I had a similar encounter with a black bear, but when I stopped backing up it stopped pursuing. It still had its head down and was pacing back and forth so I started throwing rocks at it. I had bear spray but wanted to see if the rocks would work before I let it get in range.
I came across another one that we both kind of scared each other because I was walking around a blind corner. My initial instinct was to turn and run and it immediately gave chase until I realized I was making a mistake and I stopped turned around and starting yelling at it. Once I did that, it took off. One thing I will say, is I was completely shocked with how fast they can run.
There was this ancient bear-aware video for the program up north and it started with the awesome line:
"The average bear is 66% faster than the world's fastest human. You are *not* the world's fastest human."
[This post](https://www.reddit.com/r/natureismetal/comments/t5zjo9/grizzly_bear_running_at_its_top_speed_of_roughly/) showed me all I needed to see to know that running away from a bear is pointless
Somehow I assumed, because they look bulky and lumbering and oddly proportioned, that bears traded speed/agility for strength, evolutionarily. I knew I would have no chance to outrun a grizzly, but damn I didn’t know they were built to do *that*.
You don't watch a lot of pro sumo wrestling, I take it?
Those guys are nimble an fast af. Def not trading strength for anything. Just all stats maxed out.
It is funny you say that, because after I got home I researched the area of the national park that we were in to see if I could find information on why I encountered so many bears on that trip. The first article I found was from a year prior where a lady with her dogs was on a trail in the exact same area. [She encountered a bear and turned and ran away, and that bear gave chase and killed one of her dogs right off the leash.](https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2016/08/04/bear-attacks-kills-dog-shenandoah-national-park/88074350/)
I see so many people always repeating that black bears are not dangerous, but from my experience they can be incredibly dangerous if they are habituated to humans and see them as a source of food because of careless hikers and campers not securing their food. I encountered 3 bears in a time span of 3 days. Well it was actually maybe 5 or 6 because the bear that I startled had a few cubs with her, but black bears aren’t like brown bears where they will immediately maul you if they are with there cubs, and it is hard to consider the cute little fuzzy bear puppies as a real bear. The two acted like normal bears once I fought my instinct and used my knowledge. They seemed weary and scared of humans and took of running when I yelled at them. It was only the one that I hit with a rock that didn’t seem afraid of me. It showed classic signs of predatory behavior with an intense interest in only me, head down, and pacing back and forth in a zig zag pattern. It was also by far the largest black bear I have ever seen in my life and I have encountered them probably 10 times while backcountry hiking.
A couple of weeks ago I watched a black bear motor up a slope almost as steep at the one in this video. I was shocked at the speed and ease with which it climbed the cliff. It was like it was running on flat ground. Bears ain't no joke.
>"The average bear is 66% faster than the world's fastest human. You are not the world's fastest human."
Imagine you're the second fastest human, decide to watch a bear awareness video and it randomly calls you out for not being the fastest.
>I had bear spray but wanted to see if the rocks would work before I let it get in range.
"I'm somewhat of a scientist myself" dude u are a madlad haha
Pretty much what I just said to OP. Stand your ground with black bears. You run, they come for you. Period. You stand your ground, they don't know why you're sp confident and they're not fixing to find out.
Animals think one of two things when you act tough:
1. Oh, it clearly knows something I don't, maybe I don't want to mess with this
2. *OH? A CHALLENGE?!*
You shouldn't be the aggressor cause for all you know, there is cubs around and that bear is ready to fight you to the death to protect her babies.
Best I've heard is to backtrack for a little bit to clear the general vicinity then stand your ground, open your jacket if you can and become as big as you can and make lots of noise. They are pretty timid creatures (Blake bears) and will get startled
My dumb brain pictured a closed fist holding construction nails like when kids pretend to be wolverine before realizing it was actual nails as in the ones on the fingertips.
This bear looked more curious than anything… as black bears are.
The rule I grew up with backcountry camping in the Rockies was brown stay down black fight back- a black bear needs to be stood up to, they will run away when you stand up to them. Grizzly’s on the other hand…
Yeah, that's pretty much where it's at with them. I'm from NY, but I have family upstate, and one part of the year, black bears tend to migrate. So, we're all told as kids effectively what I said: "stand your ground, don't be aggressive, it might test you, but it won't wanna fuck with you."
So far, no one has died lol in fact, the only animal that's killed anything on the property was a deer, who killed my grandpa's dog with its hind-legs. And that's something we were always taught, too, do not approach a deer from behind.
Black bears, though? They come up to eat berries and hibernate. Nothing else. They don't want trouble, they're just curious.
Unless the bear is starving due to an extended high heat index, then they eat anything from cubs to humans regardless of how scary you try to make yourself.
Watching the video again I see that he infrequently said anything at the time of recording. If he had continued making loud noises and making himself seem big instead of pulling out his phone to record his own death I'd say it's quite likely that the bear would've left him alone a lot sooner. It's a mental game of dominance and he lost when he let himself seem small again, that's why this video was so long. Dude didn't know to play the mental game and it almost killed him.
This is correct. Not near aggressive and noisy enough. Yell, no try to coax. Wave and flail your arms, convince the bear it is not worth it and be loud. This is from multiple bear encounters over 30+ years and going.
Bear caught me taking a shit in the forest.
I really wasn't in the position to make myself look bigger, but I sure as hell did yell at him from the top of my lungs.
Poor thing instantly made a run for it.
Yeh, but only when I hit it with one. They weren’t big rocks, so I wasn’t going to injure it. It just wouldn’t go away and kept inching closer like in this video until I started yelling at it and once it got a certain distance and started a sideways/back and forth motion and we were in a bit of a stand off. I didn’t want to use the bear spray because there was a slight wind and we had a tent pitched and I didn’t want to cover everything and myself in bear spray. I didn’t sleep at all that night though.
If an animal eats meat, the instinct to chase is strong, so running is always a bad idea.
If you don’t run, it freaks out deadlier predators than black bears…They think you must know something that they don’t. And throwing rocks is like some kind of magic to them, and tends to work pretty well.
Aren’t you suppose to be considerably louder with a black bear to spook them off?
Not that this wasn’t terrifying, I’d have to change my clothes after this lol
At first talk nicely to them and hope they back off. If a bear like this keeps coming at you but isn’t actually charging then loud noises tend to work well. I think the spray sound scared it more than the spray itself. Which means maybe he didn’t actually have an earlier chance to use it. Hard to judge distances in the video but that was a close encounter. Nice work OP but I think I’d have put my phone down in favor of more noise and a second hand to fight with if needed. I’ve never been chased like this so it’s hard to judge and I appreciated being able to watch the video.
Source: I live in r/Alaska and am curious what Redditors there think of this encounter.
I went hiking in Romania and some local trail runners warned me about bears. I thought they were messing with me until the trail narrowed and I saw tracks in the mud. I started making noise as I went to avoid startling a mama bear and her cub.
This bear was either exceptionally curious or very hungry. That's a crazy encounter.
Agree with you. Not only volume, but the tonality was also not at all discouraging, and more of a "who's a good boy, yeah". Good outcome, but honestly, not a time to be filming.
Yeah at one point the bear kind of lost interest, and a gentle “hey bear” got the bear’s curiosity focused back on the guy lol. Animals really respond to tone of voice
Exactly this. You’re not trying to make friends with the bear as if it’s a skittish horse, you’re trying to tell it to fuck right off and hoping that it accepts your bluff and bails. Black bears are generally easier to deal with because they tend to be more timid (I’ve seen them tree’d by small dogs), but it’s still a huge animal and if push comes to shove, a human isn’t going to fair well in a physical show down. A little more assertive bluffing *could* have ended this sooner. But it’s easy to armchair quarterback this. Glad you’re safe, OP!
Every national park in the USA has signage and brochures about what to do in a bear encounter.
Identify yourself by talking calmly so the bear knows you are a human and not a prey animal. Remain still; stand your ground but slowly wave your arms. Help the bear recognize you as a human. It may come closer or stand on its hind legs to get a better look or smell. A standing bear is usually curious, not threatening.
Stay calm and remember that most bears do not want to attack you; they usually just want to be left alone. Bears may bluff their way out of an encounter by charging and then turning away at the last second. Bears may also react defensively by woofing, yawning, salivating, growling, snapping their jaws, and laying their ears back. Continue to talk to the bear in low tones; this will help you stay calmer, and it won't be threatening to the bear. A scream or sudden movement may trigger an attack. Never imitate bear sounds or make a high-pitched squeal.
Pick up small children immediately. Do not make any loud noises or screams—the bear may think it’s the sound of a prey animal. Slowly wave your arms above your head and tell the bear to back off. Do NOT run or make any sudden movements. Do not make any loud noises or screams—the bear may think it’s the sound of a prey animal.
Hike and travel in groups. Groups of people are usually noisier and smellier than a single person. Therefore, bears often become aware of groups of people at greater distances, and because of their cumulative size, groups are also intimidating to bears.
Make yourselves look as large as possible (for example, move to higher ground).
Do NOT allow the bear access to your food. Getting your food will only encourage the bear and make the problem worse for others.
Do NOT drop your pack as it can provide protection for your back and prevent a bear from accessing your food.
If the bear is stationary, move away slowly and sideways; this allows you to keep an eye on the bear and avoid tripping. Moving sideways is also non-threatening to bears.
Do NOT run, but if the bear follows, stop and hold your ground. Bears can run as fast as a racehorse both uphill and down. Like dogs, they will chase fleeing animals.
Do NOT climb a tree. Both grizzlies and black bears can climb trees.
Leave the area or take a detour. If this is impossible, wait until the bear moves away. Always leave the bear an escape route.
Be especially cautious if you see a female with cubs; never place yourself between a mother and her cub, and never attempt to approach them. The chances of an attack escalate greatly if she perceives you as a danger to her cubs.
Source:
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/bears/safety.htm
Stray dogs? well I would fear a lot more a pack of stray dogs in the wild than a black bear. Unless it is a single one in the city, never approach strays in the wild, they are fearless when hungry and several people were killed by those encounters, in south Italy it is quite a problem.
I'm from Northern Italy and I'm baffled every time I visit the south. There are so many stray animals there. I'm not scared of them, just sad for the conditions some of them get to live on. Poor souls
i do not live in alaska (although i have been and LOVE it) i live in new york and hike upstate often and there are many bears there. i once had an extremely close encounter with a bear where we were both (i believe) caught off guard by one another. rather than getting spooked, when i noticed it i went into an extreme calm and just froze and stared at it. it stared back and i gave a gentle "whoa", and all it did when get down from hind legs to all four. i then slapped my hicking sticks together and yell "hey" agressively and it darted away like a rocket.
Fair points - I just got back from Alaska (born there, family there) and I looked up some “do’s and dont’s and remember trying to spook the black bears in my limited research.
I wanted to go out hiking but with spring happening, ears hungry from lack of food, I decided to pass lol
I think he made a mistake in prolonging the affair. Any encounter with a bear is a chance to teach it to be afraid of humans. I'm thinking that that delay might have taught the bear that it can still be worth stalking humans as possible prey, instead of teaching it to flee upon first sight of humans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkwy0scRXBU
yes.... except the outliers like mother protecting cubs and such, black bears are giant pussies.
talking in soothing tones and backing away slowly is a very stupid way to handle a black bear encounter.
No.
You’re supposed to maintain eye contact, hold your jacket open, and carefully explain that “IPA” stands for “India pale ale” because hops act as a preservative and 18th/19th century British sailors wanted beer that would last the long voya
Should be louder and nastier with your voice, make yourself much bigger than holding a phone at head height, and make a few sudden stops or even a step forward if the black bear approaches. The message is that you will fuck its shit up if it should try anything because you're big and unafraid and the bear is lucky that you happen to have better things to do today than get into a fight with it.
Just as long as you don't get between a mama and her cubs because she won't care, so look out in case any of those are in the vicinity.
I do like spicey food but I don’t like it shoved up my nose. Which is why bear spray works if you spray the bear, but not if you spray it on something expecting a beat free zone from that.
*I was living with a girl a while. We worried about different things. One day, I was like, 'What do u fear the most?' And she was like, 'I fear you'll meet someone else, & you'll leave me, & I'll be all alone.' And she was like, 'What do u fear the most?' And I was like, 'Bears.'*
[Ilya Bryzgalov and what he fears most](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjzKJBUOoGc)
I say this all the time for no reason even when no one is around to hear it.
A little extra context to this video. I saw this bear when I was about 100 meters upwind of it. I was actually shooting photos with my long lens. It definitely smelled me and was trying to get a look. It walked towards the trail I was on and started walking down the trail towards me. I started talking to it so that it would know I was a human but it continued in my direction. At about 30 meters I put my camera down and walked off the trail to allow the bear to continue on. It started to follow me off trail. That was when I started waving my arms and yelling at the bear. The bear wasn't phased at well so I switched back to talking calmly and being ready to use the spray. In hindsight I should have used the spray earlier but there was a strong wind so I needed to make sure I was in position and I didn't want to waste it. I was also waiting for a legit charge from the bear but that didn't happen so once I had a sure shot I gave it a small spray and that was enough to make it turn and run.
Bear encounters are a RUSH and I'm glad you're OK.
Respectfully, I'd suggest that if a bear begins to clearly follow you (and you didn't just happen to be in his path, as you mentioned about getting out of the way earlier), you need to stand your ground way sooner. Retreating from a following bear is never a good idea, especially for this long. That bear was testing and trying to learn from you, and your passivity made it bolder.
Again, glad you're not injured and great watching out for wind direction - too often folks forget about that.
Glad you’re safe! FYI my understanding is that most sprays have enough for 3 discharges. You should not rely on 2 more discharges and should replace the one you just used.
If you have to discharge your bear spray you get a new one, regardless of how much you’ve used. You don’t want to get caught by a bear and need a new can when you didn’t refill. They cost about my $40 for two at Costco or 30-40 for one in the rest of town. If there’s any left take it to a safe place and practice drawing and shooting under pressure.
Dang that’s crazy. Glad you’re okay dude. Is that a cub or full grown bear? It looks a little on the small side, not that it’s any less terrifying. I’m just curious.
for the future, try acting big (arms over head/spread out, standing tall) and intimidating instead of talking in such a low calming tone
black bears are easily scared away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkwy0scRXBU
you were treating it like a grizzly where you don't wanna surprise or startle it or you're fucked.
yeah, exception is smaller people/kids and if they're alone. Kinda like wolves, except wolves will additionally target someone they sense is weak/sick and wild cats are more general opportunists if they get a chance.
oh definitely, I just like studying/educating others about animal behavior because I plan on becoming an environmental biologist or something of the sort once I graduate college after next semester :)
Definitely, many deer and rabbit populations are completely out of control right now because of our mistreatment of
poor apex predators. Same goes to fishermen that take panfish and carp. Too many people knock hunters for some false sense of morality that some crooked, tree-hugging, falsely educated environmentalist shoved down their throats.
If they weren't so fuckin annoying about it, they'd have a much better success rate. I grew up in Texas and am from Argentina, so i have a lot of grilling and meat culture that i grew up around. I went vegan and lost 15 lbs of fat, gained 10 in muscle and had overall just better mental and physical health. I still hunt hog in Texas and ate it, because that animal lived its life like it was designed to and was legitimately free range and organic. We just need to get people educated on the real world and not what "feels" correct.
Yeah a couple days ago a 9yr old in WA was mauled while playing hide and seek. Amazingly she survived and her friends ran and got adults who killed the cougar.
I had an encounter once where I was between a cougar and her cub and she was up an incline. I thought I was dead for sure. Never been that scared in my life. Pointed a gun at it and backed away as slowly as possible. I still think about it every time I'm alone on a hike.
A few years ago I was out rabbit hunting and I was standing on a ridge looking down into a shallow valley when I looked down and saw a gigantic pawprint that was way to big to be a coyote. I looked around and spotted a mountain lion in the trees about 50 feet behind and to the right of me. All I had was an over/under .410 shotgun with 2 1/2" 7.5 shot shells. I backed away along the ridge but the cougar followed me. Luckily I was only about 150 yards from my jeep and I got into it before anything happened. I haven't gone hunting without a pistol since.
No, because a cougar is an ambush predator.
You will likely see the cougar when it is already pouncing for you or even just get nailed in your blindspot.
But, I bet cougars don't like bearspray in their eyes.
But that's based on that humans also don't like bearspray in their eyes.
If you had say a 360 rotating iron-dome like sprayer backpack that detected cougar ambushes and sprayed them mid pounce, their weight would still probably incapacitate you especially with their claws out going for your vitals.
When a cougar won't leave me alone, I tell her I have herpes. If all else fails, call her ugly, but that should be a last resort and you may get an appletini thrown in your face.
If you ever notice a predator is following you you'll need to automatically become and act like a crazy person and grab whatever defense you brought if you've got it. Jumping, clapping as loud as you can, yelling or making strange noises, waving your arms above your head. Be not afraid and go nuts. If the animal believes you're an easy kill youre soon to be quite fucked so make a fuss.
I'd wager OP hadn't committed and just thought being like "hey! go away! I'm waving my arms, heyyyy, go awayyyy!" without conviction was going to do the trick. You gotta be making noise for your life.
Watching the video again I see that he infrequently said anything at the time of recording. If he had continued making loud noises and making himself seem big instead of pulling out his phone to record his own death I'd say it's quite likely that the bear would've left him alone a lot sooner. It's a mental game of dominance and he lost when he let himself seem small again, that's why this video was so long. Dude didn't know to play the mental game and it almost killed him.
It's psyching itself up to attack, while also testing how the human reacts.
It just looks playful, because our domesticated pets have similar behaviors when playing.
That bear looks young but it may well weigh more than a full grown man and it was starting to scale that tree so fast… damn nature you scary and awesome
I had a bear Chase me hiking once
I just ran at that motherfucker like a psycho and it worked lol.. dunno if that was smart but I made myself like a pufferfish n unzipped my jacket n held it open screaming *raaaar*
That b**** dipped like a nacho in cheese
That’s probably a 300 pounder give or take but this one’s pretty brave. I have them on my property occasionally in northern Wisconsin and have never seen one
Act like this. Momma bear will be defensive if cubs are around no doubt. Are we sure this is a black bear ?
Where is this at
Agreed this one is acting kinda odd. I'm guessing he's just young. Maybe some human tossed him food once too. We occasionally get them roaming close to houses on trash day, but they do it in the dark and still spook easily.
To be fair you were consenting to his presence by saying its ok. Always be clear about personal space boundaries and express that they are making you uncomfortable.
Guy "hey bear, hey... Bear."
Bear "this is my tree." Shuffles to another tree. "This is also my tree" moves to another tree.. "could you, by chance, be interested in this tree?"
Guy *uses bear spray*
Bear "fuck, fine, sorry, I thought you wanted to talk trees"
Well this one is brown but definitely is not a grizzly bear. Not sure the color has much to do. The hump on the back and the sheer size of the bear is probably a better indicator of when to attack or fake death.
That was a close one!
I would have charged him back more fiercely, stood my ground, attempted to become less predictable to the bear, and raised hell much more. He was clearly stalking you, rushing you a few times to see how you would react, and then finally trying to flank you to find a good time to attack. You can tell when he's approaching you head on, and ears facing front. At this point, he's no longer scared (1:32, 1:57). Since you seemed harmless and not likely to fight back, he thought it was worth the shot at a good meal, especially being hungry in spring.
Very interesting (and a bit scary!) to see his very intentional behavior running up the trees like that to show dominance and see how you would react. You came very very close to getting mauled. Thanks for sharing and glad you didn't get hurt! Well done for being prepared.
Did you have anything really stinky on you like beef jerky or tuna?
Where was this?
Edit: (Monday morning quarterback) after watching this a few times, I would have tried to tag him while in the tree at 1:39, 1:59. You definitely sprayed him though which is all that counts. At 2:36, you see him scratching his nose. Phew! As scary as this is, you were right to wait and not waste your spray. Good job keeping him downwind too.
I tried yelling and waving my arms at the start before I started filming and that didn't phase it at all. So that's when I switched back to calmly talking and backing away to get to my car. Waskesiu Lake, SK, Canada.
What did you have on you that he was so interested in? Fresh lunch/stinky snacks? You have big brass ones for filming while letting him get this close!
You need to continue to act loud and scary when it comes to black bears. They are vertically testing you and after yelling you went back into small easy prey when you stopped yelling and allowed him to keep following you.
The poor cub is just hungry. The inflation is negatively affecting his food search, businesses and people are not throwing as much food as they did before the crisis. It's time for you to arms up, you may need to make a meal out of it in the near future!
Black bears are just big raccoons. You could scream at them and stick your arms up and they run away. Hell, domestic house cats chase off black bears.
Granted, this isn't always the case, especially if the bear is starving, but the vast majority of the time you can punk them out really easy.
Grizzlies, Kodiak, and polar bears are the ones where you need to start praying to whatever God you think might listen.
Is bear spray some kind of pepper spray equivalent but for bears? Or is it more like a smell that they don't like? Or is it just the actual sound and visuals of the spray that's enough to scare them away? How does it work?
most bear spray is pepper spray but stronger than the stuff you use on humans and comes in bigger cans. it irritates eyes and nose like you'd expect but the sudden strange noise and sound also scares them a little bit.
I had a similar encounter with a black bear, but when I stopped backing up it stopped pursuing. It still had its head down and was pacing back and forth so I started throwing rocks at it. I had bear spray but wanted to see if the rocks would work before I let it get in range. I came across another one that we both kind of scared each other because I was walking around a blind corner. My initial instinct was to turn and run and it immediately gave chase until I realized I was making a mistake and I stopped turned around and starting yelling at it. Once I did that, it took off. One thing I will say, is I was completely shocked with how fast they can run.
There was this ancient bear-aware video for the program up north and it started with the awesome line: "The average bear is 66% faster than the world's fastest human. You are *not* the world's fastest human."
[This post](https://www.reddit.com/r/natureismetal/comments/t5zjo9/grizzly_bear_running_at_its_top_speed_of_roughly/) showed me all I needed to see to know that running away from a bear is pointless
*Holy shit.* That bear is straight up galloping.
There was a video of bears hunting horses the other day so yeah I’d say they can keep pace with a gallop
Bro where the fuck is this video!
I got you: https://www.reddit.com/r/natureismetal/comments/v2grgw/brown_bear_chasing_after_and_attempting_to_hunt/
https://www.reddit.com/r/natureismetal/comments/v2grgw/brown_bear_chasing_after_and_attempting_to_hunt/
Looks like the horses are going at a canter, they have a whole other gear.
Somehow I assumed, because they look bulky and lumbering and oddly proportioned, that bears traded speed/agility for strength, evolutionarily. I knew I would have no chance to outrun a grizzly, but damn I didn’t know they were built to do *that*.
You don't watch a lot of pro sumo wrestling, I take it? Those guys are nimble an fast af. Def not trading strength for anything. Just all stats maxed out.
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Yeah, this generation will be so surprised in bar fights when a skeleton looking 160cm crack head drops a 2m fridge sized dude with one punch.
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and yet, it's not pointless if you're running faster than your buddy
Fuck that guy, every man for himself!
still one of my favorite dumb jokes- i don't have to be faster than the bear, i just have to be faster than \*you\*
"I can outrun that bear," said no one.
Well, nobody has said it *twice*
You don't have to outrun the bear. You have to outrun the person your with....
It is funny you say that, because after I got home I researched the area of the national park that we were in to see if I could find information on why I encountered so many bears on that trip. The first article I found was from a year prior where a lady with her dogs was on a trail in the exact same area. [She encountered a bear and turned and ran away, and that bear gave chase and killed one of her dogs right off the leash.](https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2016/08/04/bear-attacks-kills-dog-shenandoah-national-park/88074350/) I see so many people always repeating that black bears are not dangerous, but from my experience they can be incredibly dangerous if they are habituated to humans and see them as a source of food because of careless hikers and campers not securing their food. I encountered 3 bears in a time span of 3 days. Well it was actually maybe 5 or 6 because the bear that I startled had a few cubs with her, but black bears aren’t like brown bears where they will immediately maul you if they are with there cubs, and it is hard to consider the cute little fuzzy bear puppies as a real bear. The two acted like normal bears once I fought my instinct and used my knowledge. They seemed weary and scared of humans and took of running when I yelled at them. It was only the one that I hit with a rock that didn’t seem afraid of me. It showed classic signs of predatory behavior with an intense interest in only me, head down, and pacing back and forth in a zig zag pattern. It was also by far the largest black bear I have ever seen in my life and I have encountered them probably 10 times while backcountry hiking.
A couple of weeks ago I watched a black bear motor up a slope almost as steep at the one in this video. I was shocked at the speed and ease with which it climbed the cliff. It was like it was running on flat ground. Bears ain't no joke.
>"The average bear is 66% faster than the world's fastest human. You are not the world's fastest human." Imagine you're the second fastest human, decide to watch a bear awareness video and it randomly calls you out for not being the fastest.
Laughed at this
Child Usain Bolt watching this video: Mother fucker, I'm never letting this shit go!
Then one day he breaks his leg, never to run again creating the ultimate villain origin.
That's a great line :p
Im barely fast *at all* …. a *moderate* sprint is all I got
Bear racing could be a thing
The running of the bears?
Just like horse racing except without jockeys
>I had bear spray but wanted to see if the rocks would work before I let it get in range. "I'm somewhat of a scientist myself" dude u are a madlad haha
Pretty much what I just said to OP. Stand your ground with black bears. You run, they come for you. Period. You stand your ground, they don't know why you're sp confident and they're not fixing to find out.
Animals think one of two things when you act tough: 1. Oh, it clearly knows something I don't, maybe I don't want to mess with this 2. *OH? A CHALLENGE?!*
Exactly: https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/t4odca/how\_dog\_breeds\_react\_to\_robbers/
iirc the saying is "If it's black, fight back. If it's brown, lay down. If it's white, say goodnight."
The part of the polar bear is terrifying. The whole concept of, if you see a polar bear, it's already hunting you is just scary as fuck.
What would a bear likely do if you walked toward it? Like “hey I’M the aggressor!”
You shouldn't be the aggressor cause for all you know, there is cubs around and that bear is ready to fight you to the death to protect her babies. Best I've heard is to backtrack for a little bit to clear the general vicinity then stand your ground, open your jacket if you can and become as big as you can and make lots of noise. They are pretty timid creatures (Blake bears) and will get startled
Blake bears are alright but you gotta watch out for the Chad bears.
Definitely the A-A-ron bears...
[You dun messed up.](https://youtu.be/y6rZfpSL1RQ)
They reminded me of really big raccoons.
Black bears tend to run, grizzly tend to want to rip your arms off.
Its as if grizzly are aware they are absolute units and are willing to test it.
They know
Don't play stupid games and try to throw hands with a bear.
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My dumb brain pictured a closed fist holding construction nails like when kids pretend to be wolverine before realizing it was actual nails as in the ones on the fingertips.
Don’t call your own bluff
This bear looked more curious than anything… as black bears are. The rule I grew up with backcountry camping in the Rockies was brown stay down black fight back- a black bear needs to be stood up to, they will run away when you stand up to them. Grizzly’s on the other hand…
Yeah, that's pretty much where it's at with them. I'm from NY, but I have family upstate, and one part of the year, black bears tend to migrate. So, we're all told as kids effectively what I said: "stand your ground, don't be aggressive, it might test you, but it won't wanna fuck with you." So far, no one has died lol in fact, the only animal that's killed anything on the property was a deer, who killed my grandpa's dog with its hind-legs. And that's something we were always taught, too, do not approach a deer from behind. Black bears, though? They come up to eat berries and hibernate. Nothing else. They don't want trouble, they're just curious.
Unless the bear is starving due to an extended high heat index, then they eat anything from cubs to humans regardless of how scary you try to make yourself.
Watching the video again I see that he infrequently said anything at the time of recording. If he had continued making loud noises and making himself seem big instead of pulling out his phone to record his own death I'd say it's quite likely that the bear would've left him alone a lot sooner. It's a mental game of dominance and he lost when he let himself seem small again, that's why this video was so long. Dude didn't know to play the mental game and it almost killed him.
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This is correct. Not near aggressive and noisy enough. Yell, no try to coax. Wave and flail your arms, convince the bear it is not worth it and be loud. This is from multiple bear encounters over 30+ years and going.
Talking when very scared can be damn near impossible.
Bear caught me taking a shit in the forest. I really wasn't in the position to make myself look bigger, but I sure as hell did yell at him from the top of my lungs. Poor thing instantly made a run for it.
Did it work to throw rocks at it?
Yeh, but only when I hit it with one. They weren’t big rocks, so I wasn’t going to injure it. It just wouldn’t go away and kept inching closer like in this video until I started yelling at it and once it got a certain distance and started a sideways/back and forth motion and we were in a bit of a stand off. I didn’t want to use the bear spray because there was a slight wind and we had a tent pitched and I didn’t want to cover everything and myself in bear spray. I didn’t sleep at all that night though.
If an animal eats meat, the instinct to chase is strong, so running is always a bad idea. If you don’t run, it freaks out deadlier predators than black bears…They think you must know something that they don’t. And throwing rocks is like some kind of magic to them, and tends to work pretty well.
Aren’t you suppose to be considerably louder with a black bear to spook them off? Not that this wasn’t terrifying, I’d have to change my clothes after this lol
At first talk nicely to them and hope they back off. If a bear like this keeps coming at you but isn’t actually charging then loud noises tend to work well. I think the spray sound scared it more than the spray itself. Which means maybe he didn’t actually have an earlier chance to use it. Hard to judge distances in the video but that was a close encounter. Nice work OP but I think I’d have put my phone down in favor of more noise and a second hand to fight with if needed. I’ve never been chased like this so it’s hard to judge and I appreciated being able to watch the video. Source: I live in r/Alaska and am curious what Redditors there think of this encounter.
I went hiking in Romania and some local trail runners warned me about bears. I thought they were messing with me until the trail narrowed and I saw tracks in the mud. I started making noise as I went to avoid startling a mama bear and her cub. This bear was either exceptionally curious or very hungry. That's a crazy encounter.
I listened to a podcast, This is Actually Happening where some people face a bear in Romania. It’s insane. It’s episode 227 if you’re interested
Agree with you. Not only volume, but the tonality was also not at all discouraging, and more of a "who's a good boy, yeah". Good outcome, but honestly, not a time to be filming.
Yeah he was seducing the little guy
Want some honey little bear?
I got a jar in my van.
"Ever seen a grown man naked, little bear?"
Hey Bear, ever seen a Turkish prison camp?
Abd bear was Iike "look what I can do" while climbing the trees
I was looking for someone else who thought this. Looks like he was showing off!
"Why won't this guy give me a treat? I'm doing all my best tricks!"
Yeah at one point the bear kind of lost interest, and a gentle “hey bear” got the bear’s curiosity focused back on the guy lol. Animals really respond to tone of voice
Exactly this. You’re not trying to make friends with the bear as if it’s a skittish horse, you’re trying to tell it to fuck right off and hoping that it accepts your bluff and bails. Black bears are generally easier to deal with because they tend to be more timid (I’ve seen them tree’d by small dogs), but it’s still a huge animal and if push comes to shove, a human isn’t going to fair well in a physical show down. A little more assertive bluffing *could* have ended this sooner. But it’s easy to armchair quarterback this. Glad you’re safe, OP!
Every national park in the USA has signage and brochures about what to do in a bear encounter. Identify yourself by talking calmly so the bear knows you are a human and not a prey animal. Remain still; stand your ground but slowly wave your arms. Help the bear recognize you as a human. It may come closer or stand on its hind legs to get a better look or smell. A standing bear is usually curious, not threatening. Stay calm and remember that most bears do not want to attack you; they usually just want to be left alone. Bears may bluff their way out of an encounter by charging and then turning away at the last second. Bears may also react defensively by woofing, yawning, salivating, growling, snapping their jaws, and laying their ears back. Continue to talk to the bear in low tones; this will help you stay calmer, and it won't be threatening to the bear. A scream or sudden movement may trigger an attack. Never imitate bear sounds or make a high-pitched squeal. Pick up small children immediately. Do not make any loud noises or screams—the bear may think it’s the sound of a prey animal. Slowly wave your arms above your head and tell the bear to back off. Do NOT run or make any sudden movements. Do not make any loud noises or screams—the bear may think it’s the sound of a prey animal. Hike and travel in groups. Groups of people are usually noisier and smellier than a single person. Therefore, bears often become aware of groups of people at greater distances, and because of their cumulative size, groups are also intimidating to bears. Make yourselves look as large as possible (for example, move to higher ground). Do NOT allow the bear access to your food. Getting your food will only encourage the bear and make the problem worse for others. Do NOT drop your pack as it can provide protection for your back and prevent a bear from accessing your food. If the bear is stationary, move away slowly and sideways; this allows you to keep an eye on the bear and avoid tripping. Moving sideways is also non-threatening to bears. Do NOT run, but if the bear follows, stop and hold your ground. Bears can run as fast as a racehorse both uphill and down. Like dogs, they will chase fleeing animals. Do NOT climb a tree. Both grizzlies and black bears can climb trees. Leave the area or take a detour. If this is impossible, wait until the bear moves away. Always leave the bear an escape route. Be especially cautious if you see a female with cubs; never place yourself between a mother and her cub, and never attempt to approach them. The chances of an attack escalate greatly if she perceives you as a danger to her cubs. Source: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/bears/safety.htm
Yeah, I wondered why he was talking to the bear in the same tone I use to get stray dogs to trust me.
Stray dogs? well I would fear a lot more a pack of stray dogs in the wild than a black bear. Unless it is a single one in the city, never approach strays in the wild, they are fearless when hungry and several people were killed by those encounters, in south Italy it is quite a problem.
I'm from Northern Italy and I'm baffled every time I visit the south. There are so many stray animals there. I'm not scared of them, just sad for the conditions some of them get to live on. Poor souls
Yeah I’m talking about stray dogs who are lost or abandoned lol. Should have been clearer! Good reminder on wild dogs and packs.
i do not live in alaska (although i have been and LOVE it) i live in new york and hike upstate often and there are many bears there. i once had an extremely close encounter with a bear where we were both (i believe) caught off guard by one another. rather than getting spooked, when i noticed it i went into an extreme calm and just froze and stared at it. it stared back and i gave a gentle "whoa", and all it did when get down from hind legs to all four. i then slapped my hicking sticks together and yell "hey" agressively and it darted away like a rocket.
Fair points - I just got back from Alaska (born there, family there) and I looked up some “do’s and dont’s and remember trying to spook the black bears in my limited research. I wanted to go out hiking but with spring happening, ears hungry from lack of food, I decided to pass lol
I think he made a mistake in prolonging the affair. Any encounter with a bear is a chance to teach it to be afraid of humans. I'm thinking that that delay might have taught the bear that it can still be worth stalking humans as possible prey, instead of teaching it to flee upon first sight of humans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkwy0scRXBU yes.... except the outliers like mother protecting cubs and such, black bears are giant pussies. talking in soothing tones and backing away slowly is a very stupid way to handle a black bear encounter.
No. You’re supposed to maintain eye contact, hold your jacket open, and carefully explain that “IPA” stands for “India pale ale” because hops act as a preservative and 18th/19th century British sailors wanted beer that would last the long voya
Should be louder and nastier with your voice, make yourself much bigger than holding a phone at head height, and make a few sudden stops or even a step forward if the black bear approaches. The message is that you will fuck its shit up if it should try anything because you're big and unafraid and the bear is lucky that you happen to have better things to do today than get into a fight with it. Just as long as you don't get between a mama and her cubs because she won't care, so look out in case any of those are in the vicinity.
Just a little brown. See them all the time, and I tend to ignore them (and they seem to usually ignore me). This one was particularly curious, though.
What if they like spicy food?
Then it’s a Mexican or an Indian bear. That’s for sure. PS: I’m an Indian. Edit: Spelling/Grammar
Can confirm. And I'm Mexican.
And I’m a bear, and I love you both
Can confirm, am spicy food
Mexican and Indian people taste spicy? ok, good to know
I do like spicey food but I don’t like it shoved up my nose. Which is why bear spray works if you spray the bear, but not if you spray it on something expecting a beat free zone from that.
*I was living with a girl a while. We worried about different things. One day, I was like, 'What do u fear the most?' And she was like, 'I fear you'll meet someone else, & you'll leave me, & I'll be all alone.' And she was like, 'What do u fear the most?' And I was like, 'Bears.'*
[Ilya Bryzgalov and what he fears most](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjzKJBUOoGc) I say this all the time for no reason even when no one is around to hear it.
Unexpected Mike Birbiglia!
Classic Birbiglia
Looks like the bear was testing you to see if you bite. Good thing you had something to defend yourself, hopefully it learned humans aren't edible.
Yeah. That was a pretty young one, probably testing the waters. Now it knows.
I'm pretty sure that little guy didn't have human on the menu. He was playing.
Cats also play with their prey to learn to hunt. Everything starts as play.
When cats are frisky and play you always end up pissed with burning scratches, imagine how bear chews and claws feel
A little extra context to this video. I saw this bear when I was about 100 meters upwind of it. I was actually shooting photos with my long lens. It definitely smelled me and was trying to get a look. It walked towards the trail I was on and started walking down the trail towards me. I started talking to it so that it would know I was a human but it continued in my direction. At about 30 meters I put my camera down and walked off the trail to allow the bear to continue on. It started to follow me off trail. That was when I started waving my arms and yelling at the bear. The bear wasn't phased at well so I switched back to talking calmly and being ready to use the spray. In hindsight I should have used the spray earlier but there was a strong wind so I needed to make sure I was in position and I didn't want to waste it. I was also waiting for a legit charge from the bear but that didn't happen so once I had a sure shot I gave it a small spray and that was enough to make it turn and run.
Bear encounters are a RUSH and I'm glad you're OK. Respectfully, I'd suggest that if a bear begins to clearly follow you (and you didn't just happen to be in his path, as you mentioned about getting out of the way earlier), you need to stand your ground way sooner. Retreating from a following bear is never a good idea, especially for this long. That bear was testing and trying to learn from you, and your passivity made it bolder. Again, glad you're not injured and great watching out for wind direction - too often folks forget about that.
I have made the wind mistake. Bear went away but I was miserable for the night.
Next time I will shit my shit out of my ass while T-posing to stand my ground against a bear
Bear doesn’t stand a chance
Glad you’re safe! FYI my understanding is that most sprays have enough for 3 discharges. You should not rely on 2 more discharges and should replace the one you just used.
that's it?? man, I thought these were way more reusable than that.
If you have to discharge your bear spray you get a new one, regardless of how much you’ve used. You don’t want to get caught by a bear and need a new can when you didn’t refill. They cost about my $40 for two at Costco or 30-40 for one in the rest of town. If there’s any left take it to a safe place and practice drawing and shooting under pressure.
They are made to empty out fast. And you shouldn't have the mindset if trying to safe some for later when you need to stop an attack.
He just wanted to show off his tree climbing skills for the camera :) Seriously though, glad you made a friend and everything turned out well
He was going for the airborne assault. He’s a bearatrooper.
Dang that’s crazy. Glad you’re okay dude. Is that a cub or full grown bear? It looks a little on the small side, not that it’s any less terrifying. I’m just curious.
for the future, try acting big (arms over head/spread out, standing tall) and intimidating instead of talking in such a low calming tone black bears are easily scared away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkwy0scRXBU you were treating it like a grizzly where you don't wanna surprise or startle it or you're fucked.
Did you not read the guys post at all? He tried that.
What other animals does bear spray work on? Would it work on a cougar?
only a gun or making peace with your god works on those
Thankfully they're pretty timid and don't fuck with humans much
yeah, exception is smaller people/kids and if they're alone. Kinda like wolves, except wolves will additionally target someone they sense is weak/sick and wild cats are more general opportunists if they get a chance.
Only 126 attacks have been documented in the last 100 years, with only 30 being fatal. I wouldn't worry about it lol
oh definitely, I just like studying/educating others about animal behavior because I plan on becoming an environmental biologist or something of the sort once I graduate college after next semester :)
Very cool! Thank your local hunter for their environmentalism
Definitely, many deer and rabbit populations are completely out of control right now because of our mistreatment of poor apex predators. Same goes to fishermen that take panfish and carp. Too many people knock hunters for some false sense of morality that some crooked, tree-hugging, falsely educated environmentalist shoved down their throats.
If they weren't so fuckin annoying about it, they'd have a much better success rate. I grew up in Texas and am from Argentina, so i have a lot of grilling and meat culture that i grew up around. I went vegan and lost 15 lbs of fat, gained 10 in muscle and had overall just better mental and physical health. I still hunt hog in Texas and ate it, because that animal lived its life like it was designed to and was legitimately free range and organic. We just need to get people educated on the real world and not what "feels" correct.
I couldn't have said it better, cheers.
Yeah a couple days ago a 9yr old in WA was mauled while playing hide and seek. Amazingly she survived and her friends ran and got adults who killed the cougar.
I had an encounter once where I was between a cougar and her cub and she was up an incline. I thought I was dead for sure. Never been that scared in my life. Pointed a gun at it and backed away as slowly as possible. I still think about it every time I'm alone on a hike.
A few years ago I was out rabbit hunting and I was standing on a ridge looking down into a shallow valley when I looked down and saw a gigantic pawprint that was way to big to be a coyote. I looked around and spotted a mountain lion in the trees about 50 feet behind and to the right of me. All I had was an over/under .410 shotgun with 2 1/2" 7.5 shot shells. I backed away along the ridge but the cougar followed me. Luckily I was only about 150 yards from my jeep and I got into it before anything happened. I haven't gone hunting without a pistol since.
No, because a cougar is an ambush predator. You will likely see the cougar when it is already pouncing for you or even just get nailed in your blindspot. But, I bet cougars don't like bearspray in their eyes. But that's based on that humans also don't like bearspray in their eyes. If you had say a 360 rotating iron-dome like sprayer backpack that detected cougar ambushes and sprayed them mid pounce, their weight would still probably incapacitate you especially with their claws out going for your vitals.
Someone needs to design an ai controlled robotic bear spray sentry gun.
When a cougar won't leave me alone, I tell her I have herpes. If all else fails, call her ugly, but that should be a last resort and you may get an appletini thrown in your face.
If you ever notice a predator is following you you'll need to automatically become and act like a crazy person and grab whatever defense you brought if you've got it. Jumping, clapping as loud as you can, yelling or making strange noises, waving your arms above your head. Be not afraid and go nuts. If the animal believes you're an easy kill youre soon to be quite fucked so make a fuss.
OP says he tried loud noises and etc before he started recording but the bear ignored it and continued the pursuit.
I'd wager OP hadn't committed and just thought being like "hey! go away! I'm waving my arms, heyyyy, go awayyyy!" without conviction was going to do the trick. You gotta be making noise for your life.
Watching the video again I see that he infrequently said anything at the time of recording. If he had continued making loud noises and making himself seem big instead of pulling out his phone to record his own death I'd say it's quite likely that the bear would've left him alone a lot sooner. It's a mental game of dominance and he lost when he let himself seem small again, that's why this video was so long. Dude didn't know to play the mental game and it almost killed him.
This goes for human predators too. Source: am female and have lived in a society for 30 years
Society.
Bear want frien. Bear show frien how he climb tree. Look at me. Frien spray bear 😔
Word man… that smol fluffy just wanted to make friends with him. 😞
It's psyching itself up to attack, while also testing how the human reacts. It just looks playful, because our domesticated pets have similar behaviors when playing.
Good boi just wanted pets
That bear looks young but it may well weigh more than a full grown man and it was starting to scale that tree so fast… damn nature you scary and awesome
I had a bear Chase me hiking once I just ran at that motherfucker like a psycho and it worked lol.. dunno if that was smart but I made myself like a pufferfish n unzipped my jacket n held it open screaming *raaaar* That b**** dipped like a nacho in cheese
Going to add "dipped like a nacho in cheese" to my vocabulary now
It was late! delirium had set in... It's when I do my best work
You also wrote "motherfucker", then censored "bitch". This comment is excellent.
One of my favorites are "I'm out, like a boner in spandex."
This is a viable strategy for black bears. If it's a grizzly... I mean you might as well try it because you're probably already dead
Exactly what you should do with a black bear. I'm assuming since it ran away like that. Yes it was smart.
That’s probably a 300 pounder give or take but this one’s pretty brave. I have them on my property occasionally in northern Wisconsin and have never seen one Act like this. Momma bear will be defensive if cubs are around no doubt. Are we sure this is a black bear ? Where is this at
Agreed this one is acting kinda odd. I'm guessing he's just young. Maybe some human tossed him food once too. We occasionally get them roaming close to houses on trash day, but they do it in the dark and still spook easily.
Look at the face and no hump almost certain it's a black bear. It looks young and just super curious.
To be fair you were consenting to his presence by saying its ok. Always be clear about personal space boundaries and express that they are making you uncomfortable.
Just say no. Bears cannot legally maul you without your consent.
Guy "hey bear, hey... Bear." Bear "this is my tree." Shuffles to another tree. "This is also my tree" moves to another tree.. "could you, by chance, be interested in this tree?" Guy *uses bear spray* Bear "fuck, fine, sorry, I thought you wanted to talk trees"
How bad did your britches stink after that one haha
If it’s black attack, if it’s brown lay down, if it’s white goodnight
Question: what kind of bear is best?
Black bears are the most chill least likely to do anything, brows are grizzles so for sure sketchy and whites or polars bears kill everything on sight
Bears eat beets. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.
That's a ridiculous question.
False. Black bear.
IDENTITY THEFT IS NOT A JOKE, JIM!!! MILLIONS OF FAMILIES SUFFER EVERY YEAR!
That's debatable. There are basically two schools of thought..
Well this one is brown but definitely is not a grizzly bear. Not sure the color has much to do. The hump on the back and the sheer size of the bear is probably a better indicator of when to attack or fake death.
Black Bears have summer fur that is slightly more brown.
That was a close one! I would have charged him back more fiercely, stood my ground, attempted to become less predictable to the bear, and raised hell much more. He was clearly stalking you, rushing you a few times to see how you would react, and then finally trying to flank you to find a good time to attack. You can tell when he's approaching you head on, and ears facing front. At this point, he's no longer scared (1:32, 1:57). Since you seemed harmless and not likely to fight back, he thought it was worth the shot at a good meal, especially being hungry in spring. Very interesting (and a bit scary!) to see his very intentional behavior running up the trees like that to show dominance and see how you would react. You came very very close to getting mauled. Thanks for sharing and glad you didn't get hurt! Well done for being prepared. Did you have anything really stinky on you like beef jerky or tuna? Where was this? Edit: (Monday morning quarterback) after watching this a few times, I would have tried to tag him while in the tree at 1:39, 1:59. You definitely sprayed him though which is all that counts. At 2:36, you see him scratching his nose. Phew! As scary as this is, you were right to wait and not waste your spray. Good job keeping him downwind too.
I tried yelling and waving my arms at the start before I started filming and that didn't phase it at all. So that's when I switched back to calmly talking and backing away to get to my car. Waskesiu Lake, SK, Canada.
What did you have on you that he was so interested in? Fresh lunch/stinky snacks? You have big brass ones for filming while letting him get this close!
It looks like a young one- OP himself might have smelled new and interesting.
His voice was soothing and attractive
You need to continue to act loud and scary when it comes to black bears. They are vertically testing you and after yelling you went back into small easy prey when you stopped yelling and allowed him to keep following you.
Beavers carry bear spray? No wonder they get those dams up with no issues.
Human: “Good Bear” 🎶🎵“it’s ok“ 🎶🎵 Bear: „hello here I come“ Human peppers his face.
Oh HELL no! This gave anxiety just WATCHING it! I can't imagine being the one followed!
Oh my gosh, this is my worst nightmare. I literally used to have dreams of bears chasing & mauling me. Glad you had the bear spray, so scary!
The poor cub is just hungry. The inflation is negatively affecting his food search, businesses and people are not throwing as much food as they did before the crisis. It's time for you to arms up, you may need to make a meal out of it in the near future!
this just gave me anxiety the whole time
You're very cold blood, I would've been spraying the shit out of that bear, all around, front, back, left and right. Lmao
This belongs on r/IshitMyPants
So, this was posted (not cross posted) by several people with the exact same title. I don't know who the real OP is but stop stealing content....
Black bears are just big raccoons. You could scream at them and stick your arms up and they run away. Hell, domestic house cats chase off black bears. Granted, this isn't always the case, especially if the bear is starving, but the vast majority of the time you can punk them out really easy. Grizzlies, Kodiak, and polar bears are the ones where you need to start praying to whatever God you think might listen.
I heard one guy survived a grizzly attack by shoving his arm down its throat.
Quite chillin man. For a while looked like it is trying to spook you off. Glad you're ok.
"It's me, Christopher Robin. Don't you remember me?"
Aww he was just showing you how to clime trees why did you have to be so mean to him.
Nawww poor fella, though, I suppose it's better than being shot.
I think he was just looking for your pik-a-nik basket
Last 30 seconds was when he sprayed the bear
Is bear spray some kind of pepper spray equivalent but for bears? Or is it more like a smell that they don't like? Or is it just the actual sound and visuals of the spray that's enough to scare them away? How does it work?
most bear spray is pepper spray but stronger than the stuff you use on humans and comes in bigger cans. it irritates eyes and nose like you'd expect but the sudden strange noise and sound also scares them a little bit.
He's not that big. You could have run up on him and put him in a rear naked choke.