I’ve Been ‘Bluff Charged’ by Bears. Here’s What You Should Know.

Cody moved to Alaska from New Jersey 14 years ago to start a new life. But his new start very nearly ended 3 months in when a 600 lb. brown bear charged him and his girlfriend while they were salmon fishing in the Kenai River. Here’s how he lived to tell the tale.

We Went Far for this Article

A-Z Animals went to the field for this article, interviewing people on-site in Alaska in early April 2025 about their experiences with bears. Anchorage is the largest city in the state and of course has all the conveniences, chain stores, and fast food joints you’d find in any part of the country. But it’s expensive. Expect to pay airport prices in restaurants and buy half as many groceries as you would on a Midwestern shopping trip. Hunting and fishing provides some people with a financial lifeline. We spoke to a coffee barista who looked like a typical scruffy college nerd. But this guy had used a crossbow to bag a moose and had five freezers of meat to last him and his wife for several years.

What About the Bears?

Alaska has three species of bears. Polar bears live in the high north. Around Anchorage there are brown bears (including grizzlies, a subspecies), and black bears. The bears were still hibernating when we were there, but nonetheless, Alaska Zoo officials warned us to be careful walking neighboring Bicentennial Park and not to do so without bear spray. It’s been an unseasonably warm winter, so there’s always a danger an early-rising bear may be shambling around the woods.

We learned that it’s not uncommon to see bears on the outskirts of the city, particularly near the salmon streams, but they can turn up anywhere, going through garbage and sometimes snatching an unattended dog. But it’s when people go into their territory camping, hunting, or fishing that dangerous encounters most often occur. This can take the form of a bluff charge.

What Is a Bluff Charge?

A bluff charge can happen when bears and people get too close. A bear will run at a person but break off its charge without making contact. It might stand, sniff the air and turn its head to get a better look. It could huff, snort, and swat the ground. All of this is terrifying, but in a bluff charge the animal will then just amble off. We did an informal experiment one day, leaving our hotel and stopping the first 5 people we met to ask if they had ever been bluff charged by a bear or seen it happen to someone in the wild. 4 out of 5 said yes! Admittedly, this was a very unscientific experiment, but it does suggest that these kinds of encounters are not at all rare.

There Are No Bluff Charges

To understand this behavior better, we talked to Riley Woodford, Public Information Officer at the Alaska Division of Wildlife Conservation, based in Juneau. One of the first things he pointed out is that we should not consider any charge by an animal to be a “bluff.” A charge is a charge. A dangerous animal is running toward you and there is no way to tell whether it will stop before it hurts you. So the terminology can be dangerously misleading and cause some people to underestimate the danger that a bear actually will actually attack them.

We Were Minding Our Own Business . . .

Now back to Cody and Jen. They were just enjoying themselves fishing for Alaska king salmon when behind them, a brown bear peered out of the treeline, looked at them curiously, then started moving cautiously closer.

Across the river, other fishermen noticed and started yelling a warning. Confused at first, they didn’t turn around until the bear was already charging. Jen screamed, immediately dropped her fish and started running down the riverbank. Cody knew better than to run from a bear but instinctively followed her lead, still clutching his salmon. The dismayed guys across the river yelled “Drop it! Drop the fish!” Cody noticed what was in his hands and threw it at the bear, which by now had passed the first salmon and was in full-on prey pursuit mode. As it closed the distance, Cody grabbed Jen’s arm, pulled her to the water, and yelled “Swim!” They frantically stumbled over the rocks to deeper water and unceremoniously splashed for their lives while the current helped carry them away from the bear, who waded out belly-deep, then turned back for the free meal on the shore.

Scary Bear, or Scared Bear?

Here’s how Riley Woodford explained this behavior. “Bears charge because they feel threatened. Simple as that. And they are very defensive, especially if they have cubs. You can completely mind your own business and they can still feel threatened. It’s like if you walked down a dark alley and turned a corner and, unexpectedly, there’s a guy standing there. Some people might scream and run. Others might instinctively throw a punch. But it was just a guy, standing there, having a smoke, minding his own business. You attacked not because he was a real threat, but because you felt threatened yourself. Bears are the same way. They walk out of the treeline and see something in the river that isn’t usually there. They will stand up, turn their heads side to side, and sniff the air to try to understand what it is. Sometimes they will walk away. Other times they will charge at it to see how it responds. And they may or may not follow through with a bite or a swipe of their claws if they get close enough.”

Be Your Obnoxious Self

So what should you do to prevent an experience like Cody and Jen’s? Woodford says the number one rule is not to surprise a bear. You want to make lots of noise as you hike or fish. Talk and laugh loudly. Sing. Blast your favorite tunes. And almost always, hearing your annoying racket will make the bears react just like everyone else in your life: they will avoid you. And what’s louder, more obnoxious, and more avoidance-worthy than one human? A whole group of humans! So Cody and Jen needed to be on the other side of the river with all those other fishermen. The wilderness isn’t the place for “alone time.”

Wave Like a Good Neighbor

Waving your arms is recommended, Woodford says. But in a friendly, nonthreatening way. How do you do that? Well, think, “Hey big brown bear, awesome to see you, we are people. We are over here and you are over there and isn’t that great?!” not “Stop right now, I’m mad and I’m gonna get you and your little teddy bear cubs, too.” If you’re in an area where bears have encountered people before, they just need to identify that you are a person and they will (usually) move on.

What If They Don’t Stop?

What if they don’t stop, though? Here’s what the experts recommend:

• Stand your ground, don’t run. Running is usually what triggers real attacks.
• Look big: open your jacket and raise your arms like some kind of Batman.
• Speak calmly and firmly.
• Back away slowly if the bear stops.
• Watch the bear, but avoid eye contact .
• Use bear spray if it comes within 20-30 feet. It is effective 9 times out of 10.
• Don’t drop your pack—it protects your back.
• If contact happens: play dead for grizzlies, fight back for black bears. Find that hard to remember? If the bear is bigger than you, play dead. If is it smaller than you, fight back.

Drop the Fish!

Fortunately, while it’s not unusual to be bluff charged by a bear, only 5-10 people get injured by bears each year in Alaska, and most years there are 0-2 fatalities. Still enough to warrant huge caution, but not enough to avoid the wilderness altogether. If a brown bear starts wandering toward you, just drop the fish, ok? Drop the fish!