A scream or sudden movement may trigger an attack. Never imitate bear sounds or make a high-pitched squeal. Pick up small children immediately. Do not make any loud noises or screams—the bear may think it's the sound of a prey animal.
To scare the bear away, make loud noises by yelling, banging pots and pans or using an airhorn. Make yourself look as big as possible by waving your arms.
Don't scream or yell. Speak in a soft monotone voice and wave your arms to let the animal know you are human. If you have pepper spray, prepare to use it. If the grizzly charges to within 25 feet of where you're standing, use the spray.
When hiking, periodically yell "Hey bear!" to alert bears to your presence, especially when walking through dense vegetation/blind spots, traveling upwind, near loud streams, or on windy days. Avoid thick brush whenever possible.
Black bears would rather flee than fight. If you make yourself appear as a threat by waving your arms, shouting, and making yourself big, you should scare black bears away.
Black bears, for instance, are usually less aggressive and more tolerant of people. They often live near human settlements, whereas grizzly bears prefer to stay away from human settlements and are often extirpated from heavily used or populated areas.
Air horns and vehicle sirens emit approximately 80-120 decibels of sound. They can be effective when used in conjunction with human dominance techniques to move a bear off.
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.
Bears may perceive you as a threat if you startle them. "By making noise, such as clapping, singing, or even talking loudly, you can alert a bear to your presence, and it will likely choose to avoid you," the Park Service advises in its bear safety literature.
Most bear species make vocalizations that sound like a huff, chomp, woof, growl, and/or bark which mean the bear is agitated, angry or annoyed. A bawl, bellow, squeal or whimper indicates pain.
An unarmed human could not bear a grizzly bear in a fight.
Humans cannot do serious harm to a grizzly bear. It is strongly advised that you do not get near grizzly bears.
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.
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.
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.
Bears terrify a lot of people. So much so that "arkoudaphobia" — the fear of bears — is a common phenomenon.
Bears, wolves and mountain lions are some of the fiercest predators on earth. But the human voice terrifies them all. A new study found that when researchers played Rachel Maddow, Rush Limbaugh, or even someone reading poetry, those voices sent predators running for the hills.
If you see a bear before it notices you: stand still, don't approach and enjoy the moment. Then move away quietly in the opposite direction. If you encounter a bear that's aware of you: don't run; running may trigger a chase response. Back away slowly in the opposite direction and wait for the bear to leave.
Bear bells may be a popular item to put on your backpack, but they don't effectively warn a bear you're in the area. Bears won't hear the bells until you're too close. Yelling, clapping, and talking are more effective ways of alerting a bear to your presence.
Some people place cups of household ammonia around their site. Apparently the odor irritates a bear sufficiently to keep it out of your site. This technique seems to work well.
Grizzly bears sometimes vocalize when agitated or nervous. These sounds of huffing, jaw-popping (heard at :35 and :57 seconds in), and low growls are warnings that you're too close. If you hear them while you're out in the park, back away calmly (never run), leave the immediate area, and give the bear more space.
If a bear approaches or touches your car, honk your horn and drive away to discourage this behavior.
Answer: Because bears are attracted to just about any interesting smell and deterred by most unusual sounds, it has been suggested by some bear-wary folks that bears would be deterred by snoring. It was actually proposed as a test project once but never followed through on.
Air horns are an effective bear repellent. They are certainly loud enough to alert bears to your presence. Some campers like to fire off the air horn before they leave their tent in the morning to scare away any bears which might be at the campsite. If you see a bear, you can also use an air horn to scare a bear away.
A: They don't make a lot of sounds that we often hear and think they make. Bears are usually only vocal when they're either afraid or in pain. Most of the time they're quiet.