The final conclusion on bears.

Bears like most animals are very similar to people. You can no less gauge a bear attack than a human attack. Or squirrel or mouse or elephant attack. We may debate ballistics all day. I must say with most certain conclusion that not one single human that I have ever met, read about or conspired to find out about has the answer. This must lead us to believe the following. Guns: if not in the hands of experienced gentlepeople are useless. Pepper spray: If in the hands of paranoid people is useless. Conclusion: Regardless of your preferred means of defense against these beautiful animals you are at a disadvantage. The only thing that will save you is the ammunition between your ears. YES carry a bigger gun. YES carry a bigger can of pepper spray and yes for the fun of it only hike with people that can’t run as fast as you.

In closing

Good day to you gentile readers…

I believe that the final conclusion on any animal threat is best summarized by BE AWARE.

I live in Missouri and in a recent post someone commented about snakes. Sure there are a heck of a lot of snakes where I live, copperheads, cottonmouths, and rattlesnakes to name a few. Nonetheless, after miles and miles of hiking I have seen thousands but never have been bit. Why? Well I attribute it to the fact that I pay attention. One time I nearly got hit, a friend and I were strolling, not in the wilderness, but on my own farm. I went to step over a shallow part of the creek when my friend told me to look down. There, laying in the shallows, between my spread legs, was a cottonmouth. I slowly and calmly stepped back and backed away. I nearly caught a hard one in a bad place. I assumed that I was safe because I knew my surroundings. I was not aware.

Preparation is a great thing but being aware and paying attention to your surroundings is more important.

I often thought to myself, hey at least we don't have bears.

http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=3357239&nav=0jshZyGE

This happened two miles from my Cabin. Guess I have got to not only look down for those snakes but look around now for those bears.

I went camping between Branson and Springfield about 25 years ago. We (there were 3 of us) found bear sign near where we were camping. I had a 22 revolver with me and the others asked what I would do if I saw a bear. I told them I was going to outrun both of them if at all possible. I was not about to try to shoot at the bear because I did not want to make it mad. Never did see a bear that time.

I was with a couple guys once and one smart alec commented "What are you going to shoot with that gun a bear" when he saw my 22 Buckmark. I calmly replied, "No when we see a bear I'm going to shoot you in the knee and run like hell". He didn't find that nearly as funny as I did.

Not sure what part of Missouri you live in Rogerdog, but four or five years ago we had a black bear roaming around Butler County. It was spotted by several folks over a period of about a week. It possibly wandered up from Arkansas. Didn't cause much ruckess, but was more of a curosity.

(long - again!)

Not too many bears around central Mississippi, too (at least now now). A couple of years ago a black bear wondered into Jackson and climbed a tree. My vet helped capture it and it was radio tagged and taken back from where the wildlife folks thought it came from (southwest Mississippi). An interesting aside, the "Teddy Bear" was inspired by events here in Mississippi (read more here).

My observation on North American bears taken from lots of TV (discovery channel, etc.) and magazines:

1. Polar Bears are pure carivores. Given any chance they will eat you. Females will strongly defend any percieved threats to their cubs.

2. Grizzlies (and their Kodiak cousins) generally don't see humans as more than nusiances (and will treat them as such - think mosquito), though when times are lean even nusiances can make a meal. Females will strongly defend any percieved threats to their cubs. Grizzles are know to "mock charge" to drive you away. In cases like this, playing dead can be an effective means of defusing the situation. When these bears are in predator mode, little else than a large caliber firearm will keep you alive.

3. Black Bears are the most enigmatic of the bears. They almost always retreat from humans though those that have become accustom to humans are more of a threat (i.e. don't feed the bears!). Some times, however, a black bear will see a human as a potiential prey item (we're about the same size as a deer and a whole lot slower). When this happens, shouting and making large gestures won't frighten the bear away. You will need to move carefully to a place of safety, while not losing sight (awareness of the position) of the bear. It is important to remember that playing dead won't help. Oddly, female black bears don't seem to defend their cubs with much ferocity.

My rules:

1. Bears in the wild are best enjoyed with optical magnifaction.
2. In bear country, follow the posted rules about food and trash handling and storage.
3. Make some noise while hiking. Stumbling quitely upon a bear sacres the crap out of you and the bear. You'll want to run and the bear will want to chase you.
4. If you choose to carry a firearm, become proficient in it's use before taking it with you.


Stay Safe,

JimJr

(I know, I need to find a smaller soap box)

What about Daniel Boone's tactic? Grinning him to death.

I got an after hours job cleaning the base PX in Kodiak. I'm stripping and waxing the deck in the perpetual twilight of winter and putting on a final high shine with a power buffer. I backed into a mounted brownie on display; standing upright, forepaws raised and teeth unaturally snarling. The bear started to rock sightly from the impact creating an animated shadow not unlike a Rocky And Bullwinkle cartoon. I screamed, ran and slid in my socks across the newly waxed deck into the opposite wall: Where I crumpled to the floor with the wind knocked out of me. And then I saw my adversary staring off into eternity with glass eyes. I looked around sheepishly to see if anyone was walking by at midnight and witnessed my performance- Thankfully no. I've had lots of encounters with bears and 'bear people.' Most were friendly ( the bears) and the less so among my own species understood my alpha male woofing enough to back off. Well, Timothy Treadwell just tried talking in his sing song formulae as I growled. That was my scariest, most dangerous ( walls built for arctic winds are SOLID) bear encounter. It happened in my mind, such as it was at 19 years. A dangerous place sometimes, one prone to pointing cans of bug spray and paint cans in the WRONG direction. So i'lI pass on the pepper spray <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I sing DANCING WITH BEARS on the trail. You should imagine the beasties crashing ahead of me to escape the fingernails on chalkboard sound of my voice <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

My final conclusion is that BEAR TASTES VERY GOOD!

Nice, fatty meat

And, yes, it was taken legally in Pennsylvania.