{"id":361498,"date":"2025-12-21T08:06:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T08:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/361498\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T08:06:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T08:06:13","slug":"are-brown-bears-dangerous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/361498\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Brown Bears Dangerous?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23893654\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/he-spots-a-brown-bear-following-him-.jpg\" alt=\"wild brown bear (l) man shares hunting experience (c) man goes hunting (r)\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@levi.austinnn\/video\/7571215503901969719\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Via iStockphoto \/ @levi.austinnn TikTok<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The vast majority of the time, the woods are a tranquil, peaceful place. Every once in a while, however, something makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. In moments like these, you find yourself appreciating the soothing sounds of rush hour traffic and the fragrant aroma of an overflowing dumpster, i.e., humanity.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Levi Hedrick (@levi.austinnn) had this exact experience. Hedrick was hunting by himself in the woods when he noticed that he actually wasn\u2019t alone. His companion was about the last creature he wanted to hang out with that day, however. It was a brown bear. And it was following him.<\/p>\n<p>Hedrick started recording.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t walk away from this f\u2014\u2014 bear right now,\u201d he says, presumably for posterity. \u201cLook at this. See him right there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He points the camera into the woods. A massive brown bear lumbers in the near distance, headed in his direction.<\/p>\n<p>Hedrick is clearly discomfited by the bear. As he should be.<\/p>\n<p>Are Bears Dangerous?<\/p>\n<p>Like any wild animal, bears generally do not bother humans. But there are exceptions. Their size, speed, and strength mean that when a <a href=\"https:\/\/brobible.com\/culture\/article\/ultramarathon-runner-bear-attack-japan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">bear attacks<\/a>, often the consequences are grave.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, they\u2019re cute in those Coca-Cola commercials, but the polar bear is generally considered the most dangerous. They\u2019re carnivorous, unpredictable, and massive. Males <a href=\"https:\/\/animals.howstuffworks.com\/mammals\/most-dangerous-bear.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">can weigh<\/a> up to 1,500 pounds.<\/p>\n<p>The grizzly bear that followed Hedrick that day comes in as the second most dangerous bear. They\u00a0only\u00a0weigh a max of about half that of the largest polar bear. But at up to 800 pounds with an aggressive and territorial nature, <a href=\"https:\/\/brobible.com\/life\/article\/how-to-survive-a-bear-attack\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">grizzly bears<\/a> are not to be trifled with.<\/p>\n<p>If a grizzly bear attacks, do not run or fight. The National Park Service <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/articles\/bearattacks.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">recommends<\/a> lying motionless on the ground and covering your head with your hands and arms. This will helpfully convince the bear that you\u2019re not a threat.<\/p>\n<p>What Did The Hunter Do When The Grizzly Bear Followed Him?<\/p>\n<p>In the video, he says, \u201cI\u2019m going to turn my back. Not looking now. Walking the other way.\u201d Then Hedrick turns back towards the bear. It\u2019s closer and still approaching.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe follows me. Such a far walk home too. He is following me. I\u2019ve gotta do it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Then Hedrick charges and deploys bear spray. In comments, he said that this had the desired effect. The bear started sneezing and ran away.<\/p>\n<p>Finally safe, he resumed walking home.<\/p>\n<p>Bear Encounter Inspires Secondary Terror<\/p>\n<p>It may have only happened on their screens, but people got major heeby-jeebies from Hedrick\u2019s TikTok. As of this writing, it has 2.5 million views and more than 2,800 comments.<\/p>\n<p>A user named Lorraine warned, \u201cBlack bear no worries\u2026.brown bear very worried.\u201d Any bear can be dangerous, but black bears are generally more timid. In the highly unlikely event a black bear does attack, the National Park Service <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/articles\/bearattacks.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">says<\/a>, \u201cFIGHT BACK WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE! Do not play dead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cassidy wrote with a shudder, \u201cUghh a grizzly bear? Biggest fear.\u201d Vincent agreed, \u201cI was panicking bc l would be watching him 200% of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some people did make jokes about the bear simply trying to escort him home or looking for Christopher Robin. \u201cNot like a 100% sure buttttt I think he was trying to reach you about your car\u2019s extended warranty\u2026.\u201d one joked.<\/p>\n<p>Hedrick told BroBible that he was duck hunting with his dog in Sitka, Alaska, when the bear began stalking him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I saw the bear, I sent him home,\u201d he said of his golden retriever via Instagram direct message.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t his first encounter with a bear, either. Hedrick said that he\u2019s had to use bear spray on three occasions.<\/p>\n<p>Although being stalked by a grizzly bear is certainly a frightening situation, Hedrick doesn\u2019t want people to be afraid of bears.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy advice to everybody would be don\u2019t be scared of the bears and use bear spray. It\u2019s always best to preserve yours and the bear\u2018s life and get out of there safely!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Via iStockphoto \/ @levi.austinnn TikTok The vast majority of the time, the woods are a tranquil, peaceful place.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1147,19122,9831,79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-361498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-bears","10":"tag-hunting","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}