10 September 2013

Bear Encounters: How NOT to Do It

Better To Be Lucky Than Good Dept:  From CBC News: A new resident of Churchill, Manitoba -- a Hudson Bay town with hordes of polar bears that draw hordes of tourists -- says he should have taken a cab home early Saturday after he was cornered and swatted by one of the bears. Garett Kolsun of Winnipeg says he gained time to run away by waving a lit cell phone in the bear's face.

He ran up to a bakery, and tried kicking open the front door.

"At that point the bear was basically right on top of me," he said. "I was yelling and screaming, trying to keep it away from me. Throughout all this it had swatted at me a few times and it had bit me."

Kolsun said he was desperate.

"So I pulled my cellphone out of my pocket, turned it on and the screen lit up," he said. "I turned it towards the bear, put it in his face and it stepped back."


This Guy Isn't The Lucky One Dept:  A Rhode Island man on a guided hunting trip was mauled by a grizzly he shot near McGrath on Monday after the wounded bear turned on him, Alaska State Troopers say.

John Matson sustained injuries to his head and body, troopers said. He was flown to an Anchorage hospital where he is being treated for his wounds, which don't appear to be life-threatening.

... Here's the story the guide told the trooper, as relayed by troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters:    The assistant, Matson, and another hunter saw the bear munching berries about a mile away and moved in a direction to cut it off. Matson shot the bear with a Winchester Magnum and the bear rolled into the bushes, where the party could hear it growling and thrashing. After just a minute, the bear popped out of the brush and ran away. As the party tracked it at a distance, they saw the grizzly cross a brook into more brush.

They waited about 90 minutes before going into the bushes after the bear, the guide told the trooper.
Suddenly, the assistant heard Matson screaming and the sound of the bear growling and thrashing in the brush, he told Waychoff. He was about 30 feet away. Matson got off one shot before the assistant yelled at the other hunter, "Shoot your gun!" in hopes of distracting the bear, he said. Both the assistant and the other hunter fired shots and the bear ran off.

Matson was bleeding profusely from wounds on his head, Peters said. The assistant wrapped his clothes around the gashes.

Read the rest of the story here.

7 comments:

Sandy Livesay said...

Rev. Paul,

These bears are getting ready for the winter and when people come up on them, it's not a good thing. One must always be aware of your surroundings and never walk up on a bear.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

I'll stay with the old country saying, "Don't go bothering something that ain't bothering you".

Rev. Paul said...

Sandy, that's the proper advice.

WSF, for better or worse, all these folks are on bear hunts, which involves going in harm's way. I don't want meat for my chili or stew that badly: caribou or moose will do just fine, thankyouverymuch!

PioneerPreppy said...

Ya there are easier meat game out there. If I ever HAD to deal with a bear, which interestingly enough they are creeping into my area these days, I would prefer at least a semi-auto weapon. Or an M-203 Grenade launcher. Ya one of those would be best.

Maybe an armored car to shoot out of :)

Rev. Paul said...

Preppy, you may be giving them a touch too much credit. Depends on if you have black or brown bears; the brownies are bigger & tougher.

But I hear you. Facing a charging grizzly doesn't sound like any fun to me, either.

Anonymous said...

DON'T POKE THE BEAR!

Rev. Paul said...

SNBI, it's astonishing how often that simple bit of wisdom gets overlooked!