BEAR SPRAY - SAFETY TIP : After you purchase a new can... when you test-fire it at the beginning of your next outing , which you should most definitely do, make sure after you have executed the test-fire... that you QUICKLY vacate the area at which you performed the test-fire!!
I did a test-fire... there was basically no wind or breeze... it was impressive to watch! I had just finished "nature's call" so after the test fire I then set about to picking back up my wipees and TP off the ground and putting them back into the ziploc, yada-yada. Well... since I did not immediately evacuate that general area... as I rose to standing, that's when I felt the first droplet touch upon my right eye... then the back of my knee... then the inside of my elbow, and the back of my hand. Probably a half second after that first microscopic droplet touched my eye... my brain knew what was up! I sprinted back to the truck nearby and yanked out a Gallon water bottle and begin to rinse my eye profusely. As I was doing that the intense burn was starting to swell from the places it had touched my skin! Rinsed all those placed with wetted-up MicroFiber Cloth... was still burning... so decided to grab for the scent-control wipees hoping maybe whatever breaks down the odors might help. Didn't seem to. This stuff burns BAD... Real Bad.
It was a very hot summer day, it was like 6:30am and it was already 85 F and climbing. The throb of the burn on my skin was what I'll call "tolerable" while I was hiking. But the pain was something comparable to a 2nd degree SunBurn. Whenever I would stop to take a drink of water.. the throbbing, pulsing sensation of the burn would start to grow in intensity! I had to keep my liner gloves on because the skin on the back of my hand could not stand the sun falling directly upon it.
The feeling/burn/throb lasted until sometime after 1pm. I cannot imagine the Hell-on-Earth it would be to take a shot of this stuff to the face!