Because it’s the roughest, most dangerous place in the lower 48.

F&S.

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, July 11, a black bear attacked a man who was working as a sheep herder in the San Juan National Forest of southwestern Colorado, about 23 miles northeast of Durango. According to a Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) press release issued yesterday evening, the man survived and was treated for head wounds and other severe lacerations. The bear was tracked down and killed by a federal agent less than 24 hours after the attack.

The 35-year-old herder was working for a permit holder of a sheep grazing allotment in the nearly 500,000-acre Weminuche Wilderness Area when the bear attacked him. It bit him on the head and left additional wounds on his left arm and hand, CPW said. It also left deep cuts on his left hip and scratches on his back.

The herder told CPW agents that he was awoken by the sounds of the bear preying on his sheep around 1 a.m. He fired a .30-30 rifle in response to the attack before the bruin charged and mauled him. “This is an unfortunate incident and we are thankful the victim was able to contact help to get emergency services deployed and that he was able to be extracted to receive necessary medical care,” CPW Area Wildlife Manager Adrian Archuleta said in the press release.

In the aftermath of the attack, the man managed to crawl to his tent and call his cousin for help. An airlift was summoned to the scene, and he was transported to the Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango.

See F&S for the rest of the story.

I’m assuming that he missed with his .30-30.  I would think that round would easily put down most black bears.

It’s good that he had the means to call for help – that area is rugged and is several hours from cell phone connectivity.

When I was there we all three carried firearms, and I carried a 1911 with a 10-round magazine and 22# spring with 450 SMC cartridges (230 gr. at 1130 FPS), along with additional ammunition and magazines.

I also carried a satellite texting phone capable of reaching 911.  Any rescue out of where we were would have required a helicopter because the hike for foot-borne rescuers would have been two or more days.  This is extremely rugged terrain and isolated area, and the sheep herder is blessed to be alive.

F&S.

A man in the ski town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado shot and killed a black bear that entered his home in the middle of the night. According to the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife (CPW), homeowner Ken Mauldin dispatched the bruin with a .40 caliber Glock handgun after it opened and walked through an exterior door.

“The door was unlocked, and it’s one of the older-style lever door handles. So, the bear pushed on that to get the door open,” CPW public information officer Rachel Gonzalez tells F&S. “[Mauldin] was alerted when his wife screamed. It was just after 2 a.m. when we received the incident notification.”

Three things pop into my mind.

First, this is yet another anecdote that justifies carry inside the home.

Second, this anecdote justifies closing and locking the door.

Third, that’s a lot of rounds.  Nine rounds to put this bear down.  This advocates for accuracy or high capacity, or preferably both.

Dean Weingarten.

According to the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office, authorities received a report of a bear attack at a home on Castle Road in the Township of Medford Friday around 11 p.m.

In a press release, authorities report a husband and wife noticed the bear eating from their bird feeder, opened the window and yelled at the bear to scare it off. The bear then turned and charged at the home, breaking through the window and began attacking the couple, while their kids were asleep in their bedrooms.

This correspondent was able to talk with Larry Woebbeking, Sheriff of Taylor County.  While Sheriff Woebbeking was not at the scene of the attack, he had talked to an investigating officer who was. Larry had interesting information to add. He was sure of his facts.

The bottom of the window was about three to four feet above the ground. The bear had to jump up to get through the window. The window appears to be a typical northern Wisconsin type which slides vertically up and down, with an insect screen on the outside. The screen is gone on the picture from the sheriffs office, so the bear probably clawed the screen out as it came inside.

After the wife yelled at the bear, the bear forced its way through the window and attacked the wife. The husband came to the aid of his wife, interjecting his body between them. The bear attacked him. He suffered severe bites to the neck and may have had an arm broken.

The wife, freed from the bear attack, accessed a knife and attacked the bear mauling her husband. The bear turned its attention back to the wife, which allowed the husband to escape momentarily. He was able to access a 9mm Sig handgun. He quickly returned and killed the bear.

Dean goes on to make interesting points about female black bears not displaying strong maternal instincts, and that 9 out of 10 times a female black bear will abandon cubs rather than face danger.

This bear had something else in mind.  Perhaps food.

I would never have allowed my wife to open the window and scream without having a firearm nearby.  And this is yet another instance of the need to carry inside the home.

Down South.

Up North.

An Alaska hiker whose whereabouts were unknown for nearly two days after she reported being chased off a trail by bears was found alive Wednesday evening, officials said.

Fina Kiefer, 55, of Palmer, Alaska, emerged from the woods and was spotted on a road about a mile from the Pioneer Ridge trailhead. Kiefer was injured and was transported by ambulance to a local hospital for evaluation, according to statements from the Alaska State Troopers as well as Alaska’s National Guard.

State troopers were notified on Tuesday around 1:29 a.m. local time that Kiefer was alone and in need of assistance on Pioneer Ridge Trail near Palmer, about 42 miles northeast of Anchorage. Kiefer had called her husband asking for help after she said she was charged by multiple bears and had to use bear spray. But she stopped responding to telephone calls and text messages shortly thereafter, according to officials.

These are tough situations, but once again, there are common themes I would highlight.

Bear spray, scaring the bears away, and medical kits.  Don’t rely on spray.  Carry a large bore handgun.  And these people are fortunate – the national guard and helicopters won’t always be available.  Carry a medical kit.

News from Virginia.

A Virginia hunter was attacked by a black bear, with the animal taking a softball-sized chunk out of his leg.

Ronnie Dalton, 68, from Carroll County had been out hunting on Saturday in Hillsville and was about to pack up for the day when the incident occurred, The Carroll News reported.

Dalton was in his hunting tree stand when he noticed a black bear cub nearby. After scanning the area for the mother and failing to find her, he decided it was safe to climb down.

But when he reached the floor, he spotted her and the animal rushed towards him in an aggressive manner.

“When my feet hit the ground I saw her. She looked up and saw me and when that happened she made a beeline at me as hard as she could come. I tried waving my hand like they say on a black bear, but I guess that doesn’t work if they have cubs and feel threatened,” Dalton told The Carroll News.

Dalton decided in the moment the the best chance of saving himself was to climb back up into the tree stand. But he was not able to escape the bear’s reach.

“I thought maybe I would have a chance. When I tried to climb the tree stand, I got about three or four rungs up and she made a lunge on me and grabbed my right side. She bit me on my right calf and jerked me out of the stand,” he said.

The bear took a softball-sized chunk of Dalton’s leg, and left three or four large teeth marks. It also caused him to fall around 7-8 feet out of the tree, temporarily knocking hum unconscious.

“When I came to and got to my senses and looked, she was already leaving with her two cubs, thank goodness,” Dalton said. “And so then I looked down and saw my britches was tore and my leg gashed open. I said to myself, ‘I have to get out of here.’ I grabbed my bow and took off toward the house.”

Dalton thinks that being knocked out may have actually saved his life, because the bear may have no longer considered him a threat to her cubs.

Bad situation.

Question.  Did you have a large bore handgun with you?  This could have ended far worse than it did.

I’d prefer not to be that close.

Lately, however, the 53-year-old has been nervous to step outside, because on Sept. 21, she was attacked by a bear.

That’s for sure.  Dogs will go after bears, and usually dogs are too agile for the bears, but you’re not.  But I’d rather have the dogs with me to alert me to bear presence.

Because of this, the bears tend to travel along wooded ridge tops, like the area near Rum Springs Road.

“That is a natural funnel that the bears tend to come down,” Spiker said, adding Maryland’s healthy forested areas and plentiful food sources have likely led to an increase in the bear population since the mid-20th century.

DNR officials have set a trap in an attempt to catch the bear or others. Spiker said it’s unlikely the bear would be put down if trapped because it would be difficult to know if it was the one that attacked Levow.

Both Steve and Renee urged people who bike or hike in the area to be alert for bears, and not to approach them if they see one. Steve thanked DNR for bringing up some cans of bear mace for protection.

Yea okay.  You keep your bear spray.  If I’m out and about in the bush, I’ll carry a large bore handgun, thank you.

Dean Weingarten at Ammoland.

The father said he was talking to her when he heard a gurgling noise, and was no longer able to communicate with her. Nine minutes later, his son-in-law, Stephanie’s husband, Curtis Blais, called him and told him of the attack. Curtis had tried bear spray, but it did not work, so he got a gun and shot and killed the bear. From cbc.ca:

After waiting two minutes, Esquirol disconnected and called back. No one answered. Seven minutes later, he got a call from his daughter’s husband, Curtis Blais, who had been in the cabin’s kitchen about 30 metres away.

“Curtis called advising me that a bear attacked her, that he sprayed the bear with pepper spray, and the bear got more angry.”

Esquirol said his son-in-law told him he got a gun and shot the bear twice before it went down.

“So by that time, Stephanie had no pulse. He gave her mouth to mouth, but she was injured beyond the point of recovery.”

[ … ]

The bear was not starving. Its stomach was full of blueberries. From foxnews.com:

He said a conservation officer told him the bear was unprovoked in the attack and that the bear wasn’t hungry. It had a stomach full of blueberries.

We do not know how much time was consumed by complying with the Canadian government laws on firearms and ammunition storage.

Free men don’t follow unrighteous laws when those laws put themselves or their loved ones at risk.

When in bear country, always have a large bore firearm within reach.  Or be at increased and unnecessary risk.  The choice is yours.

And no, bear spray isn’t a large bore firearm.

Bear news from Colorado.

Chernosky realized that the bear was now between him and the cell phone in his room, so he couldn’t call for help. But he knew he had to try to coax the bear toward the door where it had walked in unannounced (yes, bears can actually open doors and cars).

Chernosky said he calmly talked to the bear, ushering it away from the stairs to where his kids were sleeping. According to the National Park Service (NPS), once a bear has noticed you, it’s important to talk to it so the bear can identify you as a human. Remember, humans are not their typical food choice. You should also make yourself look as large as possible, and back away sideways.

This method worked for Chernosky—initially. “The bear slowly backed away and opened the garage door. It went into the garage and the door shut behind it. I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the problem was solved,” he says. After waiting a few minutes, Chernosky cautiously opened the door to the garage and hit the button to open the garage door so the bear could go outside.

“The garage door spooked it, and it ran back toward where I was standing. I ran down the hall and hid in the corner, and it came back inside,” he continues. “I couldn’t see it because it was so dark, so I came back to the hallway to look, and when I came around, I realized it was standing right in front of me. It was a total shock to the both of us.”

The 400-pound black bear instantly hit Chernosky in the head so hard that it spun him around in a full circle. “It felt like a brick smacking you in the side of the head and instantly tore the skin off my forehead, my right eye, and sliced my ear in half. I was bleeding immediately and crawled back behind the counter thinking, ‘This thing’s about to have me for lunch,'” he says.

I guess the thing I don’t get is this.  Why would you hear someone or something trashing your home, and go out to meet that someone or something without a gun?

Tennessee.

SULLIVAN COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) – The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is investigating after a man was reportedly attacked by a bear on an island on South Holston Lake.

TWRA spokesperson Matthew Cameron told News Channel 11 on Tuesday that officers were investigating after a man reported being dragged from a hammock while camping on the island.

TWRA reports that victim Matt Marvin was camping at an “undeveloped campsite” across from the 421 Access Area.

Marvin was asleep in a hammock early Sunday morning when he woke up to a bear biting his foot.

Marvin told investigators he defended himself by shooting at the bear.

Later Sunday evening, TWRA says that Marvin reported the incident to Washington County, Virginia 911 and told TWRA about the encounter on Monday.

TWRA reports that Marvin gave them a photo of the injury, which showed “a small wound to the heel of his foot.”

A dead or injured bear was not found at the campsite, nor did investigators find any sign of one.

TWRA reports human food was left behind at the campsite, and a warning of bear activity has been left in the area.

Connecticut.

A man who was walking three dogs on a trail in Simsbury was attacked by a black bear Sunday morning.

The incident happened at approximately 7:30 a.m. in the McLean Game Refuge off Firetown Road, police said.

Police said the attack happened about 20 minutes into the Eddy Loop Trail.

The man was walking three dogs on the trail when a bear came out and bit one of the dogs, according to Sergeant Brad Chase. The man tried to intervene and help the dog when he himself was bitten in the leg.

The man sought medical attention and is doing fine, police said.

The police department said they are working with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection who is handling the bear aspect of the incident.

One of the three, Lucy, a golden retriever who weighs about 50 pounds ran away when the incident happened. Simsbury police announced Monday morning that Lucy was found safe at the McClean Game Refuge.

At least the Tennessee camper had a pistol.  I don’t even think that’s allowed in Connecticut.  The first article recommends cooking far away from your camp site.  That’s hard in most instances, but it’s a good practice to elevate food in a tree, and camp with a dog, or multiple dogs.

News from Alaska.

Well, I don’t think he did everything right.  I’d be carrying a large bore handgun.

I have written the AP reporter who authored this report and asked her what weapon was used and what caliber.

She wrote back immediately and stated that she didn’t know, but gave me the contact information of the plant.  I have contacted them with these same questions.

If I get a response I’ll let you know.  Both I and Dean Weingarten would be very interested in that information.