Daily crime and courts reporter Clair McFarland and outdoors reporter Mark Heinz were among a crowd Saturday at Game and Fish regional headquarters in Lander, ready to face Robobear’s charges.
Participants were given practice cans of inert bear spray. It had a slightly pleasant scent.
The real stuff is harsh and nasty — designed to stop a grizzly — or a mountain lion or even an angry moose.
‘Bear, Bear, Bear!’
Mark Aughton, Game and Fish large carnivore biologist and Bear Wise Wyoming coordinator, has been touring the state with Robobear. At each event, he shares his wisdom about staying safe in grizzly country.
Game and Fish also offers free cans of bear spray – the real stuff – for folks to take with them.
For the charge drills, Aughton lined up participants in pairs or small groups.
They stood with their backs turned as Aughton used his remote control to back up Robobear far enough to get a good head of steam.
Then he sent Robobear careening toward the would-be victim’s backs. At the last second, Aughton would bark out a warning, “Bear, bear, bear!”
That was participants’ cue to pull the safety locks off their cans of bear spray, whirl around and blast away.
In real-life situations, it’s best to shoot the first blast of spray toward the ground in front of the bear, he said.
That will throw up a wall of mist that should be enough to make a grizzly “rethink his life choices,” Aughton said.
And if the bear keeps coming through the mist wall, it’s time to blast it directly in the face, he added.
Mark’s Account: ‘Teachable Moment’
As with any defensive weapon, bear spray will be useful only if it’s readily accessible, Aughton said.
Too often, people will buy a can of bear spray, stuff it into their backpacks, and then head into the backcountry. And a can of bear spray that’s zipped away in a backpack is just as worthless as having no bear spray at all, he said.
Grizzlies can barrel along at speeds of up to 35 mph, and charges often unfold in seconds with little to no advance warning, Aughton said.
So bear spray should be kept in a holster where it can be grabbed at a moment’s notice, he said.
For one practice drill, participants drew bear spray from holsters.
Heinz gave this account of his botched first attempt:
Like an idiot, I kept the holster’s Velcro-secured retaining strap over the top of my can.
So when Robobear closed in on Clair and me, and Aughton gave the command to turn and spray, I scrambled helplessly at the strap, developing a severe case of butterfingers in the heat of the moment.
Clair got off her blast with perfect accuracy, right up Robobear’s snout.
My can never cleared the holster.
To which my wife, Kendy, who was taking video of us, quipped, “And, Mark is dead, ha, ha ha!”
(I had to remind myself that Kendy’s bluntness and sense of humor are a big part of what attracted me to her in the first place.)
“This is a teachable moment,” Aughton said in response to my pathetic attempt to fend off Robobear.
When in an area where running into a grizzly is likely, make sure your bear spray is ready to go, unimpeded by retaining straps, a loose jacket or other entanglements.
For our second attempt, I made sure the retaining strap was off, and I was able to draw my spray, release the safety and give Robobear a vengeful blast.
Clair’s Account: I Cheated
Yeah I don’t remember the three or four attempts distinctly because two of my four sons on the sidelines were wearing “Mom’s-no-longer-cool” smirks, and everything in me raged with the spiteful urge to look real cool, real fast.
The first shot, I cheated. I was already in the runner’s-set position with my hand gripped on the bear spray, which is why I survived, and Mark didn’t.
The second time, Game and Fish people gave me a plastic holster and told me exactly how to cheat it. I still died.
The third time, also died.
Why are these bears so cranky? Maybe they just need a hug.
After all that, Mark and I decided to ham it up for a little bear safety instruction video, but I got distracted, joked about Lander and blasted Mark with the inert spray.
The moment the saline hit him, he looked exactly like my dad does when I crack a joke that goes just a little too far: disappointed, but waking to the fact that he should have seen it coming.
He got me back, and I deserved it. The inert spray smelled just like the 90s Aquanet hair spray my sister used to use to make me look like a KISS band member.
I’m sure we learned something in all this, besides the fact that I’m no longer cool to half my sons. Maybe just the charming revelation that Mark can take a joke.
Other Tips
Aughton also reminded participants that bear spray, like any other defense mechanism requires practice, until the movements to deploy it become “muscle memory.”
Cans of inert spray are ideal for that, he said.
The real stuff is expensive and letting lose practice blasts with it could weaken the pressure inside the can – creating the risk of an inadequate spray if and when the moment of truth comes, he said.
Bear spray also has a limited shelf life, he added. If a can of bear spray is past its expiration date, don’t bet your life on it – buy a fresh can.
Also, when folks travel or camp in grizzly country, every person in the party should have their own can of bear spray, Aughton said.
Counting on one person to protect everybody is a bad idea, he said.
“The one person you gave the bear spray to could end up being the one who ends up in trouble, with nobody to help them,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com and Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
