Bear season is coming

Wyoming Game and Fish is offering free bear spray training

Spring is almost here and begins the time of year when hikers, campers, fishermen and hunters must be careful when walking into bear territory.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department offers free bear spray training to anyone interested in protecting themselves against a bear attack. According to Bear Wise Wyoming coordinator and large carnivore biologist Mark Aughton, some bears come out of hibernation between late March and early April but are fully awake by May. With the bear season around the corner, Aughton said knowing how to use bear spray is important and can save your life.

“Bear spray has been commercially available since the 1980s,” Aughton said. “There have been major improvements to bear spray over the years. In my opinion, it is your best first option against any kind of threat encountered by wildlife in Wyoming and bear country. Bear spray is not only effective on bears but also on all dangerous animals.”

Aughton said bear spray can be used from a long distance when a wild animal threatens a person, and it is always good to carry it whenever someone is doing any outdoor activity. He said wind conditions may vary on how far the spray can hit a dangerous animal.

“Bear spray can shoot out anywhere between 25 and 30 feet depending on the manufacturer and the weather conditions you have,” Aughton said. “If you spray directly into the wind and a bear runs at you within 30 feet at 30 miles of headwind, it will not go 25 to 30 feet. The bear spray might only go 12 to 15 feet, but it is still effective; you must wait until the animal is closer.”

Aughton said a person doesn’t need to make a perfect shot when using bear spray, but just enough to protect himself. 

“The bear spray puts out a fog and a wide cloud, which is great because that spray pattern means you do not have to be accurate, and it is not a positioning tool,” Aughton said. “I carry both bear spray and a firearm, but it is the bear spray that I will be reaching for first because it is a better option for the bear to decide it is done with this interaction and leave immediately, as opposed to leaving the animal fatally wounded while protecting your life. At that point, the bear has 10 or 20 seconds of range to take it out on anyone who shot it. The bear spray will typically stop the behavior instantly that the bear exposes.

“The range of the bear spray has greatly increased, and the spray pattern is far more effective. It shoots out in a white cone, and it has been formulated to deal with bears specifically. It is the same as pepper spray, using the maximum, legal, and allowable concentration of capsaicin. It is oil based, and I am not sure if it always has been, but manufacturers use it because it can be more effective on a wet bear and stick to their fur and mucous membranes, making it difficult to wipe off immediately.”

Aughton said manufacturers had conducted extensive testing and fine tuned the formulas for bear spray to ensure it would work and protect people whenever they faced danger.

“I think the biggest thing that has changed since it has been adopted is that there has been a lot of testing surrounding the efficiency of bear spray,” Aughton said. “When bear spray was first put out, people were skeptical, which is understandable. The debate on whether it is effective is over because manufacturers have tested and reviewed real world situations in the woods. It has been proven that bear spray is 92% effective in immediately stopping the bear’s behavior.”

Aughton said black bears have been seen in Lovell and other parts of Big Horn County. Aughton said people should never underestimate black bears and encouraged local residents to get bear spray training, especially for anyone who participates in the great outdoors.

“Black bears, in my opinion, are greatly underestimated by the general public, and they often pose just as much or if not a greater danger,” Aughton said. “It’s purely because their troubling behavior is ignored, elevating to a bad situation. In Lovell and those other areas, you can get black bears showing up anywhere there is an unsecured attraction, such as beehives and fruit trees or where someone has garbage that is easily accessible. Just remember that bears are always on the landscape, and you will always have the potential to run into one.”

Luke Ellsbury, a large carnivore biologist who deals with carnivore conflict for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said that last year there were two sightings of black bears in Lovell.

“Occasionally, the black bears will end up coming into towns like Lovell,” Ellsbury said. “Most black bear conflicts my department deals with are associated with agriculture damage such as bee hives or apple trees. Black bears will also go into residential areas that have fruit trees.”

Ellsbury said that, depending on the situation, bears are sometimes relocated when they are captured. He said a bear could be put down if it has had repeated conflicts or is old and sick.

“The bears are put down depending on the severity of the conflict or how much damage they have caused,” Ellsbury said. “Other times, my department relocates the bears to the Abasorka Range or on top of the Big Horn Mountains.”

Bear Wise Wyoming has four bear spray training events both in the spring and summer and is giving away 100 cans of bear spray on a first come, first served basis after a short training is provided. For additional information on the next bear spray training event, visit the Bear Wise Wyoming website at https://wgfd.wyo.gov/wyoming-wildlife/large-carnivore/bear-wise-wyoming . If any group or local business in Lovell is interested in hosting a bear spray training event, contact Aughton at the WGFD regional office at 307-527-7125.