The National Park Rangers are advising hikers in Glacier National Park and other Rocky Mountain parks to be alert for bears and take extra precautions to avoid an encounter.
They advise park visitors to wear little bells on their clothes so they make noise when hiking.
The bell noise allows bears to hear them coming from a distance and not be startled by a hiker accidentally sneaking up on them. This might cause a bear to charge.
Visitors should also carry a pepper spray can just in case a bear is encountered. Spraying the pepper into the air will irritate the bear's sensitive nose and it will run away.
It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for fresh bear scat so you have an idea if bears are in the area. People should be able to recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear scat.
Black bear droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur.
Grizzly bear droppings tend to contain small bells and smell of pepper.
One should never forget the bear "expert" who lived and interacted with bears in Alaska for many years, and just KNEW the bears would never hurt him.
Until the last year he went to visit his friends, the bears, and took his girlfriend along.
His "friends" ATE him and his girlfriend!
One should also never forget that bears are WILD, dangerous, and unpredictable, and they have teeth and claws.
When I was a kid, Golden Gertie, a golden grizzly, hung out along the road near Apgar in Glacier Park, looking for cookies (she loved sugar cookies and potato chips). Yes, she was beautiful. Yes, she was friendly. Yes, I fed her.
BUT, she was a huge, dangerous grizzly bear! We all were well aware of that fact!
Those park animals are all wild and dangerous! Even the Bison. And the chipmunks.
Just be VERY careful!
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Dustytuu wrote: Colin McClelland, 24, male August 10, 1993 Black Fremont County, Colorado A bear tore open the door to McClelland's trailer and attacked him at Waugh Mountain, Colorado. The bear was later killed by game wardens.
Fatal bear attack in CO I don't know why you can't find reference to this. It was in the Rocky Mountain news but has been several years ago. Probably close to 20 years ago.
This young man was staying in the mountains in a camper trailer. The bear approached him and he ran into his trailer, the bear got in by ripping the door off or something, young man died. Bear killed him.
Young man was young, in his 20's I think.
Lots of things can not be found on computer searches.
Thanks! I do not know why I couldn't find it either, but now that I know some details of it I can't not find it!
Actually very little of any significance that has happened in recent history cannot be found somewhere in a data base online... including this one.
About halfway down the following conversation (and more) can be found:
McClelland says that his son had been cooking indoors and had taken to sleeping on top of the trailer in order to avoid trouble with bears. Just two nights before his death, some friends loaned Colin a rifle.
McClelland said he has determined from letters that Colin had been battling a case of the flu and may have been drowsy from talking an over-the-counter medication the night the bear broke into the trailer for the last time. “Colin was probably in a real deep sleep…the bear came in, overcame him, and killed him,” McClelland says.
Your wife has some rational fears. Last summer we did a 6 week trip
above Libby Mt. We left MH at wifes uncles and took our tent. At each of the camp grounds we stayed at there is very strict food storage restrictions.
All food stuffs including bottled water has to be placed in a hard sided vehicle when not in use. Other items include toiletries,bbqs,
fuel and of course garbage.
We were fortunate that we had no encounters and we were in Grizzly
habitat big time.
While we were there a group from Utah was on a black bear hunt and
after shooting a grizz and wounding it, it returned and attacked the
group, unfortunatly one of the guys trying to finish off the bear
shot and killed his partner, they did kill the grizz however.
We are inholders in a small national park in Arizona. A few years ago the park superintendent told us he had been the super at Glacier. One of his reports: a couple in an auto stopped to view bears along the highway. Woman passenger opened up her window for a better view.....then held up her toy poodle so it could have a look at the bear......Hmmmm, warm lunch!
A ranger in Yellowstone told us the previous year a five year old boy had been killed by a deer. Daddy took the boy and a loaf of bread out into the meadow where a herd of deer were grazing and the little boy proceeded to feed a buck. When they ran out of bread the buck reared up and struck the boy on his head and killed him instantly.
Any animal living outside is a wild animal and should be considered dangerous. The world is not a petting zoo....and we are not always at the top of the food chain. Bears, alligators, lions, can easily run 30 mph and there ain't no way you're going to out run them....especially if they're hungry or just plain pissed off.
Cya l8r,
the oakman
funny, I don't remember being absent minded
funny, I don't remember being absent minded
I spent time with a biologist who spent 20 years in Alaska studying the bears and he never left the cabin without his carbine. Once he forgot the rifle at the cabin and had gone only about 40 years when he spotted a familiar male and he felt that the bear knew that he did not have the rifle and was easy pickings. The biologist quickly backed up to the cabin and retrieved his rifle.
I was in Yellowstone last July when somoeone surprised a sow with her cubs and she killed the hiker. It happens and it is only prudent to spend the $45-55 for a large bear spray container just in case. It is like putting on seat belts when the odds are very slim that you will need them. Actually the number one killer of people in Yellowstone is the hot springs with people accidentally falling into them and being scalded to death.
Part of the problem is that the wild animals are often under stress or protecting their young and they will react accordingly.
Something to consider is that a bear can easily tear open a camper or RV with its claws and personally I would not cook anything inside that might attract a bear as with any type of meat or meat product. There are "bear-proof" containers that can be hung in a tree but they are not a panacea.
jpjulian wrote: Yellowstone has very strict rules on outside kitchen prep/cooking/cleaning areas. Anywhere there is a bear sighting will usually have a ranger or two in the immediate vicinity keeping the public at bay. There are mixed reviews on the bear spray which is 10% oleoresin capsacin, (hot pepper), spray. I've seen the same concentration not work on someone resisting arrest. It doesn't always work on humans and I don't think it works as well as advertised on bears. I carry a .45 Long Colt Ruger Single action in a fanny pack when in bear country loaded with heavy hard cast loads. Some may not have the luxury of carrying a firearm as I do and there are surely others opposed to such. So be it but I and my wife will not become a bear turd in the back country when on a hike. Never surprise a bear and if you see a sow with cubs, or just the cubs, turn around and walk away as the sow will destroy anything she deems a threat to her cubs.
That said.... go and enjoy. Absolutely fabulous scenery and worth the trip.Joe
That's what I carry for bear insurance also. a 4.6" Ruger Blackhawk in .45 Colt.
I load it with 10gr.Unique and a 265gr. hard cast,flat point.
(It's a medium load that will shoot thru a large Elk...)
Never had to use it.
Keep food stored out of reach of bears.
A large brown bear can destroy your car if it sees or smells treats.
elkhornsun wrote: I spent time with a biologist who spent 20 years in Alaska studying the bears and he never left the cabin without his carbine. Once he forgot the rifle at the cabin and had gone only about 40 years when he spotted a familiar male and he felt that the bear knew that he did not have the rifle and was easy pickings. The biologist quickly backed up to the cabin and retrieved his rifle.
I was in Yellowstone last July when somoeone surprised a sow with her cubs and she killed the hiker. It happens and it is only prudent to spend the $45-55 for a large bear spray container just in case. It is like putting on seat belts when the odds are very slim that you will need them. Actually the number one killer of people in Yellowstone is the hot springs with people accidentally falling into them and being scalded to death.
Part of the problem is that the wild animals are often under stress or protecting their young and they will react accordingly.
Something to consider is that a bear can easily tear open a camper or RV with its claws and personally I would not cook anything inside that might attract a bear as with any type of meat or meat product. There are "bear-proof" containers that can be hung in a tree but they are not a panacea.
That was really some hike!
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