Customer Reviews

Backcountry Bear Basics: The Definitive Guide to Avoiding Unpleasant Encounters

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As a wilderness guide I have read other books, brochures, and articles about traveling and camping in bear country, but none focuses in on the most relevant, practical, current information like Backcountry Bear Basics. Dave Smith backs up his sometimes unconventional assertions with cogent arguments and scientific references for those who want to know more, and he debunks the myths that have plagued bear literature for decades.

I found the book engaging and entertaining as well as informative. I don't know what the reviewers who called it "dry" were expecting -- juicy blood and guts anecdotes a la Alaskan Bear Tales? Those are fine for scaring each other around the campfire but the purpose of Backcountry Bear Basics is to bring the reader's fears into line with reality and avoid problems for people and bears.

My advice to anyone who will be hiking or camping in bear country without a guide: Read this book and carry it with you -- and follow its advice about securing your food!

This daring book challenges conventional wisdom about bears, it's well-documented, it provides safety tips you won't find anywhere else, and it's written with style. Reading Bear Basics is like sitting around the campfire and chatting about bears with a witty outdoorsman who has years of first hand experience with bears, and an encyclopedic knowledge of bear literature.

You casually mention that bears eat anything and everything; John Muir wrote that to bears, everything is food except granite. "John Muir was wrong," says author Dave Smith. "When it comes to natural foods, bears are rather finicky. Out of 1,000 types of plants in a given area, they might only consume 100-250, and each of those will be eaten during a particular season." To reduce the risk of encounting a bear, Smith suggests contacting land management agencies before you take a hike: "Resource management experts can often predict when and where to expect bear because the bruins are so keyed in on seasonal food sources."

X-C skiers generally don't give much thought to bears during the winter, but Smith says, "When I worked as a winterkeeper in Yellowstone, I often saw my first grizzly tracks in March. During the unusually mild winter of 1995-96, winterkeeper Steve Fuller saw grizzly tracks in February. No matter where you're going, you should be aware of bear hibernation patterns.

You ask if bears have good vison or poor vision, and Smith replies, "A 1937 report from Europe noted that brown bears in a zoo could see people at 120 yards, and recognize their handler at 60 yards." He then relates an anecdote by a bear researcher in Colorado who was spotted by a black bear from a distance of 800 yards. He closes by noting that Yellowstone Grizzly Foundation research director Steve French has an "excellent rule of thumb regarding the vison of bears: if you can see a bear, you should assume the bear can see you."

Backcountry Bear Basics is filled with useful information like this. Now if I see a grizzly 150 yards away, I'll assume the bear can see me and I won't move around unless the bear is preoccupied. Although many books discuss bear vision and other topics that are covered in Bear Basics, Smith consistently gives the most thoughtful, pratical information on each subject. In addition, he debunks a lot of myths about bears. This is the ultimate book on bears and bear safety.

Careful readers will notice important differences between Backcountry Bear Basics, Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance, Bear Aware, and Safe Travel in Bear Country. When you compare the books topic-by-topic (human sexual activity attracts bears, bears have poor vision, never make eye contact with a bear, bears eat anything and everything, etc.) Bear Basics is the most accurate, practical, up-to-date book. Biologist Stephen Herrero's classic Bear Attacks was published in 1985; coverage of topics like pepper-spray defense is out-dated. Compared to Bear Attacks or Bear Basics, Bear Aware and Safe Travel In Bear Country are cliché-laden lightweights. Neither book includes substantive quotes from bear experts, or reference notes. Consider the cliché that you should beware of sows with cubs. Bear Aware states, "female bears fiercely defend their young," and Safe Travel in Bear Country states, "nothing prompts a full-clown charge by a bear more quickly than the bawl and commotion of a cub." In Bear Basics, biologist Lynn Rogers states, "Unlike grizzly bear mothers, black bear mothers seldom attack people in defense of cubs . . . the ferocity of mother black bears is one of the biggest misconceptions about this species." Bear Basics is thought provoking and well documented. Women should read Bear Basics just for the lengthy chapter that debunks the myth bears are attracted to menstrual odors. No other book discusses the ethics of wearing bear bells and making lots of noise in grizzly country. No other book about bears comes close to giving you the quality information Bear Basics provides about bear behavior. Bear Aware says "If you see a bear at close range . . . try to identify the bear as a black bear or grizzly. Both are dangerous, but grizzlies are usually more ill-tempered." Bear Basics explains that since "black bears and grizzly bears walked along different evolutionary paths the two species often have a different response to what biologists call the `fight' or `flight' question: How do you respond to a threatening situation? Do you fight, or do you take flight?" Bear Basics provided a sound biological explanation for grizzly and black bear behavior during surprise encounters; it changed my preconception about grizzlies being the ill-tempered grumps of the animal kingdom. What if you're charged by a grizzly? Bear Basics has the best information on using pepper spray or firearms. If you're forced to play dead, Bear Attacks recommends "the fetal position" adding that "Lying flat on the ground, face down, with your hands locked behind your neck is another possibility." Bear Aware and Safe Travel in Bear Country recommend curling up in the fetal position, but don't discuss playing dead by lying flat on the ground-which is the technique Herrero advocates in several recent magazine articles and the 1997 Discovery program "Bear Attacks." Bear Basics is the only book that gives your up-to-date facts on how to play dead: "It's best to lie face down . . ." Bear Basics consistently provides better safety advice than the other books. Bear Attacks said, "Photographers who specialize in grizzlies know that the safest way to approach for a picture is to let the bear sense them when they are still far away before beginning a slow, deliberate, and obvious approach." Herrero added, "I personally do not like to photograph grizzlies-not only because of the danger but also because to get photographs one has to harass the bear." He recommends staying back 1,000 feet--advice many photographers ignore as they slowly approach grizzlies. Bear Basics warns that you should never approach a grizzly because eventually you'll enter its personal space and "force it into a fight or flight mode." Slowly walking toward a grizzly until it has to fight or flee is suicidal, but unless a photographer read Bear Basics, there's no way he'd understand the nature of the risk. On the topic of pepper spray, Bear Aware claims "more than 60 people have escaped encounters uninjured by turning away a charging bear with pepper spray." Not according to facts and figures from a 1995 study on pepper spray by Herrero. You'll find those facts and figures in Bear Basics. You won't find them in Bear Attacks, (1985) where Herrero wrote, "The effectiveness of capsaicin has been tested on caged and free-ranging black bears, on caged grizzly bears, but not on free-ranging grizzlies. Whether capsaicin would repel a bear, such as a mother grizzly, that was highly motivated to attack has not been tested . . . among the commercially available forms of chemical sprays containing capsaicin, `Phaser' is the most consistent repellent. It also has the most reliable and effective spray system. "Halt' and `Dog Shield' are proven repellents but they have less range." Dog Shield? It's been years since anyone hiking in Yellowstone or Banff carried a little can of pepper spray meant for dogs to protect themselves from grizzly bears. This information is way outdated. Bear Basics provides a thorough and up-to-date discussion about pepper-spray defense. Reading Bear Attacks or Safe Travel in Bear Country is about as much fun as reading a master's thesis on hemorrhoids. Biologist Larry Aumiller's back-cover endorsement for Bear Basics says it's "entertaining and accurate." Bear Basics might not hold the attention of people who read comic books during commercial breaks on Oprah, but it's funny in a subtle way. Bottom line on bear safety books? Don't waste your money on Bear Aware or Safe Travel in Bear Country. You can get the same basic information (and misinformation) free at any National Park website. If you spend much time outdoors in bear country, buy Bear Basics and Bear Attacks. The critiques I've made about Bear Attacks are among its few faults; it's a great book. If you have to settle for one book, Backcountry Bear Basics is the best.

I have lived in Yellowstone NP for 25 years. Dave Smith's book , in my opinion, is the backcontry bear bible. Dave's knowlege and research on the subject is outstanding. I insist that my employees are familiar with this book before heading out for a back country experience. Well researched and informative. A must read for any serious backcountry camper.

Use Amazon.com's "look inside this book" feature to view the back cover of Backcountry Bear Basics, and you'll see that Steve French, Director of Research for the Yellowstone Grizzly Foundation, says Backcountry Bear Basics is "the number one book I'd recommend to anyone going into bear country." Alaska Department of Fish & Game biologist Larry Aumiller, manager of the McNeil River State Sanctuary for Brown Bears, writes that Backcountry Bear Basics is "entertaining and accurate."

I'm not aware of any other bear safety book, including Ph.D. biologist Stephen Herrero's Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance, that features endorsements from genuine bear experts.

"Living in Harmony With Bears," a publication by the Alaska Office of the National Audubon Society, includes a Suggested Reading list that mentions both Backcountry Bear Basics and Herrero's Bear Attacks. (http://www.audubon/org/chapter/ak/ak/m2item3.html) Biologist Derek Stonorov wrote Living in Harmony With Bears. John Schoen, Senior Scientist for Alaska Audubon, is listed as a contributor. Living In Harmony With Bears says Herrero's Bear Attacks is "a classic by the world's foremost expert on bear-human interactions," but Backcountry Bear Basics is "the number one recommendation for anyone going into the field with bears."

I found Backcountry Bear Basics to be accurate, practical, and fun to read.

Bear Basics gives you some of the same information that you've read from other sources, but it breaks it down in simple terms. The writing is clear, concise; Dave Smith knows bears. He presents the information in a totally unbiased manner. The book is a smooth, fast read. If you have fears, it helps to alleviate them. Recommended to anyone who is entering bear country.

Under the heading "Feminine Hygiene and Bears," Glacier National Park's current website claims, "although evidence is inconclusive, sexual actitivity or a woman's menstrual period may attract bears." Women who are concerned about warnings like this should read Backcountry Bear Basics. Instead of repeating or embellishing Glacier Park's menstrual warning (as far too many writers have done over the years), Smith reviewed the evidence and found it wanting. He devotes eleven meticulously documented pages of Backcountry Bear Basics to the menstrual myth. After a graduate student did a study on polar bears and menstrual odors in 1980, the superintendent of Glacier wrote a memo that said the results of the study "were inconclusive and the applicability of the thesis to Glacier's grizzly and black bears is questionable." So why does Glacier continue to post menstrual warnings? Smith says park officials are "in a quandry. Because of 'liability implications,' NPS officials felt they had to warn park visitors that it might be dangerous for menstruating women to travel in bear country. At the same time, the NPS had to tell employees that it was safe for menstruating women to work in bear country. It was clear there would be lawsuits for sexual discrimination if the NPS refused to hire women for jobs in bear country." Whether the topic is menstruation, food storage, or pepper spray, Dave Smith really did his homework. You get practical advice in this book that you won't find anywhere else.

Dave Smith is an excellent writer! His style of writing is educational, yet entertaining. He is down to earth, yet takes his research quite seriously. He does an excellent job of discussing issues that a number of guides stress or disagree with, such as noise making, bear cans, menstration and camping, and bear spray. His discussion on biology and evolution of the grizzly and black bear is for the individual who wants to gain an understanding of bears, yet does not want to know the technical facts that only a specialist would want to know.

An excellent read for those who are interested in learning about bears, their behavior, and how to minimize and avoid attacks. Short, sweet, and entertaining!

I reckon I won't be encountering any bears in my neck of the city anytime soon, but I thought I give this book a read anyway. Well-written, concise and informatives, this book seems to give you all that you need to know. It debunks certain myths such as bears being attracted to menustrating females and the usefulness of climbing a tree (if you can make it there) to avoid an irrate bear. So if you are heading out into bear country and are not an experienced hiker, reading this book would be a good idea.

I have read 11 books on Grizzly and Black Bear attacks and encounters, and how to avoid them, or what to do if confrontation is a reality. This is the BEST book on all aspects of Bear encounters or avoidance that I have ever read. A "must-read" for all who do or will travel in Bear Country.