Tragic bear attack in Wyoming

Bear spray again ineffective. After all, the can was empty. Maybe the bear sniffed it. That is the current fad, I understand... Sniffing I mean.

As more and more stories roll in on bear spray failures, it makes a guy wonder if the prior research reports haven't been tainted by Gov officials and researchers who want fewer bears killed by firearms in defense of life and property.
Bunny huggers.
And then there's the companies selling the sprays. No bias there of course.
 
Cuz said:
I just got home from a 7 day hunt in the centenniel mountains of Montana. Saw some bear sign but no bears. In some areas the timber is really thick and trying to cut up an elk and move the meat away from a kill sight really leaves you vulnerable. We carried handguns but no rifles in camp on an archery hunt. I don't know the details on this tragedy, but I can imagine scenarios where they didn't have much of a chance. Maybe would have made a difference if the gun was on him instead of his pack, maybe not. I know I built a crossdraw holster to fit my pack belt, now the gun is on my pack instead of me.
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I know of one story, told to me first-hand by the mauled survivor, whose life was absolutely saved from a shoulder-holstered S&W 44 Mag.
His face was already crushed and still in the boar's jaws when he drew and emptied his 44 into the brisket of the bear, by feel alone. Shoved the muzzle into fur and emptied the revolver as fast as he could. Score one for the 44 in the shoulder holster.
This man went thru reconstructive surgery, and later became elected Mayor of the Kenai Peninsula Borough. Just one of the reasons I live here. In many other places these days, he'd have been criticized for hurting the bear...

A hero where I live and play!
 
The pepper spray usefulness can go either way. I've a friend who has, not once - but twice, deployed pepper spray....it worked both times. But he also carries a 4" S&W 500! He tries to "cover all of the bases"! memtb
 
Cuz said:
......In some areas the timber is really thick and trying to cut up an elk and move the meat away from a kill sight really leaves you vulnerable.....I don't know the details on this tragedy, but I can imagine scenarios where they didn't have much of a chance......Maybe would have made a difference if the gun was on him instead of his pack, maybe not........
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.......When I killed my moose in the NWT, I asked the guide how he wanted me to help with cleaning chores. Answer, chamber a round and keep your head on a swivel.

.......In such a situation in your hand is the best place for the firearm.
 
memtb said:
The pepper spray usefulness can go either way.

But he also carries a 4" S&W 500! He tries to "cover all of the bases"! memtb
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I hear that...

But the failures during actual maulings factor in WAY more heavily in my opinion. Some bears are easy to repel without pepper spray or firearms. The ***** cats lacking ambition and fortitude. The bears that maim and kill are the only studies that count. And here we have confirmation of another failure.

I feel certain the bear didn't dispense the "bear" spray.
 
I have heard far too many stories of Bear spray getting blown back at the person.....For me I'll stick with bullets as I have never been in wind strong enough to blow one back into me. I'd carry whatever it takes to elevate me to the top of the food chain in the area I'm hunting, not that it guarantees anything, but I really don't want to say, "I wish I would have"...... Sad story for the victims and their family's. Too bad the world won't view them as "innocent victims" like they would a person out doing "liberal approved outdoor activities"........
 
milkie62 said:
I will be with that outfitter in 2020. Guess I will have my 10mm Glock with me. One more thing to add to the list of equipment.
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You really need to step up to at least a .41 magnum.

Even more important would be your ammo selection, no personal defense rounds designed for maximum expansion and minimum penetration.

A heavy plus p jacketed hollow point that gets maximum penetration and delayed expansion is pretty well essential for such purposes.
 
HARPERC said:
The current maximum spray range I find is 35 feet, with most in the 20 foot range. Way inside the distance I'm going to allow a bear to close.

Again the fear of becoming entangled with USFW etc. drives the discussion to an unreasonable standard.
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Better making your case to a jury of 12 than being crapped out one piece at a time along a bear trail.

Worst of all a bear is happy to eat you while you are still alive.
 
Ckgworks said:
I have heard far too many stories of Bear spray getting blown back at the person.....For me I'll stick with bullets as I have never been in wind strong enough to blow one back into me. I'd carry whatever it takes to elevate me to the top of the food chain in the area I'm hunting, not that it guarantees anything, but I really don't want to say, "I wish I would have"...... Sad story for the victims and their family's. Too bad the world won't view them as "innocent victims" like they would a person out doing "liberal approved outdoor activities"........
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The last thing I'm going to be thinking about during an attack is the wind direction.

In an emergency the first thing that happens is you develop tunnel vision and you immediately cease being able to think intellectually. You will immediately revert to your highest level of training that is mastered rather than magically rising to the occasion.

This is one place where above all else KISS applies.
 
Kmccord said:
I have never hunted in bear country, I have vacationed in Yellowstone, and I can tell you we saw a lot of bears Blacks and Grizzlies, all with cubs... Me and the wife never hiked farther than what we could see the car while in Yellowstone park, we we're in the Teton National Park and walked around some on Jenny Lake, we stopped when I stood next to a tree that had been raked from about 8ft from the ground. I wasn't sure if that was from a bear or Elk or Moose, but I did not feel comfortable walking without a sidearm. For people that go camping or hunting in bear country, do you guys use an electric fence to help keep bears out of camp? I had seen some wildlife show that you could see some wires around the tents.
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My dad was almost six foot tall. More than a decade after the grizz had been declared extinct in colorado we have a picture of him standing with his back to a tree, arms/hands fully extended and he still could not reach a horizontal bear marking.

A few years later a grizz killed an entire family and ate three of them just a few miles away.

In the famous case of a guide who killed and was severely mauled by a grizz in Colorado the necropsy showed the old sow had given birth at least five times in her life and was over 12 years old. I can't remember the rest of the details, it was back in the eighties or early nineties.
 
RockyMtnMT said:
For me, the bears are just there. They are in the back of your head a bit all the time. If you think too much about it, you can't enjoy yourself. We keep a clean camp, put our food in a tree, and go about our business. I always see fresh bear sign when in the back country but don't very often see the bears. They want to see me less than I want to see them. They really don't want to be bothered. You start spending time in the National Parks and around them, the story gets different. The density of the bears is so high and the amount of people that they encounter teaches them that people are a source of food. Hunting around Yellowstone, the bears have learned that gun shots mean meal time. They have learned to go to gun shots because there will be at least a gut pile there. It is highly recommended to hunt in pairs and if you get an animal down that only one guy should work on the animal while the other stands guard. I prefer not to hunt in griz country, it takes some of the fun out of it. Hunting where there are not griz a guy can relax more.

This Mission Wilderness mule deer tag puts us square in one of the biggest griz populations our state has to offer. The good news is the country is very rough and far less people make the trip into the wilderness. These bears are much more wild.

Steve
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To the bolded, I never cease to be surprised at just how many people don't realize this.

For any predator or carrion eater a gunshot is the loudest dinner bell on the planet.

The only question is how long it will be before they appear.
 
phorwath said:
Bear spray again ineffective. After all, the can was empty. Maybe the bear sniffed it. That is the current fad, I understand... Sniffing I mean.

As more and more stories roll in on bear spray failures, it makes a guy wonder if the prior research reports haven't been tainted by Gov officials and researchers who want fewer bears killed by firearms in defense of life and property.
Bunny huggers.
And then there's the companies selling the sprays. No bias there of course.
Click to expand...

I saw a vid a few years back of a grizz destroying a pack dropped by the camper in fear who fled.

Among other things the bear bit into the bear spray and momentarily disappeared in a fog.

When the fog cleared he was really mad and took off after the camper. It didn't end well.
 
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