wolfchild

This is looks terrifying...I think I would rather face a four legged cougar than be chased by a two legged cougar on a bicycle.

ckindt

Bear spray.?
What happens when the bear is approaching you from upwind?

Metieval

my bear spray travels at around 1200 fps. I doubt being upwind or down wind matters much.

ckindt

Are you sure about that? 1200 fps = 818 mph.
Most bear spray I know of travels at only 110 fps or 75 mph.

Miele Man

Bear spray depends on the bear and/or the strength of the wind.

I've sometimes wondered if adding a constant noise-maker (think playing card-type in the spokes thing) would help prevent attacks by many startled animals.

In the videos I linked to the woman who was attacked by the cougar/mountain didn't even realize at first that it was a big cat that had attacked her. That shows how sudden the attack was.

I think that the same sort of thing happens sometimes with bear attacks - a MTB rider approaching from downwind a speed rounds a blind corner and surprises a bear. The bear then instinctively attacks and bear is on the rider before the rider can even think about reaching for any deterrent.

A cougar/mountain lion can run 43 mph or between 64 - 80 kph. They can jump vertically 18 feet or 5.3 meters.From a standing position they can jump between 20 and 40 feet or 6 to 12 meters.

From WIkihow. What to do if attacked by a cougar/mountain lion.

"The mountain lion will most likely attempt to tackle you and crush your skull or bite your throat. Try to block the mountain lion from your eyes and face as you strike it. Do everything you can to fight it off. An average adult should be able to ward off an attack by fighting back since mountain lions are rather small."

OP here again.

Btw, grizzly bears can run up to 35 mph. Black bears can run at 25 to 30 mph = 40 to 48 kph.

I ride a lot of trails and quiet roads around here and sometimes do so at night. I like to see the critters that are out and about and thus I don't like to use a noise maker. However if I were in an area where big cats, or bears were known to be, I'd seriously consider it.

Do any of you use a constant noise maker? have any of you considered using one?

Cheers

wolfchild

I don't use any noise makers, because there are no cougars here in GTA...Black bears have been moving closer to urban areas in recent years and there have been few sightings in some suburbs and towns which are close to GTA but it's not very common...I was doing an early morning ride today and I've seen a large coyote trotting along the sidewalk in a residential area in Oakville. I also frequently run into coyotes here in Mississauga but I never had problems with them yet, some of them are very large and look more like a wolf than a coyote.

Kapusta

I’ve never worried much about black bears. I’ve had probably 40 or more encounters with them, mostly while mountain biking. 3/4 of the time I am looking at their @ss end as they are running away. We are not prey to them. All but 5 encounters were on the east coast where they are much smaller than out west. The first couple times I saw one out west I was scared until I realized they behaved similarly. Also, everything being so wide open, I always saw them a ways off and they seemed as interested in avoiding me as I was them.

The only time I have ever been truly scared of something I came across in the woods/wilderness was a pair of Elk near Jackson Hole. I had never given Elk much thought as I figured they were just big deer. I came around a corner and they were just standing in the trail. After a few seconds of taking them in and sensing their disposition, I realized these were NOT just big deer, and I had better give them a LOT of birth.

I’ve never encountered a grizzly.... and hope I never do.

Miele Man

Wolfchild. I wonder if any of those big coyotes are actually coy-dogs? I see the odd coyote and the odd coy-dog around here in south-central, Ontario. I also often see deer just outside of town, especially at night.

Cheers

Maelochs

I play a tape of Slim Whitman yodeling when I am in dangerous territory.

wolfchild

I am pretty sure that some of them are a hybrid mix of wolf and coyote. They're beautiful animals to watch up so close.

Miele Man

I like to watch them loping along. they can cover a lot of miles at that pace.

Cheers

Dirt Farmer

I'm pretty sure you'd be eaten while dead. They kill their prey first, oftentimes well before eating it.

CAT7RDR

Only encountered a black bear once on the Mammoth Scenic HIghway (CA-203). He was on a bluff about 10 feet up looking down as I passed within range for a charge. He was not interested in me. I was amazed by his thickness and size for a black bear. I imagine he was the presiding bull for that forest.

kaos joe

I once read a very evocative description of what it's like to be attacked by a tiger, which can weight 500-600 pounds and often charge into their prey at a decent velocity. IIRC It was compared to being hit by a piano dropped from a 3rd floor window. Of course, with the tiger, the impact is only the beginning.

indyfabz

Yep. They may cache it in a tree for later.

indyfabz

Well familiar with that story. He was not riding on the road. He was bombing a descent on a trail in the forest in serious bear country--both black and grizzly--near Glacier National Park. Forensic evidence pointed to him hitting the animal, which then attacked in defense, which is why they did not hunt it down. Freak occurrence.

I actually camped in the area back in 2003 before heading into the Glacier backcountry for a week. Got up to pee early in the morning. Went the edge of my site and spooked what I am sure was a bear. It ran off. Never saw it because the grass was too tall, but something like a deer would not have made the loud thumping and snorting I heard. And a deer would have been tall enough to be seen above the high grass.

You want to read something chilling, check out this:

https://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie...rt%20final.pdf

The guy's ex-wife is a former student (I was a research and writing TA in law school) and old friend of mine. Had dinner with her last September during a bike tour out her way. One of their daughters was pregnant with twins when he was killed. They'll never get to meet their grandfather.

indyfabz

Talk or sing if you don't have a noise maker. When my guide and I were in "the brush" during a week of backcountry backpacking we made it a point to talk fairly constantly. No need to above the tree line because you aren't going to spook anything.

A sneeze spooked this little guy who was close the edge of a trail I rode during a week-long tour across PA. He jumped into the creek and swam across. I nearly wiped out when I slammed on the brakes so I could stop and break out the camera.

Chad991

No offense, but this is the advice that will get you eaten or killed...do you know how hard the skull on a bear is, ask a hunter, crush it with a baton??? ......no. please. This is of course not a firearms thread, but there is only one weapon, we will call it a "bagel" that is effective against an angry predator like a cougar or ,God forbid, a bear. Please ride safely, I always have a bagel when riding in a location that can produce, even by a very small chance, a predator.

indyfabz

This guy has chunks of guys like Chuck Norris in his stool.

indyfabz

Guess it depends what you mean by encounter. A year or so ago a friend of mine was driving really slowly in Banff. Large grizzly came out of the woods and walked along side the car. Never once bothered them. The video they took was amazing.

The plowing crews at Glacier National Park took these recently while on the way to work. Look at the giant rear mitt of that running mom.