Bear attacks rare, BUT when they DO!

The bear attack is probably "rare" by statistical data, but if you happen to be the odd man out then the chart statistics turn into dirt.

Same thing with the "home break in" or the car-jack at an intersection or whatever else. Supposedly the news thinks carrying openly is a bigger threat than not carrying openly. See the news about the open carry guys buying coffee at Starbuck's.

If bears are around the best defense is to be aware of the surroundings no matter what is being carried or not carried. Some say carry a shotgun or rifle or some blaster handgun. The responses will go all over the board what to carry.

Don't go wandering down your driveway in bear country in the dark without first knowing what's out there. If a bear is out there then stay in the house.
If you can't see anything and have to go to the trash can then carry.

Be ready for anything.
 
Dogs

I wonder if the councilman's dogs gave him any sort of warning before the bear broke out of the brush. I would think they'd have been growling or barking. However, as a dog owner I know how easy it can be to grow desensitized to barking dogs...

But I would think that in wild surroundings, one would want to pay more attention to the much better ears, and thousands of times more sensitive noses, of canine companions.

Probably my favorite bear protective devices are the ones that normally come out with me for any hikes into wooded areas; without their senses, I wouldn't count on having enough warning to get to a gun.
 
Frying pans and dogs.

"I do seem to recall a woman beating on a bear with something like a frying pan or hammer after the bear had downed her husband and I don't think she was actually harmed, but I can't recall any others."

Double Nought Spy are you thinking of the "Bear Man" in Alaska? He and his girl friend living with Brownies that got eaten? If I remember correctly the recorder going the whole time of the attack on his camera indicated that while the bear was lunching on his "buddy" the girl came out of the tent with a frying pan and hit said bear who then took great offense and did her too. They had NO firearms because the "Bear Man" refused to believe that he could ever be harmed by his "friends". Lunch will out. I have read stories by Alaska guides that tell about hitting Brownies with full mags of .458 Win Mag and still having to run like (&^(&.

Mleake. The stories don't mention the dogs actions at all mostly, I am thinking that the urban dweller would not have understood that his small dogs were saying, "DROP THE LEASH BOSS, DROP THE LEASH AND RUN FOR IT". Too outside his experiance range I think.
 
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Sulaco2, no, I was not thinking of Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard. they were both killed and partially consumed. As I recall, it was in the 70s or 80s and the couple had a cabin outside of which the man was attacked and the wife grabbed whatever was handy to beat the bear. This is the only physical contact confrontation between a human and bear where the human did not end up at the emergency room. There are numerous reports of bears being driven off by humans throwing items such as rocks and such, but there isn't any physical contact between the throwers and the bears and so they don't end up at the emergency room.
 
As I recall, it was in the 70s or 80s and the couple had a cabin outside of which the man was attacked and the wife grabbed whatever was handy to beat the bear.
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I think I've heard something like that, was it the one where the lady grabbed the frying pan off the fire and hit the bear with it enough to drive it off? But the one I'm remembering was a black bear. Something like that might (emphasis on might), work on a black bear, grizzly will get a good laugh out of it while it eats you.
 
A .44 magnum would have taken care of that wrestling match in a hurry. Just one more reason to keep them at hand at all times. For that matter, I would rather have had my little SP101 in .357 than trying to wrestle with a bear.
 
I'm also suprised the dogs didn't pick up on the bear sooner. Maybe the bear was down wind of them. I love my dog, but I'd let go of the leash in a hurry if it meant my survival. Then again, I have a 90 lb. akita and they are known for hunting bears.

I don't think there was much time to react at all. By the time the guy noticed, the bear was already charging. Unless you are walking around with a speed rig or you can quick draw like they did in the wild wild west, you are NOT going to be able to draw and fire on a charging bear. I have heard that a good bear spray is much more effective since bears are much more sensative to that kind of stuff. If I was hiking in bear country, I would have bear spray very handy, and then a decent gun to back it up.
 
Well in Texas I won't say that we don't have any bears cuz I'm sure that would start a whole nuther thread... But when I'm in an area where there's critters that can make a trd outta me I carry the .454 Casull. (since we all like pics ;-)

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Would I have had the time to pull it and stop the critter??? I reckon we'll never know but I reckon if he were carrying, he could have eventually got it out and the critter would have been on the ground for sure.

Man, I hate see'n things like this.
 
Actually he states he had a two minute reprieve at one point where the bear went after his dogs instead of him. He certainly in those two minutes with pepper spray, a gun or better yet, both could have had a great impact on his final level of injuries which included losing his left eye. I believe he lost his eye after the bear left him alone for about two minutes.

He also did the wrong thing in running away from the bear which invited a predatory instinctive attack by simply fleeing from the bear. I don't really blame him, but it is the wrong thing to do. He had already wrestled this bear to a standstill. Boldness at this time may have averted the second attack.

Well, easy for me to judge this poor soul since I have never been in such an attack, but once when running while I was in college, an old, yellow toothed rottweiler came within two feet of me with bared teeth and growling. I stood to him and prepared to fight him as best I could. Fortunately a kind soul screached to a halt with their car and scared the creepy animal away.

A second time, while out walking (I got old quick, so long to the running days) and huge German Shepherd had jumped his fence and was sitting staring at me. I was fortunate to have a two by four right at my feet and I spoke firmly but calmly to the dog who appeared agitated walking back and forth but not really getting close. I thought I had it made until my next door neighbor showed up with a cocker spaniel on leash. Just as soon as I warned him about the dog, he charged. I picked up the two by four and charged back at him. In the adrenalin rush that ensued, I never saw the dog leave, but that is what he did. Once I came back to my senses, he had simply vanished or so it seemed.

Both instances with dogs, not a bear mind you kept me from being attacked but only barely. I have heard many folks who have had many encounters with bears say stand your ground. You might get lucky like I did with my two dog encounters, but I continue to this day to thank the Lord for putting more fear in the dog than in me. There is something to this thing of not showing fear, not running and standing your ground. The man essentially won the first match but lost the rematch badly. Not sure what I would have done in the face of panic, but much has been written about how you present yourself to animals.

Lastly, I saw a video of a man that entered a lion exhibit with the trainer and immediately the male lion challented him and attacked when the man meekly hid behind the trainer. Animals instinctively pick up on fear and feed upon it. I would likely hide behind the trainer myself, but I guess in light of that, I will simply stay out of the lions den and I will do my best to be ready and prepared when in bear country. One of the first rules is not to go for a walk at night with little dogs who attract bears in the first place.

Well, we can sit here and critisize this poor man for what he did or did not do, but he did literally wrestle a bear and live. How many can say that!!
 
Dear psychobily,


Great pictures. I shot a .454 for the first time a couple of weeks ago and almost bought a Ruger Super Redhawk, but my senses came to me a couple of days later and I will get the .44 magnum instead. I might be able to handle the .454 for a couple more years, but then I would need to just get the .44 anyway. If I was 20 years younger, that is what I would carry in the woods, .454 Alaskan. I bet that would have evened the odds in man against bear.
 
As a 55 year Kirkland resident, Bellevue is not as liberal as Seattle, but pointing in that direction. Every 4th car in Seattle is a Subaru with very left leaning bumper stickers. Any way... A Charter Arms (21oz) Bulldog in .44 special is a good (black) bear stopper. Light, fairly compact, and priced right. The victims actually had two or three opportunities to pop the bear.
 
Perhaps the real issue is one of bear encounters which are not rare. Fortunately, most folks are prepared to deal with bear encounters to keep them from being an attack.
 
If bear attacks are so rare, why are so many people being attacked?
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Why are so many people being attacked? First of all, not very many people are attacked. The news plays up stories, but bear attacks are very rare is the grand scheme of things. You probably get more kids that drown in 5 gallon buckets of liquid than are attacked by bears. Certainly, more kids are killed in buckets than killed by bears. http://www.indystar.com/article/201...ar-Eastside-toddler-drowns-in-bucket-of-water
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5006.html
Depending on the source, on average, only 1-3 are killed per year in the US and Canada.

Secondly, many "attacks" are defensive responses by the bears to what humans are doing. Surprise encounters, getting to close to a sow and cubs, and getting to close to a bear's food supply can be very dangerous for humans. So if you crash your bike into a grizzly during a nighttime mountain bike ride, you can expect to be "attacked." If you are enjoying a quiet walk in the woods and step into a clearing just a few yards from a sow and cubs, or maybe a bear's kill, you may get "attacked."

Many "attacks" occur because the humans in the equation aren't operating as if they are in nature but more like that the bear is in culture (trained, muzzled, sedated) and that just does not work.

Eriwn Evert, a botanist was killed earlier this year near Yellowstone. He was wanting to conduct his plant research, alone, in an area where it had been warned that there had been bear problems and the guy went anyway. http://billingsgazette.com/news/sta...cle_f40ecce6-7b15-11df-aed5-001cc4c03286.html
Being alone wasn't good. Being on foot wasn't good. Not having a proper means to protect himself wasn't good.

William Pfendler was attacked about an hour after sunset, walking back to his vehicle, carrying fish he had caught, by himself, in an area known for a healthy population of bears. So he smelled like food, was alone, and it was after dark when he could not see well to even begin to stop the attack before it started. http://www.adn.com/2010/09/22/1466481/fisherman-mauled-by-brown-bear.html Pfendler could have actually and unbeknownst to him been closing ground on the bear but not known it because he could not see it.

Probably the rarest for of attack is when bears attack humans for the express purpose of the humans being food. These are some of the hardest to defend against because the bear isn't trying to avoid humans (which is often the case), but is seeking them out. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66R5VK20100728

Perhaps the real issue is one of bear encounters which are not rare. Fortunately, most folks are prepared to deal with bear encounters to keep them from being an attack.
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And in many cases, keeping encounters from being attacks can be quite simple...depending on the circumstances. If the bear isn't surprised by the encounter, a sow with cubs, or protecting a kill or food source, then bears can often be made to feel unwelcome without causing them (or us) harm.

Lots of people have encounters with bears and come away with nothing more than anticlimactic stories. I worked on Prince of Wales Island one summer in the 90s. We saw lots of black bears and were on the ground in reasonable proximity to many. We made our presence known and all was fine, but we didn't go anywhere alone either. We didn't go bumbling around after dark. We were not stealthy.
 
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