Book Review: 4 Seconds to Impact (The Skyrocketing Attacks by Predators on Humans)

Gun Watch ^ | 22 May, 2018 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

By Bruce Buckshot Hemming, 2017, 320 pages, paperback.

Over the last three decades, attacks by large predators against humans have been skyrocketing in North America. It is not just a matter of reporting. Attacks by bears, mountain lions, wolves, and coyotes, have become expected, where they used to be rare or denied altogether.

Full disclosure: Hemming cites some of my work in the book.

Bruce Hemming does an excellent job in summing up the increases in large predator attacks. He offers a commonsense explanation as to why they are happening, why they are under reported, and how they can be minimized.

I received a review copy of the book shortly after I returned from Australia.
I started to read, and could not put it down until I had hastily read through the analysis. It took me four hours.

I was fascinated to learn that one of the major reason there were no "documented" wolf attacks before 1943, is that an early pro-wolf researcher defined a wolf attack as valid, only if the wolf were tested and found to be free of rabies. There is a serious problem with that approach. Testing for rabies only became available in 1943. The definition used in the "research" simply defined any previous wolf attacks out of existence, because they could not have been tested for rabies!

The book supports Hemming's analysis with comprehensive lists of large predator attacks.  Be warned: some of the pictures are gruesome. 4 Seconds to Impact has much more detail on these attacks than is commonly reported. The author went to considerable effort to collect data and interview people who were attacked.

An interesting part of the book is Hemming's analysis of how many attacks are not reported. He gives details of how many missing hikers and hunters could be victims of animal attacks. He explains that many people understand reporting an attack is an invitation to official and unofficial harassment and persecution, especially if the attacking animal was killed.

The book fearlessly avoids political correctness. Hemming offers clear and obvious reasons how and why hunting of large predators can minimize large predator attacks without endangering sustainable predator populations.

Hemming offers data on the effectiveness of both firearms and pepper spray in stopping attacks. He advocates for the use of both systems.

For anyone who is interested in large predator attacks, or for anyone who is considering how to protect themselves from predators, I highly recommend 4 Seconds to Impact.

The book is available at Amazon. $6.99 for Kindle, $18.99 paperback.

©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included. 

Gun Watch

[marktwain]

Some good analysis about why large predator attacks are increasing, and how hunting can stop most attacks while sustaining predator populations.

[meowmeow]

See: 4th horse of apocalypse

[central_va]

These things aren't just for shooting dangerous people.

[Little Ray]

What is also interesting are incidents of critters coming to humans for rescue.
I don’t how common this is, but it has shown up in the news quite a few time recently.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I was expecting something about drones and hellfire missiles.

[SJSAMPLE]

I carry a gun whenever and wherever I go hiking and backpacking. I’m headed to Shenandoah tomorrow, and I’ll be packing my Glock 19, as usual.

[C210N]

I was expecting something about MS-13

[tjd1454]

Smart decision. I have seen many bears there. Camped there, where we were instructed to keep all edibles high up off the ground away from us as bears roamed the campgrounds after dark. None appeared threatening, but it only takes one. VA resident here.

[SJSAMPLE]

Yep. Ten years ago I was walking down the AT by Big Meadows. I looked down and said, “That’s bear shit.”

Then, I looked up and said, “Shit, that’s a bear”.

They say the park has several hundred bears and I see about a dozen every visit. Right about now is when the mothers and cubs come out, so it’s a little more dangerous.

[finnsheep]

Most of the problem is caused by vastly increasing the numbers of black bears, etc. When we moved to the Poconos in Northeast PA in 1980, there were 2,500 black bears in the entire state. Now there are around 20,000. Another problem, especially here, is summer people, tourists and campers who want to feed the bears - - and then leave the local folks with bears trained to associate people with food. Bears have killed our sheep and goats and this is not the wild west. People commute from here daily to work in NYC. Black bears are killing white tailed deer fawns on a pretty large scale. They get as many or more here than coyotes.

[marktwain]

Yes.

There were many good reasons why our predessors hunted down large predator populations to next to nothing.

We are in direct competition with them for other game species, and they present a threat to us and domestic animals.

All of that has been theorized out of existence by the animal-rights lobby, or, perhaps more correctly, the anti-human lobby.

[SgtHooper]

It aint easy getting those Nye Fart Monitors on them sumbitches!

[SgtHooper]

I support the animals over the virulent humans, any day!

[fella]

As people move into predator territory they should expect to be seen as a food source. That warm and fuzzy image of predators promoted by the entertainment and green industries just doesn’t match real nature. There are reasons the pioneers hunted the predators out of their living areas.

[elteemike]

I don’t understand the concern from the Gaia-worshiping quarter...I’d think they’d regard it as an honor to be the prey of and donate their body to nourish a fellow beast, and accept their fate as Nature’s Way...

And fail to see the downside in large animal/predator attacks of humans when it is generally tree-hugging Leftards that are eaten...

Leftards go about in the woods unarmed and thus are victims by choice...Conservative-minded humans tend to be packing and capable of self defense...

And so the weak/dull-witted tend to get picked off and the strong/smart tend to survive...It is simply natural selection in action...And the human herd improves overall as a result; especially if the Leftard prey have yet to reproduce...

[central_va]

Here is a liberal dilemma: one endangered specie eating another endangered specie.

[marktwain]

They do not want you to defend yourself against predators.

[elteemike]

I don’t give a damn what “they” like, and carry a 4” Taurus Tracker in .357 Magnum with HSM 180 gr round nose hard-cast for close encounters with predators, 4 AND 2-legged animals alike when hunting, fishing and hiking...Seen first hand what a pissed off bear can do to a human...

Colorado (supposedly) has no Griz anymore, but the black bears can be a problem...And cats, moose and even wolves in some northern areas pose a potential threat, especially for someone alone in the back country...I also spend time in Wyoming especially north of Thermopolis up toward Cody, and that’s another story...

[BTCM]

You tell ‘em Boo Boo Yoggie Bear wants more than your picnic basket.

[fella]

That’s “pic-a-nic”.