Usually my blog posts are to inform friends and family of what is happening here on the mtn., but it seems that some of the backcountry posts are being viewed by quite a few folks with trail riding interests. So this post is geared for the beginner backcountry trail riders.
I recently read an article by a very respected trail rider that discussed riding in bear country. The article stated that bear encounters are very rare on backcountry excursions and most riders will worry needlessly. My own experience is that bear encounters are common and it is imperative that backcountry users are prepared. I have never had a bad bear encounter, but I have had the type of encounter that if the bear had wanted to be aggressive I would have been in a severely compromised position. On solo trips without a partner to be conversing with, there are times when I may be traveling down the trail a little to quietly. Numerous times I’ve had a grizzly on the trail in front of me, one trip had an enormous griz about 100 yds above my position on the trail, and on another I had a large black show up on a very precarious spot on the trail. Point is these incidents can and do happen and the prudent trail rider needs to be aware and prepared. Being prepared involves desensitizing your mount, but also mentally preparing yourself to deal with the possibility of an encounter and how you will react.
My own views differ from many of the experts. I do not consider the bear the top of the food chain. I always carry a firearm when in the backcountry. Bears have claws and teeth and will outweigh you in a fight, so you need something to even the odds. What you decide to use for your personnel protection is up to you but IMO your protection choice needs to be sufficient to give you the confidence to succeed. Your choices for protection are either bearspray, a firearm, or both.
If you do your research you will undoubtedly discover the overwhelming majority of studies will show bear spray being the preferred and more successful bear deterrent. The use of bear spray provides a non leathal way of deterring the bear, and you and the bear have a fair chance of both walking away from the encounter. The problem with most of these studies is that a high percentage of successful bear spray encounters are with what one might call a curious or nuisance bear. This kind of bear is much easier to ward off than the bear that is angry, vicious and directly attacking. When you find a study that focuses on just incidents with the vicious, aggressive kind of bear the results are much less successful when using bear spray. It is with this kind of bear encounter that a firearm has a better history of success in saving your life.
I believe there is merit in carrying and using bearspray if you have the nuisance type of encounter. If this is commonly done it should greatly help modify bear behavior to avoid human encounters. The grizzly (although extremely repopulated) is still federally protected. If you have a encounter and use lethal methods on one of these bears you will no doubt be scrutinized by authorities, media and your peers. I personally am more comfortable with safety aspects of carrying a firearm for bear protection, but I also understand the backlash and legal battle you may have if you ever have to fire your weapon at a grizzly.
In regard to stock response to bear encounters, I have not had any mishaps or blow ups from stock “knock on wood”. I’ve come around a corner in the trail and had a grizzly 20 feet in front of my horse only to have the horse stop and the griz bolt into the brush. In a brushy area of a trail I’ve had a young black climb a tree right next to my horse, close enough that I could have reached out and touched it. No major blowups from these or many other encounters. I don’t know if this is just luck or the amount of desensitizing our horses are subjected to. I’ve always debated whether to dismount or not when faced with a bear encounter. I think you have to make a judgement call on each and every incident. So far I have only dismounted one time during a bear encounter. In that instance Connie was with and I did not want the bear to seperate us and cause our horses to bolt opposite directions.
When you choose to trail ride in Montanas backcountry you choose to accept the risks that are associated with that endeavor. Many of these trails have very dangerous sections where you are hanging onto 8 inches of goat trail with a hundred feet or more drop off below. Sometimes you have dangerous water crossings or just treacherous blow down. A stock user must be prepared for all the events that come his/her way. Preparation of our minds to know that we can deal with situations is the most important part of having a good safe adventure. The bears are out there so be ready!
Sow griz with 2 cubs (out of sight). The only pic I have of a griz encounter while on horseback. This was on our access road leading to AVR. The horse I was on that day was not happy to be there.