50 years of living with BEARS. (Short Essay)

[Sourdough]

There are THREE things that run away from a predator, Breakfast Lunch or Dinner.

BEAR Behavior, WOLF Behavior, and Typical Predator behavior.
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All you really need to know is never retreat from a predator, if the predator is watching you. Not even one small step. Sounds simple........But, nearly impossible to manage, just not our first reaction to danger.


In my opinion the single biggest problem for Humans in Bears encounters, is their (Human's) natural reaction to retreat rather than stand their ground. This retreating by a human (even only one step) triggers the bears "Natural" Reaction to chase. And this is just natural behavior for humans and bears.

The young bears 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 years old are very lonely, very stupid, and very curious. Which makes them inclined to approach humans and human dwellings.

A very brief overview is, you have to watch young cubs reactions with their mother and even more closely the reactions learned between the cubs. She the mother will pick them (the cubs) up by the neck, and she will swat them. The little cub start to do this with each other as playful tag. The cub will take turns chasing each other, get caught and the one chasing will lightly grab the neck of the other.

This is sometimes played-out with three cubs, if there are three cubs still alive. It is chase-catch-subdue, the break contact. This is a key point Chase-Catch-Subdue-Break Contact. Note: this is note restricted to bears only....foxes & wolverines I have noticed doing this, including young bears playing Chase-Catch-Subdue-Break Contact with both foxes and also wolverines. I have never seen bears "Play" with young wolves. The sows do not seem to have any concern about her cubs playing Chase-Catch-Subdue-Break Contact with other species like fox or wolverines.

In my opinion this is what happens when a bear encounter's a human. If you watch the cubs as soon as they break contact, they fake each out back and forth to see which will run. I think this carries over for bears the rest of their life, Chase-Catch-Subdue-Break Contact. This is why "IF" a human is stupid enough to retreat they will get Chased-Caught-Subdued-(Now: if they fight being subdued, they will get mauled till subdued). If they surrender it is likely the bear will break contact.

This explains why humans get mauled, the bear stops mauling and walks away..........but if the victim moves to soon, after the bear walks away, it will trigger another.....Subdue sequence, the bear will return and maul some more. If you look at this from the bears cub conditioning, you see it is more "playing" than attempting to kill the human. The problem is humans break very easy.

If you study the bear mauling of humans most are not fatal. But humans have soft shells and because the main way that cubs subdue each other is by grabbing the neck or ear of the other cub. Humans break easy.

The skittish and fearful behavior is about Size. The size of the human sillioute as compared to that of other bears. Bears are constantly judging the danger of other bears. This is the whole dance of hopping on their front feet, and popping their teeth.

The skittishness and fearful behavior is (in My opinion) caused by their fear of being killed by another bear. I don't think it is a fear of humans as much as a fear and skittishness of any animal that stands and watches them. I think their filter is first can I (The bear) make this other "thing" (human or bear or caribou) run or retreat. As soon as it see's that the other "thing" is not retreating or worse running towards it, it shifts to skittishness and fearful. This is why you often first notice a close bear just standing there watching you. It is waiting to see what your reaction will be.

On a slightly different bear behavior subject........I have been "Stalked" (5) five times by bears and this stalking is a completely different type of bear behavior that any other bear behavior. And very comical (unless you are not watching and it startles you and you jump......triggering Chase-Catch-Subdue). They stalk by circling and hiding, well hiding their head, leaving their huge Butt up in the air. This is a serious behavior, and it is hard to snap them out of this once the stalk has started.

There is a big difference between a direct (More or Less) straight line walking right up to you approach and this stalking behavior. I have never been stalked by a black bear, they were all grizzly/ brown bears. Three of those times it was with a client and we were not after bears. The other two times I was alone.

I'll follow-up with a few examples of never ever run from a bear or any predator.

[Sourdough]

Big GRIZZLY BEAR on top of me.

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This is a perfect example of knowing that if I ran, I would very likely been chased and mauled.

I was guiding a hunter in Wide Bay, Alaska and it was the day before the bear season opened, so the hunter and I slept in. I had two 8'X8' "Bombshelter" tents set up facing each other about ten feet apart. One was for sleeping and the other for cooking and just setting around.

I told the hunter to stay in his bag till I get the coffee made and the cook tent heated. So I crawl out of the sleep tent on hands and knees, and figure as it is only five or six feet till I have to get back on my hands and knees, to enter the cook tent, I'll just crawl over to the cook tent.

Well I get about halfway and a nice 900 pound plus Alaska Coastal Brown Bear comes from behind the cook tent and walks right up to me, I am still on my hands and knees. I don't want to move more than necessary, so I go down slowly onto my elbows and knees and freeze with my hands over my neck fingers locked, waiting. The bear walks up to me and sniffs my head, then continues moving till it head is over my butt, and its front feet are next to my elbows. For a long time it just stood over me, in the dominant position, with me subdued and surrendered. He just stood there and sniffs my butt, which after 80 days afield was very aromatic. Plus most likely there was dried blood on my pants from packing moose.

As nothing was happening (I was not getting nibbled) the bear was just standing on all four feet right over top of me. I remembered I was responsible for the hunters safety and calmly told him not to move or bump the sleep tent. The bear just stayed there sniffing my butt, (the flap to the sleep tent was still open) so I calmly asked the hunter to slid a rifle out to me with out disturbing the tent. He said, "Which one do you want". Remember he still did not know there was a Brown Bear on top of me. I said, slide my rifle out slowly, very slowly, but he needs to stay in the tent. Well, now he wants to know what is going on......???? He says, "do you want the barrel first"....??? I said, yes and about that time as the rifle started out the flap of the sleep tent, the bear calmly raised a half ton of potential pure destruction, slowly and smoothly up and swung to his right, and slowly walked off. I watched his large butt walk away. Then made coffee. I understand that that hunter moved to Alaska. He is a very good hunter, and hunts all over the world. I am so glad he remained calm.

[dalewick]

Sourdough, Excellent post! Written as someone who has lived with predators most of there life.

I only have one disagreement with you and it's on black bears. If a black carries through with an attack, it's out of hunger and you better fight for your life. They will eat you if they can. I don't have much experience with grizzlies but everything you said, I've heard before from some of the best bear biologist in the country.

Great post!

Dale

[Sourdough]

A Grizzly Bear Encounter........while "NAKED & Un-Armed"

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I am posting this as another example of stand your ground and don't run from a Grizzly Bear.

Brooks Range, Alaska. Near the head waters of the Noatak River & the Ambler River. We are on a private six week hunt, just my hunting partner and myself. 1970 or 1971 we had a base camp on a C-185 size lake in the main valley.

And we would do three or four day trips back different valleys, sometimes together and some times go our separate ways and report back at base in four days. We had shot several wolves, and one Dall Sheep.

We decided to go together back this one interesting valley for three or four days. But we saw no shoot-able game. We did get to watch two huge wolves pull down three sheep. Dejected we are returning to camp, which was out of fresh meat. Having seen nearly nothing for days, about a mile out of base camp is one caribou. I shoot the caribou, and we backpack most of it into base camp.

It was a very hot and sweaty day, and we had most likely logged 12 to 15 miles in semi-rugged terrain, plus packed the caribou in. We get to base camp exhausted, and hot, and stinky, and bloody. So I proclaim I am going to the lake and bathe, my hunting partner wants to clean he's gear and eat.

So I am naked at the lake washing in ice cold water, and I see movement to my right, which just happens to be a good size interior Grizzly Bear. The bear is about 30 yards away, I did not take a rifle, just soap & a Towel. The bear is not charging but is walking quickly toward me, and I do mean Quickly.

I look up toward base camp and see my hunting partner studying the bear for size, and color through his binoculars and spotting scope.

Now the bear has stopped maybe twenty feet away from me. It is watching me, and does not see my hunting partner who is evaluating the bear for harvest. I look up expecting to see my buddy with rifle in hand, but NO he is looking at the bear still studying it. The Bear slowly walks toward me, I am buck naked, head covered in soap, the bear is about 10 feet away. And I am looking back and forth between the bear and my friend. The bear moves closer to about five feet, I look up and my hunting partner now has his rifle, but is not aiming at the bear.

So I said are you going to shoot......? He said, No it is the wrong color. Now mind you while we are talking the Grizzly Bear is just standing there on all four feet watching me just over arms length away. It never looked up toward base camp or at Bill.

Bill yelled, "Go on, get out of here". and to my good fortune it did a 180 and left the way it came. We later figured it followed the bloody trail of the blood dripping off the Caribou meat we had just packed in an hour earlier.

We made that six week private safari style hunt in both 1970 and 1971. No one goes on six week hunts anymore. Sadly.

Bill, later shot a nice Grizzly Bear the color that he wanted, it was full life-size mounted and has been on exhibit at the Anchorage International Airport for nearly 49 years.

[Sourdough]

Sourdough, Excellent post! Written as someone who has lived with predators most of there life.

I only have one disagreement with you and it's on black bears. If a black carries through with an attack, it's out of hunger and you better fight for your life. They will eat you if they can. I don't have much experience with grizzlies but everything you said, I've heard before from some of the best bear biologist in the country.

Great post!

Dale

While I agree that the net, net, net result is accurate........I disagree at how and why that result happens. I have two to five Black bears that live in my yard.......or they spend a lot of time in my yard. So I have a lot of time studying them. I think they hang out here in my yard because the grizzlies tend to not hang out here. Especially during the day.

I'll address this issue you bring up soon.

[dalewick]

While I agree that the net, net, net result is accurate........I disagree at how and why that result happens. I have two to five Black bears that live in my yard.......or they spend a lot of time in my yard. So I have a lot of time studying them. I think they hang out here in my yard because the grizzlies tend to not hang out here. Especially during the day.

I'll address this issue you bring up soon.

I will agree that black bears are NO WHERE NEAR as dangerous as grizzlies and black bear /human interactions are far more common but all of the black bear attacks I have responded to were when the black bears were hunting. The folks that were aggressive with the bears and actually fought back when the bears didn't stop survived. The attacks that I know of where the individual "played dead" with hunting black bears actually got them killed.

I'm like you and have black bears in my yard. There just something you learn to live with. I actually would miss them if they weren't here. Knowledge of how to live with predators and how to respond to them makes all of the difference.

Dale

[Sourdough]

doesn't sound like you learned to always either keep a gun within reach, or have a partner with a gun watching over you. Animals can detect whether or not you fear them, and when you're a lethal threat to them. Especially dogs in this regard, cause they're around people a lot and know what it means when a human has something (pretty much anything) in its hand. They've been hurt before by things that humans do!

Please don't take this personal............but your what I don't like about forums. Your all full of shit you learned on forums and you-tube, and have near zero first hand experience, at the shit you talk about.

I am 71 plus years old, and have been living in wilderness Alaska for near 49 years. I have been a Alaska Big Game Hunting Guide for about 40 years. I have harvested or helped harvest roughly 300 bears, mostly Grizzly Bears and Alaska Coastal Brown Bears. I once spent six months in a Trapping cabin with no human contact, I have built by hand three homesteads in the Alaska Wilderness, and I am currently working on building the fourth homestead.

I don't need some inexperienced want'a-be closet survivalist that got all his education from a book or from some facebook-twitter-survival boards forums to give me advise on things he only has "Wet'Dreams" about someday trying.

Again please don't that this personal. Start talking about things you know because you have lived them.

Here is a shot essay that I wrote a few years ago about people like you, and your damn internet knowledge.
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I have LOVE/HATE feelings about the current fascination that exists about survival stuff. I never believed it would last this long in the fickle public interest.

There is a saying that goes something like, "When the government is telling lies, it is dangerous to be telling the truth". There are two types of knowledge. Knowledge derived from internet or books or magazines, word of mouth, etc..

The other type on knowledge is First hand personal experience, What I call "Boots in the Field" experience.

When the masses believe what is taught them, by people who learned what they are stating as fact from the internet, and then they run quick like a bunny to a different forum, and state what they know as the truth or the way it is based on what they know and learned from the different survival forums and blogs......."In that environment it is pointless and dangerous to state what you know from first hand experience......with boots in the field.

In this "Information Age" there is a tremendous amount of information that is totally believed, everyone knows is true , common knowledge.....that is wrong to varying degrees, from totally wrong, to just a small partly inaccurate.

If there are 50 people in a discussion on a thread, stating what they think, and what they think is based on "ZERO" first hand or Boots in the field experience.......and someone enters that discussion who is old and has 50 or 60 years of first hand experience day in and day out living that subject of that thread. they will be called, "Troll" and shouted down.

The masses rule.

People without "First Hand" or Boots in the Field experience can not accept the truth, they want to believe what they have believed for a very long time. They will fight savagely to defend what they believe, even as they have zero first hand experience.

It is fun to just read threads, and watch that most say, "Well, I THINK" what they are saying is they think something is a stated way, based on zero first hand experience. This is very different from someone stating, "Well, I KNOW" this or that, based on first hand experience.

[dalewick]

Please don't take this personal............but your what I don't like about forums. Your all full of shit you learned on forums and you-tube, and have near zero first hand experience, at the shit you talk about.

I am 71 plus years old, and have been living in wilderness Alaska for near 49 years. I have been a Alaska Big Game Hunting Guide for about 40 years. I have harvested or helped harvest roughly 300 bears, mostly Grizzly Bears and Alaska Coastal Brown Bears. I once spent six months in a Trapping cabin with no human contact, I have built by hand three homesteads in the Alaska Wilderness, and I am currently working on building the fourth homestead.

I don't need some inexperienced want'a-be closet survivalist that got all his education from a book or from some facebook-twitter-survival boards forums to give me advise on things he only has "Wet'Dreams" about someday trying.

Again please don't that this personal. Start talking about things you know because you have lived them.

Here is a shot essay that I wrote a few years ago about people like you, and your damn internet knowledge.
__________________________________________________ _________________


I have LOVE/HATE feelings about the current fascination that exists about survival stuff. I never believed it would last this long in the fickle public interest.

There is a saying that goes something like, "When the government is telling lies, it is dangerous to be telling the truth". There are two types of knowledge. Knowledge derived from internet or books or magazines, word of mouth, etc..

The other type on knowledge is First hand personal experience, What I call "Boots in the Field" experience.

When the masses believe what is taught them, by people who learned what they are stating as fact from the internet, and then they run quick like a bunny to a different forum, and state what they know as the truth or the way it is based on what they know and learned from the different survival forums and blogs......."In that environment it is pointless and dangerous to state what you know from first hand experience......with boots in the field.

In this "Information Age" there is a tremendous amount of information that is totally believed, everyone knows is true , common knowledge.....that is wrong to varying degrees, from totally wrong, to just a small partly inaccurate.

If there are 50 people in a discussion on a thread, stating what they think, and what they think is based on "ZERO" first hand or Boots in the field experience.......and someone enters that discussion who is old and has 50 or 60 years of first hand experience day in and day out living that subject of that thread. they will be called, "Troll" and shouted down.

The masses rule.

People without "First Hand" or Boots in the Field experience can not accept the truth, they want to believe what they have believed for a very long time. They will fight savagely to defend what they believe, even as they have zero first hand experience.

It is fun to just read threads, and watch that most say, "Well, I THINK" what they are saying is they think something is a stated way, based on zero first hand experience. This is very different from someone stating, "Well, I KNOW" this or that, based on first hand experience.

Beautiful! Thanks! From an old fart that's lived, and wants more. The fun is in the journey!

Dale

PS - Sourdough, Do you still guide?

[Sourdough]

[/COLOR]

Beautiful! Thanks! From an old fart that's lived, and wants more. The fun is in the journey!

Dale

PS - Sourdough, Do you still guide?

No..........I am done with that.

[Sourdough]

SMELT.......... I know this will sound strange......but I hope you stick around the forum. If you can swallow your pride, and stick around, I would like that. And I really think this forum is a good springboard for you, to move out of the entertainment part of survival studies and into the real blood and guts-boots in the field skilled outdoorsman-prepper-survivalist.

Now here is the poopy news the whole survival "Movement" thing has been going in the wrong direction. It started right, but it got hi-jacked and corrupted. So much of what you have learned is going to get you killed in a catastrophic SHTF event. Whether you stay or leave, if your serious about survival studies........start watching the you-tube videos about WW-II. Not movies.....watch the actual footage. really come to grips with what a "Horrific" event is like. One hundred and sixty-five MILLION dead.

HELL is coming....you can either hang-out in the entertaining forums, or become a serious student of survival.

[Morgan101]

Sourdough: Your adventures are fascinating. Nothing is better than the voice of experience. Thank you for sharing. You have forgotten more about bear encounters than any of us will ever know. I hope we all will learn. I know I will.

[Sourdough]

Another "CLASSIC"........predator attack. They did good at first standing their ground, but then they tried to escape on their bikes, and one got "PULLED DOWN".........and fought. and was killed.

http://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Cougar-kills-1-mountain-biker-injures-2nd-near-Seattle-483156751.html

"........SEATTLE, WA (AP) - A mountain biker who survived a cougar attack that killed his friend east of Seattle is still hospitalized.

Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Susan Gregg said the 31-year-old man was in satisfactory condition Sunday.

He and a 32-year-old man were riding on a trail in the Cascade Mountain foothills on Saturday when the mountain lion began following them.

Authorities said they did everything right, getting off their bikes, making noise and trying to scare the animal off. One even smacked it with his bike after it charged.

The cougar ran off, but it returned and attacked when the men got back on their bikes. State wildlife agents used dogs to track the cougar and found it in a tree. They shot and killed it............"


This is classic Predator behavior, Chase.....Subdue.

[surviveanything]

When I was young, some people said when accidentally cross path with a bear, just play dead. I wasn't even sure if that's a joke or if it was a life saving advice. I guess they make some sense but not as much as your essay here. Thanks so much for sharing.

[Cedar]

In British Columbia, we have had incidents of sows teaching their cubs to stalk people. They spiral in on the person.

Canadian Data show reports of human-bear occurrences, which range from sightings to contacts, fluctuate in large part with the availability of food in the wild. Ill-timed frost and a poor berry season can make the difference. There were 7,016 incidents in 2006, when berries were plentiful, but 13,010 incidents in 2009, when significant natural food failures were observed.

When I worked for a free range zoo, and I was getting nervous with even ungulate animals getting too close, you throw your arms up in the air to look larger, and I yell at them in as deep of a voice as I can muster, and not a high pitched one. It usually works, although I have not tried it on a bear. I kept an eye out for them when I was on my homestead in Canada, and even if they were a few fields over, I would slowly and quietly go into the house and find something to clean or something instead.

Cedar

[dalewick]

When I worked for a free range zoo, and I was getting nervous with even ungulate animals getting too close, you throw your arms up in the air to look larger, and I yell at them in as deep of a voice as I can muster, and not a high pitched one. It usually works, although I have not tried it on a bear. I kept an eye out for them when I was on my homestead in Canada, and even if they were a few fields over, I would slowly and quietly go into the house and find something to clean or something instead.

Cedar

Cedar, PLEASE do not do this to a grizzly at close distance. It may be the last thing you ever do. Good for black bears.

Dale