Posted on 05/13/2016 12:19:27 PM PDT by StCloudMoose
A black bear bit through the tent and into the lower leg of a man who was hiking the Appalachian Trail and camped for the night at a national park in Tennessee, park officials said on Thursday. Bradley Veeder, 49, of Las Vegas, was sleeping around 11 p.m. local time in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Tuesday when the bear attacked, park spokeswoman Dana Soehn said by telephone. Because it was so dark, Veeder and nearby campers did not see the bear, which was initially scared away by his screams, Soehn said. Park officials said it was a black bear based on the wound and damage to tents, as well as fur and saliva collected at the scene. Black bears are the only bears found in the region. Veeder and the other campers retreated to a nearby shelter and the bear subsequently returned, destroying two tents, Soehn said. Rangers carried Veeder on horseback from the campsite for about seven miles on Wednesday to an ambulance that transported him to a nearby hospital, where he was treated and released, Soehn said. He suffered puncture wounds and swelling. The shelter has been closed temporarily and park wildlife staffers are at the campsite, monitoring the area for more bear activity, Soehn said. “The injury is a very rare occurrence,” she said. “In the last 10 years, there’ve only been nine human-bear encounters which led to injury” in the national park that straddles the Tennessee-North Carolina state line. There has been just one bear-related fatality - in 2000 - since the park opened in 1934, Soehn said. There are about 1,600 black bears in the park, which is visited by 10.7 million people annually.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
#BearLivesMatter.......you speciesist!(sounded good)
I’m a fan of revolvers. Carry the “ultralite” in WalMart. The 357 if you’re concerned about bear, with the proper ammunition. Presuming you don’t have a 44
Federal lands, including National Parks, are governed by the law of adjoining states. If you can carry concealed legally in TN/NC, you can carry legally in the park. It is illegal to discharge a firearm in most (all?) National Parks, you'll have to prove you were in fear of life or harm to avoid charges should you defend yourself.
OK...I see that law took effect in 2010...
Luckily, Mark Sanford is uninjured ...
I read an article a couple years ago, a couple took their groceries into the house and put the frozen and refrigerated away, and left the canned goods etc. out. They returned home to find a mess because a bear got in. The only canned goods damaged were two opened cans of salmon.
Better than being bear food.
Exactly! When I was first learning to hunt, my husband at the time (who is Boone & Crocket listed) told me to pretend that I was in the deer’s Living Room and to act accordingly.
IOW - STFU and watch and listen and be completely INVISIBLE. ;)
From the horses mouth!
You don’t need to kill them all, just the problem (stubborn or stupid) bears. The problem bears are easily identifiable, they are the ones who keep coming back even after an unpleasant encounter with a human being.
When gunpowder speaks, the wildlife listens.
Black Bears ARE NOT timid, wary, or cowardly.
They ARE aggressive, bold, fearless, hunters and killers when the dinner bell rings.
If a Black Bear takes you down they will proceed to eat you while your still alive.
Black Bears are omnivores; they will eat anything, and if necessary kill and eat anything.
Humans are omnivores; draw your own conclusions.
It’s that one percent you have to worry about.
The more people they interact with, the less fear and respect they have for those people.
And just as a matter of interest “you are on the menu”.
Just as a matter of interest; a Black Bear is more likely to attack you than a Grizz.
Probably has more to due with Black Bear population versus Grizz population than anything else, but that remains to be seen and documented.
I’ve been around them all my life and camped, hiked and fished all through the Smokies...Never had the first problem with a black bear...You just have to respect them and not be an idiot around them....
“...Black Bears ARE NOT timid, wary, or cowardly.
They ARE aggressive, bold, fearless...”
You could not be more wrong about black bears.....
About the only time a black bear is “aggressive” is if you get to near a sow’s cubs or there is food around...
If they are around people a lot, they will lose some of their fear, but they are very, very seldom “fearless” as you say...
Like I said, I’ve been around them for all my life of 67 years...I’ve hunted them with Plott Hounds in both Tennessee and Canada...I’ve camped, hiked and fished all over East Tennessee and North Carolina mountains...
If you respect them and don’t act like a fool around them, you won’t have any trouble...
Perhaps out there on the east coast and midwestern states Black Bears meet your specifications; but here in the west, they have a completely different attitude.
I have been living with the damn things for the last 35 years and on average I have had to shoot one about every other year. HAD TO SHOOT, not hunting, not for sport, not for food.
HAD to shoot them; for livestock depredation, killing my dogs, and being a clear and present danger to my family.
Finding one in the tool shed is not that unusual; no food kept in there, just gasoline, diesel, hand tools and power tools.
Can’t even walk the orchard or my fields unarmed (45 Long Colt), especially in spring and late fall.
Out here it is not the least bit surprising to have one taking a stroll down the main street of our town; Forest Service or Fish and Game will try to scare them out but usually wind up having to kill them.
I am also 67 years old and have been a hunter all my life (got my first deer at 5 years old); I have hunted Deer, Elk, Antelope, Bear, Mountain Lion, Bobcat, Coyote, just about everything that walks, crawls, slithers or flies in the western United States.
It’s just in the last 25 or 30 years that the Black Bears have become a problem and a threat.
Can’t say I know the reason for their behavior, but that doesn’t change the behavior.
In the last 10 years I think it’s like 6 to 8 people who have been killed and eaten by Black Bears in the western states.
In response to your last sentence. I don’t act like a fool around any wild animal; deer, bear, elk, even a coyote is more than capable of killing a human being. Were nothing more than a soft squishy bag of meat to them.
I don’t even take chances with domesticated livestock; more than one ranch hand has been killed or maimed by a pissed off bull, or a cow protecting her calf.
I wasn’t talking about you when I said something about acting like a fool...But I’ve seen plenty of tourists do just that in the Smokies...
I don’t know what is different about your black bears, but when one wanders into town here, neighborhood dogs will tree the bear and the Animal Control people come out, tranquilize the bear and take it back in the mountains....
I’ve had run in with bears in the the Smokies. The SOB figured out my pack was up a tree and got hold of it. Must have gotten a hold of it and put his weight into it, because it broke the aluminum frame the rope was tied to.
The next morning my gear was scatter up the mountainside.
Have you ever seen a can of ravioli with just tooth marks (about the size of a .22), that was bone dry on the inside?
I have. The damnedest thing I’ve ever seen.
I have a picture somewhere, of some tourist types at a pull over area, that were taking pictures of a black bear. They thought it was so cute. Got a little too close, and the bear kinda hopped in the kids direction.
Good thing the minivan slider door was open.
I image the odor coming from inside his shorts was fun for the family. LOL!
Tourists are something else....
I once had a woman get of a car alongside where I was trout fishing and asked me to catch a fish so she could get a picture....
I asked her how big of a fish did she want me to catch???
Her husband said to her, “Get in the car!!! Get in the car!!!
Do you know how STUPID that sounded??? Get in the car!!!”
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