ADVANCE FOR THE WEEKEND OF MARCH 21-22 AND THEREAFTER - In an undated photo provided by BearSpray.com, Tim Lynch sprays the Bear Attack Pack backwards out of a backpack in a demonstration. The canister can be discharged much like pulling the ripcord on a parachute. The pack fits any size can of bear spray. (AP Photo/courtesy of BearSpray.com)

ADVANCE FOR THE WEEKEND OF MARCH 21-22 AND THEREAFTER - In an undated photo provided by BearSpray.com, Tim Lynch sprays the Bear Attack Pack backwards out of a backpack in a demonstration. The canister can be discharged much like pulling the ripcord on a parachute. The pack fits any size can of bear spray. (AP Photo/courtesy of BearSpray.com)

Movie stuntman hopes bear spray backpack will save lives

LIVINGSTON, Mont. (AP) — It may sound contradictory, but the people taking the biggest risks are usually the most safety conscious.

Take Billy Lucas, for example. For 30 years the 57-year-old former Marine has been a Hollywood stuntman — part of that acting as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s stunt double in films like “True Lies” and “The Terminator” series of films. So the fact that Lucas brainstormed a design for a new way to deploy bear spray from a backpack actually makes sense. He is very aware of ways to mitigate danger.

“There are no bragging rights in getting hurt,” Lucas said. “Safety is a primary concern, especially in my business.”

And stuntmen who get hurt aren’t going to be available to work, so there’s a monetary incentive for them to be careful.

Knowing this, it’s a natural progression to the story Lucas tells about one day reading a newspaper story about a man being mauled to death by a bear and wondering if there isn’t a better way to deter attacks. Lucas had recently made the move to Livingston from Los Angeles when the incident occurred. Then he had his own encounter with a bear while fishing with friends and admitted to being spooked.

So Lucas read up on other bear attacks and noticed that when people dropped into defensive positions — lying face-down and covering their necks — they were still very vulnerable.

Lucas said the idea of a reserve parachute gave him the idea of a backpack-based bear spray canister that could be discharged much like pulling the ripcord on a parachute.

“I had a brainstorm and put my money where my mouth was,” he said, paying an engineer to design the first prototype out of aluminum before deciding that was too heavy and going to plastic.

“I like working with my hands and problem solving,” he said. “It’s one of those things that came late in life to me.”

He said he has a couple of other inventions he’s working on as well.

After three years in research and development, Lucas approached Butte-based bear spray makers UDAP Industries with his invention.

Tim Lynch, general manager for UDAP, said it was a concept other inventors had presented to the company, but UDAP never made the jump to do its own research and development. Lucas was different.

“When he showed up he had a working prototype, which the other inventors didn’t,” Lynch said.

He was so impressed that he shot a video of the backpack to the company’s founder, Mark Matheny. After reaching a licensing and distribution deal, last April UDAP unveiled its Back Attack Pack ($149) that can accommodate spray canisters of different sizes and be lashed on to a variety of backpacks. “It’s exciting to go into a store and see something hanging on the shelf that you’ve built,” Lucas said. “That’s pretty cool.”

The backpacks are made to be a secondary or last defense — used in addition to a handheld bear spray.

Lynch said he sees the device as a valuable backup for hunters — who while dressing game can be blindsided from behind by a territorial bear looking to claim a big-game kill.

He said an Alaskan study showed that in the majority of bear-human encounters, the person had only 1.8 seconds to react. That’s barely enough time to pull the trigger on a bear spray canister in your hand, so a backup seems like a good idea.

“This is designed to get that bear off your back,” Lynch said. “It’s not to replace spray, but in addition to it. This is sort of a backup, like a reserve parachute.”

Chuck Bartlebaugh, of the educational group Be Bear Aware, criticized the backpack bear spray as “overkill.” He said rather than a last defense, people need to be better educated about acting responsibly in bear country to avoid an encounter.

“I think we’re scaring the public too much,” he said.

Although no one wearing the Bear Attack Pack has ever tested the product in an actual mauling, Lucas compared it to the person who made the first reserve parachute.

“Hopefully it will work, but you won’t know until you need it,” he said. “And I hope I will never need it.”

Lucas added that developing the product was never about making money.

“I’d rather see it save someone’s life, or a bear’s life.”

More in Life

This Korean rice porridge, called dak juk, is easy to digest but hearty and nutritious, perfect for when you’re learning how to eat. (Photo by Tressa Dale/Peninsula Clarion)
A comforting meal for new beginnings

Rice porridge is a common first solid meal for many, many babies around the world

file
Minister’s Message: The sound of God’s voice

In all my desperate prayers, I sometimes forget that God has spoken definitively already

Rivers and Ice by Susan Pope. (Promotional photo)
KPC Showcase to feature discussion with Alaska author Susan Pope

Pope will discuss her memoir “Rivers and Ice: A Woman’s Journey Toward Family and Forgiveness”

Promotional photo courtesy Sony Pictures
Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace and Celeste O’Connor appear in “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.”
On the Screen: New ‘Ghostbusters’ struggles to balance original ideas and nostalgia

“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” picks up right where “Afterlife” left off, and it also succumbs to a lot of the same problems

document from ancestry.com
William Raymond “W.R.” Benson’s draft-registration card from 1942 reveals that he was 52 years old, living in Seward and self-employed. His wife, Mable, is listed as a person who will always know his address.
Hometown Booster: The W.R. Benson Story — Part 2

W.R. Benson was a mover and a shaker throughout his life, but particularly so in Alaska

Terri Zopf-Schoessler and Donna Shirnberg rehearse “The Odd Couple: The Female Version” at the Kenai Performers’ Theater near Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
‘Iconic, classic comedy’

Kenai Performers debuts “The Odd Couple: The Female Version”

Photo provided by Sara Hondel
Sara Hondel stands with a leprechaun during Sweeney’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Soldotna on Sunday. Green, leprechauns and Nugget the Moose poured down the streets for the 34th annual parade hosted by the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce. Under cloudy skies — but fortunately no precipitation — a procession of viridescent celebrants representing businesses and organizations brought festivities to an array of attendees lining Redoubt Avenue.
Go green or go home

Soldotna turns out for St. Patrick’s Day parade

Eggplants, garlic, lemon juice and tahini make up this recipe for baba ghanouj. (Photo by Tressa Dale/Peninsula Clarion)
When making a good example is hard to swallow

Preparing baba ghanouj despite a dislike of eggplant

William Raymond “W.R.” Benson (front row, far right) poses along with the rest of the Sigma Nu fraternity at Albion College in Michigan in about 1908. Despite a lifetime spent in the public eye, Benson was apparently seldom captured on film. This image is one of the few photos of him known to exist. (photo from the 1908 Albion College yearbook via ancestry.com)
Hometown Booster: The W.R. Benson Story — Part 1

W.R. Benson was a man almost constantly in motion

Most Read