At least he knows what he should have had.

Esav Benyamin

Esav Benyamin

MidniteSuperMod
Joined
Apr 6, 2000
Messages
90,915
He got lucky.
He's pretty tough.
He learned from his experience:


Scout not seriously hurt in bear attack

A Boy Scout played dead when attacked by a bear during a camping trip, avoiding serious injury.

Chris Malasics, 14, curled up in the fetal position in his sleeping bag after the bear ripped down his tent at Hickory Run State Park around 11:30 p.m. Friday.

[...]

Malasics said the experience will not deter him from going camping. In the future, though, he intends to make sure he has a pepper spray for bears, and perhaps a gun.

"I know how to shoot," he said.
 
Umm, I doubt that playing dead is what saved the boy. It might help some with a grizzly, but not with a black bear because they eat carion, so it's not the best of actions to take if attacked by one.
 
Lay a ball in the middle of the floor, and your housecat will likely ignore it. Throw it across the room and he is going to go nuts chasing it!

I think the "playing dead" thing is intended to not provoke the "predetory instincts" of the animal. When you have reached the point where this is necessary, you are already in very big trouble....
 
longbow50 said:
Umm, I doubt that playing dead is what saved the boy. It might help some with a grizzly, but not with a black bear because they eat carion, so it's not the best of actions to take if attacked by one.
Click to expand...

yeah, thats what i read too

playing dead is not the way to go with bears

and after being attacked by another predator it is also too late to play dead, thats the fighting time
 
Oh my god! Me and my friends just hiked and camped there 2 months ago. That is just creepy. Good thing the kid came out of it alive and is going to be okay. I guess I wiil start taking my Off duty or Rat-7 with me the next time I go camping or hiking.
 
Fighting back will bring out the predatory instinct. That is why they tell you to play dead when attacked by a grizzly, and why the tell you not to run. However, they also say that playing dead does not generally work with black bears, as they are carion eaters. Because black bears are generally smaller and more timid, fighting back (while perhaps exciting the bear) is more likely to work as you may be able to give sufficient fight to deter the smaller bear. The size and temperment of grizzlies and browns makes this tactic unadvisable.
 
I don't know what type of black bears you guys have around, but up here it's not uncommon to have bears killed in the 250 to 350 pound range every hunting season, now I know that's not grizzly big but it's bigger then most people and faster and stronger and....

But hay, the kid waited it out in the fetal position while the scout master scarred the bear away, lucky kid.

He probably had a Snickers bar or a bag of Doritos in his tent, which equals bag lunch to a bear, again he's lucky.

Helle
 
Yeah, and in PA bears in the 800 lb range have been killed. The point is that you are more likely to be able to fight off a 250-350 lb black bear than a mature grizzly. And given that a black bear will eat something that it thinks is already dead, it is advisable to put up a fight and not become dead by playing dead.
 
The kid did good. Curling up under those circumstances wasn't playing dead, it was protecting as many vital body parts as possible until the others in camp, not under direct attack, could chase the bear off. The bear certainly knew he wasn't dead or it would just have begun chowing down instead of tossing him around.
 
All these bear attack stories get me worried, next time I go camping, I'm wearing a 5-million volt, electrified, red man suit over body armor and I'm sleeping with a skunk, a porcupine and nine rabid mastiff. Do they make a nuclear payload in 12 gauge?

This kid did better than I would have...I'd still be in the fetal position AND sucking my thumb and they'd have to cut my pants off to put on unsoiled ones.
 
I think the fact that he was inside a sleeping bag helped a lot. I protected him from puncture wounds to an extent, and even moreso from the bear's claws. Well done, indeed.
 
hlee said:
Yeah, and in PA bears in the 800 lb range have been killed. The point is that you are more likely to be able to fight off a 250-350 lb black bear than a mature grizzly. And given that a black bear will eat something that it thinks is already dead, it is advisable to put up a fight and not become dead by playing dead.
Click to expand...

Agreed , he got lucky.

And for the record, I didn't say you shouldn't hold your ground with a black bear. If their after you, you need to hold your ground be it 50lbs. or 800lbs.

Helle
 
Esav Benyamin said:
The kid did good. Curling up under those circumstances wasn't playing dead, it was protecting as many vital body parts as possible until the others in camp, not under direct attack, could chase the bear off. The bear certainly knew he wasn't dead or it would just have begun chowing down instead of tossing him around.
Click to expand...

Aha, good point. Also, the Scoutmaster and other Scouts came to his aid.
 
Yeah, he did good, no doubt about it. I didn't mean to take from that at all. And yeah, he will have what he needs to have, if and when it happens again I betcha.
 
The best thing to do with bears is to try to stay on their good side and to prepare for the worst case scenario. Sometime curling up and playing dead will get you killed sometimes fighting back will, it seems to be a game of luck. A means of protection such as a gun or bear spray as a last resort would probably be the best way to ensure safety.

Just my $0.02
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top