Wildlife safety in the Yellowstone Backcountry, Part 2

When it comes to wildlife safety on a guided Yellowstone backpacking trip, most of our clients think of bears. And that’s understandable, since Yellowstone grizzly bears do occasionally chomp on folks — usually those who precipitate the ursine action with some overt act of human stupidity: like closing in on the bear for a photo. Or running. Or being careless with food. Yet as we saw in the previous post, any large animal can be dangerous, so give them space!

At our hour long pre-trip safety/orientation meetings, our guides spend about 20 minutes discussing bears . Although the danger from bears is over-rated compared with driving to the trail-head, falling, drowning or getting zapped by lightening, this part of the safety session takes extra time because it is a complicated subject. Bears are complex, intelligent and individualistic animals. A comprehensive tome on safety around bears is beyond the scope of this brief post. I suggest you begin your bear education by viewing our Bears in the Big Wilds web page. For now, though, know a few simple rules: Be careful with food! A clean camp is a safe camp. Never bring any food inside your tent. And never run from a bear, even if you know you can out-run your hiking partners! Leave your deodorant and scented soap at the motel. The more human your smell, the better. Be alert. And please, leave the bear bells at home. If I were a bear and heard bear bells coming down the trail, I would attack that person just to silence the annoyingly incessant ringing! Also, always carry your pepper spray in a handy location, not inside your pack or day-pack. Don’t leave your tent without it. Don’t even go to dig a cat-hole without it. Clients have had encounters with bears while squatting over a cat-hole (though no physical contact has ever occurred between bear and human great ape on a Big Wild trip)! Again, these are just a few things to think about. Your guide will  provide comprehensive safety instructions and then once you’re on the trail, you’ll also learn by doing. It’s not rocket science; it’s mostly common sense, and our safety record with big mammals is perfect. And we plan to keep it that way! We also supply the pepper spray along with instructions on how to use it. Yet we’ve never had to discharge pepper spray at a bear in all of our years.

Again, though, it’s not just about bears. Bison and moose can be dangerous. Even a mule deer can do some damage with a swift kick. So use your telephoto lens. Listen to the guide. And the chances that you’ll be naturally selected out of the human population on a Big Wild trip will be infinitesimally small.

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