This is an obvious and reasonable question that comes up from time to time. Do I need a permit to buy, rent, or carry bear spray? The simple and quick answer is no. In the state of Alaska you do not need a permit. I believe that this is the case for all 50 states but since we rent bear spray in Alaska, we can definitely confirm that you are good to buy, rent, or carry bear spray in Alaska without a permit or any special training requirements. Now, to stop this from being the shortest blog post ever, please spend another minute or two and hear me out on why you should follow some common sense rules before you buy, rent, or carry bear spray. I promise you that the read will be worth your time.
The Common Sense Permit…
Just because the state doesn’t require a permit doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t know what you are doing if you choose to carry bear spray. Bear spray is not a lethal deterrent but it could absolutely cause some major discomfort or harm if improperly used or stored. Therefore, you should self impose your own permit/requirements on yourself by owning up to these items if you plan to carry bear spray:
Bear Spay Is for the Adults
Common sense item number 1 as being the first item on the list AND the most important item. Bear spray should only be carried and used by an adult. If it becomes necessary to use bear spray you don’t want a child faced with this responsibility. Let the kids be kids and the adults do the adulting. It should also be stored so that small children can’t access it. Most canisters will have a “safety” clip on them (the canisters we rent do have this feature) but this feature is not intended to be a safety for children. This is more so that you don’t accidentally bump or press against the canister and set it off. So play it safe and keep it away from the kiddies; have the adults packing the heat (bear spray).
Know How To Use Bear Spray
This is the obvious common sense item but it needs to be said and repeated. Don’t wait until you need bear spray to think about how to use it. There are plenty of videos and written instructions that will give you the basic overview of how bear spray works, how to properly deploy it, and what not to do with it. We include both written instructions and an instructional video with every canister we rent but, regardless of where you acquired your bear spray, you need to know how to use it. If you really want to be the seasoned professional when you go out into the woods, you can buy inert cans that can be used for training purposes. These look and feel like regular canisters but don’t have the capsaicin that is the main irritant in bear spray.
Know That Bear Spray Is a Deterrent
There are two take aways from this statement. The first is that bear spray is not a repellent. You do not spray this on yourself like mosquito repellent. Now, if you followed the rule just above this one (know how to use bear spray), you should already know this. The second take away is that you need to understand that bear spray is not a barrier, protectant, or anything else that it going to give you 100% guaranteed protection from bears. Unless you are only going to see bears in the zoo, nothing will provide 100% protection. They are wild animals and can be unpredictable. Bear spray can and will significantly stack the odds in your favor when used properly but it shouldn’t be expected to be 100% effective. You just need to know this before you go out into areas where you might encounter a bear. However, with that being said, there are things you can do to reduce the need to deploy bear spray and we highly recommend those. It is far better to carry bear spray than to need bear spray. While this may seem somewhat counter intuitive, read our blog article titled Bear Spray Is Like a Heart Surgeon and you should understand.
Back to the Question…
So while you don’t need a permit to carry bear spray, I hope that I convinced you to at least take the responsibility of carrying bear spray seriously. Maybe impose on yourself some of the same common sense expectations that would be government issued permit. And if you choose to carry bear spray while you are visiting the great state of Alaska, we certainly can help with that by renting bear spray instead of buying it.
