Fly Shop Owner Mauled by Bear

[Papasequoia]

Click http://midcurrent.com/2011/09/26/fly-shop-owner-mauled-by-bear-in-bow-hunting-incident/

[Rockstar Fisherman]

Still awaitng the time I get to meet a bear in my campsite or while I'm out hiking. Scary stuff but I know this is a rare thing.

[8NoFish]

a friend of mine had lunch at the Trouthunter lodge today. he said that he noticed a member of the staff there come in with a cannister of bear spray on his hip. there had been reports of a grizzly around Henry's Fork for the past month. my friend, who lives in West Yellowstone, fishes the Fork 3-4 times a week - he has been carrying bear spray all year because of all the bears.

[madonafly]

We were up in Island Park for a week. The camp had big dumpsters for trash and warnings all over about bears.
We were on the road home and passed Last chance at probably the same time this was happening.
Poor guy got a crushed hand and lost his wedding ring finger...not sure about the ring.

The more we move in on their turf, they are going to move in on ours....or , hold their ground. Scary stuff for sure.
Does Pepper Spray work? What is Bear Spray and does it really work?

[beachbum]

Over the years we have seen lots of bears around the Henry's Fork, especially at the Riverside campground. This year everybody seems to be carrying bear spray, or a sidearm. Hoping to get up there in October

[Trootfisher]

I run into black bears a lot in the SEKI parks. Always makes my heart jump a bit.

[Western Coachman]

I run into black bears a lot in the SEKI parks. Always makes my heart jump a bit.

After fishing one day on a local creek, I returned to my car and as I walked around to the driver side, there was a bear sitting there as though he was waiting for me to get back. I yelled at him and scared him off. He was wearing a tag so he was a naughty bear already and after further investigation, saw his paw prints on my car where he was checking it out. It was pretty wild. Hello all who know me. I see some familiar names here.

[briansII]

Does Pepper Spray work? What is Bear Spray and does it really work?

I really don't know if it's effective or not, but here's one of the more popular brands. Watch the video.

http://counterassault.com/

I've been "approached" by a grizzly in AK. Not one of my favorite wildlife encounters.

briansII

[Papasequoia]

One of my favorite commercials ever-

[RichardCullip]

I think it does. While I don't have direct experience to relate, there were two encounters with grizzlies up near West Yellowstone while I was up there a few weeks ago. One of them was the encounter that the good Papa linked to in this thread.

There were two bow hunters in this encounter. Unfortunately they surprised a large bear (most likely a grizzly) which charged and started mauling one of the hunters. His partner was able to spray the bear with pepper spray and the bear ran off. The first hunter was injured but survived the encounter.

The other encounter also involved two hunters (or possibly 3) but this one was fatal. After they spotted a large bear (assumed to be a black bear since you can't hunt grizzlies), one of the hunters shot and wounded the bear. As they tracked the bear to finish it off, they were attacked by the wounded bear. While the bear mauled one of the hunters, his partner tried to shoot the bear. Unfortunatley his shot hit his hunting partner in the chest killing him before the bear did. In this case, having firearms along didn't seem to help the situation.

Two violent encounters with grizzles within a week or so of each other. In one encounter, pepper spray saved the person being mauled. In the other encounter, a rifle killed the person being mauled.

I'll carry pepper spray with me while I'm walking in grizzly country.