Ya Can’t Fix Stupid

memtb said:

A followup story to the Yellowstone bear attack! memtb


https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/0...yelled-at-by-tourists-too-close-to-grizzlies/

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Bobby Bailey said:

You can fix stupid, but it always hurts.

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do not try to fix stupid. Let them get bittem,stomped,goren and mauled.It is just natural selection. What is stupid is trying to fix it.

Hand Skills said:

I agree. There is a solution to stupid;

Remove the warning labels (Rangers in this case) and the problem will take care of itself!

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I agree however, I see the problem as this……if this is allowed, some "bleeding heart" judge will award the family millions of taxpayer dollars. memtb

I saw "stupid" in Grand Tetons NP first hand a number of years ago (2012). 399, a very popular sow, caused a "bear jam". Side note, she was hit by a car early this year or late last year, don't recall. I was visiting friends in Jackson and we were out photographing the wildlife in GTNP. The network, clique, whatever texted them about the bear jam where the Buffalo fork of the Snake river crosses the highway not too far south of Moran. When we got there the line of cars disappeared around the corner. It was packed. There were two rangers trying to contain a lot of tour-ons <-- local word for tourists. Mom and her two cubs were off to the east a little. 95% of the people were tourists. The rangers had us back off when 399 decided it was time to get away from all of the people. She walked west and went in down by the willows. People started yelling and pointing back toward the willows (SW of where we were) after she went in with her two cubs. We looked and a ranger was running toward a father, with two little kids in tow. Holding a little boy and girls hand. Maybe 4 or 5 years old? He was just about to walk into the willows when the ranger caught up with him. The ranger was not kind or gentle When the ranger came back our way my friend asked them what they were doing. Apparently dad wanted to let his kids get a close look at the cute bear cubs.

Later, during the same day, we were headed toward a Great Gray Owl sighting. One of the locals, a very entitled "lady" with a thick German accent, was parked diagonally across the road, leaning out of the window of her car, taking a photo of a little bird. She was blocking both lanes. The guy driving the car we were in got very close to her car and honked... like a looong loud honk. It scared the crap out of her. It scared the bird away too and she was not happy. She moved, we went around her, and when we got down to the parking lot the word had already gotten out about the Great Gray so it was hard to find parking. Once we parked she spotted the guy that honked and bee lined it straight to him. They had words, she raised her hand to hit him, and the rangers put a stop to it by separating them. They were loud and obnoxious... Later my friend (big ole dude) made the mistake showing the ranger how she raised her hand to hit him. The ranger got to half draw, caught himself, and told my buddy in clear terms not to ever raise his hand at him like that again. Turns out that wasn't the first time for them to clash. I haven't been back since btw.

Almost forgot, the same "lady" later announced loudly, to a group of "fans", that she was "one with 399". I told my friends yeah... becoming one with a bear is likely going to lead to a big pile of bear "sign". Some of those people up there are loons. I'd hate to be from there and suffer through the annual invasion...

Bears and Owls photograph nicely... 600mm f4 lens so I wasn't very close. The Owl photo worked out cool. I had run into a Nat Geo photographer earlier and loaned him my 800mm lens (not a fan, was hoping he would buy it). I pointed out that the Owl had traveled back and forth from one tree that was close to us and the area where all of the other photographers were, including my friends. So we held back and got some decent shots of it coming back from successfully hunting. The Vole wouldn't smile for me...







399 and one of the cubs

Damnit! Now we're going to have to put caution stickers on Animals! As if tools and machinery weren't bad enough.

So an Animal OSHA? PPE for animals against Touron exposure and infections? OMG!

Jeffrey Van Zandt said:

do not try to fix stupid. Let them get bittem,stomped,goren and mauled.It is just natural selection. What is stupid is trying to fix it.

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Nah, dealing with stupid people sometimes requires fixin', and I don't really mind if it hurts them to learn.
Generally speaking, that's how we all learn to not do stupid things, pain is a great teacher.

FURMAN said:

Unfortunately this has become the entirety of western society.

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Does that apply to East and West Coast society people. Not the entire US wide. Or should say the D's & S's party is the group that getting eaten up.

lancetkenyon said:

Let Darwin sort them out...

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He already is!

We should not wish for any human being to be killed by a wild animal no matter how stupid they may be.
So far this thread makes us look bad.

I would like to see visitors to national and state parks have to sign a responsibility of liability for not obeying the 100 yard rule. Or some such lawyer speak that if they are mauled or killed they are responsible for their own actions and will be charged for any expense to recover their body, In the event they are no longer able to pay for being digested by said predator the animal will suffer no retaliation for actions of natural behavior. And the fines and cost will be collected from their property left at the location, cars,camper ect.
I agree that somewhere along the way society has enabled stupidity to survive when nature should have taken care of the problem.

lancetkenyon said:

Let Darwin sort them out...

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I think they are reproducing faster than Darwin can sort them out.

KonoctisWigwam said:

It's not fixable...until...

Every year there are people going to Yellowstone, some with their kids, some just going to pet the teddy bears...or Bisons

It seems like the way to solve that problem is to put up stations, and make all of the people wait in line, so one of the park rangers to explain to them, they are NOT to pet the teddy bears or any animals in the park, at ANY time. Until this happens, people won't be smart enough to know that they shouldn't do that.

The fact this going on so often just says the park needs to do something about it, not the people, and until that happens, you can't fix stupid.

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Or get out of their vehicles to take pictures of them!

"We should not wish for any human being to be killed by a wild animal no matter how stupid they may be.
So far this thread makes us look bad."


I don't think anyone here wishes they would do things that get them killed. The sad fact is, when that happens (I haven't read the story(s) yet), if an animal kills or attacks a human because they were uninformed (how does that happen in today's world. Even AI would tell them not to do that) or stupid the animal is killed. Good thing the reverse isn't true.

I am sure the majority of them believe illegals aren't dangerous and ice should leave them alone.....see the pattern?