Since Jun 22, 2007
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Posted on 06/19/2007 10:15:47 PM PDT by george76
The grandfather of a boy killed by a black bear while camping blamed the U.S. Forest Service Tuesday for not getting the word out about an earlier attack.
Before 11-year-old Sam Ives was attacked and killed Sunday night, the same bear had attacked campers in the same spot hours earlier.
Eldon Ives is the boy's grandfather. He told reporters Tuesday that he hoped the Forest Service will do a better job of protecting campers after Sam's death.
He said the violent way his grandson was killed is a sorrow that will never heal.
Sam Ives would have been a 6th grader this fall.
He was camping with his family in American Fork Canyon on Father's Day when a black bear dragged him from their tent and killed him.
I went back to read Georges reply to mine. There was no mention of him wanting to kill anything. I suggest you take a pill and calm down.
My response was directed at comments made by the person who made the post I responded to...he had a pretty harsh criticism of the father blaming the Forest Service, telling him to “suck it up.”
I was just saying you can’t blame the guy for trying to find some answers to this senseless tragedy, whether he be right or wrong.
I agree with you...it was an accident that shouldn’t have happened, but no reason to point a finger back at the guy who lost his son for getting angry with the Forest Service for not warning campers after there was a previous attack mere hours earlier.
In the heat of the moment it’s a natural reaction for someone who’s lost a loved one senselessly to try to make sense of it...and in some cases to cast blame in a direction that might not be just. You’re not exactly thinking 100% rationally when you’ve just lost your son.
Since Jun 22, 2007
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So nice of you to sign up today to give us your sermon about Utah always being bear country, DUH!
Also about bear attacks in all of North America being very very minimal. You might say the attacks are trivial unless you or a friend or relative are the one they attack.
Go elsewhere to give your animal hugging, Sierra Club lectures.
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LOL!
Looks great potlatch!
Lots of time and effort getting that from all those different camera angles and locations!
Must be a good song to go with that one!
Black bear nine times out of ten. Grizzlys are more professional; black bears are just big, nasty junkyard dogs.
Nice work with the DUmmie movie.
How about, "You Talk Too Much", lol!
You talk too much, you even worry my pet!
Lol, thank you george.
None of his hairs moved.
He must use industrial strength hair spray.
8-)
“It was the same pretty much everywhere in the northwest, with big fires in Utah, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, and the bears were being fored out of the mountains. The fires were so bad that the USFS was hiring crew right off the street in Kalispell, you just had to pass the physical test.”
I would contest your description/reasoning regarding the “cause” of bear-people interaction.
[Of course....what would I know, I just LIVE in Flathead County...]
There’s a “bear DNA study” that’s hanging fire in Glacier National Park. Over 350 DIFFERENT grizzlies have been identified within the Park boundaries.....of course they don’t read maps, so they just go where the food is, like onto the Burlington NOrthern railroad tracks....spilled grain cars from derailment....and anywhere ELSE they damn well please.
Now, there’s about 5 Black bears for every griz across the board.
This makes for a BOATLOAD of bears in the North Fork of the Flathead River..where I’ll be huckleberry picking in a couple more weeks.
The bottom line is there’s too damn MANY grizzly bears for hte areas they inhabit and move out, taking over range from the black bears, which they eat as well.
The RESULT is that with the combination of forest fires which are basically unchecked by the USFS, the deer & elk populations are SEVERELY down.
What the enviro-twits PRETEND is “protection” is actually DEVASTATION.
They don’t know what the hell they’re talking about and furthermore...don’t CARE.
All they want is the power to deny YOU access to the public lands.
If you get the chance, you might see and hear me in this little gem:
P.O.V. - The Fire Next Time | PBS
Over a stormy two-year period, ‘The Fire Next Time’ follows a deeply divided group of Flathead Valley, Montana citizens caught in a web of conflicts ...
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2005/thefirenexttime/
Short sequel clip here:
Residents of the Flathead Valley had the opportunity to screen the film in October 2004. Watch streaming video of residents speaking up about “The Fire Next Time” and their own experiences in the Valley.
Share Your Point of View
Talking Back Tapestry
“I’ve written lots and lots of letters to the newspaper. I’ve probably had between fifty and a hundred letters to the editor published. Now, people don’t like those letters all the time, and some of them even get angry about them. But, if you don’t express your views, and you come to this movie or anywhere else in a public meeting in this town, and don’t have the courage to say what you’re thinking, then please don’t be offended when it’s not heard. That’s your fault.”
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2005/thefirenexttime/talking_kalispell.html
I’ve been fighting this battle for over 10 years...!!!
Yes, I know where Whitefish is, and no doubt you know more than I do about bears, fires, Mann Gulch, and all things Montana. I just go with what the folks were telling me when I was out there. What I meant is that they were saying there were more bears around that year because of the dry conditions and the fires. I heard that over and over again, and it seemed plausible.
Yes....and, what you DON’T hear about is how the Federal Fire Watchers let tens of thousands of acres burn up while they shipped in “type 1” teams from around the country....even a lowboy with a grader on it from frikkin’ FLORIDA showed up....while they IGNORED the pleas of local loggers, etc. to be hired on to actually FIGHT the fires in terrain they know like the back of their hands....grrrr.....!!!!
And, you CERTAINLY don’t hear about all the bears, deer, and other wildlife which were toasted in the “nature preserving” fires from the eco-twits that glorify all that destruction....DO you....??? No, they are SAVING the bears.
For WHAT...the next giant barbecue...???
~~~~~~~~~~
The item you mentioned about hiring fire crews DID happen...but, ONLY after several hundred pissed off, experienced, fire fighters and loggers held a protest at the County Fair Grounds for the benefit of Senator Burns and Governor Martz. In the mean time I could hardly breathe [literally] and waited for the fires to come over Big Mountain.
By the way, for those who think I’m just grousing...it’s a FACT that my friend Scott Daumiller [planer superintendent at a saw mill] and myself spearheaded the SUCCESSFUL re-opening of USFS road #316 which runs along the back of Big Mountain and was scheduled for destruction. It is the ONLY fire access road for 50 square miles directly North of Whitefish toward the Canadian border. Since 2000, we’ve had at least three MAJOR forest fires, each turning to dust over 50,000 acres in that region and all of which jumped the Flathead River at some point into Glacier National Park...where absolutely NOTHING is done to contain them.
That’s your federal government and YOUR tax dollars hard at work for you, folks....!!!
[Yeah, you struck a NERVE]
JB, I’m happy to listen to you. I don’t know 1/4th what you do about the situation and am certainly open to being updated/corrected/redirected.
All I said (I think?) is that people in Montana, Wyoming, and Utah were telling me there were more bears out that year than was normal, because of the very dry winter/spring, and the resulting fires up in the mountains where they normally feed during the summer. That’s all I’m saying, period.
I am not by any means having an argument with you, because there’s nothing for me to argue. So please stop with the combative attitude and the YELLING WITH CAPITAL LETTERS. It’s just not necessary.
Thank you.
If you don’t like my style of posting, then DON’T for god’s sake READ what I say.
It’s easier for both of us that way.
I simply don’t subscribe to the belief that if I see a capital letter, it’s ‘SHOUTING’....grow up.
I didn't see anything in George's reply that would show he was enthusiastic about killing wildlife...just educating on how to protect yourself if you should have the need to.
What's your *other* FR name, and what do you have against George76?
This one was written about in a book titled "Beast in the Garden". Awesome book!
A friend lives near Idaho Springs . They have lived there a long time. They tell of many near misses with lions and other weird experiences. His family has to be even more careful today.
It is scary for parents of high school kids who run cross country in the trails thru the woods.
Do I remember the book well enough...I thought the boy was on an approved running track that bordered a woodsy type area.
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