Reminder to always carry bear spray

Deer and elk hunting season is underway, and the folks at Idaho Fish and Game want to remind you to always have your bear spray.

“What’s important about bear spray is it doesn’t really take any skill to use. Where as a firearm you have to really place your shot on how you can really kill the animal. With bear spray you’re just putting out a cloud that the animal runs through, in this case, a bear and it has such an impact on the bear that he doesn’t want anywhere around it and runs away. It doesn’t hurt him permanently,” says Gregg Losinski, Regional Conservation Educator for Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Make sure you’re using it the right way.

“You don’t spray it on yourself before you go out in the woods, you use bear spray to spray a bear when he’s charging you. Some people actually want to spray their tents or their kids with bear spray which is not a very good idea. Another thing is wasp spray is being used by some folks because it’s cheap but it’s a chemical that can injure the bear permanently as well as not be effective.”

It’s important to have your spray handy in a holster. Bear spray can be found at most convenient stores and gas stations.