Random Thought Thread

A college wrestler fought a [sic: grizzly] bear to save his teammate:​


The incident happened and was reported in Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming (GoogleFoo it)

Parting thoughts from the story's hero:

“Before this attack, I had thought that I could take on a bear easily,” Cummings said. “Now I know that a bear is pretty legit. They are tougher, stronger and bigger than I thought. It’s not so easy.”

No sh*t!
 
I had a bear put its paw on my shoulder and huff in my face in Yosemite in 1975...(as I tried to shield my cousin from it...she was completely petrified when it came into our campsite in the middle of the night. She had begged me to take her camping out there.)

I had a big hunting knife in my hand and pondered momentarily whether it would make sense to try to fight. I decided that it would be better and smarter to just play dead and let it dictate the action.

It left me, put some bite marks in my water bottle and day pack, and then ambled off afterward.

(Our food had been hung high up between trees earlier that evening.)

When I reported to Rangers the next morning, they were already searching for it because of an attack on a backpacker earlier, and intended to put the bear down.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I just got one of those solid foam pillows. But it was a little bit too thick for me so I sliced about 3/4 of an inch off of it with a K18.

The only thing that I own with more raw cutting power would be my Husqvarna, but I don't think it would have been good shaving down that pillow.
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I sure hope you weren't sleeping on it at the time
 
Just another ho-hum night in Mooresville...

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Blues said:
I had a bear put its paw on my shoulder and huff in my face in Yosemite in 1975...(as I tried to shield my cousin from it...she was completely petrified when it came into our campsite in the middle of the night. She had begged me to take her camping out there.)

I had a big hunting knife in my hand and pondered momentarily whether it would make sense to try to fight. I decided that it would be better and smarter to just play dead and let it dictate the action.

It left me, put some bite marks in my water bottle and day pack, and then ambled off afterward.

(Our food had been hung high up between trees earlier that evening.)

When I reported to Rangers the next morning, they were already searching for it because of an attack on a backpacker earlier, and intended to put the bear down.
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Depending on what kind of bear it was, that was the smart play.

I recall reading about a grizzly attack on a couple, back in the 70s. The bear attacked the girl first, because she was a few steps ahead.

The boyfriend had a knife and immediately tried stabbing the grizzly in the neck to get it off her. The bear broke his wrist holding the knife, simply by flicking its head when he stabbed it, then proceeded to maul him.

He received the more severe injuries, because when the bear left him and turned back to the girl, she played dead. The bear actually tried gnawing on her as she played dead, which triggered the already injured boyfriend to attack the bear again, succeeding in drawing its attention away from her. After it turned and proceeded to maul him even more, it finally left.

The girlfriend managed to make it to a ranger station to get help. They both survived.
 
bluemax_1 said:
Depending on what kind of bear it was, that was the smart play.
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California only has black bears. (Unless something has changed since the last time I was in the Sierra.)

I was in Montana as a teen when two women were killed in Glacier when a Grizz entered their tent. The explanation at the time was that the bear was attracted to the woman's scent during her period. I don't know if that's a fact or not.

I've also seen the aftermath of minor bear encounters with black bear in Algonquin Park in Ontario, and up in the Adirondacks in upstate NY. Not sure what precipitated those.

In Algonquin Park, I had to canoe over across to an adjoining point of land because a black bear entered the tent of a newlywed couple. The woman was beside herself screaming and the guy was clanging pots. I got them into my canoe and brought them over to our camp. I think I have a picture of the bear by their tent. I have to look through my albums.

ETA:

We usually have an encounter or two every year here with bears...either while walking the dog or just having one come onto the property. I don't get them on the deck anymore since I got rid of bird feeders.
 
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Nathan the Machinist said:
I have never killed or processed a bear. I hear they're smelly. But the meat I ate was quite good.
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I can tell you that their breath makes my dog's smell sweet. That was a stank I will never forget as it huffed in my face, spittle and all.

I guess it may have smelled better than the south end, but I never found out.
 
bluemax_1 said:
Depending on what kind of bear it was, that was the smart play.

I recall reading about a grizzly attack on a couple, back in the 70s. The bear attacked the girl first, because she was a few steps ahead.

The boyfriend had a knife and immediately tried stabbing the grizzly in the neck to get it off her. The bear broke his wrist holding the knife, simply by flicking its head when he stabbed it, then proceeded to maul him.

He received the more severe injuries, because when the bear left him and turned back to the girl, she played dead. The bear actually tried gnawing on her as she played dead, which triggered the already injured boyfriend to attack the bear again, succeeding in drawing its attention away from her. After it turned and proceeded to maul him even more, it finally left.

The girlfriend managed to make it to a ranger station to get help. They both survived.
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That's one of my rules: never go into bear country without bear spray!
 
000Robert said:
That's one of my rules: never go into bear country without bear spray!
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It was 1975...in my case.

1980s

Bear spray was developed in the 1980s after a spate of fatal bear attacks against people. It uses the same active ingredient as pepper spray — capsaicin, a chemical component of chili peppers — but at levels that can make it twice as powerful.
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My dog got into a "on 2-legs boxing match" with an angry mama bear who got into our garage with her 2 cubs, and survived without injury. The bear had chased our neighbors into their house the day before. After they trapped her cubs, the mama ripped apart the metal bars covering the windows in the trap, trying to get to them, before they tranquilized her!

[edit - there are more details of the encounter I posted in the video description]

 
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000Robert said:
That's one of my rules: never go into bear country without bear spray!
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I prefer something that goes BANG. The other person can carry the spray. I'll be the backup.

Read too many accounts of fatal bear attacks where after hunting and putting the animal down, they confirmed that it had bear spray residue on it.

From everything I've read, bear spray works on curious bears. It doesn't seem particularly effective on attacking bears. Not to mention if you watch one of the numerous Grizzly charge videos on YouTube, they're ridiculously fast. The bear would be through the cloud and on you before it even realized there was any bear spray.
 
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