Bear Mauling and other Bear Stories

[ScotsSkier]

Wow, Vibes to you @Sibhusky & family!


...
There has been talk in California of re-introducing Grizzlies!!!

Its OK, they will come in unofficially and receive full benefits....

 

[Tricia]

@Sibhusky , wow, terrifying! I'm glad that (I gather) your loved ones are mostly okay.

Everyone else, I don't know how Sib feels, but I'd just as soon not see this turned into a guns vs spray thread, which is the direction it's going. Maybe I'm wrong, but this thread seems more appropriate for giving to Sib.

Prior to my posting of this thread, I asked @Sibhusky if I could post it, in part to reach out to her in support, and in part to educate people who don't know
Look at this situation. One person had the bear spray in a holster that was not accessible. One had it in a pocket, which was accessible.
How many of us go hiking without bear spray or are carrying it in a way that we can't access it in time of need?
How many think that a gun is smarter?
How many of us think that Black bears are cool but Grizzly's are dangerous?
Lots of things are debunked in this story. I'm betting that Sibhusky is happy that we're educating people through something that could have been far more tragic for her but turned out ....okay.

 

[DanoT]

I have some "Bear Bangers" which sound like a shot gun blast and can be launched to scare off a nuisance bear up to 100' away (First hand experience: they are effective) but like a gun might not be much good in a close in surprise attack. I will be purchasing some bear spray to have on hand in my truck camper.

 

[fatbob]

Better keep the bear spray in your budgie smugglers too

 

[SkiNurse]

Look at this situation. One person had the bear spray in a holster that was not accessible. One had it in a pocket, which was accessible.
How many of us go hiking without bear spray or are carrying it in a way that we can't access it in time of need?
How many think that a gun is smarter?
How many of us think that Black bears are cool but Grizzly's are dangerous?
Lots of things are debunked in this story. I'm betting that Sibhusky is happy that we're educating people through something that could have been far more tragic for her but turned out ....okay.

1. For me, bear spray vs gun isn't the issue. but to be prepared if you are going to be hiking or just outdoors in bear country. Prepared means A LOT of things
2. Sure, black bears hanging out in Boulder's Pearl St Mall or in the town of Aspen might be cool and cute,but only until they turn on you. Black bears still attack and can hurt, maim or kill you.

 

[4ster]

Better keep the bear spray in your budgie smugglers too

So, this beach is less than a mile from my house in Tahoe. This bear family is well known in my neighborhood. Not only are the Bears habituated to humans but the humans are habituated to the Bears. It's all good... Till it's not!

1. For me, bear spray vs gun isn't the issue. but to be prepared if you are going to be hiking or just outdoors in bear country. Prepared means A LOT of things
2. Sure, black bears hanging out in Boulder's Pearl St Mall or in the town of Aspen might be cool and cute,but only until they turn on you. Black bears still attack and can hurt, maim or kill you.

 

[babanff]

Better keep the bear spray in your budgie smugglers too

Yeah I know bears are dangerous, yada yada... but that is ridiculously adorable.

 

[ScotsSkier]

So, this beach is less than a mile from my house in Tahoe. This bear family is well known in my neighborhood. Not only are the Bears habituated to humans but the humans are habituated to the Bears. It's all good... Till it's not!

http://twitter.com/TahoeDailyTrib/status/421749929699061760/photo/1

Related to this one maybe? Gives a whole new meaning to body armor required for slalom.....

Oh, and the racer in red helmet and black jacket one gate down from the bear....ScotsSkier..... l may not out run a bear but I'm pretty sure pointing the skis downhill would get me away.....

 

[DanoT]

http://twitter.com/TahoeDailyTrib/status/421749929699061760/photo/1

Related to this one maybe? Gives a whole new meaning to body armor required for slalom.....

Oh, and the racer in red helmet and black jacket one gate down from the bear....ScotsSkier..... l may not out run a bear but I'm pretty sure pointing the skis downhill would get me away.....

Well, you know what they say: You don't have to out run the bear, just run..er ski faster than everyone else.

 

[Sibhusky]

Just got off the phone with FWP again. They have a theory about why the first spray missed the bear and from what I can tell it was that his wrist was in her mouth at the time. (He has memory in blotches. This is one of the missing blotches.) Based on positions of the bites in his wrist and shoulder, and actually where bites are missing. Anyway, their theory is that the bear got his wrist. I'm not quite buying it because of all the timing, but then the sole person to know for sure (aside from the bear) can't remember. Things are a blur, with gaps. His jacket is being sent to a lab for DNA testing.

 

[Sibhusky]

He also discussed the bear spray design being a cloud, not a stream, to cover the accuracy problem. Plus it comes out orange so you can see where it's going. For your future information.

 

[skibob]

Interesting. When I lived in South Lake Tahoe about 30 years ago we weren't aware of any bears until one day we hiked up to Burnside Lake from Hope Valley. On the way back we realized an adult black bear was about 75 yards away. For a short while it moved when we moved, keeping equidistant.

I remember reading bears were not naturally indigenous to that altitude but were invading Tahoe and Mammoth because of readily available food from humans.

This was @ Heavenly I believe in 14-15:

I posted before I saw @ScotsSkier post. I remember thinking similarly at the time I saw this. Okay, If I am downhill of the bear, I think I'm good. If I'm uphill, the slalom course just got a wee bit more complex . . .

 

[ScotsSkier]

This was @ Heavenly I believe in 14-15:

I posted before I saw @ScotsSkier post. I remember thinking similarly at the time I saw this. Okay, If I am downhill of the bear, I think I'm good. If I'm uphill, the slalom course just got a wee bit more complex . . .

Yeah, If I was uphill i would have bene wondering whether to cross block or not...

Funny thing about this was that i turned up at training the next day and all of our other coaches had recognized me form the video! So my coach name got changed from "RayBomb" to "Bear bait"

 

[Tricia]

This was @ Heavenly I believe in 14-15:

I posted before I saw @ScotsSkier post. I remember thinking similarly at the time I saw this. Okay, If I am downhill of the bear, I think I'm good. If I'm uphill, the slalom course just got a wee bit more complex . . .

When you said "A wee bit more complex..." in your head, was it in a Scottish voice?

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

Sib, I'm glad things didn't go really south! I hope your DH recovers quickly and fully.

@Sibhusky - did you post the follow up article? I didn't see this one until this morning, for some reason
http://flatheadbeacon.com/2016/10/25/haskill-basin-closure-lifted-bear-attack/

YIKES! I'm glad I live at the beach. I'm really bad at getting all the fallen fruit in a timely manner. However all we attract is rats. Until right now, I though that was pretty bad.

I'm thinking that every dog would react in his/her own way. My 15lb. Shih-Tzu X would probably run right between my feet and look for me to pick her up.

I was camping one fall in Jasper National Park in Alberta and a bear that had apparently been raiding the campground all summer walked right into camp in mid afternoon while we were all sitting and standing around a campfire. A tiny dog immediately raced up to the bear and started yapping and dancing around in front of the bear causing it to stand on its hind legs, meanwhile a large German Sheppard went behind the bear and took a bite of the bear's Achilles tendon. That was all the bear could handle as it hurried out of there as fast as it could go. This whole thing with the two dogs that had just met happened immediately with no instruction from anyone. It was steak dinner for those two dogs that night.

We have close encounters with bears often while camping in King's Canyon and Yosemite. They are not phased at all by people! You can bang pots and scream and jump around ... but, unless you get a crowd those bad boys just look at you as if to say, "WTF?"

I had a really BA German Shepherd. A bear came into our campsite one night and she shook like there was no tomorrow. That poor dog would not go for walks at night, in Yosemite, for the rest of her life.

 

[VickieH]

@Sibhusky - did anyone, people or dogs, have a bell on? I've been morbidly fascinated and terrified by this whole incident. I was telling a woman at work, who then asked about bells. She hikes and is pretty well-versed in preventative measures.

 

[DanoT]

@Sibhusky - did anyone, people or dogs, have a bell on? I've been morbidly fascinated and terrified by this whole incident. I was telling a woman at work, who then asked about bells. She hikes and is pretty well-versed in preventative measures.

My 2 cents: In most cases a bear bell is effective in letting a bear know of your presence so there is no surprise encounter and the bear wonders off and avoids you. However, according to reports in this case the bear was protecting/feeding on a dear carcass with her cubs present, so the bear is not surprised by hikers, the bear is choosing not to leave and the bear bell becomes irrelevant.

 

[Sibhusky]

@Sibhusky - did anyone, people or dogs, have a bell on? I've been morbidly fascinated and terrified by this whole incident. I was telling a woman at work, who then asked about bells. She hikes and is pretty well-versed in preventative measures.

No bells. But lots of noisy metal tags on the dogs' collars. No one in this area thinks bells are a bit of use, by the way. Clapping and voices are okay. FWP guy even laughs about bells. http://www.backpacker.com/news-and-events/news/trail-news/do-bear-bells-really-work/

Also, remember, right now bears are stockpiling calories for the winter. They are totally focused on FOOD. Give them a deer carcass and it's about that carcass. Now, the carcass was sort of far from the attack, but the cubs had been wandering back and forth across the road. (Footprints). When my daughter saw them they were coming from the same side of the road as mom, but basically the family had been hanging out with the carcass. Cubs plus carcass? Mom had a lot to be protective of.

 

[ScotsSkier]

The National Park Rangers are advising hikers in Glacier National Park and other Rocky Mountain parks to be alert for bears and take extra precautions to avoid an encounter.
They advise park visitors to wear little bells on their clothes so they make noise when hiking. The bell noise allows bears to hear them coming from a distance and not be startled by a hiker accidentally sneaking up on them. This might cause a bear to charge.
Visitors should also carry a pepper spray can just in case a bear is encountered. Spraying the pepper into the air will irritate the bear's sensitive nose and it will run away.
It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for fresh bear scat so you have an idea if bears are in the area. People should be able to recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear scat.
Black bear droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur. Grizzly bear droppings tend to contain small bells and smell of pepper.

 

[Sibhusky]

Was hoping that was coming.