Bear Attack!

[morrell12]

Here is a story of a brown bear that attacked a 15 year old boy in Alaska. Man I am glad the black bear we encounter are not that agressive!

[okpik]

Kid was probably covered in Mountian Dew and Gummy bears from the night before. I would have bit him too.

[Fox]

What got her going?

The bear finally turned and ran away after counselors blasted her with pepper spray and fired a flare at her feet

Holy CRAP!

Now, where's the rest of the story where we find out that the kid had food in his tent?

[Fox]

The rest of the story...

Teen camper fights off brown bear
SOUTHEAST: Rice-A-Roni in tent may have sparked attack.

By MARY PEMBERTON
The Associated Press

(Published: April 27, 2004)
A 15-year-old boy on a wilderness expedition for emotionally troubled youths woke up to find a 400-pound brown bear sow with a bad attitude sitting at his feet.

The Barrow boy thought at first that a camp counselor was rustling around at the foot of his tent Saturday morning on Deer Island in Southeast Alaska. But when he figured out it was a bear, the teen, keeping his wits about him, tried to slip away quietly.

The bear would have none of it.

"It seems that pretty calmly (the boy) wriggled his way backward out of the back of the tent as the bear was going over the top of the tent," state trooper Adam Benson said Monday. "They kind of met up at the back of the tent. The bear came down, mouth open, toward him."

Benson said the boy put up his right arm to fend off the sow. She bit his forearm, leaving two puncture wounds.

The boy decided to fight back -- a risky approach to take, particularly with a brown bear, the trooper said.

"He told me he punched the bear half a dozen times with his left hand" and the bear let him go, Benson said.

When the teenager got up and tried to run, the bear bit him again on the right side of his torso, just below his ribs, this time leaving half a dozen puncture wounds on his back, Benson said.

The boy punched the bear again a couple of times, and again she let him go.

"He jumped behind a little cluster of trees and kind of played keep-away with the bear," Benson said.

During one of the turns around the trees, the boy remembered that he had an air horn in his gear and grabbed it on the run. He blew the horn in the bear's face. The sound woke up the other counselors and boys in the camp, said Steve Prysunka, director of the six-week Crossing Wilderness Expeditions for Youth program.

Prysunka said counselor Willy Hollett stepped between the boy and the bear and hit her with pepper spray. The bear reared up, and he sprayed her again; then the bear reared up once more.

In the meantime, another counselor fired a flare at the bear's feet, finally causing her to turn and run.

The boy was taken to the program's floating camp, a barge with a lodge anchored about one-eighth of a mile away. An emergency medical crew arrived by float plane about 30 minutes later to take him to Ketchikan General Hospital, where he was treated and released a few hours later, Prysunka said.

Benson said he was at the hospital when the teen was brought in on a stretcher. He was sitting up and looked relaxed.

"He told me it didn't hurt," Benson said. "I would attribute that to a pretty good shot of adrenaline."

Prysunka asked that the boy not be identified in news reports.

Late Saturday afternoon, another trooper and a couple of U.S. Forest Service employees returned to the campsite area, found the sow and killed her. There were no signs she had any cubs with her.

Benson said the counselors the evening before had checked on the campers to make sure no food had been left out to attract bears.

The boy had some Rice-A-Roni he wanted to keep.

"He said: 'No, don't take this. I'm going to eat this in a little while,' " Benson said. "Apparently he fell asleep before he got it done. There was some food left at the foot of his tent."

The boy was being sent home to give his wounds time to heal, Prysunka said.

"I think he is the biggest, baddest thing in the woods. He punched the bear," Prysunka said.

[Jeff]

If you thought he was an emotionally troubled youth before...

[Jeff]

Here is a bear attack story that we somehow missed. Just FYI while cruising the net.

http://www.aldha.org/bearmaul.htm

[white bear 05]

I roamed the wilderness for a good many years wishing to meet a bear, and I did, but it was very uncommon.
Now that my fifteen years old kid go in hikes and now that encounters and attacks are getting more usual, I like to know, how efficient is this Pepper spray? can it be trusted to stop a attacking bear, is any testimonials in this Forum?

If you have answer this questions before, please forgive me and point me to such threads. I am new here.
Thanks
best regards
white bear 05

[redhawk]

I roamed the wilderness for a good many years wishing to meet a bear, and I did, but it was very uncommon.
Now that my fifteen years old kid go in hikes and now that encounters and attacks are getting more usual, I like to know, how efficient is this Pepper spray? can it be trusted to stop a attacking bear, is any testimonials in this Forum?

If you have answer this questions before, please forgive me and point me to such threads. I am new here.
Thanks
best regards
white bear 05

Lets just say that it's the most effective defense against a bear who has charged in spite of all the other precautions. If you get it in the eyes, it will stop it cold. However, I suggest not standing around and gloating but beat feeting as quickly as possible?

Curious, does the expression "Mato Ska" have any meaning to you?

And it's good to see another old fart here too!

[white bear 05]

Redhawk, thank you for the welcome and the advice about how to use the spray, my son can run, I will have to retire in a dignify manner, arthritis in my legs!!

When I was young, the blackfeet used to call me Mato Waste. now as my beard and hair is white, they call me Mato Ska, but I have not been in the Polar regions.
regards
white bear 05

[Neil]

Personally, I would not take pepper spray with me into bear country. The parano factor of carrying the cannister on my belt all the time dosn't appeal to me. If ever I'm being charged or threatened by a bear I'm sure I would fumble around and my fear would prevent me from aiming the stream of pepper with enough precision to hit the broad side of a barn. If you do go the pepper spray route I would suggest purchasing several cannisters and practicing your quick-draw and aim on a few Jehovas' Wittnesses or on your neighbour's dog prior to heading out into the real world with it.

One thing I recommend is reading Stephen Herrero's book, "Bear attacks: Their Cause and Avoidance".

[redhawk]

Redhawk, thank you for the welcome and the advice about how to use the spray, my son can run, I will have to retire in a dignify manner, arthritis in my legs!!

When I was young, the blackfeet used to call me Matto Waste. now as my beard and hair is white, they call me Matto Ska, but I have not been in the Polar regions.
regards
white bear 05

Is that the Blackfeet Nation or the Blackfoot band of the Lakota (Sioux)?

"Mato" (Mah-toe) in Lakota means Bear, "Waste" (Wash-tay) means Good and "Ska" means White.

Lakota or Sioux is derived from the Ute language group and Blackfeet is derived from the Algonquin language Group.

So in Lakota your nickame would be "Mato Ska".

[Pete_Hickey]

One thing I recommend is reading Stephen Herrero's book, "Bear attacks: Their Cause and Avoidance".

Yes a good book, however let me suggest that you do NOT bring it for night reading in a lean-to, when you are on a multi-day solo trip.

Those sections on the attacks, and decriptions of the sound of the teeth grating against the skull just aren't what you want.

[starbaby]

I like to know, how efficient is this Pepper spray? can it be trusted to stop a attacking bear, is any testimonials in this Forum?

White Bear: Here is a bonafide example of some hikers using pepper spray to stop a charging grizzly sow from Alaska:

http://www.adn.com/outdoors/story/3258528p-3288277c.html

Also, Here are some other articles that describe how pepper spay residual (what is left on the gound long after the direct discharge), can actually attract some bears (brown bears in particular)...

http://www.seeleyswanpathfinder.com/pfnews/aug98/pepprspra.html

It seems as though, although the direct blast will blind any critter with discomfort, the long term residual of pepper scent left on the ground is an attactant. This means that you cant you pepper spray as "bear raid," a bear repellant. It is only the direct blast in the face that stops them.

And some more on that:

http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/brownbears/pepperspray/pepperspray.htm

Hope you never have to use it.

SB

[ken999]

I roamed the wilderness for a good many years wishing to meet a bear, and I did, but it was very uncommon.
Now that my fifteen years old kid go in hikes and now that encounters and attacks are getting more usual, I like to know, how efficient is this Pepper spray? can it be trusted to stop a attacking bear, is any testimonials in this Forum?

If you have answer this questions before, please forgive me and point me to such threads. I am new here.
Thanks
best regards
white bear 05

wb-05 Here are some links with bear spray information. It is interesting to note that there is some evidence that bear spray might not be as effective on black bears as it is against Brownies. Also there are some references to predatory Black bear attacks and how they can be as dangerous as Brown bear attacks.

http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/brownbears/pepperspray/pepperspray.htm

http://gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/us_national_park/ak/wld_katm.htm

http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/dfw_b...oblem_faqs.htm

http://www.ofswa.on.ca/thelog/july2001/page7.html

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF12/1245.html

http://www.yukonweb.com/community/yu...9.htmld/#spray

[marzrw]

Well, out of instinct, I would probably run too, but from shows on the nature channel etc, they say that running is the worst thing to do because bears can run pretty fast. It seems the bears in our area don't harm us humans too often, fortunately, they are more interested in our food. I guess preparation as most of you have suggested is the key: no food in tents etc, use a bag and hang food , etc. Does anyone have the .... to stand off a bear and make noise and yell and clap and such to scare them off instead of running. Not sure if I do. Have seen some pretty fresh bowel movements and prints at times which made me nervous, but no misshaps yet.