Fatal bear mauling

[starmac]

A very sad day for sure. A guy just never knows when it is his time.

http://www.newsminer.com/news/local_news/fairbanks-man-fatally-mauled-by-bear/article_5e75abc6-cfb0-11e2-b939-0019bb30f31a.html

[Bad Water Bill]

I wonder if Dan and Tina knew the couple?

[starmac]

Probably not, they lived in fairbanks, just were over at george lake probably for the weekend.

[MtGun44]

Anybody going unarmed in Alaska is pushing their luck. Sorry to hear this,
but this is not particularly unexpected in that country.

Bill

[freebullet]

Sounds like they had a gun free zone at their cabin. So not only was he unarmed but there wasn't any kinda gun available to the 2nd person in the cabin. Not even a 380 or 38? Even a good knife & he may have atleast lived, it seems some folks have a self defence action plan of dieing. To them I say how sad for your family, good bye.

[starmac]

I don't know that there wasn't any guns there, He probably wasn't carrying, bit Just because a bear got him doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't armed either.

I don't know any of the particulars, soooo there is no way I can judge him or her in any way. I Have heard he was well liked and respected here, and was a pretty active outdoorsman for many years.

[Hickory]

Getting killed by a bear would mess up the rest of your summer.

[popper]

A bear was dispatched when it snuck up (10') on a trooper investigating. Be aware of situation.

[starmac]

I, thankfully have never run across an aggressive bear, been charged or even bluff charged, but I have walked up to within 10 feet of a bear with out knowing one was there.
In the tall grass you could not see it as long as it was on all fours, only when it stood on it's hind legs to see what was invading it's space. I have seen how fast a bear can move when they want to, so in a case like that, you would not have time to draw a side arm before the bear was on you period.

[Dale in Louisiana]

A reminder that in certain venues we are NOT the top predator. We don't have many bears here in Louisiana. Walking around outdoors one must be mindful of other things like poisonous snakes and the occasional cornered alligator. that's out in the country. In town we have a whole different sort of predator.

dale in Louisiana

[monge]

A friend got charged by a black bear in the Adirondack mountains, he was pulling his canoe up a small hill huffing and puffing the bear must have mistaking him for wounded game. Got within 10 feet of him before turning and running away. My buddy was armed but never had a chance to draw! It all happened to fast he was luckily the bear realized his mistake.

[10-x]

Sad, condolences to his family....

[MtGun44]

Once you have been bluff charged by a griz (it happened in Alaska) it adjusts your
attitude, or should. Scared the heck out of me, you truly cannot believe how fast
they can move, no matter how good an imagination you think you have. Like
50 yds in 1.5-2 sec, and accelerating. Frightening at a primordial level.

A second incident happened in MO where a pack of feral dogs attacked a friend -
who fortuntely was carrying a Colt Delta 1911 10mm in condition one in her
hand (hunting), so managed to drive them off without injury. I was very
nearby and heard the shooting and went to help "gut the deer". That was
an additional sobering experience. She doubts she would have won with a
bolt action rifle.

Attacks are rare events, but the outcome for unarmed people is often very bad.

Hoping not to be attacked is the most common "plan".

Bill

[Jim..47]

My condolences as well. What a horrible way to lose someone.

I've never been to Alaska and doubtful if I will. But the bear wouldn't get a chance to kill me, my heart would stop long before he got his chance. I love bears and have always loved bear stories ever since I was a kid and read about them out of my Dad's magazines. But they are a frieghtful animal, and I hear from reading that Africa lions are the same.

[starmac]

Jim you should read bear tales and bear tales 2. If bears interest you these books are some good reading.

[firefly1957]

Not making me feel any better here as i have had visits from a bear with paws 5 inches wide and found he has been getting on porches in the entire area! If they are on the porch the door is not much to stop them i am sure the 12 ga. will at that point but it messes the house up terrible!

[Cane_man]

bears and cougars, they get in my personal space (25 yards) they get shot at

[Bad Water Bill]

Here is some info on one BIG BLACK BEAR from my old cabin in Wi.

http://www.thesafariroom.com/News.html

Lots of goodies there.

[Bad Water Bill]

Even tho we are hoping to get CCW here in Illinois Crook county will STILL keep their VAST acreage of forest preserve GUN FREE.

Last year a fisherman DEEP in the woods where the river has a lot of northern pike he looked up and saw a pack of about 20 coyotes staring at him from across the river.

Keep the forest GUN FREE "for the children" is the counties excuse.

I am sure the coyotes are saying YUM YUM look at all of those tender lunches.

[10x]

My sympathy to family and friends of the victim.

Just a reminder folks, there are some places in North America where, when you open your car door and step out, you step right into the food chain.
If you carry pepper spray and a handgun your chance of survival goes up considerably. A shotgun- if you have the time - will help.
I live in Canada so handguns are only an option for a chosen few - I do not have that option.

Bears are totally unpredictable. A bear that runs away is a good bear. A bear that knows you are there and hangs around is a suspect bear.
A bear that knows you are there and is under 50 yards from you - and is not leaving quickly or going up a tree - is a bear that is a risk to your health.
Either you leave, or the bear should be encouraged to leave.

[BRobertson]

Bear spray is better than nothing, HOWEVER, I have very little faith in it to stop a truly aggressive bear!!

A friend of mine, in Wyoming, had a very bad experience with it when he used it on a black bear, twice it failed!!

He was a very knowledgeable bear person, in fact he was involved in bear research.


Bob

[dakotashooter2]

You know the old joke about pepper spray ............About giving them some seasoning for their lunch.....................

[BRobertson]

I always worry about flying the "gorp-eaters" out to their camps,

they all carry bear spray, and it would be fatal if it went off in the aircraft!!!

We make them put it in a sealed ammo can!!

It is ironic that the frigging guvment worries about our passengers carrying guns while in the plane!!!!!

Bob

[Jim..47]

Jim you should read bear tales and bear tales 2. If bears interest you these books are some good reading.

Thanks, I'll have to see if I can find those books.

[starmac]

In the paper today, the dna test concluded the bear killed by the troopers was the bad bear. It is unusual for a black bear to be aggressive against someone, but it does happen occasionally.

[felix]

Just get a little closer, please! ... Bear

[NSP64]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^That's Funny^^^^^^^^^^

[Bad Water Bill]

What? Felix forgot the mustard and catchup AGAIN.

[DougGuy]

We have a huge population of breeding pairs in the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina. Lands surrounding the swamp are infested as well and some of these bears easily get over 300lbs. When you see a bear's head and a goodly part of his shoulders above the sage in a field, and the sage is 40" tall, how big you think that bear is? They let us slug hunt in there come October and all the game people are issued .44 magnums, but there is hardly any confrontations with the bears. Could it be that generation after generation bears associate humans with guns and gunfire?

OT but funny.. I was in a treestand and heard hollering and carrying on in the brush in the woods across the ditch from me. I found out later that a guy was still hunting along a trail, walk a few yards and stand, walk a few yards and stand, he stood up on a log across the trail and stepped off the log onto a juvenile bear sleeping in the sun. Gun went flying, bear went tearing through the brush, hunter outran his own shadow getting out of the woods, he wouldn't even go back in to get his own shotgun, his buddy had to go get it and the poor guy was shaking so bad he couldn't hold on to a cigarette.. Bet he never hunts in there again.

[Bad Water Bill]

Hope he had a spare set of underwear with him.

[starmac]

I was over at delta this morning and talked to a couple of the state employees. I guess the guys wife did have a gun of some sort, but didn't get a shot off for some reason.

[MtGun44]

Usually more to the story than is in the initial press reports. There are a lot of
places where personal security is a personal responsibility, and sometimes, even if
one is prepared, it doesn't work out. If unprepared, it will be more difficult.
"A gun of some sort" could easily be a .22 pistol or rifle, or .38 revolver. I'd
sure use whatever I had, if I could, but that doesn't mean it would always work.

Sorry for the guy, not a good thing.

Bill

[starmac]

Whatever they had was in the cabin, she made it in and got the gun, but for some reason couldn't or wouldn't shoot. For all I know it could have been over by that time, but I'm betting whatever firearm they had wasn't a 22 or 38 or even close, they are just not the kind of medicine one keeps handy around these parts, except for in town type troubles.

[MtGun44]

When I am hiking in griz country, the wife has the big can of bear spray on a chest
harness, and I have the 329 on my hip. I have finally learned to NEVER let it out of
my reach, too many times I heard a rustling in the brush in camp in the evening
and the pistol was 30 ft away. Finally made it a hard rule, gun is never out of reach.
Even then, might not be enough. If you have ever seen a bear move fast, you will
remember it.

I had a 6'4" friend wrestle a skinny, old black bear at a carnival many years ago when
he was young and strong. He says the bear came over, put his paws on his shoulders
and sat him down. He said he felt like a 4 yr old kid being grabbed by his Dad. He was
totally unprepared for the fact that the skinny black bear was about 5 times as strong
as he was. This stuff is not a joke.

Bill