re: Hiker killed by brown bear in Eagle River

quote:

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I heard a lot of folks actually favor bear spray. Steven Rinella was talking about it on the meat eater podcast. With bear spray your aim doesn't have to be perfect so it still works even if you're freaking the duck out. Is this true?

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Bear spray can be very good to use, but there are times when it's not. Unfortunately not all bears respond to it.

A couple of years ago I found some cheap "pull string" type flares. Really small, easily fit into a pocket but they are very loud and shoot a flare about 30 yards. I had to use it about 5 times that year and it worked perfectly. Can't always find them in the store though.