Posted on 07/08/2008 12:55:40 PM PDT by george76
An aggressive black bear was shot and killed in a remote section of Denali National Park by park staffers on July 4...
The black bear had threatened the life and safety of three park employees ...
Three seasonal National Park Service technicians were conducting a botany field study along the remote river when a sub-adult black bear approached their camp ...
The three tried to scare it away by yelling, waving their arms and throwing objects at the bear. After being chased off into dense brush, the bear circled back to the camp three or four times. At one point, the animal destroyed a tent. On its final approach to the camp, the bear charged the three researchers, hissing and pouncing at the ground.
An attempt to divert the bear with pepper spray was ineffective.
One of the researchers, who was authorized to carry and use firearms in the park, shot the bear when it charged within 20 feet of the team. The bear was hit in its mid-section with a 12-gauge shotgun slug. Despite considerable blood loss, the wounded bear moved into dense vegetation and out of view.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsminer.com ...
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One of the researchers, who was authorized to carry and use firearms in the park, shot the bear when it charged within 20 feet of the team
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Why does anyone need “authorization” to carry a gun?
Shouldn’t they have waited until the bear ate one or two of them to make sure the bear really wanted to hurt them.
What a pain in the rear that was.
I think I would have charged at them too.
Does pepper spray protect people from bears?
http://www.nps.gov/dena/frequently-asked-questions-regarding-bears.htm
The bear probably tried to make off with their supply of beer.
nope, but after enough people find out the hard way that it doesn’t, the bear is preseasoned for those of us smart enough to just shoot the thing.
Firearms are NOT needed for protection from bears!
1. Undergunned. 12 gauge is a great tool for aggressive humans. It ain't enough for aggressive black bears. This guy needed one of the heavy rifles, loaded alternately with partition bullets and solids. I'm partial to the Old Reliable, .375 Holland and Holland Magnum -- but most professional hunters are now carrying one of the big Winchester or Weatherby magnums.
2. When you wound game, you always follow it up. . . . unless you're a park ranger. If the bear had lost that much blood, it wouldn't have been difficult to track. I suspect that these sometime hunters were reluctant to head into heavy cover after a wounded bear. To avoid this situation, see item No. 1.
This is not the first time this has occurred, btw. Back when my dad was in his 30s, he was hunting with a Game Warden who gut shot a deer. They tracked the blood trail for awhile, but the warden got tired and left my dad to track on alone. He followed that deer for FOUR HOURS, found it dead, and packed it out.
With the right ammo, a 12 gauge is plenty gun for a bear. A 12 gauge shotgun loaded with slugs is standard issue “bear medicine” on the arctic ice cap.
No, they should have had a well thought-out discussion with the bear and convinced the bear that they meant it no harm. To further prove their point they should have concluded their discussion with a group hug. That clearly would have changed the bear’s mind.
The poor bear was living in a remote part of the National Park and “Preserve” and is gunned down because it had not seen humans before. So much for natural preservation.
The three idiots should lose their jobs.
“Why does anyone need “authorization” to carry a gun?”
It says, “authorized to carry and use firearms in the park,” You can’t shoot animals in a National Park. He was authorized to be able to do so.
That info-page is a bunch of typical hug-a-bear (pun intended) BS, as I’m sure you know. Notice how they down play the agressive behavior of bears, slanting it towards humans causing the problem.
Pepper spray is really not much of a deterrent with people either. Those of us who have gone through hands-on training which required being sprayed and then continuing the “attack” (on the instuctors padded up). It was amazing, we all (our class of 33) averaged a good 20 seconds of effective force including the ability to think tactically and act on it.
We had to run, fend off or attack the instuctor (the scenario varied with the instructor so you couldn’t plan a defence), find a weapon (plastic pistol) on the ground “lost” in the struggle, aim it at our assailant, pretend to shoot several rounds, then run back to the starting point. You had to actually, physically fend off the instructor, no “pretending” allowed. 20 seconds is a very long time when the chips are down. I was amazed—and heartened by the ability to just keep going.
A lesson for those who depend on pepper spray for bear or humans.
I do have a question about shot placement though... Would you take a "midsection" shot? I've never hunted bear and so I don't know myself, but I think I would've taken a head shot if he was that close to me.
This part was typical of PETA types who have taken over the DOW...
Firearms are NOT needed for protection from bears!
“The black bear had threatened the life and safety of three park employees ... On its final approach to the camp, the bear charged ...hissing and pouncing at the ground.”
1. Sounds to me like it threatened the life and safety of the ground.
2. Bears hiss? Why does nobody tell me these things?
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