Yellowstone National Park grizzly bear kills hiker

[enzo1]

BBC News - Yellowstone National Park grizzly bear kills hiker

[JE928sx4]

Rule #1.......when hiking in areas where something can kill you, make sure you have something that can kill it first.

[amarillo73]

Noticed this thread and thought I would reply since I am in Yellowstone at this time. My wife and I (both retired) have done seasonal work in or around Yellowstone Park for several years. I come here to fly fish for the summer and my wife puts up with me and then I take her to Disneyland/DisneyWorld for a vacation upon return to our home and all is well.
This news of a man being killed yesterday and his wife escaping has been big news and very sad around this area, it is too bad that this happened. The news account seems to be correct with the details we have heard from officials here but most have said that it is too bad that the couple did not retreat after their first sighting of the female grizzly and her cubs. We saw two grizzly bears on our way to Bozeman yesterday and four others this spring, and heard about this tragedy last night on our way back to West Yellowstone. For the past few years more grizzly bears seem to be sighted and the black bears are becoming less seen, maybe the grizzly bears are pushing them out of the area, not sure. This female grizzly will not be hunted down and killed, it was doing it's natural duty of protecting her cubs, but it is sad that someone lost their life while out enjoying this beautiful area.
I have had a couple of close calls with bears while out fly fishing in the area with one black bear actually coming into the same fishing pool I was in and just wanting to cross the stream but when he started floating towards me within about fifteen feet, I went one way out of the pool and he went the other way and all was fine and he went about his business up the trail.
To those who think you can have enough luck to kill a charging grizzly with one lucky shot, think again. It would take a high power rifle with some aim time to make a well placed shot to get the job done. A hand gun, even a .45 S&W, would be sheer luck!
Thanks to Pelican Parts for this forum and the chance to view and discuss our fabulous Porsche cars! Included pic of wolf my wife took in early spring, enjoy.
Fish on!
Ron

[billybek]

When I was younger, I did a lot of solo mountain biking in the interior of BC.
I saw a lot of black bears but never saw a Grizzly on any of my rides. I remember riding a stream bed after a large blow down of trees had covered the trail I was riding and finding very fresh, very large Grizzly tracks in the sand.
I turned around and went back.
You should be afraid of these animals but statistically it is improbable that you will encounter one on trail. One death since 1986 in the US. More people have been killed by dogs.
Must have been a horrible way to go.

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally Posted by amarillo73

A hand gun, even a .45 S&W, would be sheer luck!

Good advice in your post (leave them alone and they'll leave you alone), but it doesn't sound like you're a "gun" guy.

While you'll have to have some "luck" with a charging bear (30 mph sustained I've heard), this will change a bear's mind. I'm not in bear country, but this what I carry when in Catamount country:

[patssle]

I'll be in Yellowstone in about 2 months! (along with Tetons, Glacier, and other areas of the north-mid-west. Glad to hear they aren't killing the bear.

this is the closest I've gotten to a bear, taken in Smoky Mountains National Park.

[sammyg2]

The couple had seen the bear earlier on Wednesday but continued hiking, said park spokesman Al Nash.

Some folks just don't understand that whole "food chain" concept.


Rule #1: avoid things that will eat you.

[rouxroux]

Was he wearing a bell?

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Some folks just don't understand that whole "food chain" concept.


Rule #1: avoid things that will eat you.

Or don't hike where things will eat you.

Technically I have ignored this advice because I have hiked and camped where bears and cougars live but I always knew to give them a wide berth and that I was taking my chances. Part of the excitement of hiking in the wilderness is the wildlife.

[andrew15]

I've hiked a lot out in the Rocky's and have come across a few bears. Generally I've turned around and left. If it's a female looking after a cub, they can get pretty territorial even if it's a black bear.

We can't carry firearms up here in national or provincial parks, but would a handgun round kill a bear or just make it angry enough to really put the hurt on you?

AM

[ODDJOB UNO]

most of the city slickers here dont understand the concept that BEARS, can be found ANYWHERE!

high elevation, low elevation.

pine trees to the dezert.


when fires or drought drive them from their usual stomping grounds, well you can find them in some rather bizzare places.


i have seen them in some nasty azz dezert east of the tonto watershed munching on prickly pear berries right next to a sag-u-aro(saguaro) cactus.


also alot of people have been raised with the cute cuddly "yogi and boo-boo" concept which is just plain STOOO-PID!


evidenced by our recent mauling in pinetop ,az at the pinetop country club lil condominiums. yeah lots of buildings, lots of cars,lots of people and of course...........GARBAGE!


this woman is lucky to be alive. damn bear nailed her once, came back, nailed her again, and then came back for a 3rd swatting slice and dice fiesta all over her. aka the "bear big azz'd whoop azz."



for me to go anywhere without a firearm is beyond my comprehension. to go into the the woods or dezert without a firearm, is asking for it. i may as well cover myself in fish guts and blood and jump off a boat right off the kanapali resort on maui, and see how many TIGER SHARKS I CAN FIND!



its all a numbers game, the more ya dive the more sharks you will find. the more you leave the safety of your home, the more crap will find you. be it 2 legged crap or 4 legged crap.


im not a gambler. always always "BRING ENOUGH GUN"! your life or others, just may well depend on it.



it will be a cold day in hell when i vote for the re-introduction of "uncle grizzily"(ursus horriblis), back into this state, like some morons wanna do.


last one shot here in the blue primitive area bordering on new messiko where the wallow fire was recently, back in 1920.



you aint LIVED until you have bears trucking thru yer camp or backyard.

[Rick Lee]

I remember seeing an episode of Cops where there was a bear stuck in a palm tree in a guy's yard in Tucson!

There are plenty of handgun rounds that will stop a bear. Of course, you need to be ready and willing to use it and, as with shooting bad people, shot placement counts for a lot. The .357SIG may not do much against a Kodiak-sized grizzly. But the bears we have in AZ are tiny by comparison. My regular bush sidearm might not kill one, but I'd rather have it than nothing.

[daepp]

Saw this guy last time I was in Yellowstone. I believed him to be a grizzly.

[motion]

I regularly hike/fish/camp in grizzly territory and am TERRIFIED of them! Try to always carry bear spray with me. We had one eat a guy last year just up the road in Cooke City.

[BeyGon]

I worked in Alaska and was alone in the bush 12 to 14 hours a day, I carried a .44 mag, not because I thought it would kill the bear but I did pop a few rounds once in awhile just to let them know I was around. Most of the guys that had the same job as me carried a Remington 870 with the folding stock stuck to their back pack. If I had known before hand that's what I would have carried. Not to kill but it does turn them when they get that close.

[ODDJOB UNO]

i see bear sign.........POO or PRINTS and the hair goes up on my neck. you can just about set yer watch here in the sw when yer gonna see a hell of ALOT OF BEARS!



and thats.......................BERRY SEASON! get it? and thats usually about the 3rd-4th week of august into labor day. and thats a promise.



you find wild berries(everywhere), yer gonna FIND BEARS!



and those berries taste damn good on your ice cream. or in a milk shake. and when we go berry picking................wez armed to the teeth! and berries are generally found in thick brushy watered drainages. aka streams. so ya have damn near everything a bear needs in life. cover/food/water. and when yer in the berry bushes picking away filling your lil 5 gallon pail..............well thats when it can get real dicey real quick. ask me how i know.

[sammyg2]

[amarillo73]

Danny_Ocean........sorry, but I have been a "gun guy" for most of my life and an avid hunter in my earlier years using Winchester Model 70 30-06 and 300 H&H Magnum for mule deer and bull elk. I have lived in the west all of my life and my ego is not too large to know what a grizzly can do to a human if provoked enough. I have a friend who was a campground manager in Yellowstone area and years ago he went in and helped rangers carry a guy out in pieces in a styrofoam cooler that had been killed by a grizzly at his campground. I only meant that target shooting and trying to zero in on a charging grizzly when your heart is pounding out of your chest and you are trembling for your life are two different situations. Have a nice day.

[sammyg2]

In jellystone, lots more Darwin award winners bite the dust from trying to play with the bison that from bears.
For some reason these tards decide it's a good idea to get up close to one of these wild animals that weigh more than a VW bug and then tease them to get their attention.
Stupid is as stupid does.

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally Posted by amarillo73

Danny_Ocean........sorry, but I have been a "gun guy" for most of my life.

Then whatza ".45 S&W" and who would recommend that as a bush/bear gun?