On the Wapiti Lake Trail south of Canyon:

http://www.kxlh.com/news/man-killed-by- ... onal-park/

There seems to be another bumper crop of bears in the park this year, and apparently more human conflict. Be bear aware.

Sorry to hear about that. He wasn't hiking alone, either. But that's the thing...when you're hiking in grizzly bear country, there's a risk.

Thats terrible. On a trip into the North Cascades a friend and I suprised a black bear with her cub. She falsed charged us, which scared the piss out of me, but fortunatly only resulted in a change of underware and nothing as tragic as the above story.

A lot of the Northern Rockies got well above normal snow totals this year. My guess is that until very late summer, the grizzlies will be staying lower than usual, meaning more human-bear encounters.

Very sad news. I don't know the whole story, so I'm not judging them, but I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often. Many times I've been hiking in similar country, and come upon hikers who were making vitually no sound. And the bear bells are a joke - usually I don't hear them until I'm right next to the hikers.

Tough situation to be in.

Current thinking as far as I know, is to "play dead", when you encounter a sow with cubs. Don't think many husbands could do that if their wife is being attacked. Without having detail, I'm guessing this is what happened to these poor folks.

So sad for the tragedy that has befallen this family........

Bill Reed wrote:Tough situation to be in.

Current thinking as far as I know, is to "play dead", when you encounter a sow with cubs.

It may be the smart thing to do, but I can tell you, it’s about as far from your mind as can be when you are being charged. The whole idea of standing your ground and making yourself big goes right the hell out the window as well. In my case, everything happened so fast that I did what came natural, I yelled really loud and stood my ground for a matter of second before I thought "screw this" and turned the other direction and ran like crazy. Was it the right thing to do? Probably not, i'm just thankful it was a black bear and not a f*%king grizzly. It would take some serious discipline and balls to just up and lay down during a bear charge.

jordansahls wrote:

Bill Reed wrote:Tough situation to be in.

Current thinking as far as I know, is to "play dead", when you encounter a sow with cubs.

It would take some serious discipline and balls to just up and lay down during a bear charge.

Truer words were never spoken.... Infinitely easier said than done.

I dunno whether to be more afraid of a charging grizz or a charging black bear.

A grizzly is more likely to attack, but you stand a better chance of surviving (sans a limb or two). A black bear rarely attacks, but when it does it usually doesn't stop its attack until it's belly is full.

More detail. Looks like they made the mistake of running when they were charged. The woman wisely played dead as the bear caught up with them but the man was not so lucky.

Alpinist wrote:More detail. Looks like they made the mistake of running when they were charged. The woman wisely played dead as the bear caught up with them but the man was not so lucky.

Last year's fatalities were one "completely random" (campground) and one "someone else's mistakes" (bear research team). These incidents are really rare but as Stephen Herrero's book shows, it's important to look at them for lessons. So, without blaming the victim, here's what I'd like to know more about:
1) Decision not to carry bear spray was presumably a contributing factor;
2) Decision to continue the hike after seeing the sow on the outward-bound leg; were the bear's movements such that returning to the trailhead (away from the bear) was not the right decision?;
3) Decision for man to stand his ground while telling woman to run. Did this trigger a predator response that made a bluff charge less likely? Bear's attack on woman seems to be a classic "teach a lesson" response to someone who threatened the cubs -- why did the bear respond differently to the man?

Anyone have other thoughts, other information?

They were 100 yards away when they first saw the bear, and they immediately turned around and went the other way. That seems like a long distance for the bear to feel threatened.

I guess running is the wrong thing to do, you can't outrun them and it brings on their hunting instinct. Guess I just got lucky with my encounter because I ran and then turned around and froze when the bear charged. It ended up being a bluff charge.

I've heard that in Russia they use road flares, much cheaper than bear spray and just as effective because it inundates their primary sense, that of smell, and triggers their instinctual fear of fire. Does anyone have any info on this?

Buckaroo wrote:I've heard that in Russia they use road flares, much cheaper than bear spray and just as effective because it inundates their primary sense, that of smell, and triggers their instinctual fear of fire. Does anyone have any info on this?

http://www.findingwilderness.com/?cat=21

Watch the video link in the first paragraph

Buckaroo wrote:I guess running is the wrong thing to do, you can't outrun them and it brings on their hunting instinct. Guess I just got lucky with my encounter because I ran and then turned around and froze when the bear charged. It ended up being a bluff charge.

Yeah, running appears to be bad, I will remember that in the future. I'm also really lucky it was only a false charge. It's a strange feeling to know that something can kill you and there is nothing you can do to stop it.

Alaska bear attack leaves teens in serious condition
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14279658


Grizzly bears can be found throughout much of Alaska and parts of Canada Continue reading the main story
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Two US teenagers are in a serious condition after a grizzly bear attacked a group of seven students learning survival skills in the state of Alaska.

Four of the teenagers were injured after coming upon a bear walking with her cub, state troopers said.

Emergency responders found the students early on Sunday using a locating beacon and transported them by helicopter.

The students were participating in a 30-day wilderness course in the Talkeetna Mountains near Anchorage.

The teenagers had been walking without instructors in a single-file line through the mountains late on Saturday when they were mauled by the grizzly bear, with the first two students in the line suffering the brunt of the attack.

National Outdoor Leadership School spokesman Bruce Palmer said 17-year-olds Joshua Berg and Samuel Gottsegen sustained the worst injuries, caused mostly from bear bites.

"I thought I was going to die when I was being attacked. I was so scared," Mr Gottsegen told the Associated Press news agency from his hospital bed.

Hospital spokesperson Crystal Bailey at the Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage said both Mr Gottsegen, of Denver, Colorado, and Mr Berg, of New York City, were in a serious condition. Officials earlier said their injuries were life-threatening.