Hiker's detailed account of Spence Field bear attack

[DAN-Y]

Hiker’s detailed account of Spence Field bear attack

https://peachpeak.wordpress.com/2016/05/24/first-blog-post/

 

[Ken Thompson]

Lucky fellow.

[Jerry Adams]

wow!  I wonder if there were any lessons to be learned to prevent in the future?  Or maybe just that’s a rare event.?

[Ben C]

This has been rare in the Smokies and surrounding area.   There have been a lot of bears in the area for a long time. And there are a LOT of day visitors in the Smokies who are more than happy to feed bears.  I’m surprised we haven’t seen this there before now.

Spence Field is just up the ridge from Cades Cove, which gets a large volume of day trippers in cars.  Visitors regularly throw food to bears there.

[Lori P]

I’m not going to be afraid of black bears, regardless, but I can imagine a lot of people pointing at this as “proof” that they need bear spray. Except obviously bear spray would have been absolutely no use in this situation. He would have had to get out of the tent, or at least get a bead on the bear from some opening and risk blowback incapacitating himself. He did what he should have done, I think, and showed remarkable composure — most people would have absolutely panicked.

What it cinches in my mind is that some bears are too habituated, ie not afraid of people, and that Yosemite’s policy of shooting bears that are proving to be unafraid of people (can’t drive them off easily, etc) is something that the Powers That Be of jurisdictions through which the AT wanders should be considering. Yosemite tags and tracks and micromanages problem bears to keep people and bears safe.

Yosemite used to relocate problem bears, as far away as Sonora Pass to the north, but bears are no respecters of boundaries and they would just show up in their usual territory a few weeks later. Pretty much anything that could be tried, the Yosemite rangers have tried. I think looking to them as an example to follow should be what these other jurisdictions need to be doing, hopefully avoiding the problem of many generations of black bears learning from their habituated mothers how not to fear people (as they do in Yosemite). Nip it in the bud.

[BC Bob]

Bear spray wouldn’t have worked in the tent, but as the author stated….

“….you’re right. Bear spray would have been counterproductive in the tent. On the way to the shelter though, I was extremely vulnerable. I desperately wished for a more powerful way to protect myself than my fists or any rocks and sticks that I could find in the dark.”

Watch this video, if you think there is no need to carry bear spray.

I carry bear spray and a small air horn.

[Ben C]

This is in the Smokies.  I really think the usefulness of bear spray there is pretty remote.  I would not recommend bear spray in the Smokies.  I do think enforcement of better bear policies would be great though.

[David Thomas]

“Pretty much anything that could be tried, the Yosemite rangers have tried.”

In Denali NP, rangers will sometimes set up a fake campsite to attract a problem bear (I assume with food smells but no food) and stake it out.  Then they’ll shoot rubber bullets at the bear.  Negative reinforcement, psychologists call it.

For the AT hiker, yeah, I don’t see anything for him to have done differently.  Sure, bear spray in a different scenario may have been helpful.  This is one of those few cases in which a 12 gauge with slugs or a large-caliber handgun (10mm, .44) would have been good to have.  Repeated attacks by a bear that’s apparently trying to feed on human even after he fights back?  I’d use a gun at that point, and I’m way on the spray-is-better-than-guns-(on-average) end of the spectrum.  But that’s 2 to 6 pounds of gear that you can’t eat, it doesn’t keep you warm, has considerable risk of misuse by oneself or someone else, and may have legal issues within the NPs and state parks along the way.

Of course, if he’d known there was a problem bear in the area, he’d have squeezed into the shelter or maybe kept moving.  Leaving a club-like stick and a 3-pound rock at the ready seems excessive to do every night for the very, very low chance of wanting it in a case like this.  For me, having something to swing at and throw at the bear makes me a better actor as the alpha critter and that’s worked all the times I’ve chased off black bears.  But this one?  In feeding mode? I don’t know if being dominate or aggressive would help.  Realize that black bears fight, claw and bite each other, for instance when a boar tries to feed on cubs whose sow defends them.  So you might need enough club/rock/gun to inflict some actual damage beyond a punch in the nose.

Maybe a mini air horn?  160 decibels a foot from its head?  It’s slightly multi purpose as a distress single and to discourage unruly humans.

We saw five small to medium black bears and one large grizzly last weekend.  Alas, the only bear stew I made was from last year’s bear in the freezer.

[John S.]

My friends in Georgia take bear spray to the Smokies. Every year it seems I am hearing of bear issues there.

[Jerry Adams]

My smoke alarm went off.  That things is loud.  My poor cat hid in the far corner of the house.

I wonder what a bear would think of that.  It weighs 7 ounces, but would probably weigh 2 ounces for just the battery and alarm.

You could have a unit that attaches to shoulder strap and is activated by tapping on it.

Now, for the testing…

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