good post and view/commentary. it's not surprising that the bear's rxn to the spray the first time (leaving & perhaps rubbing nose/mouth on ground) and subsequent times (recognition w/o the need for actually spraying) is identical to that of dogs & the somewhat common "Halt" product. dogs too learn from a single exposure to "Halt" and leave when the hand goes to the can of "Halt" or the can is raised and pointed. having owned, trained and cared for dogs (both mine & others), i have had numerous encounters with strangers unrestrained dogs when walking mine or friends' dogs.

this is probably, as stated here, a dumb idea and i'm not suggesting it for actual use as stated. however, it may be the "germ seed" of a better idea. for decades (maybe even longer) dog trainers have used both lemon juice or vinegar in a balloon to attempt to eliminate certain behaviors from dogs - digging being one of them. balloon is filled with lemon juice or vinegar, inflated, and buried (in the case of "digging"). dog digs it up; it explodes in dog's face or mouth; sprays dog & dog sometimes learns not to dig. some dogs are smart enough to learn the smell of the balloon and so will continue to dig elsewhere where there is no "booby-trap" - those cagey canines!

my point is, can anyone think of a way to do something similar with the bear canister? it would be sort of an outer "booby-trap". there is also the question of whether this deterrent would really work on a bear. i'm sure that noxious chems could be used to chase the bear away, but would it return? hunger drive is perhaps stronger than the digging drive.

not that the hiker has to carry the booby-trapped canister, but could such be used to educate bears that inhabit the area by the powers that be in that locale/park?

of course, this still leaves the human as the only available food!!

Edited by pj on 10/12/2005 09:41:17 MDT.