Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Aww, cool story. I really love that the park's policy is hands off. Letting nature be nature regardless of the outcome seems pretty sensible to me.Now for some uplifting bear news . . .
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.Thanks Ned, bears are always getting a bad rap. "Attacks" "Charges" "Dangerous" - even the language is fear-mongering....
Thanks Ned, bears are always getting a bad rap. "Attacks" "Charges" "Dangerous" - even the language is fear-mongering....
In addition to the bear attack death in Wyoming, there were two hunters killed in Canada in the past few days:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/0...-hunter-found-dead-after-grizzly-bear-attack/
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/hunter...ves-attack-in-northwest-territories-1.2013845
Wow, that's pretty rare, especially for a black bear to kill an adult male.
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.