Guard Alaska Bear Spray is the most powerful and effective bear spray repellent.  It is EPA approved as a repellent for ALL SPECIES of bear! Absolutely one of the most effective and powerful defensive bear spray available today.

"The Sierra Club wants the Forest Service to require everyone who enters a national forest in grizzly bear country to carry bear spray," Spokeswoman Heidi Godwin said in a news release.  "The proper use of bear pepper spray will reduce human injuries caused by bears, reduce the number of grizzly bears killed in self defense, and help promote the recovery and survival of the grizzly bear." 

We don't necessarily approve of making new laws, but it does show how effective bear spray is against bears.  Also, make sure that the spray you are using is registered with the EPA for use against bears.  There is a special formula for this and ordinary pepper spray is not recommended.

No deterrent is 100% effective against an attacking grizzly, but compared to other counter-measures, including firearms, bear pepper spray has demonstrated the most success.  In scientific studies conducted by University of Calgary grizzly bear expert Stephen Herrero, bear pepper spray was found to be 94% effective in deterring aggressive bears.

It's essential to avoid confusing "bear spray" or "bear pepper spray" with other pepper spray products.  Many people mistakenly purchase and carry one of the numerous personal defense or law enforcement pepper sprays designed for use against other humans rather than bears.  The products are definitely not the same!  For defense against bruins, be sure you only purchase and carry bear spray products that meet EPA Standards and are clearly labeled "for deterring attacks by bears".  Carrying the wrong product can create a false sense of security and put you at risk, when it doesn't perform as needed during a bear encounter.  Bear Safety Tips - click here.  Know your Bears - click here.  Bear in Mind - click here.

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) offers the following essential tips:

• Bear spray should be carried in a quickly accessible location such as a hip or chest holster.  If faced with a charging bear, you don't have time to start digging in your pack!  
• In your tent, keep the spray readily available next to your flashlight.
• Bear spray should be used as a deterrent only in an aggressive or attacking confrontation with a bear.  It is only effective when sprayed as an airborne cloud at an approaching animal.  The spray must come in direct contact with the eyes and nose of the bear for optimum effectiveness.
• Bears prefer to avoid humans, and if they see, smell or hear people, they will nearly always retreat.  In fact, most encounters between bears and humans occur without the human ever becoming aware of the bear's presence.  Still, grizzlies can be provoked to aggression when people approach too close, when they feel their cubs or their food sources are threatened, or when they are simply surprised.

Gary Clutter, a big game hunter from Bozeman, had a face-to-face encounter with a grizzly while hunting a few years ago, and bear spray saved him from a dire situation.  "I caught the bear (with bear pepper spray) full in the face when it was four feet away.  It was like it hit a wall.  The grizzly turned and ran so fast toward her cub, she ran over it," Clutter said.  "Then, cub and sow were gone.  This worked exactly the way it was designed to work.  The bears didn't die and all I'm out is a can of bear pepper spray."

Unlike a gun, bear pepper spray does not have to be aimed precisely to stop a charging bear.  The bear pepper spray makes a fog in the air, and when the spray hits the bear, it causes irritation in the eyes, nose, mouth, throat and lungs, temporarily disabling the bear.  According to experts, there is no better way to stop an attack by an aggressive grizzly.

Please Note:  Pepper Spray products can only be shipped by UPS Ground.  They CANNOT be shipped by UPS Next Day or UPS 2nd Day Air.