My husband used his spray to stop a Black Bear from entering our cabin through the screen door the other evening!! The Bear was about 3 feet away from me with only the screen door between us!! He had come up our steps & across the porch & tried to enter though the screen door. He had previously ripped our kitchen window screen off a couple times so we were ready with the spray! This was a healthy, full-grown bear and thank God he hasn’t returned since my husband was able to spray him in the face & chase him off the porch spraying him again.
We had purchased our spray can & holster (fits on a belt) several years ago in case he needed protection while walking our dog. However our dog died (of old age) and we hadn’t used it until now.
Andy
Three days ago (8-9-08) I was biking up a Bernie’s Trail out of Hidden Lake campground near Cooper Landing, AK with my beagle Daphney. We had stopped at an overlook where I was resting and Daphney began to sniff around. About 40-50 feet into the woods Daph began to bey. I called, knowing what it meant, but barking quickly became yipping. When reaching the scene I saw a 300-350 lb. black bear over her. I burst the spray from about 15 ft. The bear was effected but had the presence to snatch up Daph before fleeing. Most certainly wrong, I impulsively chose to pursue. If Daphney was alive or not I could not stand the thought of that bear making a meal of my family member. I found the two about a 1/4 mile down through the woods, the bear standing over Daph looking at her. I ran up and blasted the bear from about 8 ft. It treed, about 15′ up a large cotton wood, right above the dog. After about a 5 minute standoff and another couple shots from the pepper the bear fled, leaving me with my nearly lifeless dog. Daphney did not make it, but we do get to respectfully lay our family member to rest. That bear takes away from this an enhanced respect for, and increased apprehension of humans and the and the pets that accompany them. I realize that the pepper spray is not intended as an offensive weapon. But it did drive the bear off of its potential meal. That makes me feel all the more better about having it along as an emergency defense. I will never be in the woods without it again
Scott Griebel – Soldotna, AK
I bought the bear spray from Cal-Ranch this spring and never thought I would use it. I’d only seen a bear in the wild a few times in my life, and the bears were never aggressive in the least. However, I was so glad that I bought the spray when it saved my life last week.
I was bowhunting for deer in McCall, Idaho and suddenly saw a flash of bear fur in the bush next to the trail I was on. I quickly nocked an arrow (I had a tag to shoot a bear) and got ready to shoot. Suddenly the bear burst out of the bush only 4-5 feet away from me up a steep hill. I got ready to shoot, but realized that the bear was just a cub. I stepped a few feet back and reached frantically for the pepper spray on my side. I was scared because I knew that–wherever there’s a cub–a sow is nearby. Just as I pulled the safety clip off of the bear spray attached to my belt, the sow came up right behind the cub. I can only assume that the sow thought I was threatening the cub, because it was immediately VERY aggressive. I instinctively pushed the trigger on my bear spray with the bear only 6-7 feet away and moving towards me. The INSTANT I pushed the trigger, the orange spray shot out at the bears and they both the cub and sow ran away into the underbrush. I was shocked at how well it worked.
I just wanted to let you know that you have a loyal customer. What I was sure I’d never need was a valuable safeguard in an unexpected situation.
Jim Harmer – Idaho