Bear 2X… crazy

Thanks for posting the link. Interesting (and unlucky) guy.

There are many hikers on this forum that believe Black bears will run away when you make a lot of noise. This is true, except when it isn't.

Guy, "Every girl I've ever dated was crazy."

And the common factor was? . . . . .

Same guy, same trail, possibly the same bear, definitely the SAME DOG as four years before.

Just this afternoon I was posting about AK grizzlies versus CA black bears and debated about (1) going into the nuances of black bears and how they are, for some reason, more problematic in the southern BC / WA area than to the south or north, and (2) how while I've had various, bothersome bear encounters in CA, I never have in AK. In AK, I go my way, they go their way (the black bears go VERY quickly, the grizzlies more slowly). And that's what happens for everyone I know up here unless they're being quiet and surprise the bear or their dog brings the bear back to them. Then, yeah, the human gets torn up a bit, or scalped, or once in my 18 years on the Kenai, dead. But far, far, more often the bear ends up in the fry pan, the smoker and the slow cooker.

Twice attacked by a bear sounded so much like Roy Sullivan – struck 7 times by lightning that I reread the Wikipedia article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Sullivan

And under the details of his seventh strike (which included defending his fish from a bear), "this was the twenty-second time he hit a bear with a stick in his lifetime."

Talk about weirdly overlapping Venn diagrams!

I have never been afraid of black bears, until last night I watched the movie "Backcountry." I regret watching that.

Crazy story, I do wonder about those Wildlife Officers with M4 carbines, a .223 would NOT be my first choice for taking out a bear.

"I do wonder about those Wildlife Officers with M4 carbines, a .223 would NOT be my first choice for taking out a bear."

Those are probably for the poachers and other yayhoos they deal with. You'd have to think that if they were worried about bears they'd be packing heavier artillery, for sure.

I hike mostly with my son and his scout troop, no problem with noise not that they are rowdy, but 8-15 boys keep up a steady conversation.

Never seen a bear on the trail with scouts.

Only seen one once on another trail with my son – we were walking along and a black bear saw us and headed off.

Still, stories like this do make you wonder. I maintain a healthy respect for bears and do what I can to minimize encounters…