Going to Griz country.
The trail was here before we arrived, and it will still be here when we are gone...enjoy it now, and preserve it for others that come after us
Actually, 3 deaths in AT states within the last 10 years. 2 in Tennessee, 1 near Gattlinburg where an adult lady was killed by a momma black bear and her cub and partially eaten. Then another in Chilhowee near Benton Falls where a 6 year old girl was killed by a black bear. Then that other one you talked about in NY.Originally Posted by le loupe
Three. But still a very low probability. These are just the fatalities though, there are likely a lot more non-fatal attacks and/or aggresion incidents that we don't have any source material on here.
2006 Elora Petrasek, age 6, in Cherokee Nat'l Forest http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/16/bear.attack/index.html
2000 Glenda Ann Bradley, age 50, in GSMNP http://www.southeasternoutdoors.com/wildlife/mammals/smoky-mountain-fatal-bear-attack.html
2002 Ester Schwimmer, age 5 months, in Fallsburg, NY http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/...in519289.shtml
"That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett
Grizz country is some of the most beautiful country we have here. Wish I could go, but Grizzlys scare the crap outta me. I think the only way I could camp out for a week in an area that resembles that is in New Zealand, all the beauty, none of the predators.Going to Griz country.
I don't think I'd enjoy a grizzly encounter at close range in the wild, myself. As luck would have it, I managed to survive (and in fact enjoy) my one and only black-bear encounter on the AT.
My only black bear encounter was riding home from Amicalola state park on my VTX 1300 motorcycle. I was on 136 heading west and out of the mountains came some massive behemoth of an animal. I had to slam on my breaks to keep from hitting it. It stopped right in the middle of the road, only about maybe 20 feet from where I stopped. It stayed on all 4s but we stared at each other for what seemed like minutes. After he was done staring me down he gently walked off the street and down the mountain like nothing happened. Wasn't scared of my motorcycle or me. Kinda made me nervous since the road was really narrow and I had no room to make a u turn on. It was almost a spiritual experience though.
Odd how that goes. When an animal capable of killing and eating you... decides not to.
I saw a black bear chasing a duck down the river in front of No Way Jose's in Gatlinburg about 5 or 6 years ago.
How inhumane
ask bill bryson haha, thats a good one
From Stumpknocker's June 17 entry:
"The last time I saw Foxtrot, he had just gotten back from one of his walks in Alaska. He goes out for about 6 weeks and said he had about 5 days before he got out of the woods. He was walking along some young willow trees and a grizzly charged him. He fell back and the grizzly bit him in his calf, then ran back into the willow trees.
By that time, Foxtrot had enough time to get his bear spray out...and he needed it because the grizzly evidentially thought he tasted pretty good and charged again. This time the bear spray made the bear decide to leave. The part of the story I liked best was that when he when he did get out of the woods and in to see a doctor, the doctor told Foxtrot that he could probably fix his leg so it didn't show much of a scar from the teeth marks of the grizzly. Foxtrot said..."NO...I want the scar!"
Ditto. I have first hand experience with this. The mother screamed and took off as soon as she saw me leaving a very small cub behind. The cub "did the right thing" and ran up the nearest tree. He was cute. I could see the mom 100-150 yards off in the distance on a small rise pacing back and forth waiting for me to leave.
I have heard that black bear sows run, brown bear sows do not.
Back on subject, it is my understanding that black bears are more likely to think of us as prey than brown bears. Not sure why. Maybe it is "short guys syndrome"? The little guy likes to be more aggressive because he has to be to make up for his lack of real strength? Remember that not too long ago (10K-15K years) there was a 3rd type of bear (short faced bear) in NA that was bigger (7' at its shoulder!!!) than a brown bear. Not sure I'd do much hiking if those were still around.
Yellow Jacket -- Words of Wisdom (tm) go here.
Well, I have had a real life encounter with a kodiak bear, at the Atlanta zoo, lol. Anyhow, my point is they had a bear exhibit there one time, and I remember seeing the polar bear and thinking "Wow, thats a ginormous beast." Well then I walked to the Kodiak bear enclosure and thought "Wow, that kodiak bear would eat that polar bear for a snack."
Remember that not too long ago (10K-15K years) there was a 3rd type of bear (short faced bear) in NA that was bigger (7' at its shoulder!!!) than a brown bear. Not sure I'd do much hiking if those were still around.
Seriously, ya the polar bear may be taller, longer, but that damn kodiak bear was the most massive bear I have ever seen in my life. It was just HUGE, Massive, and had that monstrous lump of muscle on its back.
You said it well. Black Bear attacks of the predatory sort are most often committed in areas where there is no hunting, or in areas so remote that an adult bear might have never seen a human before, and has to decide whether the human is food or not upon encountering.
Allowing bear hunting for limited purposes and periods, even in National Parks, would be better for both people and bears.
Canadian black bears are just as big if not bigger than the grizzlies in the western lower 48. The coastal salmon fed browns in AK and Canada are another story.Back on subject, it is my understanding that black bears are more likely to think of us as prey than brown bears. Not sure why. Maybe it is "short guys syndrome"? The little guy likes to be more aggressive because he has to be to make up for his lack of real strength? Remember that not too long ago (10K-15K years) there was a 3rd type of bear (short faced bear) in NA that was bigger (7' at its shoulder!!!) than a brown bear. Not sure I'd do much hiking if those were still around.
Have had many bear encounters in the US (most in AK) and Canada and the only aggressive bear (besides a polar bear swimming after our sailboat) was a northern Quebec black bear. He was bigger than any grizz I've ever seen and was not scared of our group of 8 at all. He started showing predatory behavior (slow quiet stalking, circling to try and cut off the rear group, closing distances) until our arrival at the put in. He even followed the shore along the river as we paddled for a short time.
It was morning and we paddled a long day to put some miles between us and him.
I've heard a lot about the aggressive black bears of Canada. I wonder if it's because of the cold winters, causing them to need more meat/fat energy for the long cold winters?
Don't know why, but most just seem more indifferent to humans.
Maybe cuz Canadians are so damn polite?
Good, there are too many people around here anyway.....dogs(wolfs and such) were here first and they want us to know that
I'm willing to bet also there were more people killed by people and I bet these were on records kept before 1939. Anyone wanna put mony on it?
Reason why that's known to not be much of a risk on the AT...
Crooks (murderers, like thieves) seem to mostly be unwilling to go to the effort of hiking. Makes sense in a way; if someone is too lazy to work at an honest job for what they want, it'd be reasonable to figure they'd be too lazy to hike with a pack deep into the woods to screw with LD hikers. After all, most of the pack theft, harassment of hikers, etc., does usually take place at road crossings, in towns, at road-served festivals like Trail Days, etc. In contrast, how many assaults or pack thefts have ever taken place on Mts. Moosilauke or Katahdin?
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