When we are hiking along the trails, we often hear (before we see) people with bear bells ringing.      We are always interested in who wears bear bells.   We never use them.   We have run into bears on many occasions and continue to go “un-belled.”

When are bears a threat?   When do we need to take precautions?

Bears generally avoid people, but we can still run into bears inadvertently.     On a busy trail, with many hikers, bears are an unlikely encounter.   Where there are no food sources (open ridges, grasslands, etc.), all mammals are scarce.   Over a whole season of hiking, we usually see a few bears, but they are rarely any kind of problem.    The few times that bears have been a challenge, we have taken a wide detour.

On the other hand, we do carry Bear Spray.   We have even practiced firing the spray in the forest.   But, we don’t carry bells.

The conventional wisdom is to make noise in the bush to avoid bears.    We have taken the opposite tactic, to go quietly, to listen to the forest,  to notice our surroundings, to avoid bears by being alert.   You can’t be alert when you are talking loudly.   And you can’t hear anything when those bear bells are ringing!