it is not your smarts our your knowledge that have gottenyou this far.just luck there are people out there with more experience than you and they have been chewed. also you advocate sheltons book then break his #1 rule by not having a bear defense system to say your knowledge is enough is bunk and that is it plain and simple ..you can have all the knowledge in the world and there are bear attacks that you can not avoid. do you think that your knowledge will help you if you wake up in the middle of the night in the jaws of a bear no maybe if you had some defence you might be lucky enough to use otherwise you will just be a knowledgeable meal. in some cases it has nothing to do with what you know if you are in the path of a bear intent on making you a meal he will unless you can defend yourself. if you dont believe me then ask and i will give you gary's phone number and maybe you can convince him that everything he teaches is wrong,for now when an inexperienced person asks why cant you be the bigger man and suggest that at least bear spray might not be a bad idea until they get all the ...knowledge...that you have.basically all you have said to this gentelman wanting info is that it is a spiritual experirnce to be yards away from bears and you dont need protection because your mind will keep you safe. you should give your head a shake