Category: Personal Defense Gear
Bears Coming Out of Hibernation Early
Bears came out of hibernation early this winter on the west coast due to abnormal dry winter and drought. Because of these same weather conditions, black bears may come down closer and closer to where people are looking for food. Do you have your bear spray handy and/or a plan ready for a black bear encounter? To learn more about the black bears coming out of hibernation early, you can read this article published by CBS news!
Read more here…
Hiking in Montana
Do you enjoy hiking in Montana? Where is your favorite spot? A few great spots to hike in Montana include:
Mystic Lake is a 7 mile out and back trail located near Fishtail, Montana. The trail is primarily used for hiking and is accessible from May until October.
The Beaten Path (Backpacking) is a 26 mile point-to-point trail located near Roscoe, Montana and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking and is accessible from June until November.
Beartooth Highway: Silver Gate to Red Lodge is a 70 mile point-to-point scenic drive near Red Lodge, Montana. The trail is primarily used for birding, mountain biking and scenic driving and is accessible from June until October.
And while you’re out hiking in Montana this spring, protect your backside! UDAP offers the first revolutionary change in bear spray delivery in 20-years! The Back Attack Pack™, be prepared for your hike as well as any wild animals that may come charging along the trail.
What Is The Official Day of Spring?
What is the official day of Spring for 2014? It’s March 20th and with spring comes hiking and fishing and lots of outdoor activities. Have you checked your UDAP Bear Spray to be sure that you have plenty on hand? All UDAPBear Spray has an expiration date on them, be sure to check and make sure that your can of Bear Spray hasn’t expired. Our products have a shelf life of 4 years, but you should always check your Bear Spray each season or whenever it’s sat on a shelf for a long period of time.
With the unusual amount of snowfall this winter, we are all going to be ready for SPRING and outdoor activities with our friends and family! So enjoy your Spring, your friends and family and be SAFE!
What is The Difference Between Bear Spray and Pepper Spray?
Pepper sprays for your key chain and the like do not work on bears. The minimum size of for bear pepper spray is 7.9 ounces or 225 grams. Each bear deterrent will contain an EPA registration and establishment number, date code and the words “bear deterrent,” “bear spray,” “bear pepper spray,” “bear mace” or “bear repellant.” Bear repellant is not a very suitable word for this product and only one manufacturer uses it. The word repellent can confuse the user in to thinking that they can spray themselves or equipment like you do a bug repellent spray.
This is NOT true nor is it the proper way to use bear deterrent. You need to actually spray low in front of the charging bear, for it to be used correctly.
This creates a protective barrier between you and the animal. In 1999, the EPA wanted to specifically label bear spray as a repellant. However, this misleads the public and the vendors into thinking that this product was to be applied to themselves and the site or equipment just like bug repellant spray. Mark Matheny worked diligently to change the word from repellant to deterrent and to stop the misuse of the product and to explain further the proper use of the spray for deterring a potential bear attack. Even though the words deterrent and repellant have the same meaning, repellant is used in relation to insect spray so commonly that deterrent is a much better fit.
Smartphone Theft Epidemic
The theft of handheld devices is the fastest-growing street crime in the Country, where more and more incidents are turning violent. Walking down the street and talking on your iPhone, where a thief will attempt to rip it right out of your hand. If you try to stop the thief, the thief will beat you up until he gets the phone. Victims have ended up with broken bones, in the hospital and left with no recourse to get their stolen smartphones back.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, about 1.6 million Americans had their smartphones stolen last year. And according to the Federal Communications Commission, around 40 percent of robberies in major cities now involve mobile devices.
Mobile phones have reshaped that way that we live. Smartphones can be sold on the black market for anywhere from $300 to $600. Law enforcement and Government Officials are asking manufacturers for a kill switch to be put in mobile devices that will render the phone unusable by the thief or anyone if it is reported stolen. There is much debate from the manufactures in doing this. Will it become mandated? We don’t know, but we would like to recommend that you carry your UDAP Pepper Spray with you when you are out walking. Be aware of your surroundings and the people around you. Put your mobile devices away and out of sight when you are walking in major cities. Be safe!
Real Estate Agents Placed in Danger
How many real estate agents have been placed in danger, because of the nature of their job? While I am not a realtor, there have been a few times in my life, and I suspect in yours as well, that something has happened where your life was placed in danger but you managed to avoid a catastrophe by sheer luck. Either you realized what was about to happen and changed course or someone came to your rescue. These are the “near-misses” in our lives that we all experience from time-to-time, situations that we seldom hear about but situations that we could learn a lot from if we were made aware of the details. Sometimes someone else causes the incident that leads to a “near miss” and there’s probably little that we can do about that except to be as observant as we can and then react quickly enough to avoid a problem.
For example, a real estate agent showing a prospective client a house after dark and he/she is robbed. Wouldn’t a stun gun or pepper spray come in handy? UDAP Stun Guns can double as a flashlight, so you have it ready in your handy and you can use it to show clients those dark crawl spaces or under sinks. Make that would be robber think twice. Don’t depend on luck to keep you safe, be prepared whether it’s carrying UDAP Pepper Spray or a UDAP Stun Gun, detect the precursors of life endangering situations and avoid them! Always be prepared for those dangerous situations.
Recreationists gather at Helena Outdoor Fest
Adventure | Event gives attendees a chance to get hands-on experience with various outdoor activities
Stopping a charging bear with a blast of pepper spray, driving a four-wheeler and trap shooting were just some of the fun simulation activities kids got to try at this year’s Outdoors Fest on Saturday.
Now in its fifth year, the event at Montana Wild Education Center and Spring Meadow Lake State Park, gives kids and families an array of fun outdoor activities to try out, said Laurie Evarts, Montana Wild education program manager.
Activities ranged from kayaking, rafting and archery to trap shooting with a laser gun, mountain biking and fishing. Altogether 70 volunteers and some 200 to 300 kids and their parents got to play in the outdoors and try out some new adventures.
The Off Highway Vehicle simulator is a fun way to get kids to think about safety, said Tom Reilly, a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks assistant
administrator. “Always wear a helmet,” he said, as he helped yet another excited child into the driver’s seat of the OHV. Soon it would be bucking down a back road as the child’s eyes grew larger and larger and their hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Always wear boots,” Reilly
advised, “and always wear protective gloves.”
Across the parking lot, another popular simulator was going full bore. Mark Matheny, a grizzly bear attack survivor and the president of UDAP, which makes bear spray, was demonstrating a new piece of protective equipment and also his charging-bear simulator.
“We’re celebrating 20 years of being in business,” he said. “I was mauled Sept. 25, 1992, just outside of Big Sky when I was bow hunting.” His hunting partner happened to be a physician and EMT, who got him to an emergency room and closed his wounds with more than 200 stitches.
Matheny was mauled by a female grizzly with three cubs, he said. “When my head was in her mouth, I had an out-of-body experience. I was going
down a white bright tunnel.”
But it turned out to not be his time to die. “I got a message to go back and serve others,” he said, and he began to make products to make people safer.
The latest product he showed off Saturday is a bear spray pack that attaches to the back of a backpack and can be deployed if a person is attacked from behind and has a bear on their back. A push of a button on the backpack shoulder strap releases a burst of pepper spray into the bear’s face.
His new charging-bear simulator machine gives people an opportunity to practice using bear spray on a “bear” racing at them at 25 miles per
hour.
“It gives you an idea of the actual speed bears can move,” said Matheny. “They are faster than a race horse. People can be stunned because of their quickness.”
For the younger set, like 4-year-old Savannah Crumley, there were some calmer activities to try out such as fish tattoos, the Wildlife Olympics, making leaf sun catchers and the oh-so-fascinating tornado in a bottle.
Meanwhile, indoors at the Montana Wild Center, the laser-shooting simulator was a hit, drawing a line of enthusiasts.
Kids and some moms tried out laser trap shooting under the watchful eye of volunteers who showed them the correct way to hold the rifle.
The simulator is also used for hunter education classes across the state, where students learn about safe shots to take in the field and which
ones to pass up.
“It’s a way to teach shooting skills and technique and it’s a confidence builder,” said Wayde Cooperider, FWP outdoor skills and safety supervisor. “This is a safe environment to work on shooting skills.”
Six-year-old Cheyenne Prater had just scored six hits. “It’s a perfect score for a 6-year-old,” she said, smiling at her mom, Kristy Brown.
“They’ve liked it all,” said Brown of the activities the family had tried. “But bear spray practice was the favorite.”
Tips to Protect Yourself When Jogging/Walking in Your Neighborhood
It’s beautiful early fall outdoors and most people enjoy a walk or around the neighbor enjoying all of the fall colors. But with street crimes increasing in most large U.S. cities, it’s more important than ever that you protect yourself when jogging/walking in your neighborhood.
A few tips:
• Be alert for loiterers and do not interact with them.
• Don’t carry large sums of money in your wallet, if you’re a man, or a purse, if you’re a woman.
• If possible, stay out of bad parts of town and if you have to, travel with another person. This is especially true after dark.
• Never hitchhike or accept rides from strangers. Believe it or not, the majority of women who are raped by strangers were hitchhiking at the time.
• Walk on the side of the street nearest to oncoming traffic. If accosted by someone in a car, run in the direction opposite the way the car is headed.
• Beware of people who approach asking directions; keep a safe distance. Just say “Sorry” and keep moving if you are in an unsafe area or simply don’t like the guys looks. You have no obligation to be friendly or helpful to strangers on the street.
• If you think someone might be following you, speed up. If they speed up also, cross the street in mid-block. If they do also, start running and yelling loud. Create a scene. Make a spectacle of yourself. Get out in the middle of the street and try to wave down a car. Much better to make a fool of yourself in front of a bunch of strangers than to end up in a hospital or morgue.
But more importantly carry UDAP Bear Spray or a UDAP Stun Gun! You can purchase both online at UDAP.COM today! So go on your walk and jog, enjoy the great fall colors and be SAFE!
Bear Attacks
In the past decade, there have been 27 fatal incidences of bear attacks in North America, resulting in 29 deaths. 15 were in Canada, three were in Alaska, two were in Tennessee, and single fatal bear attacks happened in New York, New Mexico, California, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Utah and Montana. 17 of those fatal bear attacks were inflicted by black bears, and 10 by grizzlies.
Bear attacks happen as fast as lightning!!! Most situations where you will need to use bear pepper spray will be in a close surprise encounter. When people are injured by bears in most cases it is due to the fact that the person and the bear were unaware of each others close proximity. In a surprise encounter as this, a person usually has less than 2 seconds to react. UDAP Pepper Power’s® belief is to get as much bear pepper spray as possible between you and the bear in that 2 seconds.