Going on a hiking trip in glacier National park, Montana. Can any anons confirm if bears are problem?

Going on a hiking trip in glacier National park, Montana. Can any anons confirm if bears are problem? I’m a solo hiker but from the UK so I never have to worry about wild animals lol

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  1. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Mofrickas will take you out if you aren't careful make sure you bring mace. Mosquitos could also be a problem depending on the elevation and time of year.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      How likely am I to encounter one tho? Is mace actually effective? How do I avoid confrontation. I think bears are cool af but I don’t want to be pitted against one

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        There's alot of them in glacier and sometimes they eat people. No point in going to glacier since the usa government said all the glaciers would be gone by 2012. Go somewhere like Stanley idaho it's much nicer and the local ranchers blast the bears and wolves when they get uppity

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      This.

      https://i.imgur.com/R1T7GZS.jpg

      How likely am I to encounter one tho? Is mace actually effective? How do I avoid confrontation. I think bears are cool af but I don’t want to be pitted against one

      You have a good chance of seeing one, probably higher if you go off the beaten path. They learned to adapt to humans so they usually just try to steal garbage and food and stuff and leave you alone. Learn about different bears and what to do when you see one. If you see baby bears and a mama bear it is probably game over.
      Honestly you should be more worried about getting lost or running out of food/water as top priority. Just be prepared for wildlife encounters too.

  2. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    John Waller is still the carnivore biologist at Glacier. When I was a ranger there last summer I went to a presentation he did about bears and the my main takeaway was that you just ought to carry bear spray, which is what everyone will tell you, but you also want to make sure you can have it ready to fire in 1-2 seconds. That usually means having a holster on your waist, you can shoot from the hip if necessary. You always want to have it handy because because most of the time when a bear attacks it's because someone's managed to accidentally sneak up on it and the bear and human surprise each other at close range.

    Bear spray isn't perfect, but apart from it your main preventative strategy is just to make a lot noise while hiking, loud conversation or singing songs. Also store your food properly.

    As someone who lives in the area, I also have a gun that I'll sometimes carry, but a lot of the time I just go with bear spray.

    Glacier is the best, have fun.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Yeah I’m excited for glacier. You ever had a bad experience with a bear?

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      This is the best advice here.

      Guns are a fine final alternative, but the best first step is to just make a lot of fricking noise. Even if it is just yelling "Hey bear!" over and over again, when that gets tiring I've found having a few metal whatevers (measuring cups, a pan, etc) on the outside of my pack also makes an adequate noise that you won't completely startle them. Even just banging a stick against the trees every thirty or forty feet is a good alternative. But being silent can be dangerous. If you don't have good sight lines, and you're feeling a little cramped in, make some noise.

      After that bear spray is the next best step. Black bears you can intimidate and they'll usually frick off, brown bears will step up to your intimidation.

  3. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    U also need to worry about the GlowBlack folk kidnapping you and harvesting your organs for the elite.

    Hopefully ur not a match for dick Cheney

  4. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Never seen a bear while hiking but I did go to Alaska once. I also don't live in a bear country (unless you count koala bears heh).
    It's basically just common sense. Watch some videos on what to do in a bear encounter and bring bear spray. Bear spray works very often. What's the alternative? Nothing?
    Basically don't run, make noise while hiking so you don't surprise any bears and if you're camping don't leave food near your tent.
    There's lots and lots of bear safety info online so read that instead of a thread where most people probably haven't even encountered a bear in the wild (like me).

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Man, sometimes online you see people b***hing about encountering other people on a trail who are playing music from a Bluetooth speaker. Didn't occur to me that this could be a warning to the animals.

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        Yeah my plan was to blast a podcast so it seemed like there were multiple hikers

  5. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    We were fishing in Montana this year and I saw several bears that week. One day, this local carrying a giant shotgun walks up to us and says "you need a gun. You don't want to be on this river without a gun. The grizzly bears here eat people." So we left. 3 days later, a guy went missing about a mile from where we were fishing. They found his chewed up bones near his bike.

    https://www.newsweek.com/grizzly-bear-attacks-kills-person-montana-campsite-1607265

  6. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    you're a dumbass if you go solo into grizz country without bringing a firearm and being trained with it

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Could a British tourist buy a gun for use in case of bear? Like would I have to show ID or is it literally "here is some cash, I will have that one please"?

      What firearm would be best anyway. Pistol? Rifle? I've only shot grouse with shotguns before, bear would be something else entirely

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      Yeah but does 300 grizzlies in a national park constitute “grizzly country”?

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        It only takes one.

  7. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Yes it is a real problem. My homie is from Montana and warned me not to go there without at the very least bear spray and preferably a gun. He said the same thing for Yellowstone too. He warned to take at least 2 cans of bear spray because there are numerous stories of people unloading a whole can on a bear and the bear just fricking tanks it and keeps coming.

    The West is absolutely stunning but the wildlife there will kick your ass if you're not prepared. Even solo hiking in the deep bush is not the safest because there are also cougars who tend to stalk solo hikers. Just be careful and be ready to spray, whether it's with bear spray or with your Glock.

    • 1 year ago
      Anonymous

      >t.bong
      Sorry bro, glock isn’t an option for me but oh yeah are cougars a problem??

      • 1 year ago
        Anonymous

        They say a bear will take down prey twice it's size, but a cougar will take down prey half her age.

  8. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Hiked the backcountry up there with the old man this summer, we encountered a grizz at about 25 yards (a lot closer than they recommend but not right up in his face). Luckily it was a solo male and there were two of us so he ran off pretty much as soon as he saw us. We had bear spray but I definitely wished I had some iron on my hip in that moment. If I was solo it might have gone differently, hike with a buddy at the minimum.

  9. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    Honest question: how much of American gun culture is behind this grizzly hysteria that always comes up? As far as I know they are supposed to be pretty similar to european brown bears, but you never hear anyone recommending you to carry a .44 when you go hiking in sweden. Also isn't it true that the grizzly population in the united states is just a few thousand (not counting Alaska)?

  10. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    I've been in bear territory but never encountered one myself.

    My understanding is they generally avoid people except for certain individual problem bears who've become too accustomed to people or who are sick or starving. Other than that bears may attack if you get between them and their cubs or surprise them. So the best way to avoid attacks, from what I've been told, is to make noise when you're hiking. Sing God Save the King, hit trees with a stick, put bells on your shoes, or whatever. You want the bears and other wild animals to know you're coming so they can avoid you.

  11. 1 year ago
    Anonymous

    I'm from Northern Colorado, where there aren't really grizzlies, but there are lots of black bears. Black bears aren't an issue. It's extremely unlikely one would ever attack you, the most trouble you might have is them stealing your food.

    Grizzlies are more aggressive, but in general they leave you alone if you don't frick with them. I think it's only a problem if you get between them and their cubs. Meaning, if you see some cubs, don't stop and cuddle with them. Just get the frick away from them.

    Other than that, I don't really think you should be worried.

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