What's the best way to handle bears?

[Noctua Spell]

Like whenever I play (and don't get killed by traipsing around in a blizzard caught unaware) a bear finishes me off.

Last time I climbed off a cliff (near signal tower) and a bear suddenly runs at me out of nowhere. My character stands back up again. Bit of blood loss, clothing torn, not too much damage. I treat my blood loss and infection, bear still walks away so I turn around to climb up to safety and bear comes back to finish me off -.- good bye playthrough

I basically walk up to wolves so I can fight them with a hunting knife and kill them to get meat, hide and guts, but bears I just can't handle :C

Voyager difficulty, so bears shouldn't be too aggressive right T.T

Any tips on bears?

[SBlack]

That bear didn't come out of nowhere. The rope down from Signal Hill ends almost right in front of his cave. I guess I got lucky so far and never got attacked by him.

Learn where bear caves are, so you can be more careful and look out from them. If you spot them from far enough away (which doesn't always happen of course) you can avoid them

[Noctua Spell]

Originally posted by SteveS:

That bear didn't come out of nowhere. The rope down from Signal Hill ends almost right in front of his cave. I guess I got lucky so far and never got attacked by him

oh that's good to know, no climbing down there with a rope for me then

[Namaride]

Lure the bear to a tree where u can climb on or a car to hide in. Plant a arrow in its eye and decide to follow him or wait in the car till it wanders off so u can also plant one in its exit hole.

[bili00777]

But dont enter a building or smth with a loading screen, then the shot is deleted, bear will not bleed out..
btw if i may ask here (sorry op*): i understand bear will take almost all condition from you if it attacks on full condition. But if i have lets say 40% condition, will it kill me or just take it down to 10-20%? On looper.. tnx*
Edit: same question for moose :P

[inscantu]

Are you having problems not dying to bears? Here's how to not get killed by bears:

They are super loud, and you can often hear crows around him. As long as you don't mute your headphones, and are listening to the world around you, you can hear him from beyond the aggro distance. Same thing applies to wolves, but if you can hear a wolf they are right on top of you.

They are partially passive, so as long as you don't run up to them they won't kill you. Stay out of their radius and they will ignore you. You know you are out of this invisible line when he stops following you.

Not much else. When you're climbing down that rope, be wary of anything at the bottom. Besides bears, a couple times (especially on Timberwolf Mountain) you can spot a wolf chilling by the bottom of a climbing point.

[SBlack]

Yeah, have a look down and see if he is down there. You will be near his cave, but bears walk around (for quite some distance sometimes), so he isn't always right there.

The only recent bear mauling I had was when I butchered and cooked the deer at the CH camp ground. Maybe the bear was attracted by the smell or I spent so much time that his patrol brought him close to me.

[abonamente]

Originally posted by Noctua Spell:

I treat my blood loss and infection, bear still walks away so I turn around to climb up to safety and bear comes back to finish me off -.- good bye playthrough

1. Normally, while the untreated wounds from an attack (including blood loss) allow you to walk safely a long distance (went mountain cabins - Quonset myself, no sweat), a second attack kills you instantly. Normally = didn't test, but with excessive armor you'll probably survive a second attack (think double moose cloak etc.). Prioritize, address the highest threat first.

2. Decided to address the possibility of a second attack first, then the wounds. But how? While a single arrow/bullet would probably kill a wolf, this is less likely to happen when you shoot a bear, and a lot less likely when you target a moose. You can choose this approach (fight) relatively safely when you deal with the threat posed by several wolves after a first attack, but would be wiser to retreat to a safe distance when dealing with a bear, more so with a moose, even if that means running into wolves.

3. Crouching makes you virtually invisible. Can do that and just wait, or find cover, even right after an attack. However, that would also decrease your movement speed a lot (so, don't do it in the open, if you spot a bear coming your way).

4. Bear attack! What to do? They are fast. Unless you are right next to a door, or a climbing rope, on a cliff etc., well... attack! You'll take damage anyway, so why not take advantage of the situation and send an arrow first? After he finishes what he wanted to talk to you about, he'll die. Who's laughing now, eh? Plus, there is always a chance to kill the bear before he reaches you. I was lucky that time, won't deny it, but crouching instantly and aiming for the chest was one hell of an inspired move though :)

5. Bear attack! Don't have weapon, what to do? Drop your ear wraps. Seriously. This is a valued, rare item that is likely to be ruined by a bear. Lost two myself :(

There is more, and if you liked the demo, the content can be unlocked for a small donation :)

[Noctua Spell]

Originally posted by abonamente:

Originally posted by Noctua Spell:

I treat my blood loss and infection, bear still walks away so I turn around to climb up to safety and bear comes back to finish me off -.- good bye playthrough

3. Crouching makes you virtually invisible. Can do that and just wait, or find cover, even right after an attack. However, that would also decrease your movement speed a lot (so, don't do it in the open, if you spot a bear coming your way).

I never considered crouching would have a function outside of picking up stuff that's underneath furniture O:)

I managed to avoid the bears on timberwolf mountain and survived there for about 18 days though I have to move on now to get new tools. Unfortunately, no arrowheads yet so no weapon. Will try out crouching definitely later ^-^

Thanks for advice everyone!

[rhwilson1953]

Yell Bogaloo at the top of your lungs and then scream like a banshee. :~)

[ZorTheCruel]

If you are unfamiliar with the bear patrol areas on a given map, then treat everything that obstructs your vision like there is a bear or wolf on the other side. Sure, walking around that hill will take longer than walking straight over it, but you will be a lot less likely to stumble right into an agressive predator. Since you cant just fight off bears in a struggle like you can wolves, bears are all about seeing them before you get too close where they see or smell you. Find yourself in a large mostly flat area with a lone hill? climb it and survey the area, you can see really far if weather is good and bears are big and easy to spot. If you want to be careful going over a hill, where you are blind to what is on the other side, then crouch before cresting the hill. I usually run away from the bear a short distance before bandaging up from an attack. They ignore you only for a short time after an attack.

In any case you survive bear attacks by avoiding them, they definitely hit harder than wolves, they make you drop items, and they do more damage to your clothing. So you have to be more careful, which usually means exposing yourself to the elements for more time than if you just bullet straight from point A to point B. If you get caught in a blizzard, you lose all visibility and just have to pray to RNJesus that you dont run afoul of a bear when going to shelter.

I feel your pain though. Most of my runs end due to either a nasty bear encounter or falling through thin ice and suddenly becoming a wolf magnet. :)

[biotechris]

1. Bears (and wolves) will sometimes investigate the sound of a stonefall if they haven't detected you yet. Throw stones so they land where you want the bear to go.

2. Once detected, back away while facing the bear. They like to charge humans that submissively run away!

[mf187doubleg]

Hi Noctua!

Bears are awesome animals! It depends if you need to kill them or just avoid.

To avoid them just maintain a reasonable distance between you and the bear :) If you hear a lot of crows it means that the bear is really close. Danger!! With time you will learn that they have some favorite routes to be avoided. The bear will not attack untill he is really close. If he follows you but is 20-30m away - no panic - just maintain this distance and after some time he will walk away.

If you want to kill them (do you really want to do that? :) ) best way is to shoot from a fallen tree or shoot and jump in a car or hide in a fishing hut. 1 shot is ok - you need to wait so he bleeds out and you can harvest goodies :)

Hope it helps.