The most useful and easiest tactic a person can employ is to simply make noise. The human voice is a distinct a foreign sound. It does not matter what is said, just say it loudly! Bells are frequently used for this purpose. Their high pitch carries poorly and it can be tiresome to listen to all day. It is more effective to use your voice. Hiking in groups works well in bear country because people talk more in a group.

Stay alert and look around as you hike. Bears can be hard to spot.

Consider the environment in which you are travelling. Surroundings such as dense, wet vegetation absorb sound. Rushing streams or wind also cover human sound and scent. Make louder and more frequent sounds in these situations. Streams also cause air to flow down valley. Hikers walking up a trail along a rushing stream need to pay extra attention to making their presence known.

Always look around. When walking on rough ground hikers spend most of their time looking down. Make an effort to look about you, especially if you are first in line. Binoculars help in scoping out large open areas such as meadows before you enter them.

Avoid wearing perfumes or carrying especially smelly foods. Bears are curious because a new smell may mean a new food source.

When camping in bear habitat, consider the following:

• Choose a campsite that is off a natural travel corridor. Bears will use a path of least resistance.
   
• Plan to cook well away from your tent so if a bear does come by later to check out the inevitable cooking spills, you won’t be there. Choose to bring along simple to prepare foods that have little scent, i.e. oatmeal instead of bacon for breakfast.
   
• Never bring food into your tent for a late night snack. Should food spill on your tent, wash it.
   
• Carry 15 metres of small diameter rope for hanging food. Remember black bears climb trees well, so hang it off a branch out of reach. Where there are only very small trees such as subalpine areas, stash your food away from camp.

Avoid campsites where litter is present. This could be the remains of a bear that has learned to associate people with food.

• Stay alert and look around. Scope out large open areas such as meadows.
   
• Make your presence known. The best way to do this is with your voice.
   
• Most problems with bears stem from food. Keep a clean camp and learn to identify natural bear feeding signs.
   
• Should you encounter a bear, stay calm. Most likely nothing will happen. Do not approach the bear. Speak in a calm voice to let the bear figure out what you are. Back away slowly. Don’t make eye contact.
   
• If you are charged; climb a tree if you have time, other wise drop to the ground with your knees tucked into your chest and clasp your hands behind your neck. This shows the bear you are not aggressive. Most charges are a bluff. If the attack continues from a black bear it may be predacious, fight back. Remain in the tucked position when attacked by a grizzly.

Pepper spray is a non-lethal weapon that has successfully repelled bears. However, it must be used at close range. The spray would be useful in a camp situation where a bear showed increasing boldness over time. Removing the attractant is a better strategy.

Of greater concern are the many thousands of bears killed each year in North America. While bears are protected in parks, few of these areas are large enough to encompass a bear’s home range. Grizzly bear populations are particularly vulnerable and are now absent from much of their historic range. Whether or not bears exist in the future is up to us. How we behave in regard to bears will determine their fate.

Bears reproduce slowly. Their numbers are heavily affected by hunting, poaching, and nuisance kills. While bears generally avoid settled areas, they can be attracted to communities by garbage and food left outside. Once bears learn to associate people with food they loose their normal aversion to people and become a potential public safety concern. As a result, Conservation Officers in British Columbia kill about 800 black bears and 50 grizzly bears each year.

If you live in a community near bear habitat, make sure you are not attracting bears to your home, thus placing bears, your family, and your neighbours at risk.

• Keep garbage in a secured building until pick-up day.
   
• Never leave fish or meat remains outdoors.
   
• Pick fruit as it ripens and clean up windfalls promptly.
   
• Clean barbecue grills or store them inside.
   
• Consider electric fences or simply eliminating bee hives, chicken coops, or compost piles if they are a continuing attractant.