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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Oct 11, 2016 - 12:13pm PT
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The more I read about this "attack" the more it looks like the bear used just about the gentlest means at its disposal to say "scram!"
It seems all the bear did was push the guy down, his scrapes and scratches were sustained in the fall. If the bear meant to harm the guy there's no way he could have strolled on down and dialed 911.
If this scenario is correct, then if it were me I'd have kept my mouth shut. Maybe told a few friends and called it a day.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Oct 11, 2016 - 12:28pm PT
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After pacing a mountain lion down Mt. Laguna in the dark one night I researched the risk of cougar attack. It is very minimal, but we did invest in a can of bear spray
Anybody checked the bear literature?
Goldilocks doesn't count.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Oct 11, 2016 - 12:44pm PT
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Ken, I get your point. It just grieves me. And a lot of it is due to stupid people.
Amen, Kris and Ken. Once at White Wolf, and once on the way to Half Dome, I discovered that bear cubs were near, and Momma let me know where she was, and where I'd better not be. In my experience (and I had a lot, camping along the Tioga Road over the last six decades), black bears usually give rather strong hints when I need to get out of there.
The scariest encounter, though, was when a male bear showed up to battle a mother and two cubs in the late, great Smokey Jack campground. The adults started smacking each around and I had visions of one or both of them rolling over my tent. I quickly moved to the car, but it took me a while to get back to sleep.
Reintroduce grizzlies to California? No, thank you. When I could see that the rangers in Glacier were afraid of them, I was grateful they're limited to our state flag and zoos.
John
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Cragar
climber
MSLA - MT
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Oct 11, 2016 - 01:20pm PT
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The problem is simple and I am surprised none of you appear to know.
It is our responsibility to take necessary precautions with animals. The Brutus way of either killing them on-sight, after an attack or just plain rid them of their existence so we feel safe is as bad or worse than voting for Trump.
Let's Be Responsible
Americans for the
First Time!
What ever happened to respecting the wildlife while in its home? It's how I was taught and when in the free air of the wilds the only way to be, all other forms are just based on arrogance/fear.
It will only get worse for the animals if humans don't take a stance of responsibility and/or just staying the frick out of the animals homes as we build deeper and deeper into the wildlands and increase the WUI to unsustainable levels.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 11, 2016 - 02:38pm PT
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The problem is simple and I am surprised none of you appear to know.
Oh, like most of us here don't have a clue? Yer audience is the 10 million
people who live within an hour's drive of Bailey Cyn, many of whom are hard
pressed to get their shoes on the correct foot, let alone avail themselves
of the pertinent bear beta. It is also entirely possible that all the
self-appointed pundits here have made incorrect assumptions about this guy.
He may have been making noise, he may have acted correctly with respect to
the first bear, and may only have been guilty of not checking his six.
He probably wasn't making as much noise as I was the last time I went for
an unarmed hike on Kodiak Island though.
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Cragar
climber
MSLA - MT
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Oct 11, 2016 - 02:55pm PT
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Oh, like most of us here don't have a clue?
I didn't see anything about personal responsibility, that was my point. Habituation and living in their homes does far more harm than the other folks you appear to be calling stupid. Good for you KH(Kodiak Hiker)!! You da man!
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Winemaker
Sport climber
Yakima, WA
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Oct 11, 2016 - 03:39pm PT
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zBrown, I know what you mean. I was on Mt. Si outside of North Bend, Wa on the east end away from the Haystack trail, as I wanted some solitude. There was still snow at the top. I was walking along and kept hearing a sort of rumbling noise but didn't really make the connection until I sat down for lunch and noticed the paw prints in the snow. I could put my whole hand, with fingertips curled, in them. I finally, stupid as I was, realized the noise I had been hearing was a f*#king big cougar telling me to leave. I got up and carefully backtracked; he followed for a bit until I was out of his territory. Scared the sh#t out of me, especially as I was alone and at least an hour and a half from humans. I had my wife's cell phone, but of course the battery was dead.....
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Oct 11, 2016 - 04:33pm PT
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Funny coincidence WM. We saw some very big paw prints exiting a stream about 25 yards from the trailhead where the car was.
Michele who was with me claimed to hear 'rumbling' which I dismissed as a distant motorcycle.
On the bear front, approx 750,000 black bears account for less than one human death per year on average.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 11, 2016 - 05:03pm PT
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When you've put yer size 11 fully inside a print, with room to spare,
you know you're way down on the food chain. And that was the forepaw.
The rear paw was twice as big.
When you've gotten out of yer sleeping bag and found leopard prints
ten feet from yer bivy sac you know yer a lucky mofo. ;-)
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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Oct 11, 2016 - 07:03pm PT
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What's the real Treasure? Controlling the Bears?? Controlling the Climate??? Controlling the Gold??? Or Controlling oneself.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Oct 11, 2016 - 07:47pm PT
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When animals are surprised they attack, so it could have been a mating pair.
...
Richman said he yelled as loud as he could in hopes of scaring the bear off, but as he backed away, he encountered a second bear, leaving him trapped. He said he tried to run, but the second bear grabbed him, first by the wrist and then on a leg.
"I pretty much right away felt its strength, and then it got me down on the ground," he said. "I was on my hands and knees and it had its mouth around my neck."
Richman said he decided to remain quiet and perfectly still, and the bear released him. #runlikehell seems like a bad choice, though maybe hard to suppress that response!
#youdontexpectthesecondbear
#I_saw_her_first
#no_mixed_threesomes
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 11, 2016 - 08:00pm PT
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Not a mating pair - two immature males.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Shetville , North of Los Angeles
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Oct 11, 2016 - 08:02pm PT
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It may have been mating with the hiker...?
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 11, 2016 - 08:15pm PT
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The mouth around the neck thing sounds kinda scary. Gulp!
A couple of weeks ago a bear came down Lima St rummaging through the trash cans. Several months ago a lion come down Lima. The next night a lion was seen dragging a deer carcass down Carter.
Deer are now regulars on Sturtevant in Sierra Madre.
Two months ago the wife and her friend saw a mother and two cubs at Orchard Camp.
No water in Bailey up at the old foundations. No water at First Water on the Mt. Wilson Trail. Even the ceanothus is dying up there.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Oct 11, 2016 - 08:32pm PT
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Nobody has said. Were they wearing clown masks?
Bears do practice homosexuality.
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 15, 2016 - 09:41am PT
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The trails are open today. Went as far as McClure Saddle, no bears!
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Oct 15, 2016 - 11:16am PT
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I was in the woods today collecting blackberries, a favourite of black bears, but I saw no bears.
Oh wait, I am in Ireland, there are no bears, duh...
Flip Flop, that John West ad is hilarious. I haven't seen it before.
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10b4me
Mountain climber
Retired
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Oct 15, 2016 - 11:50am PT
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The trails are open today. Went as far as McClure Saddle, no bears!
sure there aren't :-)
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