Posted on 05/15/2015 9:48:12 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Ralph Persson, a hunter in Jämtland, northern Sweden, scared off a charging bear by roaring at the animal as it attacked him, it has emerged.
While out training a new hunting dog, Persson sensed a change in the animal's bark. Seconds later a brown bear came charging at him from the woods. “I screamed as much as I could and made myself very big,” Persson told Sundsvall Tidning newspaper, in an interview which has gone viral over the past week.
The bear quickly veered off back into the trees, utterly surprised by Persson’s ferocity. Both Ralph and his wife Lena filmed the encounter which can be seen on the newspaper’s website.
Persson has come across many bears over his years as a hunter and it’s this experience that helped save his life. But he didn't take the passive approach many advise. “To lie down and play dead? I do not believe in that,” he told the newspaper.
His trick was to be more adversarial, a tactic he rather surprisingly credits to birds.
“I have seen in the past how even cranes have chased bears by folding up their wings."
Most bear experts agree that many more bears have seen humans in Sweden than humans have seen bears, so shy is the Scandinavian brown bear. They tend to steer clear of us. But Persson admits he may have got too close. “This time, I went over the limit. You have to have respect for the animals.”
There have been at least three bear attacks in northern Sweden in the last 12 months, although none have been fatal. Hundreds of brown bears are killed in Sweden every year as part of an annual cull.
Bear attacks on humans are relatively rare in Sweden, compared to the US, where on average two people a year die as a result of an encounter with a bear. By contrast, there have only been two fatalities caused by bear attacks over the last century in Sweden.
I was more scared the moment a sprinkler system came on in the middle of the night than I’ve ever been before or since. People have NO CLUE what it’s like to be slinking along on an almost totally silent situation and suddenly hear really load gurgling sounds and have NO CLUE where they’re coming from, until the water starts spraying about 10 seconds later. It was 30 years ago...and I remember it like yesterday.
In the Land Down Under, women roar and men thunder. (”Take out the trash!”/burrito supreme)
“People have NO CLUE what it’s like to be slinking along on an almost totally silent situation and suddenly hear really load gurgling sounds”
You nailed it. Serious adrenaline fight or flight, hair standing on end. Laughed my head off when the sprinklers started spraying.
I still don’t laugh about it...in my case, and I’ve been scared to death before (heck, I once even walked a couple of blocks in Baltimore), but never anything like that. I am just amazed by strong a human heart is in a young person...I really feel lucky to be alive after that.
I need to buy Skyrim, don’t I?
Wait till you discover Skyrim nexus/Steam Workshop and the world of modding the game (PC only)...Are you on a console or PC? Modded Fallout is pretty awesome as well. Of course I think the LoversLab mods might be more to your liking ;)
But stock/unmodded Sky on a console is still one of if not the best game ever made.
I’m PC. Never console’d, never will. :)
You are many things Laz...But PC ain’t one of them ;)
Seriously though, Get a copy of Skyrim and head to the Nexus. Your entertainment life will get incredibly Better. The only downside is you will suddenly start lusting for high end Video cards if you don’t have one now. I have a 2 year old Asus Radeon 9750HD with 3 gigs of VRAM and I can run Sky wide open with a bunch of aftermarket high rez textures and a ton of mods. 4 gig is optimal since thats all the game engine can deal with anyway. So anything in that range will make you and your LoLcat haz a big happy.
There’s a little learning curve for stuff like SKSE/FINS but a couple days of reading through the nexus will open it all up for you. SOOOO worth it.
The big difference that I see in the Swedish situation, is that the bears are actively hunted, so they have learned that humans are to be avoided.
Anyone here play DayZ yet? Looks like a really interesting game to play.
Can I import my modded Lydia into the game? If not...DOES NOT WANT!!! ;)
Played Dead Island; it is a weak cousin to Fallout 3. Planning on running through Dead Island 2 and Dying Light.
Looks very cool but it’s MMO from what I can tell? Not my thing.
Bethesda game ruined me completely. I used to be a 100% turn based RPG gamer. Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star 1-4, Dragon Quest...that type of thing. The later Final Fantasys sorta were a turning point but Fallout hooked me completely. Now it’s open world and fully modable or I just can’t find much interest.
That said, When Persona 5 hit the PS3 I’m there. But more out of a sense of story than gameplay. The persona games’ stories make the gameplay secondary for me.
I like the zombie genre and will play any sandbox game that features them.
Skyrim haZ lots of Zombiws in Nord burial sites ;)
Check out some of the mods for Fallout and Sky that are basically full boat zombie conversions.
I have had Red Dead redemption recommended to me often and it looks fantastic but I LOATHE the game controls of Rockstar games. Ruined LA noir for me completely.
It is so SO good. I have a hard time putting it into words.
It has all the quests you could ever want. Battling World Ending Dragons, solving a Love Triangle. Forging your on swords and baking Cinnamon Rolls!
Make sure you get the Ultimate Edition so you can build your own house ;)
I think you’re supposed to just grin ‘em down...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ1kVDEbcts
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