Well, that’s one way to do it. With spring in full swing, the bear population is coming out of hibernation and ready to eat anything it can get its hands on. Including hikers. Here, Todd Tumolo, a guide and instructor with Alaska Mountaineering School and an accomplished climber and pack rafter, gets bum rushed by a grizzly and without bear spray or a gun, he does what most of us might not: he went on the offensive, literally telling the bear to “f$%* off.”
“I turned and slowly started walking backwards facing him but not being threatening, while talking to the bear,” he said. “This technique has worked in every other bear encounter I have had. When I realized it was not deterring him in the slightest I knew I was in for trouble and realized I had one tactic left to call out his bluff. When he stood up to charge in the beginning of the video I had to try and counter it. Without my gun or spray I had one option and it was to appear a threat or at least a difficult meal.” Luckily, it worked.
