would a burst from a fire extinguisher stop a charging bear?

Question

one time i accidentally kicked my fire extinguisher and a burst came out. i could not breathe and had to exkit the car to get air and stayed out until the car aired out. i was wondering what kind of wild animal a burst of this thing could drive off.

Answer 1

Having spent a good chunk of my life in bear country, deterring bears is something that I have learned a lot about.

I have used my head and despite hiking endless miles as well as hunting and fishing in areas with high populations of brown bears, I have yet to be charged or feel threatened by one.

Animal psychology isn't much different than our own. We have the same wants, needs, and desires.

A bear tends to want to avoid confrontation as much as you do. Anyway, let me get to the point....

When a bear charges, the first thing you do is stand your ground. Why is this? Running is something that a prey animal does and may trigger an instinct to chase and kill in a bear. Also, in nature, when something stands its ground, there usually is a reason for it; perhaps the animal/human standing its ground has a superior way to defend itself or otherwise avoid death. When things don't go the way a charging animal thinks it should, it sometimes makes them think twice (ever whack an attack dog on the nose when it growls at you?). Depending how the bear reacts (if the bear isn't bluffing), you retreat, play dead, attack, yell, or something else depending on the situation.

So you stand your ground and the bear keeps charging. What happens if you shoot it with a fire extinguisher? While I would not bet my life on it, the cloud of gas or chemical powder suddenly rushing at the bear is going to probably startle them and I would bet it would at least delay the attack if not stop the attack outright. The cloud is going to confuse the bear, make you look bigger, and make it appear that you have a strong defense. As others have said though, if the bear is determined, it will get you.

The bear pepper spray utilizes a concept similar to your extinguisher idea as part of the intimidation factor. The pepper spray obviously has a strong chemical deterrent, but they are also designed to hiss and create a small "cloud" of spray when it exits the canister (a funnel might me a more appropriate word than a cloud).

I haven't taken halon or the powder to the eyes before, but I imagine it wouldn't feel too good. I'm sure it wouldn't to a bear either. A water extinguisher would probably make you taste better. I think a CO2 cloud would startle the bear, but lack a physical deterrent…I would be prepared for a second attack. I think an extinguisher would work as the result of surprise and intimidation over messing with the bear's breathing.

If you had an extinguisher handy and nothing else, I think it would work. I'd rather have a can of pepper spray myself. A 300 Winchester Magnum would be nice as well. However, with a bear's speed and potential bad temperment, sometimes you might not have time to defend yourself or any defense might not work.

In reality, when I see a bear, my adrenaline is pumping so hard, I’m not sure I could remember all the proper things to do anyway if it actually charged.

The book Alaska Bear Tales has stories of people who drove bears away by using whatever was handy. A story about a guy who kept hitting a big brown bear with his Thermos sticks out in my mind. Another girl throw boiling water on a bear when it came into the kitchen. There is another story of a guy who went hand to hand with a bear armed with a knife to protect his girlfriend. He got his butt kicked, but he lived to tell about it.

When it is your last resort, use whatever is handy

Answer 2

I highly doubt it would stop him if his intent is to kill you. In fact I think it would just tick him off.
Those big cans of bear pepper spray that blast out a lot of repellent will only work if it hits his eyes. I knew of some campers here in Alaska that thought bear repellent meant just that. So they sprayed their tent with it. When they came back from fishing they found a big bear rolling around on top of their flattened tent, he apparently liked it.

Stopping a charging bear is not easy. Once a bear is pissed off enough to attack you have a serious problem. Blinding him with pepper spray is about the only non-lethal means that has proven to work, sometimes. Other than that you need some real fire power with large projectiles.

Imagine if you will a car coming at you at 45 mph and you suddenly have 15 feet or less to shoot out both head lights. And all this takes a few seconds. I know of a guy that was an expert with a .44 mag. Well he didn’t even clear the holster and that bear was on him. His hunting partners killed the bear but he got chewed up real bad.

Here are some true Alaska bear attacks.
http://www.geocities.com/alaskanativebaskets/pepper.notenuf.bear.html

Here is a link to another question I answered about bears that has more info.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApV36oBKDMXb3bGCo6bE3tnty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071119103217AAJSAz3&show=7#profile-info-GdoNqkMRaa

Answer 3

There's nothing in the fire extinguisher to "dissuade" the bear. No irritant chemical as such. Since the bear would be in the open, as opposed to your car, breathing would not be that effected.

I suspect the only the thing that might put the bear off is the noise the extinguisher makes when being discharged. Not sure I'd bet my life on that. . .

Answer 4

There have been bear encounters where the victim has shot the bear, recently a hiker in Alaska fired 6 .38 Special rounds into a large bear, and the bear ate him. The bear was later killed by a hunter with a high powered rifle (7mm Magnum I think). It is doubtful that this would work on a bear. However, it might work with a mountain lion. Mountain lions will not attack if they feel as if their prey is going to prove to be too much trouble, this may startle them enough to disuade the animal from an attack.

Answer 5

Is this something you would really depend on an answer from a bunch of us yahoo's? Bears when charging usually always have a goal in mind and rarely would it be the same one you might have at that time if it is charging you.

I doubt whether it would slow them considerably even if you were close enough to use one. Stay out of the woods, or use a large gun with a well placed shot on a charging bear is your best survival option given those same circumstances.

And those who might point out that the fire extinguisher would be a possible "non-Lethal" option have never been charged or mauled by a charging bear.

Answer 6

Beedsarefunak is a friend of mine here in Alaska. The two of us have hunted all over the US, but mostly in the Rocky Mountains and Alaska.
I can tell you we have spent a great deal of time around bears. And this guy actually crawled into a bear den and took a picture of the bear! Lol he’s nuts!
Anyway I agree with Slider72, Beedsarefunak, and some of the others; fire extinguishers will not stop a bear.
It may startle him but it wont stop him.

Answer 7

CO2, dry powder and halon systems will all interfere with your breathing. I'm guessing you have halon for some reason. Powder doesn't air out and CO2 doesn't really work on fuel fires.

A blast of halon would do nothing, the bear probably wouldn't notice.

If you unloaded a powder extinguisher in a bear's face it would be unpleasant for the bear. The powder would get in to its eyes, mouth and lungs. I wouldn't like someone to do it to me. When I put out a car fire the dust made it difficult to breathe for several minutes, but not enough to stop anyone.

The bear probably wouldn't be put off by it. Might work on a dog that was just playing, but an animal attacking would just shrug it off.

Answer 8

Hmmm....since the contents of a fire-extinguisher are under considerable pressure, you could theoretically shove it in the bear's mouth and shoot it with a high-velocity round, exploding the cannister and the bear's head with it.....would certainly be more sporting than blowing up the whole bear with a LAW like the bloke from "Rat Patrol" did in the silly flick "Grizzly".

Answer 9

I highly doubt this would stop a charging bear, it would more than likely anger him more and he wold stomp on you like you were an ant..... I wouldn't try it..... the fire extinguisher might stop a smaller animal, like coyote sized.....

Answer 10

Only if it was fired from a howitzer.... Charging bears are best stopped with large heavy projectiles fired at good velocities. If rifles aren't your thing, try the bear spray and hope he isn't in the mood for cajun.

John