Bears came out of hibernation early this winter on the west coast due to abnormal dry winter and drought. Because of these same weather conditions, black bears may come down closer and closer to where people are looking for food. Do you have your bear spray handy and/or a plan ready for a black bear encounter? To learn more about the black bears coming out of hibernation early, you can read this article published by CBS news!
Read more here…
Please, help me out here, I am hiking up a jagged trail on the mountain side, enjoying the hike and the beauty of the great outdoors. I come up behind you rocking out to music or in all honesty, you may be listening to book while you are out hiking in nature. You are hiking along with headphones muffling all noise except that which is being pumped directly into your ears.
The problem, you don’t hear me come up behind you which means that if there is a bear or wild animal on the trail, you’re not going to hear them either. You are not fully aware of your surroundings. Wisdom is better than strength, be prepared! We all want to stay safe out there, so no headphones or at the very least, just wear one ear bud so that you can hear the sounds around you, like a charging bear!
Do you enjoy hiking in Montana? Where is your favorite spot? A few great spots to hike in Montana include:
Mystic Lake is a 7 mile out and back trail located near Fishtail, Montana. The trail is primarily used for hiking and is accessible from May until October.
The Beaten Path (Backpacking) is a 26 mile point-to-point trail located near Roscoe, Montana and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking and is accessible from June until November.
Beartooth Highway: Silver Gate to Red Lodge is a 70 mile point-to-point scenic drive near Red Lodge, Montana. The trail is primarily used for birding, mountain biking and scenic driving and is accessible from June until October.
And while you’re out hiking in Montana this spring, protect your backside! UDAP offers the first revolutionary change in bear spray delivery in 20-years! The Back Attack Pack™, be prepared for your hike as well as any wild animals that may come charging along the trail.
Fishing season is just around the corner and one of my favorite places in Montana to fish is the scenic Gallatin Valley near Bozeman, Montana. They are truly blessed with hundreds of miles of blue ribbon trout water. Those waters include, but are not limited to, the Yellowstone, Gallatin, Bighorn, Jefferson, Stillwater, Boulder and Missouri rivers. Let’s don’t forget the world renowned spring creeks in Paradise Valley, as well as some lesser known but equally amazing spring creeks and lakes in that area. Fly Cast Fishing at its best.
UDAP chest holster is a great product and works well for Fly Cast Fishermen or anyone fishing and enjoying the great outdoors. UDAP Pepper Power holsters are designed for an individual to have instant and silent access to the canister. Every UDAP holster is designer for bear spray to shoot right from the holster if time does not allow you to draw it.
Before you head out the door, make sure that you are doing more than just carrying your Bear Spray! Make sure that you know how to use it. Practice using it. It took practice to learn how to catch those blue ribbon trout and the same is true for using Bear Spray properly. Practice, practice, practice! Now go enjoy that great Montana Flyfishing!
Even though the Chicago Bears didn’t get in the Super Bowl XLVIII, the game between, bear spray vs bullets, has already been played and won. The winner is bear spray hands down! The firearm team played a good game and they believe that a person needs a hand gun or rifle to stop an angry bear. But the pro bear spray team has been adamant that bear spray works.
And the bear spray team won this super bowl, but we don’t want you to take our word for it, in a recent study done by Tom S. Smith, Stephen Herrero, Terry D. Debruyn and James M. Wilder bear spray lead its team to victory.
The Results of Bear Spray vs a Firearm
Bear incidents involving 175 persons resulted in 3 injuries, all minor (less than 2% injury rate). Firearms incidents involving 478 persons resulted in 17 fatalities (15%), 25 severe injuries (22%), 42 suffered moderate injury (37%), 29 suffered slight injuries (26%), for a total 113 injuries (24% injury rate). With firearm use, it can be hard to use protective gear like a level 4 body armor or even gloves out in the wild – this may be the mandate for tactical training, but under wilderness circumstances, many situations are out of our control. Hence firearm users experienced 12 times the injury rate of those using bear spray!
Of the 71 cases where persons sprayed bears to defend themselves, 14% (10 to 71) of users reported the spray having had negative side effects upon themselves, ranging from minor irritation (11%, 8 of 71) to near incapacitation (3%, 2 of 71).
Firearm failures were identified in 100 firearm cases, where users reported mechanical or physical issues with the use of a firearm, including lack of time (32%), unable to use firearm due to situation, such as having your partner in your line of fire (21%), mechanical issues (11%), safety/holster issues (95), insufficient caliber/no bullets left (9%), distance to bear (8%), missed bear (6%), or tripped and fell (4%).
No bears were injured in conflicts involving bear spray, however, 23 bears were wounded and 176 killed in incidents involving firearms.
Why bear spray is the winner…
Bear Deterrent Pepper Spray works better in a bear attack situation because of its ease of use. Aiming is not a big factor like it is with a firearm and you are not relying on a bullet to stop the bear by hitting it in a vital spot. Even when this is the case, sometimes the bear can advance and attack if it does not expire right away. This can actually work against the gun user as now you have a wounded bear and this may intensify the attack. With bear spray you’re not stopping the bear with pain necessarily. You might think this as it really is painful to be sprayed. However, what you’re really doing is taking away the bears senses. The bear’s sight is impaired, but more importantly its breathing and sense of smell are blasted away by the spray. Anyone that has ever been hit with a fog pattern pepper spray can tell you how difficult it is to breathe when sprayed. It actually can be like a shot to the head, since the bear navigates primarily with its nose. For a bear, this is certainly the case. The bear will have no idea what is happening and this changes the behavior the bear was displaying prior to being sprayed.
When you use bear pepper spray you’ve truly have the home field advantage! GO UDAP BEAR PEPPER SPRAY!
You are taking a nice hike through the woods and all of a sudden you find yourself face-to-face with a bear.
What do you do?
Be sure to prepare yourself the next time you hit the trail in bear country, carry UDAP Bear Spray! Bear pepper spray deterrent is proven your best defense in stopping a bear attack. Remember to carry your bear pepper spray where it is accessible and you know how to use it. You will be relying on your reflexes to help you get your spray deployed into the face of a charging bear. Practice several times going for your spray. This simple step can save your life!
Are you a hiker or do you just like to take long strolls in God’s Country? Well if you answered yes to that question, please don’t forget your bear spray. Hottest Bear spray works on more than just bear! Read below to her what one of our customers had to say about her encounter with a moose!
“UDAP works on moose! On a trail run with our dogs in Red Lodge, MT this morning we came across a moose and new calf. Our dogs are trained to not bark at or harass wildlife- and we even went off trail to give her a wide berth, but even that wasn’t enough to keep her from charging. She took 2 blasts from our canisters- and it was like she hit a glass wall. She charged 3 more times from different angles and each time took spray to the face. She moved on, and so did we.”
Thank you for such a great product! We don’t go into the backcountry without it. – Charlene Giffin- Roberts, MT
We encourage you to get outdoors and enjoy nature the way it was intended to be appreciated! Bring your camera, take lots of pictures and don’t forget your bear spray for all of those wild animals that you may encounter along the way!
Camping season is upon us and we wanted to share with you a camping checklist. It’s always better to be prepared when going on an outdoor adventure. Making sure that you have the necessary supplies and equipment can determine whether you’ll have a great time or not. And if you’re a list person like me, then checklists make a great tool for keeping you on track.
Your camping checklist is going to depend on where you’re going camping, what type of camping you’re going to be doing, and the activities that you’ll be participating in on your outdoor adventure. You will also need to factor in the season and how long your trip will be. For example, if you were to spend your holidays in Iceland, you may have to visit sites like https://www.rent.is/ and similar ones to rent your camper van well in advance. You would most probably be spending your stay in the same vehicle. As for venturing around the country, there are local guides on whom you can rely for their expert services.
Now, that is cleared out, let’s focus on other factors. Do you have a camper? Are you staying in a cabin or are you going to stay in a tent? Are you well-equipped for the trip? If not, you may want to head down to online sites of companies like GearDisciple and purchase everything well in advance. Also, if you’re going to stay in a tent-you’ll need sleeping bags, air mattresses/cots, folding chairs/camping chairs, flashlight/lanterns, pillows, extra batteries, clean water, or a water filter or treatment tablets.
You will need appropriate clothing and footwear, kitchen ware, campfire cooking utensils, food (store all food in sealed bags in a bear resistant container. Like UDAP’s NO-FED-BEAR airtight containers), personal items, fishing gear or outdoor gear for the activities that you have planned. Camera, first aid kit, two-way radios, GPS receiver if you don’t know the area, basically make a checklist of all the supplies that you want to take so you can check it off once it’s packed and loaded into your vehicle. Then you don’t have to worry about leaving anything behind.
To protect you from bears, you will need a light weight electric fence, like UDAP’s Bear Shock.
Sleeping in bear country can be very frightening for people. This item is an answer to the problem of fear while camping in bear country. This is useful for everyone sleeping in the backcountry.
Bear specialists and outdoor professionals will tell you, bears who willfully enter a camp are either predatory or have become used to eating garbage and human food. Either way these bears are no longer fearful of being in close proximity to humans and are very dangerous.
Bear Shock is the first ultra lightweight battery-powered, electric fence system and is designed to provide safety and sound sleep while in bear country and to help protect you and your equipment from curious bears by providing a surprising electrical shock if touched. Bear Shock uses three sets of poly-wire with two hot and one ground. When the energizer is turned on, Bear Shock will distribute an electric charge of about 6,000 volts if touched.
Have a good night’s sleep while sleeping in bear country. It is perfect for backpacking due to its size and weight. Bear Shock only weighs 3.1 lbs. without batteries and 3.7 lbs. with batteries, and fits in a small 5″ x 20″ storage bag. Bear Shock will enclose a 27 ft. x 27 ft. area, and runs on 2 D-cell batteries that can supply power to the energizer continuously for approximately five weeks.
Bear Shock can easily adapt to most environments. There is enough poly wire to fence an area 27ft. by 27ft. It is fully adjustable and has three gate hooks for easy access. A much smaller area can be fenced buy cutting the poly wire. The poly wire can later be tied back together if a larger area is preferred.
Bear Shock is small, lightweight, portable, and simple to use with all the components included in one easy kit. Bear Shock helps provide safety and peace of mind for you and your family while enjoying the outdoors.
Go out and enjoy the great outdoors! Stay safe in bear country and use your head, be prepared.
A customer recently wanted to know if it was permissible to take his bear spray in his carry on bag when he was flying on vacation. He was going camping/fishing and wanted to make sure that he had his bear spray with him. So we went straight to TSA.gov to find answers and here was the site had to say:
Mace and self-defense sprays are prohibited from carry-on baggage.
In your checked baggage, you are permitted to have one 118 milliliter or 4 fluid ounce container of mace or pepper spray with a maximum concentration of 2% active ingredient provided that the container is equipped with a safety mechanism to prevent accidental discharge. Note: Most animal repellants exceed these volume and concentration limitations.
Even if an item is generally permitted, it may be subject to additional screening or not allowed through the checkpoint if it triggers an alarm during the screening process, appears to have been tampered with, or poses other security concerns. The final decision rests with TSA on whether to allow any items on the plane.
If you are planning a vacation this summer that includes camping, fishing, hiking or other outdoor activities that include flying to your destination and want to take your Bear Spray or Pepper Spray, you can always check with the hotel that you’re staying mail your bear spray ahead of time so that it’s there waiting for you when you arrive. Another idea is to check to see if UDAP Pepper Spray is sold in the area where you will be taking your vacation.
If you have a question, tip or a review of our products, please let us know and we will do our best to answer it here.
Just a quick friendly note to let you know that Mark Matheny of UDAP will be feature as one of the bear attack survivors in tonight’s episode of Expedition Wild, on the National Geographic Wild channel.
Monday October 11th at 7:00pm MT time