[Paddlewise] Guns and Polar Bears

I was charged by a black bear in Boundary Waters two years ago.  The bear was
attempting to get to my hanging bear bag.  I had been pounding on pots for 45
minutes and she was completely ignoring me.  So much for making noise with
this bear.

I figured when she couldn't get the bear bag, she would start strolling around
the campsite, so (not having a gun or pepper spray) I created a torch out of a
roll of toilet paper jammed on a stick, soaked in white gas.  Sure enough, she
backed down the tree and I lit the torch.  She let out a rumbling roar and
charged about halfway towards me (I was extending the torch towards her) and
then she retreated about 35 feet into the woods.  I wasn't sure if it was a
bluff charge or if she had seen/felt the fire.  What finished driving her away
was the acrid smell and black smoke that filled the valley after I started
burning plastic bags.  With a bear's nose, at that point a mile was probably
too close.  This technique was probably perfected by the cave man.

Much later, I saw a documentary that showed arctic explorers setting trip
wires tied to flares around their tent, so if a polar bear strolled too close,
the flares would drive them off.  They showed a polar bear tripping a flare,
and immediately running away.
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