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Bear Mauling and other Bear Stories
- Thread starter Tricia
- Start date
Thread Starter
TS
I wonder this too.
Seems like we're talking more about uneducated hikers being rescued or dying because they're not prepared for what they are undertaking.
Makes you think, maybe we're going deeper into the wild, which is driving the wild deeper into our habitat areas.
Here's another story
BEAR ACTIVITY PROMPTS HARD-SIDED CAMPING AT ST. MARY
Snip:
St. Mary Campground on the east side of Glacier National Park, is temporarily available to hard-sided camping only due to bear activity. The hiker/biker sites also will be temporarily unavailable at this campground due to the change.
In late summer and fall, bears enter hyperphagia, which is a period of excessive eating and drinking to prepare for winter. This results in more active feeding and searching for food. Environmental conditions this summer are more stressful than average as extremely dry conditions persist, park officials said.
From some of the info I read (along with personal experience) predator sightings are up all over. Reason behind thisseems to be the consensus.
There have been a number of discussions in my neighborhood's "Nextdoor" ... thingie ... about coyotes and mountain lions being sighted. Generally speaking, my reaction is, if you don't want to encounter wildlife, don't live so close to wilderness ... but charging bears is new to me.
Of course, it's easy to be casual about it until someone you love is affected.
We've had several bears on our block in the past month. Big cinnamon and juvie black. The local game and fish told our bear averse neighbor that there has been a spiked increase in nuisance bears that they attribute to the fact that the acorns aren't ready yet at the same time they are feeling the need to bulk up for hibernation. Don't know if that is peculiar to this year or just the time of year.
Was up north this weekend, asked my ma if she'd seen many bears..nope..wandered out in the bush just behind the house, about 40m from the back door..pile of bear scat the size of an upside down cake..blueberry apparently... 
Anyways, told her to be on the lookout just in case.. We had a good berry year so hopefully not much snooping around for food.
Anyways, told her to be on the lookout just in case.. We had a good berry year so hopefully not much snooping around for food.
When I speak of personal experience it is up at the cottage (though not by other people's definition, more of a hunt camp on 200 acres, surrounded by several 1000 of pure bush), so sightings are expected of everything. Over 42 years this is one of the highest in memory. Sighting of grouse and rabbit are down dramatically for the last 10-15 or so (even though they have not been hunted in the last 20-25 at all). Deer I would say is on par, moose same, frogs down big time, for a long time. Wolf occasional pass through, coyotes varies on cycles. Cougar is new (and confirmed in southern Ontario, they are back, last 7 years or so, thought to have been extinct, I've only seen scat and hints of tracks only on one or two occasions). This new one raises new and serious risks. I am not yet aware of any serious encounter in the province but it is coming.
What else I see is a lot more urbanites with little or no bush knowledge behaving in manners that would cause a problem or increased risk in casual encounters. Primarily unawareness, followed by unpreparedness (no defense, knife at the least) finally stupidity (ie. walking/riding alone with headphones on
, talk about perfect prey, unaware, slow, weak and defenseless).It's not don't feed the animals, but don't be the feed for the animals.
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New attack.
http://flatheadbeacon.com/2017/09/05/grizzly-bear-mauls-bow-hunter-southwestern-montana/
Just like with my husband, the bear was moving FAST.
And this comment echoed my husband:
“Through it all I was very conscious, very level headed and low key about it,” said Sommer. “Besides some scars, it doesn’t appear that I will have any problems.”
http://flatheadbeacon.com/2017/09/05/grizzly-bear-mauls-bow-hunter-southwestern-montana/
Just like with my husband, the bear was moving FAST.
And this comment echoed my husband:
“Through it all I was very conscious, very level headed and low key about it,” said Sommer. “Besides some scars, it doesn’t appear that I will have any problems.”
Just as a reminder for the uninformed, black bear while dangerous does not compare to grizzly. I have serious respect for black bears, and up that by a factor of 10 for grizzly.
To date all my encounters with has been with black bear (more due to location, ranging from face to face 20-30 feet, chewing on the cottage door handles, clawing at the screens and even being tracked during daylight hours (walking out the driveway finding fresh bear tracks on the way out, and even fresher bear tracks on top of our tracks on the way back in a 1-3 minute time frame and no we didn't see him). That one was most un-nerving.
The article posted shows that even those aware and prepared can get caught off guard, the difference usually is the survivability.
The last factor is luck, despite all we do sometime it comes down to simple good or bad luck.
To date all my encounters with has been with black bear (more due to location, ranging from face to face 20-30 feet, chewing on the cottage door handles, clawing at the screens and even being tracked during daylight hours (walking out the driveway finding fresh bear tracks on the way out, and even fresher bear tracks on top of our tracks on the way back in a 1-3 minute time frame and no we didn't see him). That one was most un-nerving.
The article posted shows that even those aware and prepared can get caught off guard, the difference usually is the survivability.
The last factor is luck, despite all we do sometime it comes down to simple good or bad luck.
Maybe we should just rename this thread, "Bear Stories".
Video about what to do with bears
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/news...es-how-to-respond-in-bear-encounter/620627371
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/news...es-how-to-respond-in-bear-encounter/620627371
Sorry couldn't resist anymore.
TaDa....
Bear suit guy (unfortunately he's from Ontario Canada)
In one of his videos he goes to the dump and tries to jump and mount the bears, bears ran as they clearly understood crazy people should be avoided at all costs
as only crazy people would try and mess it up with a dump bear.
TaDa....
Bear suit guy (unfortunately he's from Ontario Canada)
In one of his videos he goes to the dump and tries to jump and mount the bears
, bears ran as they clearly understood crazy people should be avoided at all costs as only crazy people would try and mess it up with a dump bear.- Joined
- Apr 27, 2017
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one thing to remember is if you have to use bear spray obviously leave the area but also wash all your gear as soon as possible.
A friend once spent a very long time stuck in his kayak while a polar bear followed him on shore.
After initially warding off the first approach the bear seemed to aquire an attraction to the scent. Head that is not unusual
We have encountered too many grizzlies lately to consider hiking the Rockies without spray.
luckily haven't had to use it yet, hope that trend continues next week
A friend once spent a very long time stuck in his kayak while a polar bear followed him on shore.
After initially warding off the first approach the bear seemed to aquire an attraction to the scent. Head that is not unusual
We have encountered too many grizzlies lately to consider hiking the Rockies without spray.
luckily haven't had to use it yet, hope that trend continues next week
Just a tidbit. If you get it on yourself, you'll need to bathe in milk and expect to have it oozing out of your pores for about four days. Expect swelling. Guys should take extra care with, well, think about it.
Spoke with a friend in Aspen today. I was asking him about the local bears. He said that he had one at his front door, one at his back door/deck, one in the bed of his truck, and another adult trying to flip open their car/truck doors {which were all locked}. Meanwhile he thinks there were about four cubs playing in his back yard.
He was chuckling....."happens every year around this time of the year."
Not used to that stuff around here. The occasional skunk is a problem. Recent years we have been overrun with bunnies. No bears, HaHa.
Have heard some very scary grizzly stories from friends. One kayaked the Bering Strait some years ago, and scared a grizzly as he approached the shore in his boat. Grizzly was napping on the far side of a large whale carcass. He startled him. Scary. He was amazed at the size of this bear, and how fast it moved through the water. Needless to say the night's campsite was moved, and I think that the group took shifts, staying awake while armed. No sightings that night.
I have tremendous respect for them, and rely on friends who have local knowledge and are not what I'd call bear risk takers.
He was chuckling....."happens every year around this time of the year."
Not used to that stuff around here. The occasional skunk is a problem. Recent years we have been overrun with bunnies. No bears, HaHa.
Have heard some very scary grizzly stories from friends. One kayaked the Bering Strait some years ago, and scared a grizzly as he approached the shore in his boat. Grizzly was napping on the far side of a large whale carcass. He startled him. Scary. He was amazed at the size of this bear, and how fast it moved through the water. Needless to say the night's campsite was moved, and I think that the group took shifts, staying awake while armed. No sightings that night.
I have tremendous respect for them, and rely on friends who have local knowledge and are not what I'd call bear risk takers.
While this has serious concerns, my nephew was on an Alaskan Cruise with his parents and got a lecture on bear safety "do's and don't's", very interesting info. However the shirt sold on the event had humor bringing the seriousness home.
No offense intended, just a laugh or two.
No offense intended, just a laugh or two.
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- Joined
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- Posts
- 1,473
thankfully the bear spray remains unused. Saw yet another grizzly but it wasn't a threat.
The larches were golden in the alpine.
September is a great time to hike in the Canadian Rockies but snow is already sticking and its time for something different
The larches were golden in the alpine.
September is a great time to hike in the Canadian Rockies but snow is already sticking and its time for something different
Too many bear stories to list after 13 years in Alaska including several summers in the bush. The one that will wake me up at night 40 years later happened on the Western side of the Alaska Peninsula about 150 miles south of King Salmon on a fine September day out caribou hunting.
Waiting for a herd to move through, I laid down in the moss under a low shrub, there are no trees there, this was the best concealment available, and promptly fell asleep in the sun. Woke up with a very cold feeling and a little voice in the head saying "DO NOT MOVE". Rolled my eyes around and there laying under the bush about 10' to the left was a very large brown bear doing the same thing, caribou hunting. The Brown is considerably larger than a Grizzly due to their diet.
What do you do? I might have been able to shoot the bear, but he would easily (and probably) have killed me before he dropped. This seemed a poor choice at the time.
I could get up and run like hell, knowing this guy could run faster than a thoroughbred race horse. The bear would catch me and eat me. This also seemed a very questionable life choice.
I could lay perfectly still, try to control my breathing and hope the bear would go away. This at the time seem to be the very best bad choice available, and that was the plan followed. The plan actually worked because I am writing this, and am not bear scat turned to fertilizer on the Alaskan Peninsula. After what felt like three days, or maybe it was 20 minutes, an obliging herd of caribou appeared and the bear had a nice fresh cow for dinner. I left in the other direction back to camp, changed my shorts, and drank myself into oblivion.
Got my caribou the next day, but did not fall asleep under a bush again. Lessons learned; brown bears are much scarier without bars separating them from you, and appear much larger up close. They don't smell very good either.
Waiting for a herd to move through, I laid down in the moss under a low shrub, there are no trees there, this was the best concealment available, and promptly fell asleep in the sun. Woke up with a very cold feeling and a little voice in the head saying "DO NOT MOVE". Rolled my eyes around and there laying under the bush about 10' to the left was a very large brown bear doing the same thing, caribou hunting. The Brown is considerably larger than a Grizzly due to their diet.
What do you do? I might have been able to shoot the bear, but he would easily (and probably) have killed me before he dropped. This seemed a poor choice at the time.
I could get up and run like hell, knowing this guy could run faster than a thoroughbred race horse. The bear would catch me and eat me. This also seemed a very questionable life choice.
I could lay perfectly still, try to control my breathing and hope the bear would go away. This at the time seem to be the very best bad choice available, and that was the plan followed. The plan actually worked because I am writing this, and am not bear scat turned to fertilizer on the Alaskan Peninsula. After what felt like three days, or maybe it was 20 minutes, an obliging herd of caribou appeared and the bear had a nice fresh cow for dinner. I left in the other direction back to camp, changed my shorts, and drank myself into oblivion.
Got my caribou the next day, but did not fall asleep under a bush again. Lessons learned; brown bears are much scarier without bars separating them from you, and appear much larger up close. They don't smell very good either.