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Man armed with knife kills hungry bear - Bring a knife to a bear fight?
Seattle Post ^ | November 16, 2003 | AP

Posted on 11/17/2003 6:27:31 AM PST by Damocles

Sunday, November 16, 2003 · Last updated 5:20 p.m. PT

Man armed with knife kills hungry bear

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WILLIAMS LAKE, British Columbia -- John Hirsch went toe-to-claw with a black bear - and won.

Hirsch had only a 3 1/2-inch knife blade when he came across the bear in his backyard in Williams Lake, about 190 miles northeast of Vancouver.

"He came out of nowhere," said Hirsch, 61, an avid hunter and outdoorsman.

"I can remember thinking that he's not stopping - he's coming," said Hirsch. "I just didn't feel I had any place to go."

He was attacked Oct. 29 while checking on the 15 turkeys he and his wife, Sharon, raise on their spread.

As the bear began to circle him, Hirsch faced it like a wrestler in a ring.

"It was like a knife fight that you'd see in an old-time Western," he said. The bear swatted out at him, but each time it lunged, he managed to stab it.

"I couldn't tell you if the fight lasted three seconds or three minutes," Hirsch said.

Three stabs to the bear's chest and one to its neck finally did the bruin in.

It stood about 5 foot 7 inches to Hirsch's 5 feet 9 inches and weighed 200 pounds, according to conservation officers who inspected it.

"I can say it sure looked smaller the next morning than it did during the fight," said Hirsch.

The bear was in poor shape, suffering from a severed tongue and broken jaw, the conservation officer said. Its stomach was empty and the bear had little fat on it.

Hirsch, a retired electrical foreman at B.C. Hydro, suffered a scratch to the top of his head and scratches to his back - and a shredded T-shirt.

As for the battle itself, Hirsch said it never occurred to him that he would lose to the bear.

"I just felt that however long this took, I was going to come out OK," he said. "I always felt that I was at least his equal."


TOPICS: Canada; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
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Whoa! This is one scary dude!
1 posted on 11/17/2003 6:27:31 AM PST by Damocles
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To: mhking
You may want to see this one...
2 posted on 11/17/2003 6:27:56 AM PST by Damocles (sword of...)
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To: Damocles
Man, I'm glad I wasn't a worker on whatever shift he was the foreman on.

Great big brass ones that clang when he walks . . .

3 posted on 11/17/2003 6:28:43 AM PST by AnAmericanMother (. . . sed, ut scis, quis homines huiusmodi intellegere potest?. . .)
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To: Howlin; Ed_NYC; MonroeDNA; widgysoft; Springman; Timesink; dubyaismypresident; Grani; coug97; ...
As for the battle itself, Hirsch said it never occurred to him that he would lose to the bear.

I'd love to have him as a neighbor...

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

4 posted on 11/17/2003 6:37:07 AM PST by mhking
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To: Damocles; Squantos; Jeff Head; ChefKeith
bonk!

object lesson here.

yikes!

5 posted on 11/17/2003 6:40:33 AM PST by glock rocks (molon labe)
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To: mhking
He's lucky he didn't go to jail. ;)
6 posted on 11/17/2003 6:42:01 AM PST by EveningStar
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To: Damocles
"He came out of nowhere," said Hirsch, 61, an avid hunter and outdoorsman and bear wrestler.
7 posted on 11/17/2003 6:43:02 AM PST by ladtx ( "Remember your regiment and follow your officers." Captain Charles May, 2d Dragoons, 9 May 1846)
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To: Travis McGee
This is how I picture you. At 61 years old, you kill a black bear mano-a-ursus, armed only with a 3 1/2 inch knife.
8 posted on 11/17/2003 6:45:15 AM PST by Lazamataz (PROUDLY SCARING FELLOW FREEPERS SINCE 1999 !!!!)
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To: Damocles
A 3 1/2 inch knife! That guy was very lucky the bear was injured and weak. Not so with the bear...poor beast. I hate to see any animal suffer. Glad it was put down. It would have been a different story if it had found a child.
9 posted on 11/17/2003 6:46:35 AM PST by Lee Heggy (When marriage is outlawed only outlaws will have inlaws)
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To: Lee Heggy
That guy was very lucky the bear was injured and weak.

That's true but it doesn't really matter how weak and injured a bear is, they can still take you out.
This guy, at 61, has more moxy than many men half his age.

10 posted on 11/17/2003 6:50:09 AM PST by Just another Joe (FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
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To: Damocles
"Lived in the land of British Columbia

Greatest province in the country Canada,

Raisin' up some turkeys with his wife fer fun,

Kilt him a bar when he was 61!"

from Tia's husband......

11 posted on 11/17/2003 6:59:11 AM PST by tiamat ("Just a Bronze-Age Gal, Trapped in a Techno World!")
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To: Just another Joe
True. If it was me I'd only feel confidant upagainst a bear if I had a chainsaw rather than a knife...big or little.
12 posted on 11/17/2003 6:59:12 AM PST by Lee Heggy (When marriage is outlawed only outlaws will have inlaws)
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To: Damocles
note to self; take .44magnum when checking on the turkeys.
13 posted on 11/17/2003 7:06:27 AM PST by gdc61
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To: Damocles
bttfl
14 posted on 11/17/2003 7:07:12 AM PST by Cacique
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To: Damocles
He should have been carrying a .357, or a .44 mag.
15 posted on 11/17/2003 7:09:36 AM PST by waterstraat
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To: Lee Heggy
/parody on/

As an environmentalist, I am shocked and deeply saddeded at this immoral behavior by this man against this starving bear.

He should be charged with killing an endangered animal, carrying a concealed weapon (it was only 3 1/2 inches long, after all), animal cruelty, and terrorism.

/parody off/

Seriously, I am really surprised some nitwit didn't charge him. I recall several years ago exactly that happened when someone, in a national park, saw someone getting attacked by a bear in a RV/picknick area.

He got his .357 (or some other large pistol, Desert Eagle or somesuch) out of the truck of his car, went after the bear, shot it in the throat several times, killing it.

He was charged with carrying a firearm in a national park and sent to prison.
16 posted on 11/17/2003 7:12:15 AM PST by MeanWestTexan (Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you.)
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To: Damocles
It stood about 5 foot 7 inches to Hirsch's 5 feet 9 inches and weighed 200 pounds

The mean old man killed a widdle baby bear!

17 posted on 11/17/2003 7:15:44 AM PST by Sloth ("I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!" -- Jacobim Mugatu, 'Zoolander')
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To: Damocles
Ok .... NOW THIS is one bad motherf$%^er ......

Smauel L Jackson: take notes.

18 posted on 11/17/2003 7:20:54 AM PST by Centurion2000 (Resolve to perform what you ought, perform without fail what you resolve.)
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To: tiamat
LOL!

Seriously, folks, Williams Lake hosts the best old-fashioned rodeo there is on the July 1st holiday every year.

'The Lake' is the urban center for the entire Chilcotin and the southern Cariboo. Great people and beautiful country.
19 posted on 11/17/2003 7:24:26 AM PST by headsonpikes (Spirit of '76 bttt!)
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To: glock rocks
The trick is to case out ,dress & cape the bear before he can kill you..............:o)

To heck with escrima ......taxidermy is the new martial art !:o).........Stay Safe GR !

20 posted on 11/17/2003 8:29:09 AM PST by Squantos (Support Mental Health !........or........ I"LL KILL YOU !!!!)
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