Bear spray

[Dan L]

I bought a can of bear spray last week to carry with me when I'm camping and traveling through Canada. In the past I've had a gun with me, often a handgun in the US. That isn't allowed in Canada and I've got another trip north planned for this summer.

I was wondering how other pilots carry bear spray in their planes? My Alaska Cub friends won't transport it in the cabin, only in a belly pod. The fear is that if it accidentally discharged in the cabin during flight the outcome might not be good.

I bought a little MTM brand Survivor dry box that I thought would make a good transport container.

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Anybody have experience with this subject? Anybody actually used bear spray on a bear?

I have bumped into a few bears while airplane camping in Montana and Alaska. But I have never had to defend myself, but having the handgun or bear spray is comforting. In Alaska I borrowed both.

There is a Customs office on the airport at Kalispell and made an appointment to ask a few questions. One of them was about bear spray. The agent said that having bear spray on board is fine and it is just necessary to declare it when passing through US Customs. He said the same was true of Canadian Customs as long as it is labeled as bear spray. If it is meant for humans, like Mace, they won't allow it.

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Here is a 3-legged brown bear directly across the river from our gravel bar camp. We had electric bear fence but .....

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Brown bear tracks. They like fish too.