Grizzly Bears Attack Hunters in Alaska, Canada and Montana

Today, 08:22 AM #36
peetzakilla
Senior Member

Join Date: June 25, 2008
Location: Central, Southern NY, USA
Posts: 9,225

Quote:
Originally Posted by Alaska444
Of course, driving a car is much more dangerous, but more folks understand that risk and drive with care.
Where do you live! I want to be where most folks "drive with care"!

As mentioned, there are many things that kill us. The ones we worry about are generally those in our areas of interest.

I have known people with roll-cages, racing seats and 5-pt harnesses in their street cars... they were all the time talking about how dangerous driving is, and they're right but they are car and racing hobbiest and the rest of us largely ignore their precautions and think they're a wee bit overboard.

People on this forum carry firearms as a much higher percentage than the general population and we're always talking about this or that scenario and "always" being prepared and "condition yellow"... Most people think we're a little over the top and most of them die from heart disease or car accidents, not in lethal attacks where they wish they had a gun. But, we're gun enthusiasts, it's what we do.

There are similarities on rock climbing forums, sky diving forums, pilot forums, archery forums, doctor forums always talking about heart disease...

We worry about what interests us, or what we feel "connected to" for whatever reason, and we very often ignore things that are much more likely to kill us than is our chosen "cause".
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There are about 50,000 people killed each year in the US in car accidents. As DNS keeps telling us with statistics, you are safer in the woods than in a car. True enough, but anyone going in grizzly country without thinking of the possible encounter just isn't playing with a full deck.
 
Well, I know, but that's not my point. My point is we over emphasize things we're interested in.
Just like many of us think not carrying a gun is foolish and unprepared yet almost everyone who DOESN'T carry a gun will never need one.
Just like most of us think going into grizzly country unaware would be foolish yet most everyone who does it never gets hurt.
It is wise to prepare. It is wise to wear seatbelts. But going into grizzly country unprepared is hardly akin to suicide.
We only even really notice the danger because it's in our "sphere of interest" so to speak.
 
Seems to me it's the usual deal: The odds are low, but the stakes are high.

I've never had any sort of major car wreck, nor had a house catch fire, but I've been paying those insurance premiums forever and ever.

I figure that meddling around in bear country is a low-odds, high-stakes deal, and some sort of insurance--including alertness--is rational thought.
 
Today, 06:48 AM #44
Art Eatman
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Join Date: November 13, 1998
Location: Terlingua, TX, USA
Posts: 18,770
Seems to me it's the usual deal: The odds are low, but the stakes are high.

I've never had any sort of major car wreck, nor had a house catch fire, but I've been paying those insurance premiums forever and ever.

I figure that meddling around in bear country is a low-odds, high-stakes deal, and some sort of insurance--including alertness--is rational thought.
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+1, well said!!
 
I don't disagree. I'm just trying to explain why people might not prepare, for all sorts of things.

After all, most of us carry a gun because it's low odds, high stakes but people around us are dying of heart disease and car accidents, not gun shots.
Most of us don't learn fancy driving techniques, significantly change our diets or exercise like we all know we should.
Why not? Because its boring or we're not interested or we're too lazy... Yet those things are HIGH odds, high stakes.
So, just as something is part of our lives or interests or experience and we can't imagine how anybody could NOT be prepared for it, we should also realize that there are plenty of other things that we completely ignore, that other people can't imagine why we don't prepare for.
 
Ive been relly driver for a lots of time, and i havent had any major wrecks or such, perhaps because ive been couscous...
 
I think ZeroJunk is spot on. No hunting = no fear of man. Lion attacks in the parks of Africa happen for the same reason. It may also have to do with lack of woodsmanship.
 
And don't forget some predators know the season; hear a gun, find a gut pile, or an animal that got away wounded. They know when we are in their woods it's dinner time. We lose a blood trail visually but a predator can smell blood a long ways off. All I know is when I'm out there, I am aware! I'm in their house now ! Play accordingly. We all know the risk when in the woods, whether you choose to accept or not is your choice, not scared, just cautious !
 
Statistics can be misleading. I'm sure more hunters are killed in auto accidents than by bear. But those accidents are fairly evenly distributed around the country. But probably 99.99% of all hunters have zero possibility of being killed by a grizzly simply because there are none within 1,000 miles of them. Of the .01% of hunters in big bear country they account for 100% of the attacks. Because of the larger numbers of big bears, and the lack of roads I'd bet a hunter in SE Alaska has a much greater chance of being killed by a bear than in an auto accident.

I'm not at all afraid of black bear. Had many encounters in the wild. Some close including moms with cubs. Have hiked and camped in Yellowstone a few times where I know grizzles live, but have yet to see one. I've never felt threatened by one. But I'm not stupid. I do all of the right things to avoid a confrontation, but still carry at least a handgun capable of the threat for the same reason I wear my seatbelt when driving. So far I've needed neither the gun or seatbelt.
 
Wish I could say I have never needed to use a seatbelt. I have been in two accidents that totaled the vehicle. One when friend of mine did a U-turn in front of another friend horsing around when I was a kid. I had bumps and bruises, my friend had a fractured pelvis from that T-Bone accident.

The second, was another T-Bone where a man ran a red light on my Toyota Sequoia. My 7000 pound vehicle did a complete summersault in the air the way he hit me and then landed on its left front and slammed into the ground.

I don't want to test the limits of a large handgun or rifle in bear country, but I do carry them when I am out there. I also try to keep the rule of having more than one person with me who is likewise armed. Just makes sense.
 
All those attacked people thinks "It wont happen to me." And then, unfortunately it does. Sometimes with severe aftermath.
 
Lisa Lang, who has been hunting for six years, said she quickly considered her options, including loading a bow for a possible shot or making noise, a common tactic to scare off a black bear.

She chose to yell at the mother bear.
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Yep, add to the list another hunter who made yet another bad decision. I fail to understand why armed hunters do not take bear threats seriously.
 
Today, 06:50 PM #55
Double Naught Spy
Senior Member

Join Date: January 8, 2001
Location: Forestburg, Montague County, Texas
Posts: 8,111
Quote:
Lisa Lang, who has been hunting for six years, said she quickly considered her options, including loading a bow for a possible shot or making noise, a common tactic to scare off a black bear.

She chose to yell at the mother bear.
Yep, add to the list another hunter who made yet another bad decision. I fail to understand why armed hunters do not take bear threats seriously.
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"If you look through your scope and see your shoe, aim higher."
-- said to me by my 11 year old daughter before going out for hogs 8/13/2011
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+1 DNS. Drop your weapon and yell instead!! Go figure.
 
Black bears don't scare you huh?

A friend of mine works for USGS. She spends a LOT of times in some beautiful country, so much so that I'm very envious but time the time winter rolls around she is glad to be home, and doing follow up reports and lab work. A few months ago we were discussing a close encounter with a Grizzly that my wife and I had in Glacier N.P. this last August. My friend told me that in all the years and all the field work done by the USGS there has only been one bear attack on an agency employee.
About 15 years ago a female USGS employee was doing field work alone in Alaska. In the A.M. she noticed a black bear kind of hanging around her. She kept an eye out for the bear as it was close by until afternoon. She lost sight of the bear, suddenly and without provocation the bear attacked. She was able to fight off the bear but both of her arms were so badly damaged that they were both amputated below the elbow. She continues to work for USGS.
Since then USGS employees no longer work in the field alone. I saw a nice picture of my friend, she is a fairly petite girl. She was working in Alaska in Polar bear country. She was carrying a double barrel shotgun slung over her back.
I live in N. California and have seen many black bears, none has ever been aggressive but I'd hate to be wishing I'd brought a gun if that odd bear decided to eat me.
 
I have read the account of that bear attack and it was simply a complete nightmare encounter having a bear eat her arms while she was still alive. Thankfully, bears don't always kill their prey before eating. Quite ghoulish, but at least he didn't take her life despite losing both arms. Pretty creep really to just imagine going through that entire encounter. Just one more reason to carry more than one form of bear protection.

http://www.huntshoot.com/forums/f5/mauling-cynthia-dusel-bacon-4728/
 
sounds like the USGS worker might have been gradually working towards a pair of cubs and didn't know it. this is the first case I've seen of a black bear stalking a person. either that or it was incredibly emaciated and starving and had no other choice. I agree, more than one form of bear protection is a must. my first form is my pistol on my hip, my second is the pistol on my hunting partners hip :D
 
Add one more to the list from today:

National Interest - US
Wyoming Hunter Injured in Bear Attack
Published October 30, 2011
| Associated Press
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MOOSE, Wyo. – A hunter has been injured after being attacked by a bear in Grand Teton National Park.
Officials said Sunday the 32-year-old Jackson man followed safety recommendations for handling such an encounter, including carrying bear spray and dropping to the ground and covering his head. The hunter did not fire any shots at the bear and he had not killed any elk.
Park rangers say warning signs have been placed in the area.
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Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/3...in-bear-attack/?test=latestnews#ixzz1cKXm40uv
 
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