Bear Grylls would of course!

Man vs Mild?

I wouldn't stake my life on Numbers 1 through 3.
There is also no.4:
the use of a "bear bell" on a walking stick so the clanging of it warns the bear that humans are nearby ...so they are not surprised by accident and attack out of fear. This was popular and worked for a long time...last few decades of closer contact with bears and cougars ...though...it has come to represent the "dinner bell".
I've watched bear, hunted bear (good eating if cooked right) , been surprised by bear...so take what I suggest with a grain of salt...

1stly- Encroachment by man...hasn't helped.
-'tween (idiots) feeding them deliberately,
-people thinking they are a cute disney-esque harmless animal.
-the access to dumps for food and becoming familiar with human smells
consequently.
-increasing human settlement into wilderness..means that animals which should be wary and afraid aren't.
Just these issues alone have made things more difficult.
The few reasons to see bears or cougars anywhere near human habitations is (as mentioned) encroachment and hence little fear of humans...the fact they have come down out of the remote areas because of a bad year weather-wise for food supplies, driven out of hunting territory by a stronger , usually because the individual is hurt, sick, weak, undernourished, too young or too old to hold it's original range of territory from competitors...all these reasons just here.. are reason enough to be concerned if you run into a bear.
Forget a "bear bell" ...the walking stick is helpful though. As a last resort weapon... and forget holding your hands over your head to make yourself look bigger. A few years back...just up the road a friend of mine confronted a cougar on a hiking trail (not uncommon nowaday to encounter one so close to inhabited areas) ...yelling didn't help...just irritated it...she put her walking stick on her head to look bigger...had a stand-off for about 4 hours ...before the cougar backed off...remember this ...holding arms over your head get tired real quick. Try it...just for kicks...how long can you keep those arms up high? I'd like to know...now out of fear and a desire to live...if you are lucky maybe double that time...not very long before arms get tired. Remember your walking stick.
Yes don't turn and run. the bear / cougar will outrun you.
Jump on your back...bear you to the ground and now your arms are underneath you and the animals weight on top of you.
Forget climbing a tree...really.
Always face the animal.
Try to appear larger (walking stick)



If it attacks.
This isn't a "person" who can be reasoned with.
Don't believe it will "go away"
Don't curl up into a ball.
All you are is an easy lunch then.
Go for the nose.
If you don't have a weapon...a real good punch will disorient and hurt the bear..it may even run off...but nowadays don't count on it.
If you have even a decent knife...
I'd say now that said bear is closing... and the hit to the nose failed.
the nature of the bear with a smaller animal is swiping with claw, biting, and hugging to draw in, immobilize, rend and rake with claws and bite.
With cougar and bear...both tend to go for the neck when biting...and do have a tendency to also bite the face off...(not pleasant so ...remember how much you like your dimples and try to keep them on your face.)
The best suggestion at this point is to rush "inside" the animals space..get inside his "reach" ..before it can drag you into it...it then makes it awkward for him.
. as mentioned ...the nose...is sensitive on a bear...otherwise the entirety of the head is like freakin' armour...the bone is so thick on the skull it can take rifle shot. Also It is hard going for the eyes... the nose is the most sensitive and the best chance on the head...forget the neck...lotta muscle and fat...next best spot is the belly. Use your knife while you have disoriented the bear with rushing "into" it's space. You don't have long before that surprise wears off. Remember...a predator does not expect it's prey / meal to act like a predator...it expects it to act submissive and scared...like a meal should.
When camping it is suggested that you don't keep food where you sleep...tie it up high in the air. Don't put it in your car or truck...they know how to use door handles..hell they will destroy the vehicle just to get the food out. They can smell a stick of juicy fruit gum sealed in it's package in a glove compartment miles away. Word of warning.
Hopefully any encounter you face will be a cautious one that doesn't end in anxiety or worse ...digestive unpleasantness...don't be distressed by what I've mentioned so it turns you off ...remember those few things I mentioned....oh...and the bear will smell you too...from a long way off ...usually ...so normally there should be no fear of surprising the bear...also ...you will most certainly smell the bear when he gets near...unmistakable . So you can also then proceed/ withdraw with respectful caution.

Last word of advice...
Standing at night on the edge.... 'twixt the darkness of the woods and the streetlights of the city with strangers following or a crime being committed...head for the bush.
Almost everybody nowadays fears the unknown darkness of the woods.
Safest place to be though.
You can never trust the reaction a human being will have toward you...nor the hidden motive.
BUT you can always trust that animals ...for that matter ...nature in general...will always act the way they should ...according to their nature.

Tapioca!

reminds me...
Guessing game time!
guess what the most horrible and worst sound in the entire world is....?
I've heard it...
give up...?
years back some friends and I were up in Algonquin park...we were setting up camping for the night....and a fool friend of mine didn't tie his food up and hang it.
Racoons came in the middle of the night...got at his food...started squabbling over it....you could hear them chattering and fighting...I and a couple others know better to not jump out of tents...told silly buddy there goes his food...and then ...suddenly things got real quiet...and the SMELL...like burning tires ....and then the screaming...no lie it sounded like babies were being tortured, ripped apart and then run over with steamrollers while still alive ...it was the most dreadful sound I have ever heard.

Poked my head outta the tent and there was a skunk that had taken over the spoils of war (that was my friends food) and a screaming racoon blinded by the skunk running in circles...while the rest took off to a respectful distance.

Freakin' ab-so-smurfly the WORST sound EVER to have to hear...a skunk-sprayed-racoon.

Your encounters with wildlife make me appreciate simply staying home and making mods to my cell phone...

What if you didn't shower for a week and just smelt disgusting?

I think that would be more effective than 1, 2, or 3... the bear would probably run off, away from you skunk!

Could someone on these threads make an app that creates a high pitch sound that bears do not like to hear so they stay away. Also something for misquitoes too. Of course we would need some volunteers to test it!

best mosq. deter. is ...for a few days before going out on excursions..stay away from fresh fruits...foods with starches...oh yeah...worst is bananas ...the sugars just make you sweat realllll tasty.

Hahaha...a hi pitch sound that would drive away bears and mosquitoes would not just have to be hi .....but really really loud....it'd also drive you and everyone else away from you!
Maybe drive animals mad in passing...

@kangal...well enough time out in the woods without a bar of soap and a stream or pond or lake...sure you'll smell...everyone will...but you don't notice much...mostly you smell of woodsmoke...longer you stay out without a good proper cleaning...well...you don't smell like roses but it ain't so bad...get home and civilized people get a whiff...it'll bowl 'em over I'm sure...delicate civilized sinuses.
Naw ...more natural you smell won't exactly deter animals.

Mscion ...it ain't all that bad...it's most likely that going hiking and camping you wouldn't run into anything...the whole time...only if you realllly lucked out would you see old traces that an animal passed that way. That is the norm. No need for worry or concern...you know how your awareness of your "in-city personal space" is about 1.5 to 3 ft around you? It expands to roughly as far as you can see when you get out in the wild...you can "tell" if something is near...it feels less cramped psychologically, physically and spiritually ...best feeling in the world.
Not to mention...proppin' up an old n800 on a log by the campfire...and playin recorded Chamber or Early Music ( here is a fav gem of mine ...a radio station from a budapest university ..one of the very few that plays decent early music... http://medievalradio.org/ )... on it out in the woods gives some really cool ambiance ...otherwise i take one of my beater harps or banjos or dulcimers with me (the privilege of making them ) and...we have some live music around the fire...

But it is also fun snuggling up with a good book....
a warm wool sweater....
with a whisky/ rum and egg nog/ coffee/ tea/ hot choco ...
on a comfy chair ....
with some baroque playin' quietly...
while muckin about with an Nxx0.

Both are great ...change is good as a rest