A serious bear thread ...

[BearBio]

I always say, if you give nature half a chance to kill you, she just might. It's not just limited to animals, there's also weather and putting yourself in situations where if something goes wrong, you don't have the necessary survival gear or supplies.

One of the things I love most in life is baiting my brother. My wife and I moved out of SoCal almost 20 years ago because we were too conservative. First to NorCal, then to the Northwest (east side of the mountains). I like to tell him that an Orange County redneck is NOT a redneck.

One of the big changes we noticed was the fact that NATURE DOES KILL up here! At least once a week all year, we have news articles in the papers. A hiker killed by a mountain goat, climber/skier/tourist killed in an avalanche on Mt Rainier/Baker/Hood. Bear attacks someone. Bear finds body and eats it. Girl dies of rabies. Just a few I remember off the top of my head. One of the biggest fallacies is that all men are created equal. False! All we get is an equal opportunity to be lucky at the game. Besides survival of the fittest, you gotta be fortunate!

The better informed/knowledgeable/prepared, the better your odds. I, for one, wouldn't want to live in a nice, safe, padded house. On the other hand, death doesn't scare me but I wanna postpone it a while longer!

 

[ChuckS1]

I misread the title, I thought it was "beer". Gotta get new glasses.

 

[roundgunner]

Just saw this. I hope it posts

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152496996725267

He seemed like a nice bear, I think he just wanted to play.

 

[MOONDAWG]

In Mother Russia bear not taken seriously.

 

[roundgunner]

nice fish

 

[S&WForty]

Speaking of bears... I just did a quick search of this in the Lounge and didn't see this. It was a pretty cool story!

GPS study tracks grizzlies as they follow hunters | Fox News

"Grizzlies have been known to steal the prey of hunters and fishermen alike. Animals such as elk may travel for miles after being wounded, leaving hunters the task of tracking them even as bears may be doing the same."

I guess you could say this article answers the age-old question, "Do bears loot in the woods."

 

[mc5aw]

Speaking of bears... I just did a quick search of this in the Lounge and didn't see this. It was a pretty cool story!

GPS study tracks grizzlies as they follow hunters | Fox News

"Grizzlies have been known to steal the prey of hunters and fishermen alike. Animals such as elk may travel for miles after being wounded, leaving hunters the task of tracking them even as bears may be doing the same."

I guess you could say this article answers the age-old question, "Do bears loot in the woods."

Never underestimate the intelligence of wild creatures who have walked the earth longer than man.

 

[arjay]

5-6 years ago my bil had a permit for elk just outside of Yellowstone and he invited me along to ride shotgun.One fellow we ran into had a friend that had been run off of his elk.Its an interesting rush climbing up through the timber in the dark cold before dawn knowing they're about [emoji1]

 

[BearBio]

I was hunting deer on a ranch near Thermopolis. It was interesting because elk, antelope and deer seasons all overlapped. Anyway, shot a 4x4 buck and walked over to dress him. It was cross-canyon (well, a deep gully), so I went uphill a ways to cross. Walked into the middle of a herd of elk , saw a gutted and licked clean porcupine carcass, and the biggest pile of bear droppings I've ever seen (remember, my grad thesis included a scat analysis==I've seen a few droppings, closer than I wanted to at times).

Ran into the cowboy who was packing our game out and commented how big the black bears must be. He told me they had two sow grizzlies on the ranch, although 100 miles outside of official range.

Yes, predawn walks can be interesting in grizz country!

ps: Thermopolis is in Wyoming!