Funny Bear Warning... Fort Steele British Columbia
I was doing some hiking and camping near Fort Steele, British Columbia. This is in the far east of BC and approaching the Alberta border. That's where I came across a very interesting warning sign. It is an official sign near a campground. If you read it to the end, it is also pretty funny.
Would you go hiking here?
Yes I would with firework, or maybe be better a gun for warning shots.
I have come across grizzly bears in the past. They were over 100m away and seemed to be mostly interested in doing their own thing. I checked them out and then moved away. I didn't want to tempt fate. While black bears are not particularly territorial, grizzly bear's most definitely can be.
Black fight back, brown stay down? Im not a big fan of guns.. But I prefer a gun just for warning shots. If there are bears, probably also wolves? And wild pigs?
If a brown bear attacks you, there is a decent chance that he is motivated by territoriality. Playing dead may give the grizzly a sense of victory and he might leave. If a black bear attacks you, he is going to try to kill and eat you. This is not common; however, playing dead will definitely not work with a black bear. If you are confronted by a bear, never turn away and run, since this will trigger their hunting instinct and they will chase you down. If you get taken down by a bear, it would be a really good thing to be wearing a backpack and pull it up to cover your neck. Bears will frequently try to bite the back of the neck to kill.
There are certain areas of the province that have wolves. They aren't common, but it is super spooky when you are camping and you hear them howling from multiple directions around your campsite.
As far as wild pigs go, no not really. They are common in the United States but not in Canada. There are a very few, but those are not native. They are pigs that escaped from farms and went feral over time.
There is nothing wrong with having a gun to defend yourself in the wilderness. If it comes down to you or a snarling beast that wants to kill you, that's a pretty easy decision. Of course, a warning shot can work, but sometimes you have almost no time. If they are closing-in for the kill and you want to experiment with warning shots then you are making a potentially fatal mistake. A bear moving at top speed can outrun a horse over a short distance. That is fast, so don't take too much time to contemplate the best decision or you may end-up being lunch. ; )
thanks for you proper explanation.
Yes there are superfast. And they can smell you/me from miles away. Creeping up on you. They are like a ninja on steroids :D
Good you mention this, they are too fast. Maybe the "best" thing to do is shooting preventive warning shots. Before they even thinking about an attack to scare them. Or just something to make some noise.
I can imagine sleeping in the woods with howling wolfs can be creepy. I would sh*t my pense. The wildest animal I saw are birds an dears..
Have a good night there!
LOL! I love it. Great post
I'm pretty sure that a few foreign visitors might have been a little confused and alarmed by the warning sign. My ex-girlfriend's mom came over from Europe and she was terrified of walking on trails, since she figured a bear was probably waiting around every corner. LOL!
I'm not sure she would have appreciated the sign as much as I did. : )