http://news.yahoo.com/grizzly-bear-kills-yellowstone-hiker-223309866.html
Very sad news; my thoughts and sympathies to his family. Please be bear aware everyone.
Regards,
Scott
Saw this and my first thoughts were, “Where’s Deb??!!” Please be careful out there!!
My first thought also.
The last I saw Deb and Bill(last week), they were heading home because of the high water out west.
Brad
You can never be too careful. Keep your eyes open and make noise in bear country.
Sad all around. Someone is dead and the bears never win when this happens.
Unfortunately this is a case of hikers acting irresponsibly.
They made 4 crucial mistakes.
- They saw the bear and her cubs twice, but did not turn around, instead kept following it along the trail. (Next time, turn around!)
- They weren’t carrying any bear spray.
- When the bear charged, the husband told the wife to run.
- They were travelling by themselves… when in heavy grizz country, should always be in larger groups. YNP recommends a minimum of 3!
It is sad that this occurred, but some common sense could have gone a long way here.
Paul
Having had 3 “encounters” ( twice in Grand Teton and once in Y’Stone) of which one was a underwear changing experience ( by coincidence, not far from the current incident) I don’t take ANY chances. I tend to fish where THEY apparently like to roam. I’m careful, generally avoid being alone in remote places and am severly alergic to the thought of becoming bear scat. Where legal, I’m packin both UDAP and my 44.
Mark
I just read the Yellowstone report and just wanted to correct a couple of statements. (at least this is what I have)…
The couple saw the bear and her cubs for the first time when they were about 100 yards away. They were about a mile from the trail head. The couple DID turn around and started to walk in the opposite direction. They did NOT continue in the direction of the bear. As they were walking away, they turned around to see that the bear had begun to charge them. The next statement you made was half correct. They BOTH attempted to RAN away. (This can induce the prey drive so running is something one should NEVER EVER do.) YOU CAN NOT OUTRUN A BEAR! STAND YOUR GROUND…as hard as that will be.
Yes, to your last comment, You should travel in groups…the larger the better. I didn’t do a lot of things I had planned to do because I was alone. (Bill doesn’t count.) Anyone traveling in wild / remote country increases the odds of a tragedy when traveling alone or even in pairs, (3 minimum…and not just in Grizzly country ) be it from bears, other critters, twisted ankles or falling rocks. etc. I can write a book full of stories that would bring home that fact loud and clear.
BEAR SPRAY is an effective deterrent. Never go into grizzly country without it and keep it easily accessible on your person. It won’t help you if its in your back pack or sitting on the picnic table several yards away or with a bear between you and it.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/215370-yellowstone-bear-attack.html
I decided to put off the trip out west when I saw the late thaw couple with record snow falls and rains. My uncle sent me photos of the Roaring Fork where I was wading last year about this exact time…
July 10 2010:
July 7 2011: Almost the exact same spot (within 20 yards, different angle)
Fishing is going to be difficult to impossible probably until September, unless you stick with lakes… and a lot of high country two tracks and trails are still under snow.
But to be perfectly honest…I was also having some issues with flashbacks on my last camp out when I would wake up to critters sniffing around my tent. I didn’t like the feeling. Then add to that all the bear attack reports in the last week (two in BC) …and especially yesterday in Yellowstone…I think I’m going to stick around the Midwest this year.
Add rattlesnakes to that equation. There also seems to be an abundance of rattlesnake reports and warnings - more than I can remember seeing in past years. This maybe the year I finally come across one. Hope not.
What a difference a year makes, wow!
Perhaps a bit of oversimplification ( un like THAT word), but, if the Park Service “hunted down” the bears and sprayed them with the “deterrent” they would learn to stay away from humankind by association. Hopefully, NO Rangers would be eaten in the process …Like I said, perhaps an “oversimplification” 
Mark
PS: BTW , MY "encounter was near the Pahaska Tepee Restaurant area near the East Entrance from Cody WY. Apparently “my” bear was a frequenter of that area and I later heard it was destroyed BECAUSE of it’s “familiarity”. Were it not for a passing motorist who saw the bear cross the road and a a few seconds later saw ME, out of his peripheral vision, walking from a stream toward that road, I would have been a meal. He stopped, backed up,shouted to me and pointed to what was following me at a “brisk” pace. The/his car was a small one and my entry into it reminded me of my college phone booth occupation contests, but MUCH FASTER. The bear decided to retreat probably within 50 feet of us. WHEW!!! The only deterrent I had THAT day was a whistle-compass-teeny flashlight combo. Quoth the raven, NEVERMORE!
When bears do approach camp sites, or any of the lodges in the park, the rangers do a pretty good job of getting them to go away by using bean bags shells in a shot gun. As bad as this sounds, this does mean the bears are getting back to being wild in the park. With regard to black bears, there is a huge difference in a park bear versus a non-park bear. Inside the park, a black bear goes about its business regardless of how close humans get. In the wild, they see a human they run the opposite direction… they don’t hang around.
That said, it’s time for Grizzilies to come off the endangered list. Grizzilies are spreading well out of their recovery zone now, meaning that their population is healthy. When u have a grizzily roaming at the south edge of the Wind River Mountains… some 100 miles south of their recovery zone they are doing just fine.
Paul
Prayers go out to all involved.
Perhaps people have become complacent with the word “Park” and fail to recognize the fact that this is a Wilderness area! It’s also possible that one of the last remaining areas in the lower 48 with a significant population of Grizzly bears is not being taken seriously enough for fear of losing tourist dollars?
Like some others on this thread, I have a tendency to get far from the “maddening crowd”. If I were to do that in Yellowstone, it would be under the full understanding that I am entering the world of a carnivore that has the full ability to treat me like a chew toy at their whim, and no matter how much I try to convince myself that they would probably just leave me alone, I would also have to ask myself, what in their genetic make-up and eons of adapting to their environment is going to convince them that I am nothing more than just another potential item on the menu?
The further you travel into their territory the more likely you will just be another tidbit to them! To give them any kind of (human-type) reasoning abilities is folly at best! To even expect them to react the same way, twice to the same stimulus, is dangerous!
Personally, I think they should take down all the wildlife warning signs - they serve no purpose and give visitors the false sense of security that the Park Service is in control at all times - their not! It’s like having deer crossing signs at specific locations in Pennsylvania - one sign at every entrance to the state, stating that there are deer in Penna. and they could be anywhere should do it! Pay Attention!!
The only way to ensure that there will not be ANY bear-people conflicts, would be to either give them their own human-free space, or to eradicate the grizzlies! You’d also have to get the Canadians to get rid of theirs too!
We also have to stop portraying these animals as something other than what they are, so someone doesn’t get it into their head that they want to try to get close, or even more ridiculous, try to pet a bison or elk or a cuddly lil ol’ bear! Gee, thems some mighty cute wolf puppies over there - lets go give’em a big ol’ hug!!
Best regards, Dave S.
In my neck of the woods, a black bear was spotted over the weekend less than 10 miles outside of a town, at a very popular tourist destination (Sinks Canyon State Park… on the nature trail for those familiar with that location). That’s kinda crazy. Yeah we have black bears in our region, but normally they don’t venture anywhere near our population centers… Quite interesting.
Mind you, the “nature” trail is normally for showing birds, deer, and the occasional Mountain goat, though most of the herd has moved off.
My guess is the bear was drawn to the large bird feeders near the trail.
We had a black bear shot by police within 400 yards of my house last year. It was traveling along the Thames river corridor, probably from one bird feeder to the next as its food supply. It may have gone unnoticed except that it was now on the land occupied by a local high school, a childrens psychiatric institution and a grade school. We’re in the city of London, ON. Population over 350,000. I had a hard time for years convincing mates that there were black bears within 50 miles of London. Along the Maitland River, I used to see scat while I was fishing for steelhead. We’ve also had a significant number ( as high as 30 per year) of cougar sitings: http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/354 But it’s never been established if these are here because of misguided human activities or if these are genetically wild cougar, which were thought to have been extirpated from this region nearly a century ago . They still haven’t been able to collect DNA samples. The most bizarre sighting was a moose wondering around here, along the 402 corridor in 2006 for several weeks. It was finally stuck by a car near the town of Lucan, and had to be put down because of it’s injuries. Algonquin Park area is probably the closest moose population…and that’s a six hour drive from my house. No one still knows where it may have come from.
As people populate more and more wild territory, animals get pushed further into human habitat. More sightings and confrontations are bound to occur. As for places like Yellowstone…it has over 3,000,000 human visitors annually. Most follow good practices while in the area, to help eliminate the possibility of an encounter with the wildlife. They also know that there are no guarantees. Then there is a significant percentage of visitors that follow bad practices out there. Unfortunately the don’t just increase the odds on themselves of becoming a statistic but they effect the odds of the rest of the folks out there too, by habituating the wild life to humans…making the animals believe that humans pose no threat and worse…they are a source for easy access to food of one kind or another. I saw a lot of incredibly stupid people out there. You would have thought you were in a local petting zoo. Sometime I wonder if people that go to these parks should have a license to enter them. Only obtained after completing a course on how to behave in wild habitat. In fact…that’s a great idea.
We do have to accept that encounters will happen and not all of them will end on a positive note if we are to enjoy a world with wild life in it, no matter what we do. I for one wouldn’t want to live in a world without Grizzlies, wolves, lions, etc. For the ones who can’t accept the risks and don’t want them around…that’s easy. Stay home, in your cities, at your computer. You can see Yellowstone Park via Google Maps and videos.
Deb that is a great response to the issue…
We are leaving next Thursday to go out there next Thursday. Still not sure about the bear spray and all. Spend the money or go through the hassle of taking and checking in a pistol that I already own. Never seen bears but that don’t mean that they are not there.