Posted on 04/07/2025 7:50:11 AM PDT by marktwain
Timothy Treadwell was a controversial figure who insisted on approaching and viewing brown bears at close range for about 13 years. He did not carry a firearm or bear spray or any deterrents. From backpacker.com:
Wes: Timothy thought he was the dominant bear in the ecosystem. I think he was past the point of accepting any input on that. I think he had convinced himself that they would never hurt him, and he was untouchable.
Treadwell was repeatedly warned about the danger. From akfatal.net:
Despite that, Treadwell refused to carry firearms or ring his campsites with an electric fence as do bear researchers in the area. And he stopped carrying bear spray for self-protection in recent years. Friends said he thought he knew the bears so well he didn’t need it.
U.S. Geological Survey bear researcher Tom Smith; Sterling Miller, formerly the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s top bear authority; and others said they tried to warn the amateur naturalist that he was being far too cavalier around North America’s largest and most powerful predator….“I told him to be much more cautious … because every time a bear kills somebody, there is a big increase in bearanoia and bears get killed,” Miller said. “I thought that would be a way of getting to him, and his response was ‘I would be honored to end up in bear scat.’ ”
Timothy Treadwell was killed and eaten by brown bears in October 2003. His death overshadowed the first fatal failure of bear spray to stop an attack.
Vitaly Aleksandrovich Nikolayenko was a prominent Russian brown bear researcher (Asian version of the American brown or grizzly bear) who routinely and closely approached bears without a firearm. He did this for 33 years, from 1970 to December 2003. In December 2003,
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Grisly, man.
I suspect this was a case of an obsession with bears combined with contempt derived from 30 years of not being mauled. His luck ran out.
There was probably a fair amount of arrogance in his belief about his ability to control the situation.
‘I would be honored to end up in bear scat.’ ”
https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/bear-scat-identification/
The tricky nature of identifying bear scat comes from the spectrum of foods they eat, says Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear biologist Jamie Jonkel. Bear scats vary widely based on what food sources the omnivore is digesting. Different types of bear scats include:
Vegetation scats
Berry scats
Insect scats
Meat scats
Fish scats
Garbage scats
dumbass scats
Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear shats you out!
You can’t fix stupid.
While hunting SE Alaska mainland roughly 12 years ago I found a (huge) pile of brown bear crap. Sticking out of the top of the pile was a black bear claw, curious I dug through the pile with a stick and recovered an entire set of black bear claws.
Sat in my desk drawer for a few years along with an octopus beak I’d recovered from a very large halibut stomach.
“You can’t fix stupid.”
No, but apparently it is consumable.
Let this be a lesson of what happens when you’re not smarter than the average bear.
Yeah, but the 2nd Amendment has nothing to do with brown bears.
The Founding Fathers knew that someday We The People might have to take their government back from the totalitarians.
The 2nd amendment has to with all legitimate uses of firearms.
If that’s the case, then why does the second amendment mention “Bear Arms”? huh?
I’ll show myself out.
Actually, I believe bears are not stupid.
They would feign interest in philosopy just to get a....little closer.
In the wilderness if you’re not at the top of the food chain then you’re on the menu.
Actually I think
Timothy Snackwell did have a Weapon and it was Used, A Large Cast Iron Skillet. I’m not sure if it was the girl friend or Tim.
The Audio Recording of the encounter is Very Tasty!
.
RIP
MR.and Misses
Promised her a once-in-a-lifetime bear encounter....
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.