** Reply to note from Don Baccus


> Herrero, in "Bear Attacks - Their Causes And Prevention", discounts noise
> making. He thinks it's a good idea because it might occasionally work,
> but in general thinks that such noises aren't loud enough to hear far enough
> away to provide ample warning. Air-horns, like used for foghorns on boats,
> are pretty good he thinks but he recognizes that most folks don't really want
> to blatt their way down the trail.

Reminds me... I must get my copy of Herrero back. Personal experience with black
bears: going camping at Andy Bailey Lake near Fort Nelson in July 1986. Setting
up the tent when my buddies two malamutes go charging into the woods. Oh,oh we
all thought - trouble. Sure enough, the dogs come screaming back out followed by
a *big* momma black bear and two large cubs lumbering straight towards us. Ian
had the shotgun with slugs handy and pumped two into the ground near her. Well,
this old sow must have been deaf because she didn't even blink. The dogs finally
got up enough gumption to start barking like mad and standing their ground in
front of the bears. This seemed to do the trick because she turned tail and went
back the way she came. Needless to say, we broke camp and decided to spend the
weekend at home instead. Note that black bears in n.e. BC are notorious for
being people killers.


> He places his faith in numbers, frankly. Groups of 4+ are almost never
> attacked
> no matter what the situation if they're close together (there are exceptions,
> of course). And on horseback he thinks you're almost immune, though he
> himself seems to prefer to wander about on foot.

The traditional bear wisdom around central BC goes like this:

grizzly - like their meat rotten so you have a better chance of surviving if you
roll up into a ball and let the bear bat you around. If you are lucky, you will
come to after the mauling covered up with dirt in a shallow scrape with a chance
of escaping before griz returns for a meal.

blacks - like their meat raw so fight back with whatever you have. There have
been more black bear maulings than grizzly maulings in BC.

There is an unlucky guy here in P.G. who has survived three bear maulings, the
last a griz attack from which he awoke covered in dirt. He is now so traumatized
that he refuses to get out of the car when outside. Remember that surprising a
sow bear with cubs is the worst of all scenarios; however, there are many
records of black bears especially which seem to like tent snacks every now and
then.

People will do the dumbest things, though. The bear mauling which resulted in
the death of two people at Liard Hotsrpings in n.e. BC last summer was one such
case: a scrawny 2-year old black bear wandered into the area and a tourist
decided to start feeding it so she could get some better pictures. She ran out
of food and the bear came after her instead. In the unfolding horror, a Fort
Nelson resident jumped on the bears back and tried to unsuccessfully pull it off
her. The bear turned on him and lickety-split, both people were dead. It took
someone at the hotpools to run back to the car and get their shotgun before the
bear could be put down. This case is still under investigation. A couple of
times I have driven down the highway only to find that some people have left
their cars on the side of the road so they could get closer to bears grazing off
the shoulder. I honedk the horn and scared the bear off, prompting the people to
give me the finger. Little do they know I am doing them a favor.

- Jack



--------------
Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jbowling at direct.ca