Bear spray a viable alternative to guns for deterring bears, BYU study shows

Smith believes one of the primary reasons bear spray works is that it gives users a reason to stand their ground. Running is the worst response to an aggressive bear, he said, “but it’s hard not to. Just picture the meanest dog in your neighborhood and multiply his size by ten—it’s very hard to keep your feet from running, but bear spray gives you an option. When you stop and plant your feet, that makes them stop.”

This is because even though humans are much smaller than bears, the animals still view us as risky. “Having seen bears with porcupine quills in their faces, I’m sure that most bears learn at an early age that size is not a good indicator of threat,” Smith said. “There’s always this fear of retribution that keeps them in line. They could take any person they wanted. But they don’t know that.”

On the rare occasions bears get close enough to warrant a spraying – about three times a year in Alaska, the study showed - the hissing sound and sight of the expanding cloud are often enough to frighten away the animal. “I have data to show that if you sprayed water, they often would run,” Smith said.

Counterintuitively, Smith and his team also documented 11 incidents when the residue of bear spray applied to objects like tents with the intent to repel curious bears actually backfired and attracted bears instead. Smith cautioned users against this practice and advised hikers to take their practice sprays before entering bear country.

The study did not make any comparisons among various types or manufacturers of bear spray because the sample was too small to draw significant conclusions.

Other findings reported in the paper include:

• On average, the spray was used when the bear was about 12 feet away
  
  
• 35 percent of incidents involved hikers, and 30 percent involved bear management activities
  
  
• 60 percent of the incidents occurred between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
  
  
• Nearly 70 percent of the incidents involved brown (grizzly) bears and 28 percent involved black bears. The study also reports the first two documented uses of bear spray on polar bears in Alaska.
  
  

Smith’s co-authors on the paper are Stephen Herrero, professor emeritus at the University of Calgary; Terry D. Debruyn of the National Park Service, and James M. Wilder of Minerals Management Service. The paper also relies on an earlier publication of a decade’s worth of bear spray data by Herrero and Andrew Higgins. The research was funded by the U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center.