cool documentary
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I used to be fascinated by bears and have come to trust them only on there level of hunger.
Grew up with Jeff. His dad is still our family lawyer and spracticing law in Princeton. They only lived a few blocks away. Funny how life changes. As a teenager, he never showed much interest in being in the bush. Only watched part of it but it looks good. I had seen another documentary about these bears and this guy who lives with them. Thanks for the share.
With black bears, an attack on humans is usually is not a question of hunger but a question of surprise, territory and being habituated. Even a hungry bear who is not habituated will avoid contact with a human.
Black bears are not fond of fresh meat. They prefer it nicely rotten and full of maggots. The only case I know of a bear getting ready to eat a human is from a friend who did SAR. This one search they had done for weeks in the Fraser Valley and had not found the missing person. I believe a hiker stumbled on a pile of rocks overtop of a body - the missing hiker. A bear had covered it with rocks so other animals could not get at it before it had rotted enough to eat.
Black bears in the yard during late summer and fall were common growing up. The only reported attacks (always nothing more than charging) that I remember were always about guarding what they though was their food or about defend their cubs. Most times the bears would run off. Those that didn't got trapped and either transported into the bush or shot. Habituated bears usually were shot.
Was once about 6 feet away from a Grizzly while picking huckleberries. Felt like it was 6 inches when I realized it was a grizzly picking on the other side of the bushes. I thought it was my friend there until I yelled how are the berries and he answered from below where I was picking. I realized after the bear could care less about me as s/he was too busy eating. But yes, I did leave the whole bush for the bear and went down the hill.
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Pretty much what I'm saying ,if there's lots of food there pretty much loners ,but if there isn't much they'll be the ones to survive. I've had a couple close calls with grizzlies and black bears. Grew up with a black bear trap in my back yard every year ( an old fruit farm ) . Not once did they trap one, but they have killed a bunch in the yard. My kids say I'll probably die in the hands of a bear. As a matter of fact I bet I see one in the next week or two in my creek ( black bear that is). First year in many I haven't seen them throughout the winter, I think they actually hibernated this winter for some reason.
You should read the books by Gary Shelton. There are many cases of predatory black bear behaviour documented in BC. Some fatal, some not. I think he was advocating backing away, looking 'big', and never playing dead with a BB, because you never know.
Though most of the time you are right about the surprise, territorial, defensive charges/attacks.
Like Wrongway, I pretty much learned to live with bears from an early age and caught s*** on more than one occasion for destroying stuff that they actually destroyed ..at least that's the story I stuck with.
The only predatory bear I heard about around Princeton was the one that destroyed the CO's motor bike and chased him away from Butler lake. But he was preying on a good chew of rubber tires and vinyl.
CO didn't have his sidearm so the bear lived and the CO had to walk quite a few clicks to the highway. That said, the bear was being attracted to the location by fishermen who cleaned their catch at the lake and left the heads and the guts on the ground. ...burn them or chuck them back into the water deep.
I once encountered a black bear on a path head on who would not move. I was going to a good fishing spot and he was between it and me. Scream and yelling did nothing. He just sat there and looked at me. After a few minutes of staring at each other I grabbed a rock and tossed it at him. It broke a branch above his head and he took off up the hill. About an hour later I came back and he was in the same spot. We repeated the same staring match and then the rock. This time it bounced at his feet and he took off up the hill again but not so far this time. I did not have any luck fishing so had no fish. It might have been different if I had fish. About 3 days later he wandered into town for a garbage feed and was shot by the CO. CO said he had totaly lost all fear of humans or dogs.
I did once hear about a grizzly that tracked a hunter up near Fort St. James and killed him. But they say the hunter had wounded the bear.
My brother-in-law has a nice small orchard up near Monte Lake but he picks all his apples and pears green because of bears. They get fed to their horses. The bears still wander through but having no access to food, they don't stay.
The only predatory bear I heard about around Princeton was the one that destroyed the CO's motor bike and chased him away from Butler lake. But he was preying on a good chew of rubber tires and vinyl.
CO didn't have his sidearm so the bear lived and the CO had to walk quite a few clicks to the highway. That said, the bear was being attracted to the location by fishermen who cleaned their catch at the lake and left the heads and the guts on the ground. ...burn them or chuck them back into the water deep.I once encountered a black bear on a path head on who would not move. I was going to a good fishing spot and he was between it and me. Scream and yelling did nothing. He just sat there and looked at me. After a few minutes of staring at each other I grabbed a rock and tossed it at him. It broke a branch above his head and he took off up the hill. About an hour later I came back and he was in the same spot. We repeated the same staring match and then the rock. This time it bounced at his feet and he took off up the hill again but not so far this time. I did not have any luck fishing so had no fish. It might have been different if I had fish. About 3 days later he wandered into town for a garbage feed and was shot by the CO. CO said he had totaly lost all fear of humans or dogs.
I did once hear about a grizzly that tracked a hunter up near Fort St. James and killed him. But they say the hunter had wounded the bear.
My brother-in-law has a nice small orchard up near Monte Lake but he picks all his apples and pears green because of bears. They get fed to their horses. The bears still wander through but having no access to food, they don't stay.
Good book, wish I never read it, sleeping in a back pack tent is much harder now. Stephen Herrero's book although a little less practical also tells of a lot of documented predatory attacks..
Black bears are opportunists and will make a meal of a human if they judge the risk to be low enough...
Agree. I had to read two bear books as 'awareness' training for cut block/creek assessment work on the mid coast years ago. Would rather not have.
Haven't had any negative experiences with black bears and I think I've spent quite a bit of time in the woods. but regardless, some of those accounts of are very moving. Yeah sometimes its just the imagination that gets going, but sometimes not.
Never had an encounter escalate into a real threat, but a few situations that made the Shelton book seem pretty relevant in my head. Like when calling moose and you get a grizzly come at you (once bounding noisily kinda reminded me of the scene in Jurasic Park, once creeping in quietly, and once finding the bears paw prints in my ground blind after I had left for an hour for a stretch). I won't forget the trip when after seeing a sow and 2 large cub grizzlies in the flats I continued up the valley, parked and hiked up above an old cutblock looking for deer or elk. The bears had worked their way up the valley and apparently they had a scrap amongst themselves (I'm guessing), the sounds they made I can't describe (closest I can picture is maybe roaring lions), well standing there knowing they were somewhere down by my truck in the woods while it was quickly getting dark was definitely a 'memorable' moment that kept up till I GTFO of there. Or a camping trip when I was woken at 4am to sometime screaming BEARS! (bush party, lots of people in camp). A friend heard the shouting so he got out of his tent and into his car. Saw shapes in the dark, turned on his headlights in time to see one of the grizzlies crush his tent and root around looking for movement. They raided a few peoples badly stored food supplies/coolers before heading off. Didn't sleep so soundly the rest of that night in my tent. I enjoy being in the woods more than anywhere else, but there were moments where I questioned that.
Anyways besides the typical bear books, you can find industry warnings/alerts from the BC Forest Saftey Council every year from crews meeting agressive black bears. And the news, seems there are attacks most years, albeit I think they are mostly griz
Haven't had any negative experiences with black bears and I think I've spent quite a bit of time in the woods. but regardless, some of those accounts of are very moving. Yeah sometimes its just the imagination that gets going, but sometimes not.
Never had an encounter escalate into a real threat, but a few situations that made the Shelton book seem pretty relevant in my head. Like when calling moose and you get a grizzly come at you (once bounding noisily kinda reminded me of the scene in Jurasic Park, once creeping in quietly, and once finding the bears paw prints in my ground blind after I had left for an hour for a stretch). I won't forget the trip when after seeing a sow and 2 large cub grizzlies in the flats I continued up the valley, parked and hiked up above an old cutblock looking for deer or elk. The bears had worked their way up the valley and apparently they had a scrap amongst themselves (I'm guessing), the sounds they made I can't describe (closest I can picture is maybe roaring lions), well standing there knowing they were somewhere down by my truck in the woods while it was quickly getting dark was definitely a 'memorable' moment that kept up till I GTFO of there. Or a camping trip when I was woken at 4am to sometime screaming BEARS! (bush party, lots of people in camp). A friend heard the shouting so he got out of his tent and into his car. Saw shapes in the dark, turned on his headlights in time to see one of the grizzlies crush his tent and root around looking for movement. They raided a few peoples badly stored food supplies/coolers before heading off. Didn't sleep so soundly the rest of that night in my tent. I enjoy being in the woods more than anywhere else, but there were moments where I questioned that.
Anyways besides the typical bear books, you can find industry warnings/alerts from the BC Forest Saftey Council every year from crews meeting agressive black bears. And the news, seems there are attacks most years, albeit I think they are mostly griz
haha. good tent stories. i'm glad my tenting days will be over soon.
oh so did anyone also enjoy the terrain on the other side of the ocean?
Russia? hell yah.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mmizJ6qgpo
I like to think I've been smart when camping, but lucky also.
The only time I've ever had, or noticed, bears in camp was at Buck island and Rubicon Springs during Rubithon. It's such a highly travelled area that the local brown bears there know where to get food. Several campers had bears rummage through their stuff. We kept our food supply well away from the tent and stored inside the truck.
The only time I've ever had, or noticed, bears in camp was at Buck island and Rubicon Springs during Rubithon. It's such a highly travelled area that the local brown bears there know where to get food. Several campers had bears rummage through their stuff. We kept our food supply well away from the tent and stored inside the truck.
Better to string food up a tree away from the tent than inside a vehicle. A bear can do a bit of damage trying to get to food in a vehicle.