Humans and bears - Wild encounters

[brotherbear]

This topic covers the ongoing relationship between man and bear...

 The Works of Theodore Roosevelt - volume 4 of 14.

The grisly bear undoubtedly comes in the category of dangerous game, and is, perhaps, the only animal in the United States that can be fairly so placed, unless we count the few jaguars found north of the Rio Grande. But the danger of hunting the grisly has been greatly exaggerated, and the sport is certainly very much safer than it was at the beginning of this century. The first hunters who came into contact with this great bear were men belonging to that hardy and adventurous class of backwoodsmen which had filled the wild country between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi. These men carried but one weapon : the long-barreled, small-bored pea rifle, whose bullets ran seventy to the pound, the amount of powder and lead being a little less than contained in the cartridge of a thirty-two caliber Winchester. IN Eastern States almost all the hunting was done in the woodland; the shots were mostly obtained at short distance, and deer and black bear were the largest game; moreover, the pea-rifles were marvelously accurate for close range, and their owners were famed the world over for their skill as marksmen. Thus these rifles had so far proved plenty good enough for the work , they had to do, and indeed had done excellent service as military weapons in the ferocious wars that the men of the border carried on with their Indian neighbors, and even in conflict with more civilized foes, as at the battles of King's Mountain and New Orleans. But, when the restless frontiersmen pressed out over the Western plains, they encountered in the grisly a beast of far greater bulk and more savage temper than any of those found in the Eastern woods, and their small-bore rifles were utterly inadequate weapons with which to cope with him. It is small wonder that he was considered by them to be almost invulnerable, and extraordinarily tenacious of life. He would be a most unpleasant antagonist now to a man armed only with a thirty-two caliber rifle, that carried but a single shot and was loaded at the muzzle. A rifle, to be of use in this sport, should carry a ball weighing from half an ounce to an ounce. With the old pea-rifles the shot had to be in the eye or heart; and accidents to the hunter were very common. But the introduction of heavy breech-loading repeaters has greatly lessened the danger, even in the very few far-off places where the grislies are as ferocious as formerly. For nowadays these great bears are undoubtedly much better aware of the death-dealing power of men, and, as a consequence, much less fierce, than was the case with their forefathers, who so unhesitatingly attacked the early Western travelers and explorers. Constant contact with rifle-carrying hunters, for a period extending over many generations of bear-life, has taught the grisly, by bitter experience, that man is his undoubted overlord, as far as fighting goes; and this knowledge has become a hereditary characteristic. No grisly will assail a man now unprovoked, and one will almost always rather run than fight; though if he is wounded or thinks himself cornered he will attack his foes with a headlong, reckless fury that renders him one of the most dangerous of wild beasts. The ferocity of wild animals depends largely upon the amount of resistance they are accustomed to meet with, and the quantity of molestation to which they are subjected. Reply

[brotherbear]

Man Meets Grizzly by Young and Beyers.
Few people have desired grizzly bears as pets. James Capen Adams was one exception. He captured a female cub in Oregon and named her Martha Washington. She became remarkably domesticated and followed Adams through the mountains, where on cold winter nights he would build a fire and have the bear lie down near it, then cuddle himself up very cozily between the bear and the fire. In 1854 he captured the cub Ben Franklin. To raise this cub he took two pups away from a greyhound dog named Rambler, and the grizzly, Ben Franklin, grew to maturity close chums with the dog. This bear was Adam's close companion during his later years, once saving his life from a wounded grizzly by engaging it in combat while Adams reloaded his gun. Adams would pack his camp equipment on Ben or load a deer upon his back to carry to camp. After he quit hunting, he kept a small museum where he let children ride Ben for a dime. Adams demonstrated that the monarch of the mountains, the much feared and maligned grizzly, could be wholly domesticated and become a true and loyal friend.

Yet captivity, however gentle and kindly, is not to a bear's liking, and, ironically, Adams death resulted from the effects of a blow to the head administered by his domesticated grizzly. Most captive bears seem to resent their present condition. Reply

[brotherbear]

Man Meets Grizzly by Young and Beyers.
A man who spent a lifetime in the mountains and observed many grizzlies, Charles Hedrich, was convinced that when man encounters a grizzly in the wilds, what results - violence or indifference - depends very much upon the immediate previous experiences of the bear. As an illustration, he told me of two forest rangers riding out of Jackson's Hole up Hoback Canyon, who suddenly heard a tremendous turmoil of growling and whining and crashing of brush on the hillside above them near a side hollow. They halted to listen. Soon there came rushing down the hollow and into the road a huge grizzly bear. When the bear saw the horsemen it rushed toward them with fierce growls and "houghs." The rangers turned their horses, and raced down the canyon road, because, being unarmed, fleeing was all they could do in this situation. After chasing the horsemen for some distance and failing to overtake their horses, the bear stopped and went up a side ravine. The men halted, waited a bit, and then, curious as to the cause of the bear's behavior, retraced their tracks to where they first heard and saw the bear. They rode up the little flat from which the bear had burst upon them. There they saw the ground torn up, the brush and grass crushed, and much hair and fur strewn around. From this they concluded that two grizzlies had met there and decided to settle an old grudge and had fought until the one, perhaps an old grizzly, had been beaten and driven away. The old bear, full of anger and humiliation, saw the two rangers and decided to take out his revenge on them. Hedrich says that the actions of a grizzly are very much the result of recent experiences: if he has had a good sleep or a good meal of berries or meat, he will go about his business and harm no one. If aggravated, he responds in kind and with telling force. Reply

[brotherbear]

The Beast That Walks Like Man by Harold McCracken.
The most comprehensive book that has been written about these animals is William H. Wright's volume 'The Grizzly Bear', which was published in September 1909.
Later, however, Mr. Wright contradicts himself by stating that "to sum up, then, it seems to be beyond doubt that a century's contact with men armed with rifles has rendered the grizzly bear a more wary and cautious animal. It would, indeed, be strange if this were not so, for the grizzly is quick to learn and has had innumerable opportunities of learning; and there have been thirty or forty generations during which his individual lessons have been moulding the instinct of the race." Reply

[brotherbear]

Vance Hoyt - The Passing of the King - Westways, July, 1934.
"With the invention of the repeating rifle, Old Ephraim's nobility, power and courage swiftly melted before the searing flame of gunpowder and lead. No being of flesh and blood could withstand the slaughter that followed. His kind fell by the thousands. Almost overnight the grizzly was forced to change his character and habits of living. The fearless one suddenly became the great timid beast, who slept by day and stalked by night, and eluded conflict except when forced to fight for his very life. At long last the king had been subjugated by the butcher hand of civilization... The once ruler of the wild fastness of California became extinct because his only sins were greatness in size and fearlessness of mien." Reply

[brotherbear]

Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock.

Some males - usually big and presumably dominant, prime-year grizzlies - treat everything they encounter with aggression when the mating juices are running. "Everything" means mostly other grizzlies, but when bears are agitated they often redirect aggression without discrimination - like a dog during a fight, they could turn on you. Statistics on grizzly-inflicted human injuries do not reflect this, because few people ever penetrate the last strongholds of grizzlydom, where even fewer bears hang out during early June. Even among this group of adventurers, the risk of injury is slight, nothing really compared to commuting from Santa Monica, or riding subways, or drinking more than one Black Russian a decade in the Babb Bar. Reply

[brotherbear]

Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock.

The young grizzly's behavior reminded me of something. His reaction to the smell of danger - the presence of a larger boar or maybe the mating season in general - seemed to be to crawl back into the brush, hole up, and lie out this hazardous time. The same thing used to happen to me back in Southeast Asia: whenever the shit really hit the fan, when it looked as if we were about to be overrun and it became a matter of everyone for himself, my first impulse, or perhaps instinct, was to slide off alone into the jungle and keep going until I found vegetation thick enough to hide in, a sanctuary where I could ride out the hunt for Americans. So I thought I knew what it might feel like to be outgunned by bigger bears. 
 
( Doug Peacock - Viet Nam veteran ).  Reply

[brotherbear]

Fortress of the Grizzly by Dan Wakeman and Wendy Shymanski - The Bluff Charge:

As soon as we shifted, the bear stopped eating. He stared at us nervously, the usual sign in bear body language that we were too close. Pausing, I lowered my head to look at the bear through my camera's zoom lens. What I saw in the viewfinder almost made me drop the camera - the 600-pound grizzly was charging toward us, ears flat against his head and legs fully extended. My heartbeat thundered in rhythm with the bear's galloping feet.

Many people in this situation would panic and run, or cock their rifle and shoot the bear. But after so many years in the company of these creatures, I have learned not to act so hastily. I told the visitors to stay calm and trust that the bear had no intention of coming anywhere near us. As hoped, the grizzly turned away from us halfway through his charge and resumed his grazing.

... I never intentionally cross into the safety zone. On the few occasions when I accidentally found myself too close to grizzly bears, they have shown a lack of aggression. Even the two most Common disaster scenarios - human stumbling upon a bear with carrion or a mother with cubs - have not produced any problems in the Khutzeymateen. The carrion scenario happens more in areas frequented by moose and caribou, while the mother bears we encounter remain remarkably calm in the presence of visitors.

My experiences in the Khutzeymateen and other areas lead me to believe that grizzly bears are peaceful creatures that do not look for confrontation, and that the blame for the antagonism between humans and grizzlies falls more on homo sapiens than ursus horribilis. Reply

[brotherbear]

Fortress of the Grizzly by Dan Wakeman and Wendy Shymanski - The Man who Talks to Grizzlies: ...continued...

I borrowed one effective technique for calming a bear from Monty Roberts' book 'The Man Who Listens to Horses'. If a horse gets nervous around Monty, he turns his back to the animal. This shows a trust that the horse recognizes.

One time a male grizzly was staring at me from about 40 feet away. I could tell that he was becoming agitated by my presence, and suddenly I thought, "I know. I'll turn my back like in that book." For ten seconds I stared out at the sea, knowing that an agitated male grizzly was right behind me. I couldn't actually hear the bear. I listened instead to the wavelets on the shore and the song of hermit thrushes. When I finally turned around, the bear had returned to munching grass and had clearly decided that I was not a threat. Reply

[brotherbear]

Nature's Deadliest, The Grizzly Bear by Lisa Owings.

The grizzly bear, one of the most feared animals in North America, is a type of brown bear. It is one of the largest predators on Earth. Male grizzly bears can weigh more than 1,000 pounds ( 450 kg ). Some grizzlies tower up to 10 feet ( 3 m ) tall when standing on their hind legs. A grizzly's large size doesn't slow it down. Some female grizzlies have been recorded at speeds of 40 mph ( 64 km ). A person has no hope of outrunning an angry grizzly.

Grizzly bears are omnivores. They eat plants, berries, insects, and fish. They also eat carrion. The bears can find food from miles away with their sharp sense of smell. Grizzlies can also smell nuts that squirrels have hidden deep underground. They dig up the nuts with their long claws. Grizzly bear often steal food from other animals. A single grizzly can scare off an entire pack of wolves and take their kill for itself. Some bears also kill live prey. Any animal that disturbs a hungry grizzly is in danger.

A grizzly bear's sense of smell is about seven times better than a bloodhound's.

Male grizzly bears are ferocious. They battle one another over favorite feeding and fishing areas. They also compete for female bears. The bears roar and slash each other with their front claws. They clamp their jaws around each other's necks and muzzles. In some cases, it is a fight to the death.

Though the male grizzly is strong and powerful, the mother grizzly is even deadlier. Female grizzly bears with cubs are responsible for about 8 out of every 10 violent attacks on humans. Grizzly mothers will do anything to protect their cubs. They will take down humans, male bears, or anything else that poses a threat.

If you encounter a grizzly bear, try to get out of the way without being noticed. If the bear sees you, stay where you are. Do not run! Avoid eye contact and look off to one side. This imitates submissive grizzly body language. The bear may leave you alone if it doesn't think you are a threat.

However, if the grizzly comes toward you with its head and ears lowered, it may charge. Back away slowly. Do not look the bear in the eyes. If the bear attacks, protect your head with your arms and play dead. You will not win a fight with a bear!

ATTACK FACTS: There have been approximately 80 deaths by grizzly bear attacks in the last 100 years. More than 50 of the deaths were by females defending their cubs.

Two hikers were killed by grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 2011. These were the first fatal bear attacks in the park since 1986.

Yellowstone National Park reports about one bear-caused injury for every 3 million visitors. Reply

[brotherbear]

The Bears of Katmai by Matthias Breiter.

Brown bears do occupy home ranges, but they do not defend them against their own kind. Thus, by definition, these home ranges are not territories and should not be confused with such. Maintaining territorial boundaries makes sense only if the advantage obtained by exclusive exploitation of the resources contained in the area justifies the energy expanded and the risk involved in defending these boundaries. Because bears travel across vast tracts of land to satisfy their nutritional needs and because different areas in their environment provide food at varying times of year, the defense of such large expanse of country would be impossible. However, if the resource is both limited and concentrated in a small area, such as a kill, carrion, or even a small but rich berry patch, bears will fight competitors fiercely. Reply

[brotherbear]

Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock.

Moving cautiously, I climbed down to study the bear prints. The rear pads were more than ten inches long on hard ground; the left track was asymmetrical and toed in. I checked more tracks to confirm the pattern. It's him alright, I had thought so - the Bitter Creek Griz, my favorite Yellowstone bear.

I first got to know this unusual bear in 1977 and have seen him almost every year since. Even back then, he was a huge grizzly with a grayish muzzle - probably a survivor of the purges of the early seventies, when almost a hundred grizzlies were known killed or removed from the Yellowstone ecosystem in a single two-year period. He also appeared to be an effective predator, killing yearling bison and an occasional moose. His pigeon-toed spoor, perhaps the result of an old injury, was distinctive.

I followed the prints out onto the crusted snow. The grizzly tracks followed my snowshoe trail for nearly a hundred yards, then veered off to the right in a tight circle to an icy depression behind a large deadfall ten feet off my trail. More tracks led away.

The story was clear: last night the Bitter Creek Griz had backtracked me, then circled around and bedded, waiting for me behind a log ten feet from where I would walk. Had I gone farther into the timber that night he would have been right there. The icy bed told me he lay in wait a long time.

This was the second time this had happened to me - a grizzly setting up what looked like a deliberate ambush. I do not know what it means. Maybe it is only curiosity. Still, there were moments when I imagined a malevolent intelligence lurking behind that log.

Stalking or ambushing humans during the day is exceedingly rare although not unknown in the literature of grizzly lore. There was one report from British Columbia that during the winter of 1970, a Doig River Indian tracked a grizzly that circled back behind a mossy hummock and killed and partially devoured him. So I don't know what to think. I do not think every grizzly lying in ambush intends to do me harm, but I do not think the bears are joking either.

This kind of unsettling behavior by grizzly bears resists easy categorization. It is one of the things that attracted me to them in the first place. Living with grizzlies is an eternal freshness: you can never be sure exactly what you are dealing with, and your curiosity transcends bafflement because you are bargaining with an animal who can kill and eat you. Reply

[brotherbear]

Grizzly Years by Doug peacock.

The wind blew at 20 mph across my face and I could not get a scent. A bedded buffalo, maybe, but the fur wasn't right.

I edged a few steps closer and stared down at the biggest bear I had ever seen, fifty feet away, lying alongside the creek. He was on a carcass. It was the Bitter Creek Grizzly, the first time I had ever seen him in broad daylight. If he heard, smelled, or saw me, it would be all over. Fifty feet is much too close to a dominant bear who is almost certain to be aggressive in defending a food cache.

Slowly I stooped, pivoted, and silently padded back over the snow out of site, up the hillside, one step at a time. It took me an entire hour to withdraw. The wind held and the bear never got my scent. I circled as quickly as I dared; I wanted to get this griz on film from a safer vantage point. I waded the creek and traversed up to a hilltop directly opposite the great bear. He lounged and slept, waking intermittently to feed. Now and then he shook his head or made short lunges at a flock of ravens also feeding on the carcass. He watched a coyote pass, curious but wary. Finally he rolled over on the bank and went to sleep. I studied all this through the viewfinder of Gage's camera. I had finally filmed the most elusive of my Yellowstone bears.

I watched from the hilltop across the creek most of the day. Sometime in the late afternoon he moved off, dipping his nose to the ground and swinging across the snowy meadow to the far end of the valley into the trees. The huge grizzly lumbered seemingly oblivious of everything. His face looked relaxed and peaceful, an impression contradicted by a long scar below his left eye. The Bitter Creek Griz moved across the open valley as you might expect a dominant male grizzlyto move even when other grizzlies were present. While such a bear looks taciturn to us, his body language sends a message of warning to other bears.

Before the Bitter Creek Griz disappeared, I filmed him with snow on his nose. He had a striking narrow silver-tipped collar around his ribs that I had not noticed earlier. Grizzlies look different as the intensity or angle of light changes.

I sat spellbound at my good luck for an hour, then loaded up the cameras and tried following his tracks over the snow. The crust that held up a seven-hundred-pound bear was incapable of supporting me. Reply

[brotherbear]

Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock.

Tired and sleepy, I fell into a cold slumber for a few minutes, waking as the fire burned down. I was too cramped and wet to get any real rest. I tried to gain some distance on my current predicament. Every year I have to jump-start my life with something significant to get it going. After Viet Nam, it was no longer sufficient merely to watch the changing of the seasons; I had to mark their passage. Now I log the seasons by journeys into grizzly country, visiting five particular grizzly bears who show up at the same places, during the same months, year after year. My year begins when I see the Bitter Creek Griz in April; then I see Happy Bear at Glacier in the summer, the great Black Grizzly at the Grizzly Hilton, also in Glacier, in autumn, and then the strange Blond Grizzly I first saw the same day a woman was fatally mauled ten miles east at Many Glacier. In late October I drop back down from the Glacier Park area into Yellowstone and check in on the sow grizzly who digs her den fifteen air miles northwest of where I now sat. Reply

[brotherbear]

Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock.

Just as the elk reached the trees I saw the peculiar gait of a lanky, dark grizzly. It was Happy Bear, whom I first came to know in 1976 when he was a skinny four-year old. Now he was about my age in bear years, one foot already in the grave. Happy Bear is the most playful solitary bear I know. Once I filmed him sitting in the tarn contemplatively blowing bubbles in the muddy water and biting them. Then he attacked the water, like the elk, beating it with his paws and slashing the surface with his jaws.

Happy Bear ambled across the basin, lumbering in the stiff, swinging gait that made him so easy to recognize. He walked up to the snow patch and sniffed at the scat of another grizzly. Suddenly he leaped into the air as if stung by a bee, careening and prancing up and down the anvil of whiteness like a baby buffalo. Leap for joy, grizzly bear! Happy Bear approached another caviared pile of berry scat with feigned seriousness only to repeat his magic dance. He shook his head like a shaggy ox and leaped in tight circles. I filmed him leaving the snow, prancing across the tiny sedge meadow into the brush. Reply