A game of Hide & Seek !

PS. It is in general socially unacceptable to pee one's pants, but I think this is an exception.

1) Be the guy holding the camera (some kind of help he must have been)
2) Have a slower friend
3) Carry a big gun
4) Don't lock your car when in polar bear country

Looks like it was the photographer's truck he made it into, if that tripod is any indication.

JohnE

Run like hell, it seems to have worked in this case.

I am not scared of bears, rather I have a healthy respect for them but that is too close. One slip on the snow for the man while he was running around the truck, it probably would of been the last slip he would ever of taken...

And although it was nice for the photography to stand idly by and take some photos, I would of had more then a few choice words for him....

Okay, I just found a reason for Blackhawk to start making a concealment holster for this S&W .500

I have a friend who worked on the North Slope. He says that MOST folks up there have a LARGE caliber rifle in the truck - loaded, and many carry a larhe caliber handgun. I know he carried a 44 Mag with hot loads, and practiced practiced practiced until he was good with it. The rifle in his truck was 300 Win mag if I remember right

Yet the laws in many states make it illegal to do so. Handguns, only criminals carry those. And the rifle? It better not look scary ("assault rifle") or you are a criminal. And shooting a defenseless bear? PETA wouldn't be happy. Where I live in Wisconsin where we have bears, wolves, coyotes, and even the occasional mountain lion we can't even openly carry without a 'disturbing the peace' ticket headed our way.

I'm assuming the photographer was caught out also, and not near any shelter, i.e., he was even more exposed than the guy in the photos, just not (yet) the target of the bear's affections.

I think if the bear was serious that guy would have been dead.

At least it was a LITTLE polar bear!

Why did he lock his truck???

Another site indicates that the truck he finally got into was just a third vehicle that was nearby, he took a chance that it was unlocked. It was getting into that vehicle that he got torn up (back and head) by the bear, fighting to get into the truck while the bear was trying to get him out of it.

After the bear left, I'll bet the guy checked to see if the photographer's rig was locked! And I'll bet it was! You'll notice that the photos are copyrighted with the photographer's name, but nothing in the article mentions the surveyor's name. I suspect that they didn't introduce themselves...

Sue

What bothers me is that somebody was photographing the whole thing and maybe - just maybe - not doing anytying to help the guy who was facing possible death - not that I know what might have been done to help him.

The cameraperson should have a big rifle over one shoulder at all times...

Yeah, I thought it looked kind of small for a polar bear too. About the size of my dog (a Newfoundland). However, even a bear that size could easily kill you.

What do they call getting surprised like this? Condition white! You should mostly be in condition yellow outside of all but the securest of locations (like in bed, asleep).

Wow. Think the guy bought a gun in the next 24 hours? If I remember correctly they have open carry up there, though probably not while working.

-Blast

I am betting he was "Condition Yellow" in what he thought of as one of his "securest" locations. It had been "condition white" until the bear showed up. I know I would have been "CONDITION YELLOW" all over the place followed by "CONDITION BROWN" trying to prevent "Condition RED".

Don't get eaten.

Can't outrun it.
Can't outfight it.
Only choice is to hide. Which is why I often have sparkplugs and keys in my pack, but the door to my car is unlocked when I'm up to camp.

Not sure what else the guy could have done for this incident. He got a passing grade (i.e. he lived to tell about it).

A radio remote control for the car locks would have been handy - if they were not buried deep in a pocket somewhere.

The right handgun might have helped but only if he was very comfortable with it and had lots and lots of practice, on moving targets, while running. Remember most handgun shootings occur at very close ranges and hitting the target on an adrenaline high is a lot harder than it really ought to be. A handgun could also have made things worse if he was carrying too small and/or just wounded the bear enough to make it mad.

A buddy along to distract the bear might have helped, especially if your buddy moves slower than you do.

Much Much better situational awareness. The pictures don't tell the whole story, like how did this little game of hide and seek start?

- Eric

Great! Now I'm going to have nightmares tonight.

For the record, I would try like hell to out run it.

Should that prove unsuccessful:

In my fantasy, I would fight heroically trying to gouge it's eyes and make it work for it's meal while maintaining a stoic demeanor.

In real life, I would scream my head off and flail about in vain while it ate me alive.


Note to self: If polar bears are in the area, stay in the @$#%#! car!!

How about that other childhood classic, Marco Polo.

I'm still amazed the polar bear bait survived. Not only does he need to buy a gun he should also pick up a handful of lottery tickets!

-Blast

You are indeed a disturbed individual...

I admire that....

And not mention some of that homemade laundry detergent for his now stained undies...

Speaking of bait, would it have worked to carry a chunk of whatever polar bears love to eat (seal meat?)? Toss it at the bear to distract it away from the car long enough to unlock and get inside?

I fear carrying what polar bears love to eat would encourage more of these activities to begin with. Besides, I understand the only living thig that would want to be around you would then be a polar bear. I hear the seal STINKS!


PS: Sons 1&2 have a friend here that is from Alaska, and his comment was that you just don't lock the doors. The locks often freeze and you cannot get into the car. My question was why didn't he unlock the tailgate and enter there. In all of the pic's a lock is visible on said tailgate.

Would the bed cover make a lot of diference?

I have see the results when a smallish black bear sees a snack in a locked car. It will remove the windows and even a door in no time at all. So I imagine that this polar could do the same thing, and more. There is no safety in a stationary vehicle when a bear wants in. Go here for a pic...

My strategy? To get under the car immediately. Then to constantly move under the car in order to evade the bear trying to reach you. As far as I know bears cannot crawl.

Polar bears crawl for sure. I just watched a special on them and saw it happen. Really bad idea to corner yourself that way if you can still be reached.

A big canister of bear strength pepper spray might be a reasonable purchase.

Interesting, I didn´t know that. Thanks for pointing it out. However you are not cornered under the car. Maybe the strategy could be worth it if it is not easy for the bear to get under the car while you are very fast. This way you could actually decoy the bear under the car and exit on the other side trapping it for a while in order to gain a little extra time to unlock the door or run elswhere. Maybe the bear woudn´t fit in under the car at all while you could. But this is just plain theory and noone knows if it could be performed under the stress at all. It also depends how much space is under a certain car.

Good point

It seems that since the guy in question survived the incident, he did pretty much what he should have done. Keeping the truck between himself and the bear would seem like the right thing to do to me as well.

I'm betting he doesn't lock his vehicle again for a while...

JohnE