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The bear mace thing was funny because when it was new people were buying it all the time. As people who were always screwingg with brown bears we were really flabbergasted at this. we wanted to test it. We weren't sure it it was something different or just mace. Realistically it's like giving someone a large bottle of pressurized perfume and making them think they are safe.
We had a shed up against the breakwater on the beach and put some fish under it... Then climbed up on the roof so it was maybe 10 ft between us and the bear. I sprayed it a few times right in the face and basically it just shook his head and sneezed trying to figure out what it was.
Brown bears are generally very flighty unless they've had a lot of exposure to people, black bears even more so. The problem is not really spooking them of paths randomly happen to cross, the problem is happening across a sow with cubs or when they are feeding. If its late fall, black bears tend to be 100% focused on eating as much as possible, as fast as possible and are almost zombie like and won't have young ones around by this time. Brown bears are more scavengers so if they are near a carcas or salmon in a stream or whatever they tend to get defensive.
My worst experiences and close calls have been on accident where we happened to just cross paths in very tall grass or alders.
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