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Its better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6. They both bluff charge. And not all black bears will be scared of you. Hackles up, jaw popping, head lowered and slapping the ground with both front paws are all classic signs a black bear is about to charge you. And black bears tend to be more predatory of humans than grizzly bears. If your charged with a gun, I drop to one knee. We are much taller than a bear on all fours, the bear is traveling 30 mph. Chances of you shooting over his back are great. On one knee..... you and your firearm are more lined up horizontally with the bear and the round is going to travel nose to tail....... enfilade fire. There is less chance of missing entirely or shooting an angled shot into its rump, pissing it off.

Or die of lead poisoning if they try to harvest the WRONG one......

The best book, Bear Attacks, with a research basis, even though published long ago says there is always the possibility a rogue black bear is predatory. However, the bluff is their M.O. So, if you attempt to discourage one and they come back a second and third time, bluff or not, you would be well advised to empty everything you've got into suspect if you have a modicum of survival instinct or will to live.. Yah, the chances are miniscule you will become a statistic, but you don't want to be writtten up in a book as your last will and testament of bear attacks. Cats like to chase, bears will chase, if you want to be in a footrace with a predator, run! Chances are you will lose. But sometimes a chance chanced is your only ticket! When in doubt, get the best bear spray you can as a first line, and like said in many threads before, practice with it.. And, though I do it all the time, don't hike alone, hike with somebody slower than you, j/k

With any kind of bear, by the time you are sure whether it's a bluff or the real thing, it's essentially too late to do anything about it. I've been on the uncomfortable end of numerous black bear charges. They've all turned out ok, but there was no way to be sure 'til they were 20 feet or less away coming at me at 30 mph or more. Even if I'd shot one at that distance and killed it, it still would have hit me before it stopped. Personally, I've lost my patience / willingness to take that risk. I've decided that if a bear starts doing that, I'm not waiting for last minute stops, it's going to start eating lead far enough away for lead to do some good. That probably means killing bears I might not have had to, but it may well preserve the only life the good Lord gave me. Gotta choose your priorities. I'd rather get a citation than wake up as the main ingredient in bear poo. Buying a bear tag that's valid where I hike is cheap insurance. I don't have to justify anything, just tag the dang bear as if I planned it all along. MIB

Apparently the quote function works better for some web browsers than it does for others. I use Chrome and it has glitches with the quote function. Usually you cannot completely delete a previous quote.

“If people persist in trespassing upon the grizzlies’ territory, we must accept the fact that the grizzlies, from time to time, will harvest a few trespassers.” - Edward Abbey

I sometimes have it where the quote feature will only pull in previous quotes I had quoted in the past. I have to close the browser and delete cookies to fix it.

Periodically check that your car jack is actually in the truck, and that it functions. Then check that the spare is present, has air in it, and can be released from where ever it is carried. Many trucks and SUVs have it mounted under the frame at the rear on a small cable hoist. Those things are very prone to seizing up from corrosion, so check every few months that it still works. Once you've re and re'ed that tire with the horrible sidewall cut from a sharp rock, you no longer have a spare with you, so an electric air pump and a patch/plug kit are a good idea for that second flat before you get back to pavement.

I had one echo a scream off the opposite shore of a lake. Thought it was a friend for a few seconds. Does that count?

Well, they outlawed hound hunting in our state. This stuff is gonna happen more and more. A mtn bike is no substitute fer a gun......

A fifteen pound house cat can inflict a nasty wound while playing. A 100 pound cougar driven by hunger is plain scary to think about. Living on their turf I don't leave the house without a sidearm and pray I never have to find out if I'm fast and accurate enough to stop one. I've seen one 60 yards from my front door, had one scream in the back yard and last summer found a cat killed raccoon in the back yard. Pat, I know north of the border you're very limited on where and when you can carry a firearm, but I sure hope you have a knife at least as big as Crocodile Dundee's. Personally I'd want something more on the scale of a Claymore like some of my Scot's forebears likely carried. Please remember my friends, our big brain allowed us to develop the tools that put us at the top of the food chain, but facing nature without those tools is a crap-shoot at best. It may make for great reality T.V., but don't let hubris be your downfall.