This has been bothering me for a while and I would really appreciate your opinion. This is a little off subject but I can’t think of a better forum to ask the question.

About five months ago I flew from Chicago to Seattle to go on a 4 day hiking trip in the Cascade Mountains with my Sister, Father and another friend from Chicago. Of all of us I have the most back country experience. I don’t usually carry a pistol when I am hiking but it was fall and we were going into bear country.

I had borrowed a .45 from my brother-in-law to put the less experienced in the group at ease regarding “dangerous” wildlife. I didn’t think that for a moment I would ever use the pistol.

I will try and describe the situation as neutrally as possible:

We were about 9 miles into the back country. We had a beautiful view of Mt. Rainer and were starting to make camp next to a mountain lake just before dusk. After we had our tents up I broke out the water filter and took my sister to the lake to procure water for supper. It was dark enough at this point we were wearing headlamps (me: led with 3 AAA batteries if you are interested) I was doing the pumping (used a Katadyn mini. Don’t bother in the back country. It clogs frequently. I returned it and upgraded.) and my sister was holding the water bottles. The next thing I knew she dropped the bottles she was holding and took off at a dead run. She made about 40 yards in the time it took me to look up. All I could hear was the echo of her screaming “BEAR!”. Well what would you do. The pepper spray and .45 were both about 60 yards away in camp. I dropped everything and almost passed her on the way back to camp. Mind you I didn’t hear or see anything. I don’t know if it was the adrenalin or just the fact that I am very use to noises in the woods but I couldn’t make out where this “bear” was. As I am halfway back to camp my friend from Chicago and father are yelling at the top of there lungs. Apparently they heard or saw it as well. As I fell back into camp I immediately chambered a shell, pointed the .45 in the air and squeezed….well I guess more like feverishly jerked a round off into the air.

I have been shooting for many years and I can tell you when your adrenalin is that high you don’t even hear the bang. Anyway as soon as I fired we heard this EXACT phrase. “Hey quit shooting in the air” Now here is the catch. If this guy could see me well enough to know I was shooting in the air why didn’t he announce himself as to coming into camp. The sound was from this man and his buddies on horses coming through the woods. They had to have intentionally gotten off the trail before getting to our camp. When we called them in they were very cautious and informed us that they were with the forest service. They left immediately.

Now here are the questions. 1. Do you think I overreacted? 2. What would you have done? 3. With your limited knowledge, if they really were with the forest service why didn’t they announce themselves and after I fired a gun why didn’t I get a lecture?

Thanks for your opinion. Cameron

Oooh, sounds like you had quite the bit of adventure there. The events at the end really raise my eyebrows. You're right, if they were forest service, why didn't they lecture you on the use of your gun? They may have been merely Service volunteers who were checking around to make sure the trails/park is ship-shape (we have people like that out here), and were a bit intimidated by your gun demonstration and not trained to lecture you. But of course, with my natural suspicions, they could've also been thugs (on horseback?) who were going to rob you, faked the "Forest Service" titles and aborted when they realized you had a gun.

My questions are, becuase I have no experience in the matter, what made your family think there were bears involved?

Christina,

I was in a strange way thinking the "thug" thing as well. But how strange I have never really heard of that sort of thing in the woods before.

As far as the bear thing. To a greenhorn any sound in the woods after dark is an 1100 pound man eating bear. The situation just got the better of me having family involved.

Thanks

Cameron

Cameron2trade:

You made 2 really big mistakes that jump out at me.

1) You borrowed someone else's gun and did not familiarize yourself with it.

2) You did not identify a danger or target before shooting into the air.

I don't know the rules of the area you were in, but if it was a National Park with strict rules regarding firearms carry, you should have been relieved of the pistol by the "park rangers?"

Bountyhunter

Bountyhunter,

Thanks for the input. I was familiar with the pistol.

Your second point is taken. In retrospect I wish I had not fired until I identified some type of threat.

For the area I was in it was perfectly legal for me to carry.

Thanks for the input.

Cameron

Lets look at this without getting into a morality play or legal trial. Your party seemed to have had a 'mental template' of bears behind every tree, and pretty loose definitions of 'bearness.' You say you've shot for years, but at what? Paper targets are a lot different than Cape Buffalo. Your sister panicked and you did too. This is natural, part of our reptilian brain that kicks in when our higher functions don't have time to sort things out. Now to the people on horses. I don't know if they were Forest Service, but they were no horsemen. Hailing a camp is a time honoured tradition with very serious reasons and benefits. To approach a camp with superior vision and not give a holler is asking for trouble. Ask any policeman what the most dangerous call is or a Coast Guardsman who are the scariest people on the water. They blew it, whoever they were. I'd read up on bears, keep the firearm or repellant on hand 24/7 and remember the mantra " keep your finger off the trigger until your eye is on the target." Somehow I wonder if a bear wasn't up the trail having a laugh at you all <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

1. "Do you think I overreacted?"

No. You were there. I was not.

That being said, it's never a good idea to fire in the air. What goes up MUST come down. Much better to fire into the ground.

2. "What would you have done?"

Honestly, if I had left my pistol and pepper spray back at camp, I probably would have run like an . But then, I can always use more excercise.

3. "With your limited knowledge, if they really were with the forest service why didn’t they announce themselves and after I fired a gun why didn’t I get a lecture?"

Well, if somebody had approached my camp silently, and I had just fired off my gun in the air to scare off a bear I hadn't actually seen, and he had the gall to tell me: “Hey quit shooting in the air”, then I would be seriously conflicted. I guess if there was really a bear there then I would tell him to . But if I had any doubts I would probably hold my tongue.

But I certaintly wouldn't take his word for it that he was with "the forest service".

Regards, Vince

I, too, have always been very leery of bears. I keep a very watchful eye for any signs of their presence when I'm in the woods. I also keep my pistol strapped to my hip. I run across one every now and again and it always raises the hair on the back of my neck. But, as all those who are in the know will tell you, DON'T RUN. That, apparently, is the worst thing you can do. Face the bear, get as big as you can, make lots of noise and back slowly away. I like to throw rocks, too. Of course, all this requires you first make eye contact with the bear. They will always run away unless there are cubs nearby or a food cache or the bear is already wounded and sick in the head. Should you be attacked, as the advice goes, play dead and the bear will tire of you fairly quickly and leave. Some mice apparently know this trick, too, or maybe my cat's just a stupid cat. I hope this didn't sound like a lecture, but you sounded like you didn't have much bear knowledge. No need, no reason.

As for the riders, Christina mentioned two distinct possibilities - volunteers or thugs. Either way, you obviously impressed them to the point they didn't want to hang around. Sometimes lucky wins out over smart.

My first thought was the same as CK's: EVERYONE who does back-country riding knows to hail any camp from a distance. EVERYONE. It's like knocking on someone's front door -- you don't just walk in.

I shivered when you said your sister ran, and then you did. Bear bait. You can't outrun a bear.

But I certainly did give a sigh of relief when you said you fired into the air. Granted, that wasn't the best thing you could have done, but at least you DIDN'T FIRE INTO THE BUSHES!

Sue

Just a few questions:
Was anyone sure they saw a bear, or was it merely a dark large dark object rustling around in the murk of the evening? Could the riders have been mistaken for a bear? Is it likely or natural for a bear to be on the move at that time of day?
Lastly is it common to get mugged on the trail? It all sound a bit paranoid to me. The kind of event that rarely happens, but when it does it scares people into being overly cautious - a bit like stories of man-eating bears.
Thankfully I have no experience of bears or outlaws, but your reaction seems perfectly natural to me.