Know Your Bears

Video all about bears and bear safety (specifically those North American campers would come across: the grizzly and black bear). Ever wanted to know all the in's and out's of bear survival? Well you're in luck!

Wikipedia Articles for the animals with you want to learn more about them:

Sources Used:

(Non royalty free) Videos used:
Note: All videos should presumably fall under fair use, as not only is a small fraction of the video used, but my video and the means I use these videos falls under education.

[laurachapple]

On behalf of everybody watching while up a tree with a bear below them, thank you for not stopping to thank your sponsor.

[WheresTheSauce]

One thing you didn't cover was the age of black bears. A young black bear is like a teenager. Bad decisions, overly curious, usually gets into trouble, acts tougher than it really is, and usually kicked around by any bigger bears in the area.
A big old 400lb black bear will almost never give you any kind of trouble. The ones that raid campsites are 99% of the time the 1-2 year olds.

[MatthewCampbell]

6:00 IIRC "Playing Dead" doesn't actually fool Grizzly Bears, though it is nonetheless a good strategy. People who tried it survived and misunderstood why it worked: The bear doesn't actually mistake you for a corpse. However, it will ignore you because, quite simply, there's nothing on Earth less threatening than a human taking a nap out in the open.

[BobPantsSpongeSquare]

I always found it amusing how generally Grizzlies seem easier to avoid since they're just territorial and dont go looking for human settlements while big fat black bears are very curious about the steak and hamburgers you are cooking

[TheSuperhomosapien]

There's a town called Churchill in northern Canada where Polar Bears regularly find their way into town. It has become custom to never lock your doors just so people have some place to escape if they run into a polar bear.

[thenerdbeast]

If it's black; fight back
If it's brown; lie down
If it's white; good night

[juliusceasar]

it's a crime that this channel is underrated, I love your content

[thenerdbeast]

The most important bear deterrent of all is bring a buddy! Not only does staying in a group mean conversation thus noise to make it easier for bears to hear you coming, a group of people has a better chance of preventing a bear situation from escalating provided that nobody panics.

It should be noted if you do have to come to blows with a bear, go for the eyes. It may be a tank made of meat, but unless you are fighting a giant mole the eyes are a sensitive weak point all animals share and the potential of losing an eye is enough to make most animals lose their will to fight. Also while it seems obvious use anything to keep the bear's mouth away from your head and neck. A stick, your backpack or even your arm jammed in the bear's mouth if nothing else, you may lose your arm but better your arm than your life.

[officersoulknight]

About the black bears, I just realized a good survival tactic if the best way is to scare them off; if you have a phone or flashlight, flash it repeatedly and scream at the top of your lungs indecipherably. Make the bear think you’re some eldritch horror.

[sylvieshuu]

Biggest thing to remember about most large wild animals (especially out in the West) is that the ones who approach humans are typically young and/or desperate. The vast majority of bear/cougar attacks in my area are caused by young black bears and cougars, only a few years old, that haven't yet learned to avoid humans. There is also the (much rarer) cases of the animal being in desperate need of food, in which they may decide to risk going after what they would normally perceive as a threat. Fortunately, both of these situations tend to follow the same advice as the usual, as giving a black bear or a cougar too much trouble will greatly discourage it from trying to attack you. As for grizzlies, they're a whole different bag. Angry grizzlies, as mentioned, often feel threatened by your presence, so staying away and out of sight is crucial if you see it before it sees you. If a grizzly feels particularly threatened, your fate is honestly up to it, not you. Stay safe out there folks; happy hiking.

[cmillerpa]

We often walk up to black bears. So far been lucky if they are too close a loud shout will normally send them running. Actually had one run strait into a tree once. Hopefully we never have to try fighting.

[AManOnline.]

The fact that a grizzly bear can take a point blank gunshot is the most interesting thing about this video imo. Not many animals can do that.

[eypick]

I knew all of this information, yet I watched the video anyways. This is how much your content hypes me up.

[georgev]

Was a backpack guide for high schoolers in Colorado for a few summers. Fell asleep to 3 bears arguing who got to live on that hill we were camping by, had a bear eat all our food on the 1st night of a trip and then shit it out next to the torn bags, and knew several other stories of folks meeting bears. The biggest thing I can say is leave them alone and they’ll leave you alone. They don’t want to be around you any more than you want to be around them.

[hanananah]

I ran into a black bear once at a pond. It felt like we both thought "Oh sorry I didn't think anyone else would be here" and it turned around and left 😂.

[davejones]

I love watching Brits and Aussies seeing footage from northern Canada and they're like "Why do they have these massive guns and tanks?" Polar bears. That's why. We literally need tanks to protect us from our animals.

[eliegbert]

3:30 important distinction. DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT. If you make eye contact the bear sees that as a challenge and will not back down

[DJ_Treu]

The polar bear lives away from any camp grounds or hiking trails
*Laughs in Northern Ontario*

[JackOfSimm]

Please do one of these for some European bears, so that I don’t have to lie awake at night, ever fearsome of the bear menace that plagues us.

[MaxMears]

All jokes aside I've heard everything from running downhill to climbing a tree to playing dead to at least 5 other 'guarantees' and this helps a lot :D
Essentially I learned to stay calm. Black bears are less violent, Grizzly can't climb well. everything else is like you said, chance.
Thanks for the video!