Travel Safely in Bear Country

Here is a list for traveling safely in Bear Country!

  1. Where should I keep my food?
  • UDAPmakes bear electric fences for the backcountry including electric fences for food storage and camping. Keep the bears out with BearShock!
  • don’t leave pet food or garbage in areas where bears can get to it.
  • Place garbage in a heavy duty-duty, tied bag. Put the bag inside a garbage can with a bear-proof lid.
  • Beehives attract bears. If you have hives put them up high on hear-proof platforms.

Travel Safely in Bear Country

Keep your food and equipment safe In Bear Country!

  1. How should people visiting bear country behave

Bears are typically afraid and nervous around people. They will avoid humans. Bears may attack people when they feel threatened or surprised or when forced to defend themselves, their cubs, or their food. You should be careful to avoid all bears. Here are some specific tips:

  • Make noise, let bears know you’re there.
  • Travel in groups. Groups are noisier and there is safety in numbers.
  • Keep your dog on a leash at all times.
  • Stick to worn paths and trails and hike during the day, not at night.
  • Watch for bears for signs of them, including bear tracks and droppings.
  • Avoid areas where you spot potential bear food.
  • Don’t forget to carry your UDAP BEAR SPRAY!

Hiking and Wearing Headphones

Please, help me out here, I am hiking up a jagged trail on the mountain side, enjoying the hike and the beauty of the great outdoors. I come up behind you rocking out to music or in all honesty, you may be listening to book while you are out hiking in nature. You are hiking along with headphones muffling all noise except that which is being pumped directly into your ears.

Hiking and Wearing Headphones

The problem, you don’t hear me come up behind you which means that if there is a bear or wild animal on the trail, you’re not going to hear them either. You are not fully aware of your surroundings. Wisdom is better than strength, be prepared! We all want to stay safe out there, so no headphones or at the very least, just wear one ear bud so that you can hear the sounds around you, like a charging bear!

Hiking and Wearing Headphones

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.

Hiking in Montana

Fly Cast Fishing in Montana

Fishing season is just around the corner and one of my favorite places in Montana to fish is the scenic Gallatin Valley near Bozeman, Montana.  They are truly blessed with hundreds of miles of blue ribbon trout water.  Those waters include, but are not limited to, the Yellowstone, Gallatin, Bighorn, Jefferson, Stillwater, Boulder and Missouri rivers.  Let’s don’t forget the world renowned spring creeks in Paradise Valley, as well as some lesser known but equally amazing spring creeks and lakes in that area. Fly Cast Fishing at its best.

Fly Cast Fishing in Montana
UDAP chest holster
is a great product and works well for Fly Cast Fishermen or anyone fishing and enjoying the great outdoors.  UDAP Pepper Power holsters are designed for an individual to have instant and silent access to the canister. Every UDAP holster is designer for bear spray to shoot right from the holster if time does not allow you to draw it.

Fly Cast Fishing in Montana
Before you head out the door, make sure that you are doing more than just carrying your Bear Spray! Make sure that you know how to use it. Practice using it. It took practice to learn how to catch those blue ribbon trout and the same is true for using Bear Spray properly. Practice, practice, practice! Now go enjoy that great Montana Flyfishing!

Bear Spray vs. Bullets

Even though the Chicago Bears didn’t get in the Super Bowl XLVIII, the game between, bear spray vs bullets, has already been played and won. The winner is bear spray hands down! The firearm team played a good game and they believe that a person needs a hand gun or rifle to stop an angry bear. But the pro bear spray team has been adamant that bear spray works.

Bear Spray vs Bullets

And the bear spray team won this super bowl, but we don’t want you to take our word for it, in a recent study done by Tom S. Smith, Stephen Herrero, Terry D. Debruyn and James M. Wilder bear spray lead its team to victory.

The Results of Bear Spray vs a Firearm

Bear incidents involving 175 persons resulted in 3 injuries, all minor (less than 2% injury rate). Firearms incidents involving 478 persons resulted in 17 fatalities (15%), 25 severe injuries (22%), 42 suffered moderate injury (37%), 29 suffered slight injuries (26%), for a total 113 injuries (24% injury rate). With firearm use, it can be hard to use protective gear like a level 4 body armor or even gloves out in the wild – this may be the mandate for tactical training, but under wilderness circumstances, many situations are out of our control. Hence firearm users experienced 12 times the injury rate of those using bear spray!

Of the 71 cases where persons sprayed bears to defend themselves, 14% (10 to 71) of users reported the spray having had negative side effects upon themselves, ranging from minor irritation (11%, 8 of 71) to near incapacitation (3%, 2 of 71).

Firearm failures were identified in 100 firearm cases, where users reported mechanical or physical issues with the use of a firearm, including lack of time (32%), unable to use firearm due to situation, such as having your partner in your line of fire (21%), mechanical issues (11%), safety/holster issues (95), insufficient caliber/no bullets left (9%), distance to bear (8%), missed bear (6%), or tripped and fell (4%).

No bears were injured in conflicts involving bear spray, however, 23 bears were wounded and 176 killed in incidents involving firearms.


Why bear spray is the winner…

Bear Deterrent Pepper Spray
works better in a bear attack situation because of its ease of use. Aiming is not a big factor like it is with a firearm and you are not relying on a bullet to stop the bear by hitting it in a vital spot. Even when this is the case, sometimes the bear can advance and attack if it does not expire right away. This can actually work against the gun user as now you have a wounded bear and this may intensify the attack. With bear spray you’re not stopping the bear with pain necessarily. You might think this as it really is painful to be sprayed. However, what you’re really doing is taking away the bears senses. The bear’s sight is impaired, but more importantly its breathing and sense of smell are blasted away by the spray. Anyone that has ever been hit with a fog pattern pepper spray can tell you how difficult it is to breathe when sprayed. It actually can be like a shot to the head, since the bear navigates primarily with its nose. For a bear, this is certainly the case. The bear will have no idea what is happening and this changes the behavior the bear was displaying prior to being sprayed.

When you use bear pepper spray you’ve truly have the home field advantage! GO UDAP BEAR PEPPER SPRAY!

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.

Difference in Bear and Pepper 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.

Difference in Bear and Pepper Spray

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.

 

How To Survive a Bear Attack

You are taking a nice hike through the woods and all of a sudden you find yourself face-to-face with a bear.

What do you do?

Be sure to prepare yourself the next time you hit the trail in bear country, carry UDAP Bear Spray! Bear pepper spray deterrent is proven your best defense in stopping a bear attack. Remember to carry your bear pepper spray where it is accessible and you know how to use it. You will be relying on your reflexes to help you get your spray deployed into the face of a charging bear. Practice several times going for your spray. This simple step can save your life!

Polar Bear, The Official Mascot of Winter Olympic Games 2014 in Sochi

Polar Bear Mascot 2014

The polar bear is one of the official mascots for the Winter Olympics that starts February 7th and runs through the 23rd. The polar bear is one of three mascots-a snow leopard and the doe hare are the other two. They are the first mascots ever that won their spot in history by popular vote. They will be seen throughout Sochi!

Sochi is located in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. Sochi is a popular tourist destination because of its breathtaking location by the Black Sea. The city is also located directly by the border of Georgia and Abkhazia, the first of which has experienced constant violence such the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990’s. Sochi is a prime travel destination because of its warm summer temperatures and mild winter temperatures, making it a fun destination no matter the season. Russia is one of the nations where polar bears can still be found.

Polar bears live in the Arctic in areas where they can hunt seals at openings in the sea ice called leads. There are five nations with polar bears: U.S. (Alaska), Canada, Russia, Greenland, and Norway. Polar bears do not live in Antarctica. Penguins do.

We’d like to say, “Good luck!” To all of the participants in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games!

Hunting in Bear Country

Seeing a bear while hunting can be thrilling which can be good or bad depending on if you’re hunting for bears or if you’ve stumbled upon a bear and weren’t expecting it. Bears are valuable hunting trophies but many people are afraid of bears. They’ve heard stories of bear attacks and worry that a bear might attack them. If hunters learn to follow a few simple safeguards, the chance that a bear will cause problems is
very small.

UDAP Bear Spray and never hunt alone! Learn to recognize bear signs. Avoid areas with fresh tracks, torn logs, flipped rocks, scats or clawed trees. Be extra careful on windy days; with the wind blowing it becomes more difficult for bears to hear and smell a person. Be careful in areas where it’s hard to hear or see well, such as deep brush, along stream sides and at bends in a trail. Avoid late evening trips and returning to camp in the dark. It’s also a good idea to leave dogs at home or on a leash. A dog chasing a bear or barking at it can cause real problems when hunting in bear country.

Hunting in Bear Country

Carrying bear UDAP Bear Spray in a holster or a vest can be more accessible and is really your best defense if you encounter a bear while hunting.