With Bears, Should You Spray Pepper Or Bullets?

THAT'S the question hikers are asking themselves before heading out into the wilds, where bears view people as either a threat or possibly a protein source.

The noise is the most horrifying detail of T.J. Langley's story: the pop when part of his pelvis was snapped off, the crunch of the jaws on his skull.

Caught in the vise of a female grizzly in Yellowstone National Park last month, Langley, of Seattle, assumed he was going to die.

His fingers had found the can of pepper spray held snug in his chest harness, but he couldn't get the safety off before the bear charged.

Recovering now at home - his forehead and scalp a tremendous web of stitches - Langley recounts the ordeal almost matter-of-factly. He will, he says, return to the back country he so loves. And he will carry pepper spray again.

But Langley's tale terrifies some who insist no aerosal spray can possibly deter an angry, 350-pound grizzly capable of breaking a bull moose's neck with one swat.

Hiker Chris Deile had been a lifelong pacifist, even after a grizzly assaulted him on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska two years ago.

Deile said he shot a stream of bear pepper spray into the grizzly's throat, but it had no effect. The bear swatted his chest, rushed his hiking companion, then took off.

So with plans to hike the 3,000-mile Continental Divide trail next spring, Deile, even more impassioned after hearing Langley's story, will pack a gun.

"I can try to make noise. I can keep my food high away from my camp. I'd try to follow precautions so no bear attacks me. But I think if I'm going to have to save my life, then a gun is worth it," says the Seattle resident, acknowledging his opinion is likely in the minority.

Yellowstone park employees, federal and state wildlife agency employees, biologists and a nonprofit group that tracks the number of bear encounters all maintain that bear pepper spray can be effective.

Bear attacks in North America, either grizzly or black bear, are rare, according to the Center for Wildlife Information in Missoula, Mont.

"Out of millions and millions of visitors, it might happen seven or eight times a year," said Chuck Bartlebaugh, the center's director. "And if you hike in groups of two or more during the day, and stay on the trail, the possibility is very small."

Among the precautions authorities recommend - like a good chorus of "Hey, bear; ho, bear" as you're hiking - bear pepper spray has worked extremely well in as many as 90 percent of bear encounters, according to the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, which is composed of federal and state officials from Montana, Wyoming and Washington.

Most bear spray, the outgrowth of Mace and other personal-protection sprays, is made from food-grade oleoresin capsicum, or the active ingredient in hot peppers. It attacks the mucous membranes of the animal's eyes, nose, ears and throat.

But as more versions of the products have come out, the debate over their effectiveness has increased.

Last year, Tom Smith, a wildlife ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Anchorage, noted some bears were attracted to pepper-spray residue. A Missoula-based firm then began warning consumers about oil-based pepper spray products. It offered instead a new product that uses synthetic chemicals.

This spring, in the midst of the debate, the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee published a position paper on bear pepper sprays.

The agency declared the sprays effective and said such products should only be used against an attacking bear and not applied to a tent and pack as a repellant. Smith agrees. He in fact carries the spray and says it works when used as intended.

The committee also advised hikers to select a spray specifically designed for bear attacks, not the kind used on humans.

There are about 42,000 grizzlies in North America. Fewer than 1,000 of them live in the lower 48, notably in the Yellowstone area and Bob Marshall Wilderness Glacier Park complex in Montana. An estimated 30 grizzlies live in Washington's North Cascades.

There are more black bears in North America - about 600,000 - than all other seven bear species combined in the world. They roam throughout the forests of the Lower 48; about 20,000 live in Washington.

Black bears are generally less aggressive than grizzlies, the larger of the two species, which can weigh between 300 and 500 pounds.

It is illegal to carry a gun into a national park, and in the national forests where guns are permissible, you cannot shoot a grizzly, a threatened species in the lower 48, unless it's in self-defense.

But even a gun might not be effective, says Tim Eicher, a federal game warden with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"A shot might be a killing shot, but there's still a chance the bear will be able to maul you," he said.

Moreover, small guns, which might be preferable for a backpacker, aren't powerful enough to kill a bear.

"You might just injure the bear and further aggravate it," said Chris Servheen, the grizzly-bear-recovery coordinator for the federal wildlife service agency.

"I used to carry a firearm, but I don't anymore," said Servheen, who always carries bear spray.

Langley, 32, a theater actor and apartment-building manager, each year plans a two- to three-week hiking vacation. A cousin in Bozeman urged him to carry bear spray "just in case."

Langley had practiced taking the safety off the can.

While hiking the Black Butte trail, he came upon two bears, likely yearlings, foraging on white-pine bark, authorities said.

Their mother was up the hillside, out of view, when she suddenly charged.

"It's a really rare occurrence, and I think I would be really, really unlucky if it were to happen again," he says. Next time, he'll hike with someone else and not let his guard down.

And yet Deile says there are others, people's he's found on the Internet or in in casual conversation, who agree a gun is the only defense.

"All my idealism about wanting to be peaceful . . ." he says. "Now I'm realistic. If it happens again, pepper spray will not work." He will take either a rifle or a .45 Long Colt revolver. When he hikes, he'll skirt national parks.

In the great grizzly state of Alaska, Larry Kaniut of Anchorage doesn't think Deile is wrong.

"If I'm somewhat remotely concerned about bear or cougar, I just won't depend on my knife," says the English teacher-turned-author, who has written two books on bears.

On a recent hike with his daughter and some of her friends above timber line in the Chugach Mountains, he took his rifle.

"Bears are interested in two things - food and sex - and we're not one of them," says Kaniut, who buries his firearm under a shirt so as not to scare anyone he might come across.

"But if I have to depend on my safety or the safety of anyone else with me, in bear country, I won't rely on pepper spray."

-------------------------------------------------------------.

How to choose a spray

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee's recommendations for choosing a bear pepper spray include:

The label indicates the product is for bears, not humans.

Ingredients contain 1 to 2 percent capsaicin and related capsaicinoids and are derived from oleoresin capsicum.

A can of at least 7.9 ounces of net weight; one per person

The product should deliver a spray from at least 25 feet, and in a shotgun/cloud pattern.

The spray can last at least six seconds.

Approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.

According to the National Park Service, if you see a bear at close range:

Don't run, shout or make sudden movements.

Avoid eye contact.

Talk quietly to calm the bear.

Retreat slowly.

If you climb a tree, choose one that will get you at least 30 feet off the ground.

If a bear charges:

Stand still.

If it gets to within 20 to 30 feet, discharge bear pepper spray.

If it makes contact, drop to the ground and lie in a cannonball position.

After the bear leaves, wait several minutes before moving.