Black Bear Attack

[DrMike]

A family of four was attacked by a black bear last evening. Two women were injured, one critically, and a teenage boy was swatted. One of the women was air-lifted to Edmonton in critical condition (Edmonton is 600 km away). Two things jumped out at me when I heard this last evening. First, the site of the attack is about 6 km (less than 5 miles) from our home. The second is that this is a Filipino family, which leads me to believe they are not as bear aware as those raised in this area. They weren't carrying any bear spray of armaments, which made them vulnerable. From all the news reports, it appears that this was a predatory attack.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/cana...riously-hurt-conservation-service/ar-AA12BAw9

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/brit...ly-injured-bear-attack-dawson-creek-1.6605576

https://canoe.com/news/local-news/b...scue/wcm/765a7a03-9755-4595-9c1b-0ba7f7f73936

 

[Thebear_78]

Bears go into hyper mode right before winter trying to stock up for hibernation. This can lead to unusual aggression for bears in poor physical health. We just had a father and son attacked locally a couple weeks ago. The 9 year old son is still undergoing surgery to repair facial structure.

Time to stay vigilant.

 

[DrMike]

The second woman has now been air-lifted to Vancouver for medical care. It is reported that she will likely lose her left arm. It was apparently a violent attack. The family was quite a way down the trails necessitating an extended search to find them.

 

[hunter24605]

Dang, rare to see multiple victims in the same encounter, I hope they recover. Ill admit, its easy to get lackadaisical about personal safety of both 2 and 4 legged threats.

 

[DrMike]

As more comes out in the news, I have respect for the teenage boy. It appears that when the women ran, he ran at the bear and swatted it. His action gained a swat for his effort, as the bear appears to have targeted the women as they ran. I'm proud of the young man who did what a man should do in protecting the women. Such actions can seem somewhat rare in the world today.

 

[Guy Miner]

I really enjoy watching bears. And hunting them.

Have a huge respect for them as well. Intelligent. Strong. Fast. And very much at home in the wilds. Pretty doggone good at dealing with things like doors & windows as well...

Yes, bear-spray at a minimum. A solid firearm as well when and where I can.

Guy

 

[Alderman]

Got the first bear I’ve seen at the homestead on camera the other day. Big blackberry patch up that way.
It’s easy to get lackadaisical. Until I put the game cameras up I had no idea how much activity there is on the place.

 

[DrMike]

He appears to be quite healthy.

 

[KinleyWater]

I really enjoy watching bears. And hunting them.

Have a huge respect for them as well. Intelligent. Strong. Fast. And very much at home in the wilds. Pretty doggone good at dealing with things like doors & windows as well...

Yes, bear-spray at a minimum. A solid firearm as well when and where I can.

Guy

As I've said before, I think, my spring bear made it better than 100 yards, uphill, with one broken shoulder, no lungs, and a hole in its heart. I am very grateful that she chose to run away from and not at me. My blind was not more than 40 yards away.

 

[DrMike]

Yeah, I've tracked dead bears for more than one hundred yards, crawling on my hands and knees to find the occasional blood droplet. And in most of those instances, it was following four paws in the air. When they were found, they had massive internal injuries that should have dropped the right there. Bears can be tenacious, to say the least.

 

[Guy Miner]

A few years ago I was talking with a wheelchair bound friend about bear hunting. He was interested, but needed a ground blind of course. Also - he told me straight up "I need you to stay with me for protection if the bear comes for me. I can't get away."

He was really worried about the bear coming to get him, and I can understand that. Ultimately he decided to settle for whitetail deer, and got a decent buck while I was hunting with him.

Guy

 

[DrMike]

Generally speaking, bears are not as ferocious as people imagine. However, when they are ferocious... It is a bit like the dog that is a great pet, until the dog isn't. A bear attack can ruin your day. It just doesn't happen as often as people might imagine.

 

[Brinky72]

Unfortunately I think that the growing perception is that bears, especially black bears, are harmless animals that go about their own business and shouldn’t be feared or respected. A condition that comes from a growing urban society that is ignorantly heading out to the country to recreate without having a clue. The more these fools head out to where they shouldn’t go, thinking it’s the trendy thing to do, the more this will happen. As hunters we know how and why to respect all animals and to give them their well deserved space. This generation of people that have not grown up hunting and are ignorant of wild animals and the places they live are going to learn the hard way.

 

[Thebear_78]

I think if you look at the stats a black bear is more likely to have a predatory attack than a grizzly. While rare it does happen. We had a predatory bear attack in a 16 year old who was competing in a race here in anchorage a couple years ago.

They are unpredictable. Any black bear that appears comfortable around people really needs to be shot. It’s a ticking time bomb.

 

[DrMike]

I think if you look at the stats a black bear is more likely to have a predatory attack than a grizzly. While rare it does happen. We had a predatory bear attack in a 16 year old who was competing in a race here in anchorage a couple years ago.

They are unpredictable. Any black bear thst spears comfortable around people really needs to be shot. It’s a ticking time bomb.

All very true. I learned in a visit last evening that this particular bear has been witnessed trying to break into houses on multiple occasions and known to stalk children for several days. And while the COs "gave permission" to people on the mountain to shoot this bear, they didn't remove the animal themselves. While the COs are short-staffed and overworked, it does appear that this was a serious failure on their part. I should imagine there is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

 

[KinleyWater]

Unfortunately I think that the growing perception is that bears, especially black bears, are harmless animals that go about their own business and shouldn’t be feared or respected. A condition that comes from a growing urban society that is ignorantly heading out to the country to recreate without having a clue. The more these fools head out to where they shouldn’t go, thinking it’s the trendy thing to do, the more this will happen. As hunters we know how and why to respect all animals and to give them their well deserved space. This generation of people that have not grown up hunting and are ignorant of wild animals and the places they live are going to learn the hard way.

This seems to have been actively promoted in print, online, and in other media. Even a lot of state game agencies have propagated it. I cannot count the number of times I've read some thing like "the bear is more afraid of you than you are of it..." without explaining that even if true (dubious in many cases) a fearful animal can be terrifyingly dangerous.

 

[NYDAN]

This seems to have been actively promoted in print, online, and in other media. Even a lot of state game agencies have propagated it. I cannot count the number of times I've read some thing like "the bear is more afraid of you than you are of it..." without explaining that even if true (dubious in many cases) a fearful animal can be terrifyingly dangerous.

It is the "Bambi" mentality. Dr. Mike is correct when he wrote, "It is a bit like the dog that is a great pet, until the dog isn't." That is true of all animals.

I found out the hard way with a bull calf that my grandfather raised when I was growing up. The calf and I grew up together. The years went by and one day when I was visiting, my grandfather asked me to clean the bull pen. Being young and stupid I just jumped in the pen with the bull and started pitching "manure". I didn't think to move the bull to another pen first. Fortunately for me the bull had been dehorned, because he came up behind me and tossed me like a rag doll. I only suffered some bruises to my body and ego, but I can imagine what would have happened if the bull hadn't been dehorned.

Has docile as a reputation cows have; they can be very dangerous. I have been kicked, trampled, butted, and tossed. I missed being gored by the thickness of a pair of blue jeans. That is just a cow, let alone a bear, or bison, or wolf, or wild dog, or any wounded animal. Respect and caution are always prudent. Dan

 

[Brinky72]

Reminds me f the “golden rule” when I was a dog handler in the USAF stationed at Howard AFB in Panama. The dogs we worked were sentry dogs or straight patrol dogs that were only good for tracking and bite work. We were alway told never let your eye level get below your dog’s or they’ll take you. And yes it happened a few times to a few unfortunate airmen. An alpha is an alpha and given an opportunity it will let you know.

 

[ShadeTree]

I think if you look at the stats a black bear is more likely to have a predatory attack than a grizzly. While rare it does happen. We had a predatory bear attack in a 16 year old who was competing in a race here in anchorage a couple years ago.

They are unpredictable. Any black bear thst spears comfortable around people really needs to be shot. It’s a ticking time bomb.

That's what I was going to say. While I can't speak to grizzly bears and wont pretend to know them or know about them, but it seemed to me from stories and accounts over the years that percentage wise, when a black bear attacks they aren't pretending, bluffing, content to bat somebody around for a bit then move on, whatever you want to call it. When a black bear attacks it generally truly means business, and that is bad news for a human if they have no protection.

 

[Brinky72]

That's what I was going to say. While I can't speak to grizzly bears and wont pretend to know them or know about them, but it seemed to me from stories and accounts over the years that percentage wise, when a black bear attacks they aren't pretending, bluffing, content to bat somebody around for a bit then move on, whatever you want to call it. When a black bear attacks it generally truly means business, and that is bad news for a human if they have no protection.

That’s pretty much the same as what I’ve always heard and lived by. I’ve never been around grizzly’s or have had the opportunity for one to bluff me. Nor do I want to be. I’ve always heard that black bears take a lot to get angry and attack but, when they do their playing for keeps. The bear I shot this year was pissed. He was in the tree all puffed up and huffing at us. As soon as we got the last hound tied up he was on his way down and making noise. Glad I hammered him before he had a chance to give us a piece of his mind. Not the kind of critter I’m going to go toe to toe with at about 425lbs. live weight.