Outdoors News Stories

Thanks Ned, bears are always getting a bad rap. "Attacks" "Charges" "Dangerous" - even the language is fear-mongering....
 
langutah said:
Thanks Ned, bears are always getting a bad rap. "Attacks" "Charges" "Dangerous" - even the language is fear-mongering....
Click to expand...
Indeed! I have found most things, people, ideas, animals, etc as good or as bad as I expect them to be. Nevertheless, carrying bear spray when among the bears is still a good idea. ;)
 
Langutah,

I was on a trail in our first National Forest that I have hiked and ridden horses on perhaps a 100 times. It was the first week of July, a few minutes before 06:00 AM. There was a brand new and fairly robust 6,000 acre fire just across the Divide in the Teton Wilderness ,but the smoke was tracking sufficiently to the North and had in fact made for an awesome sunrise. It was a glorious morning and about 15 minutes into the hike I'd just started to breathe heavier and was psyching myself up for the ascent ahead of my favorite summit I'd hiked 3 or 4 dozen times over 30 years. I was along a stream flowing fairly well after a dismally low snowpack. I'd seen the tracks of at least 4 different bears and was making certain to keep my eyes peeled while calling up the trail in short sight distance. With a small rise ahead I gave a greeting...that was returned by a grunt and in a millisecond or whatever there he was. Looking into the sun I made out the outline of his enormous head. After a very quick pause to awe I realized that head was getting bigger. I pulled my spray and let loose when he was about 45 feet away. I must have timed it perfectly because he got very angry at about 27 feet, but kept moving forward. At about 16 feet he lowered his head and began grinding it into the dust. He ultimately rolled up about 6 feet in front of me, turned around, and ran away as fast as he could, disappearing into the willows in what at the time seemed an eternity but was in fact less than a couple of seconds. I am guessing that the fire pushed multiple bears across the Divide because less than a half hour after I was charged I called out two horribly smelling adolescent male grizzlies out of more willows. That was enough to make me turn around. I didn't walk that trail again that year but did the whole summit hike the following last week of June.

I had carried bearspray for 13 years, only using it electively to scare black bears off the Ranch. I don't carry a gun, just the spray and airhorn I've used far more often. Travelling grizzly habiat often It was likely just a matter of time before this happened.
 
Thanks for that @Absarokanaut ! First hand accounts of encounters are rare enough but one that successfully used pepper spray are sparse indeed. This helps all of us that travel bear country and all of us that might want to in understanding circumstances and cause and effect. I've sprayed pepper spray half a dozen times but never in fear or anger :) Just to practice - to know the effects of distance, aim and wind. This account shows "best practices" from a seasoned bearanaut and teaches us all. Thanks again and safe trails'

Pics ? :cool:
 
Wow. Seems like a case of when it rains, it pours with these bear attacks.

In other news, I saw they captured another cougar prowling around up in a Salt Lake neighborhood this week. Unlike the other similar incidents this year, this one appears to have survived the tranquilizer and was successfully released down in Central Utah somewhere.

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk
 
It was a bad few weeks for bears, that's for sure. In this last example though a group of 5 guys panic and all decide to run in different directions, a good example of what NOT to do.
 
langutah said:
Thanks Ned, bears are always getting a bad rap. "Attacks" "Charges" "Dangerous" - even the language is fear-mongering....
Click to expand...

At least those are better than "taken". Ever notice that in Australia, people get "taken" by sharks and crocs. Taken where? There's no coming back from taken. At least you have a chance with the bears here
 
Absarokanaut said:
Langutah,

I was on a trail in our first National Forest that I have hiked and ridden horses on perhaps a 100 times. It was the first week of July, a few minutes before 06:00 AM. There was a brand new and fairly robust 6,000 acre fire just across the Divide in the Teton Wilderness ,but the smoke was tracking sufficiently to the North and had in fact made for an awesome sunrise. It was a glorious morning and about 15 minutes into the hike I'd just started to breathe heavier and was psyching myself up for the ascent ahead of my favorite summit I'd hiked 3 or 4 dozen times over 30 years. I was along a stream flowing fairly well after a dismally low snowpack. I'd seen the tracks of at least 4 different bears and was making certain to keep my eyes peeled while calling up the trail in short sight distance. With a small rise ahead I gave a greeting...that was returned by a grunt and in a millisecond or whatever there he was. Looking into the sun I made out the outline of his enormous head. After a very quick pause to awe I realized that head was getting bigger. I pulled my spray and let loose when he was about 45 feet away. I must have timed it perfectly because he got very angry at about 27 feet, but kept moving forward. At about 16 feet he lowered his head and began grinding it into the dust. He ultimately rolled up about 6 feet in front of me, turned around, and ran away as fast as he could, disappearing into the willows in what at the time seemed an eternity but was in fact less than a couple of seconds. I am guessing that the fire pushed multiple bears across the Divide because less than a half hour after I was charged I called out two horribly smelling adolescent male grizzlies out of more willows. That was enough to make me turn around. I didn't walk that trail again that year but did the whole summit hike the following last week of June.

I had carried bearspray for 13 years, only using it electively to scare black bears off the Ranch. I don't carry a gun, just the spray and airhorn I've used far more often. Travelling grizzly habiat often It was likely just a matter of time before this happened.
Click to expand...

John, what trail where you on?
 
+3 to pepper spray. Those guys kept it together. Great account.
 
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/58465987-78/river-park-release-hiker.html.csp

Hiker’s body recovered from Zion National Park
Outdoors » Storms hit the park Saturday, flooding the Virgin River Narrows.

Park rangers found a hiker’s body Sunday in the Virgin River Narrows of Zion National Park, a day after a fast-rising river separated him from his friend.

The 34-year-old California man, who was not immediately identified, and a friend had entered the Narrows from the Riverside Walk trail early Saturday, according to a National Park Service news release. When rain arrived about 9:30 a.m., the two decided to head back.

But during their return trip, the river rose rapidly and quickly reached flood levels. The hikers wound up on opposite sides of the swollen river and stranded on high ground, unable to talk to each other over the noise of the rushing water, according to the release.

They waited six hours for the river to recede, but by 4 p.m., it was still too high for them to hike out. One of them decided to try to leave by swimming down the raging river, while the other stayed on high ground, according to the release.

"He just wanted to get out of there and get help for his other friend," said National Park Service spokesman David Eaker, who does not recommend going into a fast-moving river like that. "The preferred option for both of them is to stay in place where they were safe at the time. … He did make it, but he was lucky."

After the hiker made it safely out of the river, he contacted a park ranger at about 6:30 p.m.

"He informed park rangers that his companion was still stranded on high ground, but was not injured or in distress," the release reads.

Park rangers went to the Narrows, but the river was running too high for them to safely go in from downstream, according to the release. The rangers decided to wait until Sunday morning for the river to recede to a safe level, the release adds.

Rescuers found the hiker’s body about 2 p.m. Sunday along a bank of the Virgin River near the Riverside Walk, the release adds. He was about a quarter to a half mile from the high ground where his friend last saw him, Eaker said.

"We don’t know if he entered the river, fell in, or what happened," Eaker said.
 
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