One More Reason to Always Carry in the House

A

Alaska444

Moderator
An unusual story occurred in Pennsylvania with a man and his wife attacked by a bear INSIDE their home.

http://www.whptv.com/news/local/sto...ls-of-bear-attack/miIiiHFZpEqV_Xz45Okq4Q.cspx

This incredibly outlandish bear attack is just one more reason to always carry even inside your own home. It also makes you think twice about letting the dog back in when you suspect it has encountered something outside. Most dogs can outrun the bear and keep ahead of it.

On the other hand, how many stories in the last few years on bear attacks started by the dog returning to it's master with a bear hot on its trail. Since these folks have had black bear problems in the past, stopping and considering the type of danger at hand might have been prudent!! What a way to wake up in the morning, Honey, can you take the bear back outside please? LOL

Seriously, what an incredible story!! Probably would never consider a bear entering a house like that but it isn't the first time someone was mauled inside their own home.

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-baily-bear-bite-txt,0,1689060.story

http://www.ohio.com/news/bear-attacks-man-inside-his-home-1.136018

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankebetsu_brown_bear_incident

I guess throw bear attack inside your house as one more justification to always carry. It looks like the 4 legged predator was more dangerous this time.
 
Growing up in a more rural area I was always around guns. They were in the house and my sister and I were both trained to use them and respect them.

Later in life I married a wonderful woman from a city environment in Jersey. She had never been around guns, didn't want them in the house and was against hunting.

We moved to a wilderness type of area and you guessed it - Bears, Deer, Rabits, and Coyotes all decided to come visit us. While talking to one of our neighbors she found out that when the bear came on his property he would shoot it with Rocksalt. She told me this story and after doing a little more research on rocksalt shells and how good of a deterrent they would be on a large animal. I convinced her that it was time for me to get the guns out of storage. 12 Guns in the safe later shes much more copacetic with having them in the house since they are in a safe and are not easily accessed by anyone other than me. The ammo of course is in a second safe and neither has a key (just combinations).

My whole argument was that the neighbor was using rocksalt - which would not harm the bear but would greatly alter it's mood in a not so upwardly direction. With 2 children (1 being 10 and 1 being a year old) do we really need a very upset and angry bear outside with no way to deter it? This brought home the first of the guns (a 5 shot 410 shotgun) and the others soon followed. She may not LIKE the fact that they are here and that I've taken up reloading ammo as my new hobby - but she does take comfort in knowing that if anything comes near the house - it won't be there long. I'm working on the hunting views since hers are mostly based on her not liking the taste of some of the animals. This of course will change once she has had some properly prepared game - What she has based her opinions on was some not so fresh game that a friend of a friend passed along a few years ago.


So this brings me to my question - At what point does it become legal to shoot/kill a bear. I know there was a big stink in the news recently about a man that shot a bear in Idaho that was on his property. I'm not debating that case but just wondering from a legal stand-point. At what point is necessary lethal force legal? (if it matters or not i'm in Pennsylvania)
 
I live in Illinois so I can't carry but the increasing cantaloupe threat has caused me to look into purchasing a level IIa or II protective vest for trips to the market.

If I were these guys - there would be one husky/pit bull mix looking for a new job. I would kick that no good cowardly dog to the curb. If it was a yorkie or something - I wouldn't expect much - they're just for petting anyway, but a husky / pit bull mix that doesn't pitch in when I'm getting my ass kicked by a bear - is OUT !
 
i live in south dakota while we dont have a bear problem we have mountain lions that are leaving the black hills area and heading east right to my door step......we are instructed to shoot on site
 
That happened VERY close (same school district, a few miles) from where I grew up.

In fact, I may know the Moyers. The names sound familiar... could be the parents of from high school classmates, could be cousins.

It's very close, but across the river from, Harrisburg. Duncannon is on the west shore, which is, compared to the East shore, VERY rural. In the county where I grew up (Perry, Duncannon is in Perry as well), the dairy cattle outnumber the people.

When I was growing up there in the 1970s and into the early 1980s there were few, if any, bear in the area. But they've been moving into the area progressively over the years.

A high school classmate of mine lives in Marysville (about 6 miles south of Duncannon) and has seen bear in her yard.
 
I live outside the area in question and I will tell you its not common at all for black bears to attack in PA.
 
I suspect excluding a mad hungry black bear, I suspect there would be time to get a firearm IF a bear entered the living space of your home. This was kind of a freak event.

I believe Perry County has a fair number of bears if I remember my bear kill by county diagrams from the PA Game News.

My brother has a bear just about weekly visiting his deck. He pays attention.
 
Has there been an increase in bear attacks this year, or are we just hearing more about them?
Click to expand...

On TFL: You're just hearing more about them.
Alaska444 runs daily/weekly searches for bear attacks, and posts them here.

The media as a whole: I have no data to support my opinion, but I believe we're just hearing more about them. Bear attacks, after all, are the flavor of the year. Next year: Plague-infested geese! :rolleyes:
 
Well, there's always the Croatian bear that learned how to knock on a door and the family that let him in three times...

http://www.all-creatures.org/stories/a-apolite.html

Although this story makes me say hmmmmm 'cause it's just a little too cute I did hear it on the radio in addition to finding it on the web.

(Well Gosh Mr. Gullible then it must be true.):)

I did hear a joke about two bears standing outside the door of a house and the one is saying
"This is great! You press this button by the side of the door, a bell rings, and a snack pops out."
 
I think having a few bear-worthy firearms in the house within reach is enough. I don't see the need to sport a .44magnum Redhawk with your bathrobe and lucky socks.


Well, other than just being highly fashionable.
 
Yep, I think my 8 round 12 gauge pump will work.

There are no bears in my neck of the woods (tons of Bear Bryant fans to include two of his former players in our lake sleugh); although there has been a Bigfoot reported sighting in our County. I am not worried since I do not keep any beef jerky in the house.
 
i live in south dakota while we dont have a bear problem we have mountain lions that are leaving the black hills area and heading east right to my door step......we are instructed to shoot on site
Click to expand...

Where is the ACLU or Reverend Al? This is clearly a racist policy! A shoot-on-site policy with bears will get you behind the gates if you get caught. :p

Me personally, when i find the large bore revolver of my dreams, i plan to buy a matching shovel, in case bear-protection laws don't agree with my survival. Shoot, shovel, shush.
 
Yesterday, 08:08 PM #12
FrankenMauser
Senior Member

Join Date: August 25, 2008
Location: Mormonville
Posts: 3,446
Quote:
Has there been an increase in bear attacks this year, or are we just hearing more about them?
On TFL: You're just hearing more about them.
Alaska444 runs daily/weekly searches for bear attacks, and posts them here.

The media as a whole: I have no data to support my opinion, but I believe we're just hearing more about them. Bear attacks, after all, are the flavor of the year. Next year: Plague-infested geese!
__________________
-Long Winded Voice of Reason..... or something...
Click to expand...

Dear FrankenMauser,

I do daily searches on bear attacks now, but in the past, I used to do it just periodically. This year, there have been substantially MORE reports in the news. If all bears attacks were covered in the past with the same vigilance that they are covering them this year, then indeed, the number of attacks is significantly higher.

By the way, I don't post EVER bear attack I read about on TFL, only those that have some sort of firearms topic associated with them. I began searching bear attacks on a regular basis quite a while ago because of how STUPID my kids are about bears. My son in law routinely goes camping in bear country in WA state without any consideration of bears whatsoever. Since our grand daughter will be in his care on future camping trips when she is a bit older, I have done my best to give him a sense of how common attacks are and how deadly they are. For him, I have quit sending him the links.

For my son Steve, he goes camping with his mother and step father and they simply have no clue about these things. At present I send him just about every bear attack encounter I see in the news. He seems more receptive to the idea of bear pepper spray or a firearm than my son in law, but he is still way too cavalier about the entire issue.

That in nutshell is why I do the daily searches. This year is way and above and beyond anything I have seen in the past. Judging by the number of news stories, if that represents a true sample, then the attack increase is substantial and AMAZING. Try it yourself and see what I am talking about. I suspect that bear attacks have always been easy news items since they often are so shocking. Look at all of the Today Show stories on bear attacks in the last few years for instance.

I personally believe that we are seeing an increase given the fact that people in general are treating bears like big teddy bears which is altering their fear of man by becoming more tolerant of us and less afraid. In addition, the bear populations in the last 2-3 decades have double in the US while bear habitat has shrunk. These factors alone I believe explain the increasing number of encounters. For instance, if you simply count the number of fatal attacks in Wikipedia, there is a noticeable increasing trend in these attacks.

Long way to say, I believe that there are more attacks and not just more attention to them by the media. Bear attacks have always been big news adn they still are.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top