Avoid direct eye contact. Walk away slowly, if the bear is not approaching. If the bear charges, stand your ground (you cannot outrun it). Don't scream or yell.
If you encounter a black bear, do not make eye contact. If you make eye contact, black bears will take this as an act of aggression.
Avoid direct eye contact, which may be perceived by a bear as a challenge. Never run from a bear. Instead, slowly back away. To scare the bear away, make loud noises by yelling, banging pots and pans or using an airhorn.
Most brown bear attacks are a defensive response. Play dead in defensive situations: Hit the ground and lie still if a brown bear you have surprised or any female bear protecting cubs makes contact. Lie flat on your stomach, legs spread apart for stability, with your hands protecting the back of your neck.
If the bear is stationary, move away slowly and sideways; this allows you to keep an eye on the bear and avoid tripping. Moving sideways is also non-threatening to bears. Do NOT run, but if the bear follows, stop and hold your ground. Bears can run as fast as a racehorse both uphill and down.
Don't approach a bear – just quietly move away and leave the area. However, if a black bear does approach you, make yourself look big, make loud noises, clap your hands, and continue to back away.”
The Predatory Bear
This bear is stalking you as prey. Predatory black bears are almost always a large male. He may follow you for some distance and circle or zigzag toward you. The bear will show no signs of stress, and will appear intently focused on you.
A bear may be sufficiently startled by flashing lights, noise makers, alarms and sprinkler systems to leave the area the first time, but if nothing else happens to reinforce the experience, studies show, like most wildlife, bears will learn to ignore these type of devices, quickly figuring out they're all bark, no bite ...
Don't startle the bear. Alter your route or back away slowly, preferably in the direction you came. Walk, do not run, and keep your eye on the bear so you can see how it reacts. In most cases, the bear will flee.
A handy way to keep a safe distance from wildlife is to use the rule of thumb. Give the wildlife a thumbs-up. Close one eye to see if it's completely out of sight. If you can see any part around the edge of your thumb, you're too close!
Bears may be enticed to investigate anything that looks out of the ordinary, especially bright colors. You may want to avoid wearing bright colored clothes or sleeping in a bright colored tent when hiking/backpacking in a smaller group. Similar to color, bears will also be attracted to potent smells in search of food.
Bears are more likely to approach a solo hiker. Avoid using scented personal care products, like shampoo, deodorant, lotion, etc. Bears have a great sense of smell, so they'll investigate a peculiar scent. Bears are also attracted to the smell of toothpaste, so make sure that's hung at night along with food and trash.
Shout at an elephant, stare out a lion but NEVER make eye contact with a leopard: How to survive attacks from the world's most dangerous animals.
Doing so might actually cause the bear to attack. Instead, stand your ground and speak to the bear in a calm voice, waving your arms above your head to make yourself appear larger and help the bear understand that you are human.
A person can sniff the entrance of a suspected den and tell if it's just earth or a bear in there. But the light odor is pleasant, at least to us with a bias for bears. Mothers have been eating and recycling the nutrients evacuated by cubs.
Avoid direct eye contact. Walk away slowly, if the bear is not approaching. If the bear charges, stand your ground (you cannot outrun it). Don't scream or yell.
Bears may yawn or clack their teeth, and pound their front paws on the ground while huffing—these are warning signs. These behaviors indicate that a bear is stressed, and it may be getting ready to charge. It will have its head down and ears pointed back, and the bear will come at you like a freight train.
Bear Attacks. Although the bear safety rhyme “If it's brown, lay down. If it's black, fight back. If it's white, goodnight” sounds like good advice, you have to know why a bear is attacking you before you can decide the best way to respond.
MADERA COUNTY MOUNTAIN COMMUNITIES – Bears are attracted to anything scented or edible (such as lip balm, hand sanitizer, toothpaste, sunscreen, insect repellent, etc.)
Bears have never been observed showing interest in sunscreens either—but they might if it smells unusually tasty. Bears are naturally curious and almost always hungry, but it is not likely a bear that found insect repellent or sunscreen interesting stuff to sniff would then follow up with an attack on the wearer.
Despite what you may have heard, bear bells may not be enough to alert a bear of your presence so don't rely on them. Using a extremely loud whistle like the Storm Whistle has been shown to turn bears away.
Black bears that blow and chomp are ready to retreat. Huffing is another sound a scared bear makes. They make this sound after they have run away or climbed a tree. They make it in the same context that a person would say, “Whew, you scared me.” They make it when they stop retreating.
Hugging a bear “evokes a sense of peace, security and comfort,” according to psychologist Corrine Sweet in 2010. When you hug someone, your body releases oxytocin and serotonin—the 'feel-good' hormones. Oxytocin is known as the trust or cuddle hormone.
Not unlike people, bears can be empathetic, fearful, joyful, playful, social and even altruistic. They're all individuals and have unique personalities. Cubs, as well as older bears, engage in social play and have ritualistic mechanisms to meet strangers and decide if they are friendly or not.