Griz attack

[James Riley]

Step, stop, look, listen, smell, feel, taste. Repeat. Yeah, it's slow, and nothing is full proof, but trucking along like you own the place, well, it can work against you with bear, elk, people or anything else.

With me there is an inverse relationship between speed and perception. I also find the slower I go, the bigger the land becomes. Good thing I'm getting old because the way population is increasing and my body is decreasing, I'm gonna need it.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Thanks James. Good to know. Maybe I will hunt in grizzly country after all. I'll make sure I kill an elk in the afternoon. And then I'll pack it out after dark with no headlamp..... naked.

Speaking of night, I was hunting last week and hiking back to camp when suddenly I was startled by a loud slap on the water.

I reached for the bear spray only to realized it was a damn beaver.

Beavers and Pine Grouse are the two most startling things in Grizz country.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

I'll tell you what I'd like to see done. Leave the Yellowstone bear zone as it's always been. And anything outside of that original grizzly bear containment area - shoot on sight. Especially the Ranchers. Let's not forget about them.

No, No, No.

I think that you are trolling.

Shooting on-site is how these animals stay listed.

We need to manage them just like deer, elk, and other critters.

They deserve to live and be observed.

With the rancher argument, I don't mind the cows in the middle of the woods - but the sheep with the giant white guard dogs make me uneasy.

I would rather see the wild be wild and leave the ranching to ranches.

Also, there are not that many grizzly or wolf associated deaths to livestock as someone might think.

15 killed by grizzlies this year. With all of the grazing it is not a lot.

Compare that the 17,700 head killed by coyotes and you can see that ranchers place their hate in the wrong place.

As I mentioned before, Grizzlies are not great predators.

They only kill 5% of the meat that they eat and a majority of it is cubs, fawns, and calves.

 

[brendog84cj8]

Maybe rather than carrying bear spray and a pistol maybe a person should have spray and a semi auto tactical shot gun full of buck shot and slugs. I know in Alaska, many in bear country carry a shot gun. This goes along with just being smart and doing your best to be bear aware and minding your P's and Q's in bear country. Guy is so lucky to be alive, would love to hear the story first hand, talk about a heck of an ordeal.

 

[bigdonniebrasco]

I wouldn't need bear spray or a gun, I would be SOOOOO covered in human feces, and urine if a bear charged me that she would stop in her tracks and turn tail!!

 

[sbhooper]

Speaking of night, I was hunting last week and hiking back to camp when suddenly I was startled by a loud slap on the water.

I reached for the bear spray only to realized it was a damn beaver.

Beavers and Pine Grouse are the two most startling things in Grizz country.

A rabbit exploding out of sagebrush, shortly after a rattlesnake encounter is right up there too!

 

[Rob Allen]

I m all for Grizz expanding their range. i don't think it's good to have them expand their density in areas where they are at objective... enter hunters and tags proportioned to counteract population increase.

 

[Skeeter 20I]

Thanks James. Good to know. I'll make sure I kill an elk in the afternoon. And then I'll pack it out after dark with no headlamp..... naked.

Check, check and check. Don't mind me I'm just here taking notes on how to elk hunt.

 

[fwagner]

Im a stranger to hunting in bear country, well grizzly bear country, and I have always heard that spray is better then a gun? Any guesses as to what went wrong? You think the spray missed the bear, was the spray simply not effective, the guy seems pretty educated on hunting around grizzly bears. Just curious....wonder what the bear spray company would say.....

 

[sbhooper]

Im a stranger to hunting in bear country, well grizzly bear country, and I have always heard that spray is better then a gun? Any guesses as to what went wrong? You think the spray missed the bear, was the spray simply not effective, the guy seems pretty educated on hunting around grizzly bears. Just curious....wonder what the bear spray company would say.....

Hopefully, it will come out at some point. It was mentioned by me and another guy that maybe it was expired. That is a critical point with the spray. Either that, or he just THOUGHT he got a good hit on her-who knows?

 

[fwagner]

Hopefully, it will come out at some point. It was mentioned by me and another guy that maybe it was expired. That is a critical point with the spray. Either that, or he just THOUGHT he got a good hit on her-who knows?

Never thought about it being expired....good point. Do they recommend that in the event the bear is on you that you should just keep spraying till the cannister is empty, to hopefully deter the bear?

 

[tjones]

It wasn't this guys first trip into bear country. My bet is he would know to check the date. He is no rookie.

 

[onpoint]

Photo of my wife packing out an elk 1/4 probably less than a mile from where this incident took place. Tons of relief in the ground- humps, dips, and downed timber.
Things here can happen really fast. We both have spray and I carried my .41 in when we went back in to retrieve 1/4's the following day. Did a lot of hollering as we approached the kill site. Where my elk died, we easily could have surprised or been surprised by a bear in the area. Went in very loud and alert.
Pretty easy to arm chair quarterback from a computer keyboard, for those having never been in an area.
FWIW, I don't hunt G Bear haunts near as much as I used to (although the haunts have spread across the SW MT landscape dramatically). Lotsa' other places to go ........
A bunch of us "know what we're doing", which in no way 100% guarantees we won't ever experience something unpredictable.
Even though I often wrap myself in a sleeping bag burrito and fall asleep on same ground G Bears walk around on, I don't sleep great, but I like that they're there.

 

[whiskeydog]

Hopefully, it will come out at some point. It was mentioned by me and another guy that maybe it was expired. That is a critical point with the spray. Either that, or he just THOUGHT he got a good hit on her-who knows?

I had a can that was ~5 years expired so I decided to shoot it off in the front yard for the heck of it. NOPE...not expired...just ask my wife...she was NOT happy!

 

[The Hedgehog]

Hopefully, it will come out at some point. It was mentioned by me and another guy that maybe it was expired. That is a critical point with the spray. Either that, or he just THOUGHT he got a good hit on her-who knows?

60% of the time, it works every time.

 

[kansasdad]

Another one near Dubois:

http://www.ktvq.com/story/33305970/...atedshare&utm_term=q416week2&utm_content=ktvq

 

[sbhooper]

60% of the time, it works every time.

I believe that is actually in excess of 90 percent of the time-if you can believe the studies.

 

[airlocksniffer]

FWIW:

http://fwp.mt.gov/mtoutdoors/HTML/articles/2014/bearspray.htm#.V_U5YJMrLUI

 

[bobbydean]

I have never or probably ever hunt in grizzly territory, Why is the spray better than a gun, pistol, or a Lever action 44?

Doesn't make sense. Enlighten me!

 

[whiskeydog]

I have never or probably ever hunt in grizzly territory, Why is the spray better than a gun, pistol, or a Lever action 44?

Doesn't make sense. Enlighten me!

Several reasons...
-it takes a perfect shot to drop a griz in his tracks and evidence has shown that wounding a bear can lead to a harsher attack while even when the spray doesn't turn the bear around, the attacks tend to be shorter in duration and less severe.
-a bear can be on you in seconds...even a skilled and practiced marksman with nerves of steel can have a hard time drawing a gun and getting a bead on a charging bear when the adrenaline starts flowing
-chances of hitting a charging bear with a pistol are significantly less than with spray (kind of like rifle vs shotgun)
-griz are BIG tough critters, but they also have highly sensitive noses

If you're bored, you can google Tom Smith's study on bear spray efficacy in AK...I believe he found it to be 90%+ effective in stopping an attack