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Bears vs. Lightning: Which is more Deadly?
Ammoland ^ | 30 May, 2018 | Dean Weingarten

Posted on 06/03/2018 7:31:16 AM PDT by marktwain

Bears or Lightning: Which is more Deadly?

In online discussions of bear attacks, it is not unusual for people to claim that a person is more likely to be killed by lightning than to be killed by a bear. That is true, in a gross sense. You are also more likely to die of a heart attack or to be murdered than to be killed by a bear when you use the entire United States population as a measure.

This comparison is disingenuous. It is easy to avoid being killed by a bear, simply by staying out of areas where there are bears. Lightning strikes occur all over the United States. Significant bear populations are limited to a fraction of the United States. The relative danger of bears and lightning depends a great deal on where you are.

I looked up lightning deaths in areas where there are significant bear populations. What I found was startling. Wyoming is rated as the most dangerous state for lightning deaths, per capita. Wyoming is also one of the top states for fatal bear attacks.

During the decade from 2004-2014, there were two deaths from lightning strikes in Wyoming. During the same period, four people were killed by bears. At least for that decade, for Wyoming, bears were twice as likely to be the cause of death as lightning. The number of people killed by bears has been rising in the last two decades, while the number of people killed by lightning is falling.

Consider Alaska. Lots of bears, and lots of lightning. But Alaska has had zero, zilch, nada people killed by lightning since 1990! During the same period, 1990 to 2014, 16 people were killed by bears in Alaska. 

(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Alaska; US: Wyoming
KEYWORDS: attack; banglist; bears; lightning
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To: blackdog

I suppose being in bear territory in a thunderstorm near a SUV, while the wife is menstruating is about as dangerous as it can get?

><

Yep, that’s a bad combination. Lol


21 posted on 06/03/2018 7:59:46 AM PDT by laplata (Liberals/Progressives have diseased minds.)
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To: IrishBrigade

Funny question, but not even a close fight. Grizz can easily weigh twice as much.


22 posted on 06/03/2018 8:03:07 AM PDT by Bulwyf
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To: marktwain

Building the retirement home in bear country.. black bear. Every time we’ve been on the land (surrounded by 87,000 acres of USFS) there’s been a bear or two walking around.

I carry a 45 but that’s for the occasional feral hog.

No your surroundings and you’ll be fine.


23 posted on 06/03/2018 8:03:42 AM PDT by maddog55
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To: maddog55

I meant “Know” not “No” for those looking to correct...


24 posted on 06/03/2018 8:06:11 AM PDT by maddog55
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To: marktwain
You are also more likely to die of a heart attack or to be murdered than to be killed by a bear

If you coat yourself with bacon grease and climb to a tall bare mountain in bear country during a ferocious thunderstorm using a 10 ft aluminum pole(for good strength to weight ratio) for a staff, while blowing a predator call…

…Your odds of getting killed by either one of the two, greatly increases.

25 posted on 06/03/2018 8:07:40 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you)
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To: texas booster

Florida golfers usually just lose limbs!


26 posted on 06/03/2018 8:21:19 AM PDT by Does so (Let's make the word Mohammedism--adding it to other ISMs...)
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To: marktwain

Hmmm, slow, lumbering, huge RCS Tu-95 vs swift, maneuverable, radar invisible F-22?

One-on-one F-22, every time.

60 some odd Bears vs 187 F-22s, advantage F-22...


27 posted on 06/03/2018 8:21:39 AM PDT by null and void (Have the courage to shine the light of reason in a dark world)
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To: Vaduz

People have been known to survive both “attacks”. Not sure about gorillas...


28 posted on 06/03/2018 8:23:52 AM PDT by Does so (Let's make the word Mohammedism--adding it to other ISMs...)
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To: marktwain

In my experience, You are correct! I’ve spent many weeks on the Yukon River alone in each of the past seven years.

I’m always armed to the teeth for bears AND humans but the bears have left me completely alone despite hundreds of hours of me being in their backyard.

Last year, I finally saw three of the little critters about a mile off. I put my binoculars on them and got a good look at them. But, when we got about a half mile off, they took off into the woods.

So, YES you have to be careful. But, I’ve slept alone on a Yukon River bank many, many nights and I’ve not been bothered by them. By the way, the Fish and Game folks in Alaska quote that there are 17,000 bears in the Yukon watershed in Alaska.


29 posted on 06/03/2018 8:25:33 AM PDT by Cen-Tejas
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To: Does so

However what would look like afterwards and all that pain the strike sounds better thank you.


30 posted on 06/03/2018 8:26:17 AM PDT by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
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To: Vaduz

Agreed. I watched a sickening video of a grizzly using one paw to hold down a young moose while it ate it alive starting with the tail end. The moose was bawling for help until it died.


31 posted on 06/03/2018 8:26:52 AM PDT by redfreedom
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To: maddog55

In which state are you?


32 posted on 06/03/2018 8:29:28 AM PDT by laplata (Liberals/Progressives have diseased minds.)
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To: Does so
...or lightning-spray...

If you dig up a fulgurite you'll find it smells like burnt pepper and is filled with melted bells.

33 posted on 06/03/2018 8:29:57 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (I can't tell if we live in an Erostocracy (rule by sex) or an Eristocracy (rule by strife and chaos))
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To: marktwain
p20

Since neither made it to the Stanley Cup, it's moot.

34 posted on 06/03/2018 8:30:34 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: marktwain
The author's comparison of twice as likely to die from bear attacks comes from 2 lightning deaths versus 4 bear deaths. Does he not understand anything about statistics? You can't use small samples. His data about Alaska lightning comes from an anecdotal article about 46,000 strikes in 4 days (June 2015). That article he linked also says the average Alaska season has 100,000 lightning strikes. His claim that nobody was killed by lightning in Alaska is no surprise given so few strikes.

If he followed his own advice on context, he would notice that a person is much more likely to die of lightning in certain situations than from bears. Those include hiking on mountains in thunderstorms. In Alaska that is easily avoided since it only happens a few times a year.

35 posted on 06/03/2018 8:32:05 AM PDT by palmer (...if we do not have strong families and strong values, then we will be weak and we will not survive)
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To: marktwain

Wow! this thread has been all over - hockey, bacon grease, metal poles, bears vs gorillas!

I think we need bear control. People should be safe in America so we should get rid of all the bears.


36 posted on 06/03/2018 8:45:00 AM PDT by Just A Reader
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To: 4yearlurker

Tough to bear that sort of pun early Sunday morning.


37 posted on 06/03/2018 8:46:19 AM PDT by Rennes Templar
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To: Cen-Tejas

I’ve had a few encounters here in Montana, both black and grizzly, but they always run off when we make a lot of noise. Folks I know who were attacked always happens when they surprise a sow with cubs.

I recentlly got a “Bear Banger” gizmo. Haven’t tried it but looks like it would do the trick.


38 posted on 06/03/2018 8:57:37 AM PDT by Rennes Templar
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To: marktwain
Here in Mesa County, CO, one of the local thrill sports is bicycling in thunderstorms. Insane. We also have bears, which sometimes come down into residential neighborhoods when the natural food supply runs short. There was a mauling a few weeks ago in someone's back yard.

When I go for walks around the neighborhood, I carry bear spray, though in practice I'm more likely to have to use it on a dog.

39 posted on 06/03/2018 8:58:59 AM PDT by snarkpup (Fake news is one-half of the problem. Fake education is the other half.)
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To: blackdog
I suppose being in bear territory in a thunderstorm near a SUV, while the wife is menstruating is about as dangerous as it can get?

I think that’s second only to an unsupervised AR-15.

;-)

40 posted on 06/03/2018 9:01:12 AM PDT by pax_et_bonum (Never Forget the SEALs of Extortion 17 - and God Bless The United States of America.)
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