Grizzly bear attack in B.C.

Take any encounter with a bear seriously, but my experience is that they are much more likely to ignore me or ease off in another direction. With very rare exceptions (speaking mostly of the Great Smokey Mountains) the animals are at least as wary of us as we are of them.

The park rangers talk about "bear-jams", where dozens of vehicles stop to watch a mama and her cubs. Nearly everyone is out of their cars taking pictures, and inevitably at least one or two people are getting as close as they can, for a selfie I suppose, because "they're so cute". What an alien situation for the bears! And mama's #1 priority can quickly turn to defending her cubs. That's a scary situation!

I've hiked many, many miles in bear country, by myself and with others. on foot, on horseback, and on a bike. I've encountered a few bears (more like seen a few) and never felt threatened, not to say it couldn't happen. And those were just the bears I saw!

My scariest encounter with large wildlife was being inadvertently surrounded, within easy arms reach, by a small group of elk. 10 or 12.

One of the scariest parts about any interaction with large mammals is that the park service is very likely to euthanize the animal(s) if there is any hint of them becoming habituated to humans.

To be sure, the animals are dangerous. Don't think anything I've said means it's okay to approach them at all.

TT
 
Last edited:
Kilham in his bear book describes ethics and even counting ability. His discoveries from an un credential researcher were so remarkable a group of Chinese researchers visited him to learn how to better interact with pandas.
Black bears however are not old griz as Edward Abbey referred in an essay about his encounter. He believed without such keystone species about the thrill of the wild was gone.
 
I remember the story of the bear who killed two Lakeside campers, when they discovered the bodies they sent a search party for the bear, it was found nearby mooching about.
The writer of the article pondered peoples reaction to the fact that it hadnt left farther from the scene.

The presumption that the bear suspected someone might come for it in revenge, a bear has zero awareness of such an outcome.

None of its previous kills resulted in the animals friends hunting it down with guns.
 
I remember the story of the bear who killed two Lakeside campers, when they discovered the bodies they sent a search party for the bear, it was found nearby mooching about.
The writer of the article pondered peoples reaction to the fact that it hadnt left farther from the scene.

The presumption that the bear suspected someone might come for it in revenge, a bear has zero awareness of such an outcome.

None of its previous kills resulted in the animals friends hunting it down with guns.
Any bears in the United Kingdom?

We have brown bears in the Bieszczady Mountains. These are peaceful animals and we hear of no related accidents. They are very smart! The bears have discovered they had been hunted for in the neighbouring Slovakia, so they immigrated to Poland to live in peace here. True story!

1753792560209.png

Bears and lynxes :) "Slow down to not hit a lynx!"

It is wild boars that are the issue here, especially in cities.
 
People have destroyed the fishing like they have wolves, bears, and everything else they can can shoot or poison. My area is over run with deer who kill way more people, and cause more damage than all the wolves, cougars, bears etc put together In my country. I listen to the old farmers at the stockyard complain and piss them off with my opinion that wolves should be reintroduced to improve the country. Red wolves have actually have been released SE of me in the Great Dismal Swamp which encompasses coastal VA and NC. Good luck with that.
Bears and their ilk are what make wild spaces wild. Grizzlies are on California’s state flag…and none are to be found there.
I was happy this spring to hear of a young bear spotted in the rear of my farm. You hear of these reports because they are rare.
we now have more than enough black bear and the red wolves established a stable population? somebody catch the otters and repatriate them please,creek fishing used to be a thing around here.
 
People have destroyed the fishing like they have wolves, bears, and everything else they can can shoot or poison. My area is over run with deer who kill way more people, and cause more damage than all the wolves, cougars, bears etc put together In my country. I listen to the old farmers at the stockyard complain and piss them off with my opinion that wolves should be reintroduced to improve the country. Red wolves have actually have been released SE of me in the Great Dismal Swamp which encompasses coastal VA and NC. Good luck with that.
Bears and their ilk are what make wild spaces wild. Grizzlies are on California’s state flag…and none are to be found there.
I was happy this spring to hear of a young bear spotted in the rear of my farm. You hear of these reports because they are rare.
we had good fishing "ante" otters and muskies,people didn't destroy the fishing around here and most ate what they caught.
 
We have brown bears in the Bieszczady Mountains. These are peaceful animals and we hear of no related accidents. They are very smart! The bears have discovered they had been hunted for in the neighbouring Slovakia, so they immigrated to Poland to live in peace here. True story!
There are times and places here where bear hunting is legal. So the bears make themselves scarce at those times and places. I'm amazed that bears have accurate calendars and GPS devices.

Hunting season pretty much eliminates nearly all of the habituated bears here on an annual basis.

 
There are times and places here where bear hunting is legal. So the bears make themselves scarce at those times and places. I'm amazed that bears have accurate calendars and GPS devices.

Hunting season pretty much eliminates nearly all of the habituated bears here on an annual basis.

BearWithGPS.com ??
 
I remember the story of the bear who killed two Lakeside campers, when they discovered the bodies they sent a search party for the bear, it was found nearby mooching about.
The writer of the article pondered peoples reaction to the fact that it hadnt left farther from the scene.

The presumption that the bear suspected someone might come for it in revenge, a bear has zero awareness of such an outcome.

None of its previous kills resulted in the animals friends hunting it down with guns.
Revenge is not a concept exclusive to humans.
and as the aforementioned Edward Abbey (self-described redneck Thoreau) the most dangerous animal in the woods is always human…as the murders the other day in an Arkansas state park proves.
 
"Theme From Scat"

Who's the black bear reprobate
That's a jerk to all who don't hibernate?
(Scat)
You're damn right

Who is the bear
That would rip your neck off anywhere?
(Scat)
Can you dig it?

Who's the boar that won't wimp out
When your guts are all about?
(Scat)
Right on

They say this bear Scat is a bad mother
(Shut your snout)
But I'm talkin' 'bout Scat
(Then we can dig it)

He has a furrowed brow
But no one understands him but his sow
(Bear Scat)


Shut up Dave...
 
Last edited:
Better:

Right in the Trail

Here it is, near the house,
a big pile, fat scats,
Studded with those deep red
Smooth-skinned manzanita berries,
Such a pile! Such droppings,
Awesome. And I saw how
The young girl in the story,
Had good cause to comment
ON the bearscats she found while
Picking blueberries with her friends.
She laughed at them
Or maybe with them, jumped over them
(Bad luck!) and is reported
To have said, “wide anus!”
To amuse or annoy the Big Brown Ones
Who are listening, of course.

They say the ladies
Have always gone berrying
And they all join together
To go out for the herring spawn,
Or to clean green salmon.
And that big set of lessons
On what bears really want,
Was brought back by the girl
Who made those comments:
She was taken on a year-long excursion
Back up in the mountains,
Through the tangled deadfalls,
Down into the den.
She had some pretty children by a
Young and handsome Bear.

Now I’m on the dirt
Looking at these scats
And I want to cry not knowing why
At the honor and the humor
Of coming on this sign
That is not found in books
Or transmitted in letters,
And is for women just as much as men,
A shining message for all species,
A glimpse at the Trace
of the Great One’s passing,
With a peek into her whole wild system–
And what was going on last week,
(Mostly still manzanita)–

Dear Bear: do stay around. Be good.
And though I know
It won’t help to say this,
Chew your food.

Kitkitdizze X.88

Gary Snyder
 
Back