Grizzly Attack

Polar bears can be even worse. Listened to a guy tell a story about his friend being hunted by, then decapitated by, a polar bear. Grizzlies attack for territorial reasons. Polar bears actually hunt people.
 
Polar bears can be even worse. Listened to a guy tell a story about his friend being hunted by, then decapitated by, a polar bear. Grizzlies attack for territorial reasons. Polar bears actually hunt people.

Black bears occasionally do too. Though they don't get as big as their brown and white cousins at least.
 
I sat and watched a grizz dig ground squirrels North of Atigun for a bit one day. Seeing clods of Earth nearly as large as me appear to effortlessly fly 30-40' through the air really drove home the power of that animal.

The speed is also impressive. Probably the scariest thing to observe is that an animal that big can move almost silently through brush you can barely move in, and be virtually invisible a few feet away. Tracking wounded ones or stumbling on ones stashed kill is quite an experience.
 
Black bears occasionally do too. Though they don't get as big as their brown and white cousins at least.

They get plenty big in NC. The world record black bear was taken in Craven County NC in '96. 880 lbs... That's a monster. In the coastal forests and swamps and in the mountains to the West they get BIG. In the Piedmont around me, they're not much bigger than dogs...
 
They get plenty big in NC. The world record black bear was taken in Craven County NC in '96. 880 lbs... That's a monster. In the coastal forests and swamps and in the mountains to the West they get BIG. In the Piedmont around me, they're not much bigger than dogs...

If I remember the story on the 880lb one didn't a wildlife biologist make a determination that he had some sort of metabolic/genetic thing that made him pretty much a freak of nature? I know they get big enough to hurt you for sure and they do kill people on occasion, but not to the extent of their bigger cousins.

I wouldn't hunt in black bear country without a black bear capable sidearm though, let me say that.

And now that Billy has informed us that they're around his place (which I suspected already) I'll have my blackhawk in my hammock with me the night before the gathering. Last thing I want to be is a bear burrito..... :)
 
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Polar bears can be even worse. Listened to a guy tell a story about his friend being hunted by, then decapitated by, a polar bear. Grizzlies attack for territorial reasons. Polar bears actually hunt people.

How many of us will ever be in wild polar bear territory though? That's more a remote concern.

My cousin was an Anchorage cop. Said they had a couple hundred of them within the range of the city. Mostly just got in the trash.
 
I once came upon a smallish (150#) black bear while riding a motorcycle on the back roads of KY. It stood up an it's hind legs about 20 feet from me, bellowed, dropped down and ran into the woods.

I was pulling vinyl out from between my butt cheeks for weeks!

I know he might have weighed less than me, but I am quite sure I would've lost.

Powerful creatures!!!!
 
They get plenty big in NC. The world record black bear was taken in Craven County NC in '96. 880 lbs... That's a monster. In the coastal forests and swamps and in the mountains to the West they get BIG. In the Piedmont around me, they're not much bigger than dogs...

The largest one on the coast (Manns Harbor) that I have seen was just over six feet probably close to that 400lb mark. I am quite sure of his height because we were up close and personal. Another big one I saw was at Mt. Pisgah camp ground. He decided to jump in the bed of the pic up about 3am. We did do a report later that morning and he had a collar and had been weighed in July and was 425. We were there in Sept. The few I have seen in Pasquotank County have bee quite small.
 
If I remember the story on the 880lb one didn't a wildlife biologist make a determination that he had some sort of metabolic/genetic thing that made him pretty much a freak of nature? I know they get big enough to hurt you for sure and they do kill people on occasion, but not to the extent of their bigger cousins.

I wouldn't hunt in black bear country without a black bear capable sidearm though, let me say that.

And now that Billy has informed us that they're around his place (which I suspected already) I'll have my blackhawk in my hammock with me the night before the gathering. Last thing I want to be is a bear burrito..... :)


Maybe unusual to be that big being a record and all, but big 600+lbs bears aren't that uncommon. They aren't as aggressive for sure... I've never been in fear of black bear. Grizzly and big brown bears make me nervous...
 
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Glock 20 in chest rig:

Seems like a great effing idea in bear country. Might just piss him off, but at least theres a chance you could get him or yourself before dinner starts.
 
Glock 20 in chest rig:

Seems like a great effing idea in bear country. Might just piss him off, but at least theres a chance you could get him or yourself before dinner starts.

My thinking exactly... Still better practice. This guy had less than 2 seconds before the bear was on him and that was from almost 70' away in a snow den or something...
 
Are there Browns here in NC?
Don't beleive so. But brown, black, white who really cares. I don't plan to be around.


My brother and his wife and two kids were camping some where in Pisgha National Forest. He specifically told his wife not to have any food in the tent. Later that night they hear something walking around the tent. Come to find out his wife snuck some food in the tent. As the bear is doing it's deal he ask her if there was food in the tent. She comes clean and told him, yes. He hears the bear move away and he exits the tent. My brother always carries. He lets loose a shot and he said that bear took off. He then went to his wife and told her that is why you never bring food into a tent.

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Black bears occasionally do too. Though they don't get as big as their brown and white cousins at least.

Generally bear attacks are seen like this.

Polar bear-for food
Black bear-for food
Grizzly bear- for territory.

You play dead with the Grizzly but you fight the other two for your life. But black bear attacks are really rare.

How many of us will ever be in wild polar bear territory though? That's more a remote concern.

My cousin was an Anchorage cop. Said they had a couple hundred of them within the range of the city. Mostly just got in the trash.

Sounds like this guy was in the territory for either. And you have the Kodiak's up there too.

The guy I'm talking about above was standing on the porch of his cabin. He had apparently seen the polar bear for several days first thing in the morning. The bear established his pattern and climbed onto the roof of his cabin to wait for him. When he came out the bear took his head off. Several towns in Alaska have a habit of leaving car and home doors unlocked so folks can escape encounters with polar bears.
 
Generally bear attacks are seen like this.

Polar bear-for food
Black bear-for food
Grizzly bear- for territory.

You play dead with the Grizzly but you fight the other two for your life. But black bear attacks are really rare.
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Yep.

Years ago I hunted quite a bit down in Holly Shelters game lands. It's a gigantic swamp/dense thicket pocked with planted fields and crisscrossed with dirt roads. It is solidly black bear country and some of the biggest ones in the state killed come from that area.

When I started hunting down there it was against the regs to carry a sidearm during bow or muzzleloader season regardless of whether you had a CHP. Those regs have since changed.

I always carried a large EK bowie when hunting down there. My Father in Law asked me why and I told him, "Look, this is bear country. I'm under no illusions necessarily that this knife will help me survive a bear attack, but I want there to be no questions about what killed me when they find me. Hopefully they'll find it laying there too..."
 
Don't beleive so. But brown, black, white who really cares. I don't plan to be around.


My brother and his wife and two kids were camping some where in Pisgha National Forest. He specifically told his wife not to have any food in the tent. Later that night they hear something walking around the tent. Come to find out his wife snuck some food in the tent. As the bear is doing it's deal he ask her if there was food in the tent. She comes clean and told him, yes. He hears the bear move away and he exits the tent. My brother always carries. He lets loose a shot and he said that bear took off. He then went to his wife and told her that is why you never bring food into a tent.

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk

Not just food... don't even bring the same clothes you wore to dinner inside the tent.
 
I was traveling out west recently and i was taking a pistol. I did some digging and you would be surprised that the 9MM is very effective in bear shoots. Of course a big caliber is great, but accurate enough volume fire is my forte. I was just surprised how many people used a 9mm and killed and ran off the bears. I think i would rather have 20 rounds of 9mm over 6 357 or 44 mag revolver.
 


Over the years I looked into Polar Bear twice, two separate hunts. Both times the horror stories about the weather caused me to take serious pause and drop it all together............The thoughts of 10 days trapped by weather in an igloo with eskimos drinking hot water for soup was just not all that appealing to me...........

But we have seen some damn tough days in Alaska hunting brown bear too..........But nothing like the polar bear trips by any stretch............
 
People are surprised at my "worry list" when I'm outdoors. Pretty much in this order.

Bees
Snakes
Hogs
People
Bears

These days mine are more like:

Mosquitos
Ticks
Snakes
Bees
People
Feral dogs
Coyotes
Bears
Hogs (never seen a wild one in person around here, though I'm sure they're here).
 
How many of us will ever be in wild polar bear territory though? That's more a remote concern.

My cousin was an Anchorage cop. Said they had a couple hundred of them within the range of the city. Mostly just got in the trash.

Lots of grizz/Kodiak/browns round Anchorage, no polar bears, occasionally one shows up in the gulf that rode a piece of ice there or something. Polars are Barrow's trash bears, occasionally seen round Prudhoe and the oil patches, been both places. There's some videos around of people herding them off runways and things.

Polar bears are protected marine mammals with treaties and things pertaining to them. Hunting or possessing parts is legally complicated, shooting in defense could be too.
 
Scary is walking through rhododendrons on the Appalachian and not seeing the sun for days but seeing tons of fresh scat. The forest is black as night just a couple of feet from the trail at noon. You could walk within a foot of a bear and not know it.
 
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