Posted on 05/13/2016 12:19:27 PM PDT by StCloudMoose
A black bear bit through the tent and into the lower leg of a man who was hiking the Appalachian Trail and camped for the night at a national park in Tennessee, park officials said on Thursday. Bradley Veeder, 49, of Las Vegas, was sleeping around 11 p.m. local time in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Tuesday when the bear attacked, park spokeswoman Dana Soehn said by telephone. Because it was so dark, Veeder and nearby campers did not see the bear, which was initially scared away by his screams, Soehn said. Park officials said it was a black bear based on the wound and damage to tents, as well as fur and saliva collected at the scene. Black bears are the only bears found in the region. Veeder and the other campers retreated to a nearby shelter and the bear subsequently returned, destroying two tents, Soehn said. Rangers carried Veeder on horseback from the campsite for about seven miles on Wednesday to an ambulance that transported him to a nearby hospital, where he was treated and released, Soehn said. He suffered puncture wounds and swelling. The shelter has been closed temporarily and park wildlife staffers are at the campsite, monitoring the area for more bear activity, Soehn said. “The injury is a very rare occurrence,” she said. “In the last 10 years, there’ve only been nine human-bear encounters which led to injury” in the national park that straddles the Tennessee-North Carolina state line. There has been just one bear-related fatality - in 2000 - since the park opened in 1934, Soehn said. There are about 1,600 black bears in the park, which is visited by 10.7 million people annually.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
You are absolutely correct-and from personal experience, may I also say don’t leave even a crumb of food in your vehicle, even in a closed ice chest.
My 1st husband was from New Mexico, and we went camping there a lot, especially when our cub was young-on one trip, we did as always before turning in for the night, hanging up or taking all food supplies into the pop-up camper with us. We were awakened later by the sound of something being squashed and destroyed-our cub had not only forgotten to close the back window of the Suburban-she had also left a package of Oreo cookies she’d been munching from that afternoon in the Styrofoam ice chest in the cargo area.
A bear had climbed through the window, gotten the ice chest, and was beside the Suburban, gleefully shredding it to get at the package of cookies. We woke the kid up so she could watch the carnage and remember no food left at ground level means just that-she never did that again...
Too big or too small? On which side to err? I’ll take too big.
ok grazed, got it. Still the author objects to let them return to nature because hikers like them, but he also acknowledges the need to keep the trail pristine.
As for bears, unlikely a black bear attacks but when they do playing dead doesn’t work.
That 100th time is a real killer though
Raise the hunting limit on Bears. With the loss of the chestnut, the high numbers of bears is unsustainable.
The attacks of black bears are very few and far between...Now, if I was going out west I would not go without my .44 mag...I wouldn’t care what the rules were in Grizzly territory....
That’s really not a high number of bears...Did you know there are more black bears along the North Carolina coast than in the mountains????
Besides, bears aren’t creatures of habit like deer...The only way to really be successful hunting bear is to use dogs...Plott Hounds are the best breed for bear and dangerous game like cougar and hogs...Just stand or still hunting for bear is luck at best...
I’ve hunted bear in East Tennessee and Canada with Plotts for over half my life...
I know that non-mountaineers are foolishly sentimental about bears—
I’ve hiked the AT through the Smokies about five times. Always (except for once, and that’s another story) made arrangements to sleep in the bear shelters. That kept us safe from bears at night. Only problem in shelters was you had to hang packs in the air to avoid mice. Told those with me not to take any food to bed. One clown did and had a whole in his new pants where he had stashed sunflower seeds. Never knew the mice got his stuff. Panhandling bears are the problem. Do not feed them.
That’s what I’m thinking. Somebody sneaked a twinky in their tent. Always hang food up in a tree.
yes, your comment does raise one question, I wonder if he had food in the tent.
ya know, animals migrate for reason. in Minnesota they are freaking out about the moose population shrinking again. Hey they are migrating again out west. Arizona is having a big problem with bees migrating
so maybe it was one of those illegal hispanic bears :)
I’m guessing the guy with the camera is the one who put on sneakers in the “I don’t have to outrun the bear, I only have to outrun you” joke.
Yep :)
And if you have cached your food safely, and aren't "caching" snacks for midnight, make sure you've cleaned yourself. If you've dripped your dinner over your clothes and don't clean your hands and mouth, hang youself with the food to be safe.
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