Posted on 03/07/2006 11:16:50 AM PST by JZelle
"One thing that a lot of people don't realize is that wildlife officials estimate that there are more bear and deer in the Northeast than at any time in history. A lot of people think these animals are just beginning to come back after a mass slaughter.
True, they were killed in great numbers but they've come back in greater numbers."
Agreed, and yet the number of black bear attacks are very small. As someone who spends a fair amount of time alone in the backwoods, I have yet to run across a bear that didn't take off as soon as it became aware of me. Over the years I have run into a number of aggressive humans, feral dogs, and even a wild boar, so I always have a suitable firearm handy.
1. Start with a fresh bear.
2. Cremate at 350 degrees for two to three hours.
3. Serve warm with side dishes.
Not to worry -- they'll be re-incarnated as PETA members (although they'll necessarily suffer a decline in their intellects).
> Once the kid is bit, the decision is this that these animals need to be put down to prevent further pain to the child.
Interesting. So children should be kept from pain, no matter the cost to others (bears ain't free, you know)?
> I personally wouldn't feel any better or worse whether it was an opossum or a black bear that was put down to prevent this child's pain.
And if the difference was, one of these animals was someones responibility, propertry, and emotional attachment, and the other was some wild critter?
Some kid sticks his arm uninvited into my house and my cat bites him, he does *not* get to kill my cat to prevent him further pain. The best he'll get is my boot up his ass.
Black Bear Attacks Hiker
By Kevin O'Donnell
Environmental News
Script September 10, 2000
This past May, a hiker in the Great Smoky Mountains National park -- along Little river trail, near Elkmont campground -- was apparently attacked and killed by a 111-pound female black bear and her 40 pound yearling.
The tragic incident was widely reported in the news media, along with the disturbing detail that the bears had, indeed, eaten parts of the hiker's body...
Predatory Black Bear Attack
By Jim Lockwood
Newark Star Ledger
August 12, 2003
She was a 5-foot-3, 105-pound hiker, out for a Sunday walk. He was a 400-pound hulking young bruin officials described as "predatory," looking for a meal.
She said he came up behind her on a trail in Wawayanda State Park in Sussex County, chased her down and tackled her. She said she did the only thing she could. She threw a hard elbow at his snout, and caught him flush, stunning the bear and giving her time to escape.
"This bear was in predatory mode," said Jack Kaskey, a state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman.
"This was classic predatory behavior. The bear was out to eat her. She had to fight for her life."
Nope, just the indicator that there are a great many stupid people in this country.
Camper Attacked by Bear
By Matthew Baker
The Salt Lake Tribune
July 10, 2003
A black bear attacked a sleeping camper on the Green River early Monday morning, leaving him with bites and puncture wounds on the back of his neck and a laceration across the side of his head.
Nick Greeve, 18, was camping with 14 students and five instructors from the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) ...
Five of the students were sleeping in a circle with their feet in the middle of the circle when the bear grabbed Greeve by the head and neck and tried to pull him from his sleeping bag...
Ping
My daddy was born 92 years ago today and died in 1999. He would have found this very odd even though he loved nature.
My only thought was, "What a shame to waste that tasty bear meat!" ;)
You may have just filled a very big void in several lives. I have been looking for the perfect put down for decades, and probably heard all of them, but "syrup swilling" has to sting to the bone.
"Nope, just the indicator that there are a great many stupid people in this country."
ROFLMAO! Sad, but true. :)
"One theory is that any black bear that didn't run like hell when he saw a human was killed back in the 18 and 1900's."
Boy, you apparently haven't been to Gatlinburg or the Smokies.
A campground I used to camp at in the Cherokee National Forest used to have regular visits from bears. They'd tear up anything that even had a smell of food on it that was left outside at night.
It is still rare for a bear to eat a person, but it happened a few years ago right up here in the Smokies.
A bear is opportunistic, like other species. If it learns there is a garbage can with instant food, and that pursuing that around humans is easier than rooting around for acorns, it will take the garbage can.
That's why a good, high bred Tennessee hound dog is the best bear deterrent that exists.
I think another poster made a good point, this kid was bitten because of his dumb mother, there's probably a lot more to this story.
The kid had to go through two fences to get up close to this bear. Bet they were feeding the bears.
I also think the bears shouldn't have been killed. They were in an enclosure, not in the wild, where they could endanger another human, and the treatment for rabies is not as bad as they once were.
If it wasn't a double-fence it should be. Nobody outside should be able to touch or be touched by anything inside.
Let me guess here, the mourners wanted to burn the 4 year old at the stake for putting her hand through the fence. /sarc
My ancestors hunted bears here (in what is now the Cherokee National Forest)for several generations. And, I have several friends who still hunt bears with hounds here. I have written some stories about some of these hunters.
Old Whiskey, Nolichucky Jubal, and others (hounds)were born to chase bears. They won't even chase a 'coon, when there's an old bear track they can chase down.
These bear hunters ride these old logging roads with these hounds. One hound will sit atop the dog box (that's the the strike dog) and when he/she picks up a bear scent from miles away, will start baying.
That's when his job is done. They put him up and take out the tracking/treeing hounds. These hounds travel for many miles on the trail of a bear, with these hardy mountain men in fast pursuit behind the dogs. And these old men know the individual bay of their hound from the others, even from miles away.
Working these hounds is what is so fascinating about the bear hunting tradition here. It's really a sight to see.
It also keeps the bears running -- AWAY from humans and civilization. Working these hounds is the magic that keeps men well into their '80s running up the sides of the mountains here (no easy feat).
When I was a small child my Grandma used to tell me stories about her brothers, and uncles and their hounds running bears in these mountains. I am truly blessed, I got to experience this firsthand as an adult.
The hunters I know here use all the bear, the hides, claws, and fat. One of them gave me a bear claw a few years ago.
Back when this area was the American "frontier" French and Spanish explorers recorded in their diaries stories about the mountain men who trapped/hunted here. They said the mountain men here cherished their hounds. They were more valuable than a good horse or mule.
BTW, my ancestors were from Greene County, TN., and were here in the 1790s, fished the same rivers (the Nolichucky, French Broad and Pigeon) and hunted the same hills and hollars as Davy Crockett, who was born in a cabin on the banks of the Nolichucky River.
What a great post, Girlangler. I loved it!
"The hunters I know here use all the bear, the hides, claws, and fat. One of them gave me a bear claw a few years ago."
My buddy, JW, got his third bear this year. Mighty tasty jerky, I must say. He's already got a rug and a mounted head, so this one is going to be a growlng 3/4 bear-coming-out-of-the-wall-at-you mounting.
And you'll appreciate this: He brought in a "Shore Lunch" for us today. He's between jobs and starts again next week, so he's been ice fishing this week. He fried Yellow Perch, Crappie and Cod for us for lunch today. It. Was. Awesome. We had people sniffing the air and showing up at the door of our office today asking what "smelled so good," LOL!
Of course we shared...it's good for business! :)
Love them shore lunches, something about eating your harvest right on the bank where you caught 'em makes them taste better.
I have fished for trout in mountain streams and on some swift moving rivers here, and the guide I was fishing with whipped out an iron skillet and fried us up our catch for lunch.
And when I was a child, Daddy and Momma and us kids spent a lot of time on the bank of a lake, camping and fishing. Momma would fry fish, potatoes with onions mixed in, and hushpuppies over the open campfire.
Don't know what kind of business you're in, but I'd love to take any client in any business on a day fishing, then cook 'em up some good campfire food -- shucks, they'd sign any contract in that environment :)
Especially if they were city folks who'd never had that experience.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.