Grizzly Encounter

[sask boy]

DrMike, I have had the privilege to hunt with you and Noah seeing first hand how your love for the outdoors has be instilled in Noah's heart . You have also shown him to respect the opportunity to harvest from God's bounty.
I thank you again for posting your time with Noah as I know how precious it is too you .

PS. What rifles were you 2 carry that particular day :wink:?

Blessings,
Dan

 

[DrMike]

We are debarred from carrying handguns, so I don't carry sidearms. Grizzlies here don't come into town very often, though we do see black bears with some frequency. Usually, they are sub-adult bears who have only recently been run off from their mama. When in the mountains, I normally have a firearm close at hand, though that is by no means certain. When stuck a few weeks ago, I had no rifle as we weren't intending to be out long. I was forced to walk a few hundred meters to meet a friend to give me a tow. I didn't feel particularly threatened. The bears here are wild with little chance to become habituated to people. Having said all that, attacks by grizzlies do occur each year, though the number is not great. Candidly, I am much more concerned about predatory attacks from black bears than from grizzles. I have been charged twice by grizzlies, and both times the bear was disturbed when feeding. The threat display was not pushed in either instance, and I was able to move away without the necessity of shooting the bear.

Dan, I had my 350 Rem Mag and Noah was carrying my 325 WSM (which he is laying claim to).

 

[Anonymous]

Hodgeman, Bear78, Dr Mike, Gil, Cheyenne, salmonchaser-----do you guys encounter brown bears on a regular basis ? Do you carry a firearm or spray everywhere you go ---a walk, a bicycle ride, fishing, duck hunting, etc, etc. ? Does your wife carry spray in her purse ?----- or do you only see them when your hunting in the mountains.

We encounter black and brown bears pretty frequently- in my AO, bears are hunted heavily and they tend to associate people as a threat. The typical view is seeing the south end of a north bound bear. Those that don't, get shot. I saw a griz last Friday, just a bit out of town- he was trucking right on out of the area though.

I live in the Interior and bears (and everything else) tend to be a bit sparser due to the harsher climate. Areas like the Anchorage bowl and Eagle River have a lot more bears per square mile than places like Fairbanks with less hunting pressure on the bears. To date, my scariest bear encounter was on Anchorage's Coastal trail. A black bear actively stalked me and my wife for twenty minutes as we walked- always in the brush, just out of range. The area bio got multiple reports of that bear and shot it the next day as it climbed in the passenger window of his truck.

If you graph out bear attacks on a map- Eagle River is the hot spot in the state.

I don't normally carry a firearm in town due to my work location. I do carry a firearm anywhere else. I always keep spray in camp along with a centerfire rifle and my camp trailer always has a shotgun in it. My wife's vehicle typically has a gun in it as well. For activities like fishing, hiking, mountain biking- activities that don't require a gun- I carry a S&W 329 in .44 mag in a chest holster. It's light and stays out of the way. I don't normally carry a handgun when I'm hunting with a long gun. I'm far more comfortable with long guns in a defensive role.

I will not carry spray in the passenger compartment of any vehicle. A release would equal an instant crash. I do agree with Bear- I think spray is a good idea for deterring a curious or nuisance bear hanging around. Not so sure it'd work great in a determined attack.

 

[sask boy]

DrMike, by chance was that in the area where we were hunting Moose?

Blessings,
Dan

 

[DrMike]

It was quite a bit south of there, Dan. The areas in which we hunted moose all have healthy populations of grizzlies, but I chose to introduce Noah to an area he had not hunted before. We started to go into a more rugged and steep area still, but we were blocked by a tree fallen across the road. I didn't have a chain saw and didn't feel much like tackling the tree with a bow saw. Noah was game to try, but I really didn't want to sleep for a couple of hours while he sawed.

 

[hunternyny]

Dr Mike, Bear78. hodgeman, Cheyenne, thank you for the information.

funny how different places have different laws. I had never heard of the "locked car" law, but it makes sense.

Needless to say I envy you fellows and always enjoy your posts talking about trekking through bear country.

Thanks again Dr Mike for the thread

 

[hunternyny]

Dr Mike, Bear78. hodgeman, Cheyenne, thank you for the information.

funny how different places have different laws. I had never heard of the "locked car" law, but it makes sense.

Needless to say I envy you fellows and always enjoy your posts talking about trekking through bear country.

Thanks again Dr Mike for the thread

 

[Europe]

Dr Mike, so glad that you are feeling well enough to be in bear country with your grandson. He is so lucky to have a grandfather that not only loves him but is willing to spend time with him, teach him, love him.

john, we went to Churchill, Canada, years ago with the express purpose of viewing the Polar Bear. We were told at that time that people were not allowed to lock their cars and that if we needed to do so, we should jump in one of them.

Interesting information provided by Hodgeman in regards to the location of bears in the state and their attitude in each location

Best of luck Dr Mike with whatever your next adventure is with Noah

 

[AFG270]

Great photos, DrMike. Your grandson with remember that hunt for the rest of his life.

Thanks for posting, Bear_78, just reminds us not to let our guard down even when hiking near home.

 

[Thankful Otter]

As Requested

I spend a lot of time in bear country and have found the Grizzly, on average will do their own thing but they have a very short fuse. Polar Bears will eat you because they are hungry, not because they are angry. Dont underestimate the Black Bear, I have personally had more negatives encounters with black bears than grizzly or polars.

Plus over the last 100 years there have been as many human deaths contributed to black bears as there have been to the grizzly.

Both the grizzly and black have mauled more humans than the polar---but---there is a larger population exposed to the black and grizzly than to the polar. As an example. How many here have even seen a polar bear in the wild, let alone hunt, fish, trap, and live where they do ?

However, I believe the barren ground Grizzly's in Nunavut are BY FAR the most aggressive bears that I encounter in the bear family.

I have been asked to explain why Dr Mike can not carry a handgun but some can. In my case it is a trapping/wilderness type permit. However, in my personal opinion they are more trouble than it is worth, plus they are harder to use with extreme cold weather clothes and imho are not as effective as a lever rifle, so I also do not carry.

 

[DrMike]

Excellent summation, Cheyenne. I likely wouldn't carry a handgun even if permitted, precisely for the reason you provide. However, I am almost always near a rifle when venturing into the mountains and forests. My .356 Win is a favourite to have with me at such times.

 

[DrMike]

I must be careful not to leave the impression that these bears are docile. Just read of a grizzly attack along the Kootenay River in SE BC.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/grizzly-bear-mauls-kayaker-camping-near-b-c-river-1.3995994

These are still big animals, and they have, as one Newfie said to me while we were watching some bears nearby, "They have big claws and big teeth!" Oh, yeah.