grizzly bears (safe, people)

[akvagabond]

I have lived in Alaska my whole wisdom filled 35 yrs. Since I have been around 7 people have been mauled in around my home town of Hoonah. So it isn't an everyday accurance that you just learn to live with while you strive to survive in this harsh environment. lol On the contrary, none of these attacks were malishes attacks or stockings by brown bears, all were either protecting their young, guarding there food, or suprised. On the island that I live on there are more then one bear per square mile in this area. So seeing a bear is nothing out of the ordinary, but there size and agility are breathe taking no matter how many times you see one. Especially when the are moving at 35 miles an hour across through brush and trees it would take a human 3o minutes to navigate. This is def. their country, we are just visitors and we do respect them in every move and adventure. Some people say to wear bells on your shoes so they can hear you and carry bear spray with you. But in the same breathe you can also tell a bear crap pile in the woods because it smells like pepper and has little bells in it. lol...... All kidding aside though, they are very cunning animals and deserve all the room you can give them.

[beephonkbeep]

yeah i definately don't ever want to meet a bear. can you buy this bear spray in a normal store or do you have to make it up yourself?
that is crazy they shook that trailer like that! they look cute but i guess thats like every animal. i have been bitten by a koala i got a little too close to... so i guess it doesn't matter where you are right?

[Rance]

You just have to keep it in the back of your mind...that a bear can be anywhere. Even in your backyard. You just have to camp or hike smart. Hunt smart, and always ask your self...is there a bear around this next corner? I've had one blow right through a chicken fence. Knocked down both sides and never even stopped. I've been coming down the front steps and had one standing there looking right at me. They can be anywhere. They are very cool to just sit an dwatch shred a log for grubs or root around for food. And cubs...watching newborn cubs play and discover new things is hilarious. They are very cute from a distance.

[Anchorman]

Well, I just MISSED meeting a Griz nose to nose. While stationed at Fort Greely in Mid '70's, I left the 'quad' headed for work about five AM. Went out the back door, just as a griz went around the corner headed for the middle of the quad and the dumpsters. My wife called later asking if I'd seen the bear? Nope, I said. She said it went to the dumpsters, just as a guy stepped out of his apartment, saw the bear, ducked back in. Another guy let his dog out, and the bear "Saw" a fresh snack. The first guy called the MP's and the second man, and told him to get his dog in quick, or it was going to be bear breakfast. He opened the door and grabbed the dog, just as the bear got to the steps. He slammed the door and stood there with a shot gun, loaded with bird shot (it was in the weapon already) shaking madly. The MP's arrived about that time, and shooed the bear back off the reservation to the dump, where it supposedly satisfied it's hunger for dogs and humans. So I just missed being breakfast myself. If I'd opened that door two minutes earlier - OH what a surprise I'd-a-had.

[cobolt]

TT was not the only idiot out there. Here's another one. He's a retired school teacher, living and being a complete idiot in lovely Alaska as we speak. adn.com | outdoors : Retiree welcomes neighborhood bears

It's only a matter of time. We know how these stories end.

BTW. Do NOT feel sorry for TT's girlfriend. She was a big girl and could make up her own mind. She had every opportunity to leave and flee and she didn't. We make choices in life and we deal with the consequences.

[Bruce 01]

Originally Posted by Rance

Brown Bear: Travel in groups, make noise, if you encounter, back off slowly, do not run, if the bear advances shout, wave, drop pack and continue to back away, do not run, if the bear charges and it get's closer than 20 feet...hit the dirt, do not run, lay on your belly, place hands interlocked behind your neck and head (like a full nelson), sure there are rogue bears that will eat a man, but normally you should only get gnawed on for a little while, and they will leave.

Black Bear: Travel in groups, make noise, if you encounter, back off slowly, do not run, if the bear advances shout, wave, drop pack and continue to back away, do not run, if the bear charges and it get's closer than 20 feet...hit the dirt and start kicking and screaming, swing a stick or throw rocks. If it's a black bear chewing on you...chances are it'll eat and swallow you. So put up a good fight!

Polar Bear: If you have a polar bear on your butt you've already screwed up beyond hope. If you have a gun...shoot yourself. If you don't...run...run hard and fast. And perhaps praying will ease the pain of getting ripped to shreds and eaten. Polar bears are going to eat you, no if's, and's or but's! You've turned your back or not paid attention, left out trash or some other food scent they've picked up 10 miles away...and now here you are...in a cold baren waste land...running for your life...freezing your lungs...and about to become the hot lunch program for a 1000 pound hungry, afraid of nothing on the planet (except killer whales) polar bear.

I have black bears around me, but I have never heard of anyone being attacked around here.

I guess the occasional rogue black will do that, but I thought blacks, given the chance, will retreat? I've even heard that a sow, sensing danger, will send her cubs up a tree and retreat, unlike a grizzly.

Being an old guy needing exercise, I walk up the woods by my house every other day. I always carry a handgun, but never thinking it would do much good if confronting a bear.

Reading what you and others wrote here has me wondering. In your opinion/experience, are blacks just as likely to attack you as their larger cousins?

[Barkingowl]

Rance how far away was that polar bear from you when you took its picture?

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by Rance

Brown Bear: Travel in groups, make noise, if you encounter, back off slowly, do not run, if the bear advances shout, wave, drop pack and continue to back away, do not run, if the bear charges and it get's closer than 20 feet...hit the dirt, do not run, lay on your belly, place hands interlocked behind your neck and head (like a full nelson), sure there are rogue bears that will eat a man, but normally you should only get gnawed on for a little while, and they will leave.

Black Bear: Travel in groups, make noise, if you encounter, back off slowly, do not run, if the bear advances shout, wave, drop pack and continue to back away, do not run, if the bear charges and it get's closer than 20 feet...hit the dirt and start kicking and screaming, swing a stick or throw rocks. If it's a black bear chewing on you...chances are it'll eat and swallow you. So put up a good fight!

Polar Bear: If you have a polar bear on your butt you've already screwed up beyond hope. If you have a gun...shoot yourself. If you don't...run...run hard and fast. And perhaps praying will ease the pain of getting ripped to shreds and eaten. Polar bears are going to eat you, no if's, and's or but's! You've turned your back or not paid attention, left out trash or some other food scent they've picked up 10 miles away...and now here you are...in a cold baren waste land...running for your life...freezing your lungs...and about to become the hot lunch program for a 1000 pound hungry, afraid of nothing on the planet (except killer whales) polar bear.

WHAT A SPECTACULAR POST, RANCE!!! THANK YOU, FROM THE WORLD!

[Rance]

Originally Posted by Barkingowl

Rance how far away was that polar bear from you when you took its picture?

Give or take 30 yards. It was on an ice road and I was in my truck.

[akck]

Originally Posted by Bruce 01

I have black bears around me, but I have never heard of anyone being attacked around here.

I guess the occasional rogue black will do that, but I thought blacks, given the chance, will retreat? I've even heard that a sow, sensing danger, will send her cubs up a tree and retreat, unlike a grizzly.

Being an old guy needing exercise, I walk up the woods by my house every other day. I always carry a handgun, but never thinking it would do much good if confronting a bear.

Reading what you and others wrote here has me wondering. In your opinion/experience, are blacks just as likely to attack you as their larger cousins?

Thought I read a while back that you're more likely to be attacked by a black bear. I think the reasons are that you're more likely to come into contact with black bears and therefore more likely to get in between a sow and cubs. People in general think black bears are safer to be around than brown bears so they may be more careless in black bear encounters.