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1 dead, 2 injured in Montana bear attack


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Home Forums General Forums General Lightweight Backpacking Discussion 1 dead, 2 injured in Montana bear attack

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  • #1261676
    Nick Gatel
    BPL Member

    @ngatel

    Locale: Southern California

    Don't know if anyone already shared this story.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38451965/ns/us_news-life/

    #1633105
    Travis Leanna
    BPL Member

    @t-l

    Locale: Wisconsin

    Terrible news.

    Kinda shakes the nerves since I'm leaving for Montana Friday morning for a hike through parts of Glacier.

    #1633107
    Joe Cangelosi
    Member

    @joefish

    Locale: All Over California

    Very sad.

    It will be interesting to hear the details unfold; I just can't help but wonder if they were all covered in sunscreen and bacon grease.

    #1633112
    David Chenault
    BPL Member

    @davec

    Locale: Queen City, MT

    The consensus of the news thus far seems to be that the unfortunate campers were doing everything right w/r/t food storage. A bear (I'm assuming it was a griz) returning to maul multiple people is certainly odd behavior, it would seem to speak of a habituated and/or old and sick animal. Hopefully we'll get more information.

    It can (and no doubt will be) argued that the Soda Butte NF campground is not in the best place, especially as far as bears go. Right next to a little creek, in a narrow valley with dense forest, and close to Cooke City, which increases the likelihood of human food being accessible. All of which is to say that an explanation for this odd and disturbing behavior may appear, or it may not. I worry about bears far more when camping in the front country than the backcountry.

    #1633131
    David Noll
    BPL Member

    @dpnoll

    Locale: Maroon Bells

    I am planning on heading out to the Martin Lake basin area with my wife and daughter in about 3 weeks. Should I be concerned and possibly look at another area?

    #1633145
    Joe Clement
    BPL Member

    @skinewmexico

    Locale: Southwest

    Terrible. But with the overabundance of food in nature (in a lot of areas), the number of apex predators is just going to keep exploding.

    #1633146
    David Olsen
    Spectator

    @oware

    Locale: Steptoe Butte

    In the seventies a similar thing happened to a sheriff
    deputy I did ride alongs with for scouts. He and his wife
    were camping in Yellowstone. A black bear went from camp
    to camp at night chewing on people. He got chomped on the arm.
    The bear returned and he killed it with his service revolver.
    (Guns in National Parks, here is the opening for an
    oncoming salvo).

    His police buddies started calling him "bear grip".

    #1633183
    Nick Truax
    BPL Member

    @nicktruax

    Locale: SW Montana

    Seems they caught "the" bear – a 300-400 lb healthy female griz and 2 of her 3 cubs. Very unusual circumstances to say the least..

    #1633205
    David Chenault
    BPL Member

    @davec

    Locale: Queen City, MT

    Here's an interview with the woman who was mauled and survived: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/montana-bear-attack-victim-deb-freele-speaks/story?id=11277179

    The above report uses bad info for the estimate of the bear population. According to the 2009 Interagency team report, close to 600 GRIZ live in the greater Yellowstone area (http://www.nrmsc.usgs.gov/files/norock/products/IGBST/2009report.pdf (Page 14))

    David, you'll have to answer that question for yourself. Bottom line is that if you hike and camp in bear country, you might get munched. The odds are very low, statistically much lower than the odds of getting killed driving to work, but bears are remote enough from our everyday experience that they seem to be a more immediate fear. Most of the time bears are predictable, and as long as you follow the rules for cooking and food storage and try to not surprise a bear, you should have no problems. Cases like this, which seem to be the extreme exception to the rule, shake that confidence and remind us of how fragile our lives might be.

    I'll still hike and camp, solo and with others, in Griz country, but thanks to this the next time I go out I'll probably sleep a little less easily.

    #1633219
    Bob Bankhead
    BPL Member

    @wandering_bob

    Locale: Oregon, USA

    To paraphrase an old saying: Even if you are doing everything right, if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, bad things can happen to you.

    This seems to be a good example of that old saying.

    Climbers fall; skiers are buried by avalanches; hikers are attacked by aggressive wildlife. We must understand and accept certain risks as part of our hobby.

    #1633232
    David Chenault
    BPL Member

    @davec

    Locale: Queen City, MT

    I blogged some analysis of the attack (http://bedrockandparadox.blogspot.com/2010/07/soda-butte-grizzly-mauling-and-fatality.html). Nothing different than what I wrote above, but including some map links that might help those unfamiliar with the area understand the big picture.

    #1633255
    Michael Neal
    Member

    @michaeltn2

    Locale: Northern Virginia

    More reason to get that .45 I was thinking about buying for so long. have to get my wife used to the idea of having a gun :)

    #1633260
    Kier Selinsky
    Member

    @kieran

    Locale: Seattle, WA

    *grabs popcorn for the great gun debate, round 32*

    #1633263
    David Noll
    BPL Member

    @dpnoll

    Locale: Maroon Bells

    I just got home from work and my wife and daughter have decided that we are going to the Wind River Range instead of the Beartooths.

    #1633276
    David Chenault
    BPL Member

    @davec

    Locale: Queen City, MT

    Mike, data and the experts seem to have reached a consensus that pepper spray is more effective than firearms for getting bears to go away at close range. That being said, if you feel obligated to get a gun (and I think it's understandable), get a .44 mag revolver.

    #1633291
    Ike Mouser
    Member

    @isaac-mouser

    The revolver has more stopping power? For me the most important thing in bear country is stopping power hands down, but then you have the whole sacrificing accuracy thing with kick. But im willing to bed that a charging bear would at least (hopefully) cringe when hit with a .44 mag, giving you time to reaim.

    #1633310
    Mary D
    BPL Member

    @hikinggranny

    Locale: Gateway to Columbia River Gorge

    Unless you are a good enough shot to hit just the right spot on a grizz that's charging at you when you have no time to aim, you're only going to make the bear a lot madder. You have to kill instantly to stop a charging bear!

    By the way, there are grizz in the northern Wind Rivers, too. They closed down the Green River Lakes Campground for a while earlier this summer. If I hadn't had to cancel my trip (for unrelated reasons), I'd have been doing a lot of singing along the Highline Trail there. Probably just as well for the sake of other travelers' eardrums that I'm not going.

    #1633311
    David Chenault
    BPL Member

    @davec

    Locale: Queen City, MT

    Ike, the revolver is less likely than an auto to jam. A .44 mag round has much more power than a .45 ACP.

    I own guns for hunting. I carry Counter Assault for bear defense. Most of the hunters I know carry spray, even if they have a rifle along.

    #1633315
    David Noll
    BPL Member

    @dpnoll

    Locale: Maroon Bells

    Mary,
    Yes I know they are starting to show up more there also.

    #1633331
    ROBERT TANGEN
    Spectator

    @robertm2s

    Locale: Lake Tahoe

    Re: "You have to kill instantly to stop a charging bear!" I'm no expert, but I seem to recall that some hunters deliberately aim for the chest / shoulder in the case of a charging bear. Perhaps they think that a blasted lung or a shattered shoulder will slow him down long enough to take more shots. The extreme slope of the bear's skull may make it likely that the slug will glance off, but I have no expertise.

    #1633347
    Michael Moccia
    BPL Member

    @madmoe

    Locale: The Lone Star State

    "We must understand and accept certain risks as part of our hobby."

    +1 for that!

    M2

    #1633359
    Joe Cangelosi
    Member

    @joefish

    Locale: All Over California

    On the other hand, is it necessary to kill the bear? Or merely to deter it from eating you? That might sound naive, but I can't abide the idea of killing the bear merely because I've encountered it- excluding food-habituated bears, sadly.

    Edit: I carry counter-assault spray and-perhaps more importantly- do a LOT of research about the area I'm going to be in.

    #1633374
    Juston Taul
    Member

    @junction

    Locale: Atlanta, GA

    You guys are silly talking about a 44 mag. Here is my toy. The Smith & Wesson 500 Magnum.

    1

    Makes the 44 mag look like a BB gun.

    #1633375
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    "I'm no expert, but I seem to recall that some hunters deliberately aim for the chest / shoulder in the case of a charging bear. Perhaps they think that a blasted lung or a shattered shoulder will slow him down long enough to take more shots."

    I'm not so sure about that. I lung shot a white tail deer once with a .35 Remington which, IIRC, uses a 200 grain bullet. It packed a wallop for sure. The deer took off like a shot and ran about 200 yards befre he dropped. Doesn't exactly give me a warm and fuzzy about trying it on a charging grizzly, even if I could hold steady enough to put one in his chest cavity, unless I was carrying a very powerful weapon. I'm not sure any handgun would qualify, but I'm not an expert, either.

    #1633382
    Bob Bankhead
    BPL Member

    @wandering_bob

    Locale: Oregon, USA

    Juston –

    A .50 caliber slug out of a 2 inch barrel?

    I'd suspect that beast has got enough recoil to knock a steroid-taking, weight-lifting buzzard out of a dead oak.

    You'd better hit a vital spot with the first round. You may never get a second.

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