"Bear spray - necessary?" Wildlife Tip by worldtrekker

Bear spray is recommended if you will be hiking in bear country, but it should really be a last resort. Ideally you make noise while hiking to warn bears of your approach and they will avoid an encounter with you. It is also recommended to hike in groups of 4 or more. I have done a lot of hiking in Yellowstone and in the Grand Tetons and actually never carried bear spray - possibly a foolish thing to do... but bear attacks are rare and usually they occur when a bear is surprised or a photographer approaches too closely. Mothers with cubs can be particulary dangerous if they feel you are a threat. On all my hikes I encounterd a black bear with cubs only one time on the Beaver Ponds Loop near Mammoth. I was leading a group of 12 people and had stopped to let stragglers catch up when someone said, "Is that a bear?" It certainly was and only about 30 yards away. She stared at us for a few minutes and we stood still and looked back. Eventually she moved off in same the direction we were heading and that is when we saw the 2 cubs bounding after her. We waited a good 10 minutes or so before we continued on. A few minutes later we saw the 2 cubs cross the trail in front of us... that could be a dangerous situation as you don't want to get between the cubs and mom. So, we waited again for 10 minutes or so... mom had been in front of them but we didn't know that and played it safe.
I'm not sure if she would have been aggressive or not if I had been alone. As a large group we were surely more intimidating... If you do carry bear spray you should make sure you know how to use it. For example spraying against the wind would be a bad idea... ;-) If you plan not to leave the roadside, bear spray should not be necessary.
There are more attacks and deaths caused by bison than by bears. People for some reason don't realize the danger they put themselves in when they approach bison and even elk and deer. I have seen people do some pretty foolish things in Yellowstone.