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A mountain lion attacked a man and his dog near Buckeye, Arizona, on May 25, 2025, about 10 p.m. The attacks occurred in Verrado, which is near the Skyline Regional Park. Buckeye is a bit closer to Phoenix than it is to Yuma. This correspondent has traveled within a few miles of the attack location numerous times. It is a relatively wild stretch of desert, but close to human developments. People in the developments say there have been numerous sightings of mountain lions over the last few months. From azcentral.com: Officials said the man engaged in “a brief altercation” with...

Few studies have examined the effectiveness of firearms in defense against bears. This may be because early experience with modern firearms against bears showed them to be incredibly effective compared to muzzleloading firearms, which were far superior to bows and spears.Before Christopher Columbus pioneered a regular and profitable way to travel to the Caribbean and the New World, Amerindians had difficulty defending themselves and their food against grizzly bears.Grizzly bears migrated into the area occupied by the 48 contiguous states a bit after humans, about 12,000 to 16,000 years ago. The bears originated in Europe and Asia, and had colonized...

A man shot and killed a grizzly bear Friday after it charged while he was shed hunting near Dupuyer in north-central Montana. According to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the man was searching for antlers on a brushy hillside when he first saw the bear. As he was leaving, the bear charged him at close range and he shot the bruin. The man was not injured. The adult female grizzly was healthy with no history of conflict. She was estimated to be 13 years old and weighed about 250 pounds. The sow had a single yearling cub that was found...

Timothy Treadwell was a controversial figure who insisted on approaching and viewing brown bears at close range for about 13 years. He did not carry a firearm or bear spray or any deterrents. From backpacker.com: Wes: Timothy thought he was the dominant bear in the ecosystem. I think he was past the point of accepting any input on that. I think he had convinced himself that they would never hurt him, and he was untouchable. Treadwell was repeatedly warned about the danger. From akfatal.net:Despite that, Treadwell refused to carry firearms or ring his campsites with an electric fence as do...

On March 21, in the Malá Fatra mountains near Bratislava, Slovakia, a European brown bear attacked a man who was hiking with his dog. The bear was reported to have had cubs with her. Mr. Piotr was carrying a mid-sized axe, which was used to clear brush and trim limbs.The axe appears similar to what we would have called a “cruiser” axe, about a 3/4-sized axe with a single-bit head. Mr. Piotr casually swings the axe as he walks along. It is something this correspondent often did while walking through the forest over 50 years ago. An axe is a...

Nunaga: Ten Years of Eskimo Life by Duncan Pryde 285 pages, 1971, Walker Publishing Company, Inc. New York, 1972 American edition. Available at Amazon from about $10 used. Nunaga is extremely well written, a riveting story of a young man from Scotland who goes to Canada in 1955, seeking fortune and adventure. He answers an ad for fur traders by the Hudson Bay Company.In 1955, eighteen-year-old Duncan Pryde answered the Hudson Bay Company ad. “Fur traders wanted for the far north,…single, ambitious, self-reliant young men wanted…” Pryde lived the Eskimo life for years, becoming adept at survival in the Arctic...

On May 20, 2022, Chad and Lacey Liske were getting ready for bed in their home near Medford, Wisconsin.Part of their routine was to take down their bird feeder to prevent damage by bears. Their house was invaded, and they were attacked by a 250 lb black bear. The incident was initially reported on AmmoLand on May 23, 2022. The Liske’s contacted AmmoLand with a detailed account this year. Their account is consistent with the AmmoLand report but includes many interesting details that were not available at the time. The Liskes had three children at home during the fight. Their...

The Musk-Deranged and DOGE-Deranged media appear to have stumbled on a new genre of coverage: the horrendous fate that will befall Americans due to DOGE cuts across multiple federal agencies. Reaching a new height of absurdity, CBS’s Ian Lee leads viewers to infer that DOGE cuts will lead people to be eaten by bears. Watch as Lee walks viewers to an empty ranger station at Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming: .. LEE: I spoke with several senior Forest Service officials across the country, and they told me the future leadership of the agency has been wiped out, and it could...

This would come one year after the NFL moved touchbacks up from the 25-yard-line to the 30. The league reported a 57 percent increase in returns in 2024; which was the main goal of the drastic change to the kickoff rules last year. Another five yards could incentivize more potential kick returns in 2025, as well.

A woman from New Jersey was killed by a hippo while on an African safari with her husband who now alleges the tour operator failed to keeping her safe. Lisa Manders, 70, was gruesomely attacked by the hippo last year in Zambia on the trip while her husband, Craig, horrified husband watched on. The mother-of-three suffered 'catastrophic injuries' and died moments after the attack, according to the lawsuit. 'Had we understood the dangers posed by the hippopotamus, we never would have agreed to be in such close contact while on foot,' Craig said in a statement from his attorneys, Paul...

In the summer of 1991, Alan Yates was working in the forested mountains near Bozeman, Montana. Two black bears charged him at the same time. He successfully defended himself against the bears with two shots fired from his .357 magnum Smith & Wesson 65 revolver. He was 21 years old.Here are Alan’s words, lightly edited for space and clarity:In the summer of 1991 I worked on a logging operation in the mountains of Montana.There was a large bear that lived in the hills and mountains around our community. He was very aggressive. His favorite mode of attack was to charge...

At about 5:30 a.m., nearly two hours before sunrise in Garland, Maine, a suspect stole a Komatsu front end loader from a nearby gravel pit. The suspect then used the front end loader to attack a nearby home with people inside. The machine caused significant damage to vehicles parked in the driveway in an apparent attempt to force entry into the house. The sheriff’s officer reports residents exited the house and fired shots at the driver, wounding him and forcing his retreat.Here is the report from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office:Gunshots were fired during an incident involving a stolen front-end...

The Year-Long Day is a factual account of an overwinter in the Svalbard Archipelago, trapping foxes and hunting polar bears. It was published in 1976 and is a fascinating true story of survival and adventure. In the Arctic winter of 1970 to 1971, a trapper/hunter in the Svalbard Archipelago had to protect himself several times with gunfire from polar bears.This is not particularly unusual. It was unusual for Ivar Ruud to keep a detailed diary, make a movie, and have a book published about his experiences. Most arctic trappers and hunters do not keep detailed diaries, make movies, and...

On the evening of September 6, 2024, Owen Beierman, 12, and his father, Ryan, 43, were hunting bears near Siren, Wisconsin. Siren is about 50 miles north and 50 miles east of Minneapolis, in northwest Wisconsin.Owen shot a 200 lb black bear with his .350 Legend rifle. The bear ran off, leaving a strong blood trail. Even mortally wounded bears often run for some distance. The Beiermans borrowed a Labrador retriever from their neighbors and started tracking the bear about 20 minutes after it was shot. It was already getting dark. Game is often shot just after sunrise or shortly...

Here are all the cases that have been documented where calibers beyond .44 Magnum were used. There are 4 incidents where .454 Casull revolvers were fired. There was 1 incident where a .460 S&W Magnum revolver was fired. there were 2 incidents where a .500 S&W Magnum revolver was fired. These cases do not include incidents where handguns were used with other lethal means or a mix of handgun calibers were used. The incident is included if more than one handgun of the same caliber was used. Six incidents were against brown bears and one against a polar bear. All...

On August 20, 2024, Tyler Johnson, 32, and his father, Chris, were backpacking and hunting on the Resurrection Trail in Alaska. The trail is in the Chugach National Forest South of Anchorage, across the Turnagain arm of Cook’s Inlet. The north end is just South of Hope, Alaska. The trail is about 38 miles long. On the first day, the Johnsons had hiked in about 15 miles. The weather was great; it was about 64 degrees, and it was mostly sunny. Both men were in excellent physical shape. Hiking 15 miles in the mountains with heavy packs in a day...

A flurry of black bear attacks has been covered in the media in the summer of 2024. Five people were injured in the attacks. The first occurred in Alaska at a campground near Anchorage, by a male bear. The bear injured a woman’s face after scratching and biting its way into the couple’s tent. She was treated at a hospital. There was no food or other items that usually attract bears inside the tent and it’s not clear what prompted the rare encounter, Wardlow said. “These folks who were involved did everything right and this is just a very unusual...

Here are all the cases that have been documented where .44 Magnum caliber revolvers and one semi-automatic handgun were fired in defense against bears. The .44 Magnum has been used far more than any other caliber in defense against bears.These cases do not include incidents where handguns were used with other lethal means or a mix of handgun calibers were used. If more than one handgun of the same caliber was used, the incident is included. There are 44 incidents with a .44 Magnum caliber handgun was fired (9 black, 30 brown, 5 polar bears).One incident was a failure with...

In the last week of May 2024, Bowhunter Tyce Erickson used his 10mm S&W 2.0 handgun to defend against a large Kodiak brown bear. The 10mm handgun was loaded with Underwood ammunition utilizing 220-grain hardcast bullets. The hunt was on Kodiak Island in Alaska. Tyce had wounded a large Kodiak bear in the last two days of the hunt in a shot at a moving bear from 200 yards with a borrowed rifle. The bear was tracked for two miles when it decided to ambush the hunters. The guide was about 10 feet in front of Tyce with a .375...

On July 10, 2024, a 19-year-old tourist woman and her boyfriend hiking in Romania were attacked by a European brown bear. The couple was on the emergency phone line with authorities as the woman and man followed directions on how to handle a bear. The woman was attacked, dragged off, killed, and partially eaten. The bear attacked authorities attempting to recover the body and was shot and killed.The European brown bear in Romania is a sub-species of the worldwide population of brown bears. The species includes the North American Grizzly, the Japanese Ussuri brown bear, the Kodiak bear, and the...