Black Bear???

[Knee Deep]

Too late!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I've seen it others have also. I never did like bears, unless they're behind bars.

[gonefishin]

Time to take a look at the data. Lets keep it to the last 50 years.

1950's O

1960's 1

1970's 5

1980's 3

1990's 6

2000's 13

Non-Fatal black bear attacks on humans is hard to pin down. I guess it is bad publicity. Anyway there have been at least 53 since the 1950's.

Nothing really unexpected here after all black bears are large and potentially dangerous predators. Encounters with people are bound to happen.

There is a pattern tho, as the black bear populations expand so do the number of attacks. It also looks like black bears are starting to think of people more as prey. This is born out by the numbers of people stalked or attacked in tents at night. When a bear attacks people in tents at night the bear is on the hunt for prey. This is happening more frequently.

Still the odds of being attacked are extremely thin. Odds are several thousand percent better that a person will be attacked by another human than by a black bear.

I certainly don't plan on missing any sleep over worrying about being attacked by a black bear.

[jcoberley]

Maybe mother nature is trying to help curb man kinds expantion and growth. After all we have been on top of the food chain a long time!

[Crippled Caddis]

gf wrote:

<Still the odds of being attacked are extremely thin. Odds are several thousand percent better that a person will be attacked by another human than by a black bear.>

Absolutely correct---the most dangerous animal in the woods are human! The only dangerous encounter I've ever had while camping was with some freak spouting strange nonsense who followed my wife back to camp on one of her photo walks. A camp hatchet and a bad attitude convinced him it would be healthier in another zipcode.

Oddly enough one of my almost daily e-mail buddies is an ex bear-hunting guide and outfitter in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He is half Ojibway, raised on a remote reservation largely by grandparents who still abided by traditional methods. He is very much a Black bear expert and over the years has shared a lot of his accumlated knowledge about them with me. The cardinal fact for this thread is that, unlike Grizzlies who will make attacks and then often go away if the victim 'plays dead', a Black bear will simply eat you as you lay there. His earnest advice if attacked by a black bear is to never quit fighting it because it can sometimes be discouraged if the defense is vigorous and unrelenting. This from a man who killed one with a 5 shot .38 caliber revolver when it was stalking his 5 year old son. With the last round in the chamber. He now carries the same defense weapon as I do, a SS Ruger Security Six with a 4" barrel in .357. Unlike myself he has taken several bears with his. I hope to never fire mine with evil intent, but it's nearby at all times when outdoors.

[jdmidwest]

Those of us who are well armed and well prepared are still at the top of the food chain!!!

The hunter in the fisherman helps on things like this. After the last trip to Alaska, my awareness of my surroundings followed me back to MO. It took several trips before I could relax and not look over my shoulder all the time. Stream banks up there have dense cover, not farmed to the edge like most streams around here. While fishing one day, my buddy and I were separated by a distance of only 80 yards but connected with personal radios. I heard "bear, BEAR" and looked up to see him back peddling across the stream. A nice size young grizz stepped out next to him about 15 yards away and started foraging on the salmon carcasses. We watched him across the stream feeding on carcasses for 30 minutes then he vanished into the brush. Of course up there, you have both black and grizzly, angry moose, and felonious humans as threats to contend with.

I agree with CC, any self defense weapon is better than nothing. Its a shame that Ark does not allow any weapons around any public access or ramp. How do you get one in a boat?

[gonefishin]

I agree with CC, any self defense weapon is better than nothing. Its a shame that Ark does not allow any weapons around any public access or ramp. How do you get one in a boat?

Makes it kinda hard to hunt waterfowl in Ark doesn't it?

[jdmidwest]

I came across a reg that said it was unlawful for a loaded gun on or near a ramp or public fishing access areas. Mo has a similar one in the NPS areas. You have to load your pistol after you get underway or get so far away from a public access? I saw those regs pop up after each state passed concealed carry laws.

[jcoberley]

This is a good read.

http://www.blackbearheaven.com/bear-attacks-on-humans.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal...erica_by_decade

Black Bear in North America, the population declined to a low of 200,000 as a result of habitat destruction and unrestricted hunting. By current estimates, more than 800,000 are living today on the continent today.

I would say their on the incress.

[Crippled Caddis]

jcoberley wrote:

<I would say their on the incress.>

A couple of years ago my Thunder Bay buddy wrote to me in early April decrying once again that the 'Greenies' in Toronto had caused an explosion in the Black bear population by lobbying for elimintion of the Spring bear season a couple of years earlier and warning that in a matter of a few weeks that the bears, just coming out of hibernation famished, would start eating people. Less than 2 weeks later he forwarded a newspaper article to me about a couple of unarmed hikers being attacked, killed and partially eaten.

If anyone recalls much the same thing happened in the Denver/Boulder area some years ago when the Greenies halted hunting Mt. Lion with dogs. So the lions started eating pets and hikers.

Sometimes justice is swift. CC

[RiverRunner]

The last Black Bear I saw was in the Smokies. Apparently, some idiots had been feeding it doughnuts out of the window of their car and the bear decided that every car that came by would offer a similar treat. The rangers showed up and lured it into a trap with more doughnuts and carried it to a remote area of the park where it was less likely to encounter people. I was told that the number of bear sightings and problem bears was way down due to the use of "bear proof" trash containers.