Can bears climb trees? Oh yes they can! There have been all manner of individual persons over the decades who thought bears, as big and heavy as they are, can’t climb trees. And so, when a bear was chasing one of those individual persons, well then that person climbed up into a tree in order to get above the bear, and away from the bear.
Oops. Didn’t work. It has been reported that most people who climb up into a tree in order to get away from an aggressive bear … well, those people end up dead.
Best thing to do? Carry bear spray with you. Either the commercial stuff or, as I do, wolf urine in a spray bottle. Wolf urine doesn’t smell real good (I’ve smelled it!), but besides smelling bad to us humans, it REALLY doesn’t smell good to bears … or to deer, or coyotes, or raccoons, and even to dogs, and even to agressive bull elk (who will run from the smell of wolf urine), or to other predators out there in the woods or on the prairies. The wolf seems to be the top of the food chain … and its urine seems to deter pretty much everyone else on the food chain … including humans. That stuff stinks!
What reminded me of all of this was a video I recently watched. Becca Wood takes and edits and shares hundreds of videos of wildlife from her travels in mostly the western USA, but also worldwide in many countries. She’s amazing. Here is a LINK to her YouTube list of videos.
And here is her video that shows how simple it is for a bear to climb a tree.
When friends visit my travel trailer, either when it’s at my home or when I’m out camping, I sometimes offer them a whiff of my wolf urine. Everyone has declined that experience except one friend of mine. And I’m not sure she has ever recovered. Ok, yes, she’s fine but she sure then understood why other mammals might have a negative reaction to wolf urine.
I’m healthy and strong. But I’d like not to feel the need to climb a tree if there’s a bear in the area. Any time I’m out in the woods by myself, I carry my spray bottle of wolf urine. They say to point it at the bear and spray and SPRAY! But if the bear continues towards you, then spray the wolf urine on yourself! You may smell really bad when you get back to your RV/tent/home … but at least you will get back.
I love wolves. 🙂