Bear Stories?
01-30-2015, 05:40 PM
#11
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SW Montana
Posts: 550
OK, here's a little different bear story.
I used to work for the US Forest Service as an engineer. One Friday afternoon I was driving back to the office from a project when I saw two other engineers parked at a trailhead parking lot, so I stopped to see why they were stopped.
They said that there had been several calls on the radio that one of our trail maintenance crews had been attacked by a black bear, and they were waiting for our Law Enforcement Officer to arrive. A few minutes later our LEO and a Deputy Sheriff arrived. The other engineers and I volunteered to help. The LEO knew that I did a lot of hunting and shooting and he asked me if I wanted to carry a gun. I said yes and he gave me his AR-15. He and the Deputy each carried 12 gauge shotguns.
The trail crew was about 1 1/2 miles up the trail from the parking lot. When the LEO, the Deputy and I got to the first two members of the trail maintenance crew it was a little over an hour after they had made the first radio call for help. They had the radio, and they were both up in trees. They said the third crew member was the one who was attacked by the bear, and he was also up a tree about 50 yards further up the trail.
They also said that every time the 3rd crewman yelled for help, the bear climbed up the tree and bit him. These two crew members would not come down from their trees.
So the LEO, the Deputy and I hurried up to the 3rd crewman. We found him in the top of a very tall spruce tree. As soon as we got to his tree I saw the bear coming at us from about 40 yards away. I yelled "There's the bear!" and the three of us shot in unison, killing the bear.
As soon as we verified that the bear was dead, we started to help the injured crewman down out of the tree. He had scratches and bites on both legs his feet through his boots. We got him down, administered first aid, and moved him down the trail to a clearing where a helicopter from Yellowstone Park was coming to pick him up and take him to the hospital.
While we were waiting for the helicopter, I went back up to the bear and saw that it was a female. Then I saw a little black cub running through the brush. My heart sank! We had killed a mother bear (in self defense) and now there was an orphaned cub that was too young to survive by himself. So I decided to catch it.
I chased it through the brush, and it climbed a tree, so I went up the tree after it. After several attempts, I was finally able to grab it and pull it out of the tree. He was about 18" long and had very sharp teeth and claws. I had to hold the back of his neck in one hand and his two back legs in the other. If I let go of his neck, he would bite me. His bites felt like I had put my hand in a vice that had nails in the jaws. If I let go of his back legs, he would scratch me with both back feet.
I tried to put him in a backpack, but it wouldn't hold him, so I carried him down the trail to my truck where I had a 5 gallon bucket that I put him in.
We had notified the Fish and Game Department that we had killed a sow and captured a cub, so they sent their bear biologist to investigate the shooting and he brought a culvert trap to put the cub in. He ruled the shooting justified, I gave him the cub, and the next day he went back to the site with dogs and a couple of other biologists, and they caught another cub.
They took both of the cubs to a wild animal re-hab facility in Helena where they took care of the cubs for two years then released them back into the forest.
So Davey Crockett said he grinned down a bear, and I can say that I caught a bear!
I used to work for the US Forest Service as an engineer. One Friday afternoon I was driving back to the office from a project when I saw two other engineers parked at a trailhead parking lot, so I stopped to see why they were stopped.
They said that there had been several calls on the radio that one of our trail maintenance crews had been attacked by a black bear, and they were waiting for our Law Enforcement Officer to arrive. A few minutes later our LEO and a Deputy Sheriff arrived. The other engineers and I volunteered to help. The LEO knew that I did a lot of hunting and shooting and he asked me if I wanted to carry a gun. I said yes and he gave me his AR-15. He and the Deputy each carried 12 gauge shotguns.
The trail crew was about 1 1/2 miles up the trail from the parking lot. When the LEO, the Deputy and I got to the first two members of the trail maintenance crew it was a little over an hour after they had made the first radio call for help. They had the radio, and they were both up in trees. They said the third crew member was the one who was attacked by the bear, and he was also up a tree about 50 yards further up the trail.
They also said that every time the 3rd crewman yelled for help, the bear climbed up the tree and bit him. These two crew members would not come down from their trees.
So the LEO, the Deputy and I hurried up to the 3rd crewman. We found him in the top of a very tall spruce tree. As soon as we got to his tree I saw the bear coming at us from about 40 yards away. I yelled "There's the bear!" and the three of us shot in unison, killing the bear.
As soon as we verified that the bear was dead, we started to help the injured crewman down out of the tree. He had scratches and bites on both legs his feet through his boots. We got him down, administered first aid, and moved him down the trail to a clearing where a helicopter from Yellowstone Park was coming to pick him up and take him to the hospital.
While we were waiting for the helicopter, I went back up to the bear and saw that it was a female. Then I saw a little black cub running through the brush. My heart sank! We had killed a mother bear (in self defense) and now there was an orphaned cub that was too young to survive by himself. So I decided to catch it.
I chased it through the brush, and it climbed a tree, so I went up the tree after it. After several attempts, I was finally able to grab it and pull it out of the tree. He was about 18" long and had very sharp teeth and claws. I had to hold the back of his neck in one hand and his two back legs in the other. If I let go of his neck, he would bite me. His bites felt like I had put my hand in a vice that had nails in the jaws. If I let go of his back legs, he would scratch me with both back feet.
I tried to put him in a backpack, but it wouldn't hold him, so I carried him down the trail to my truck where I had a 5 gallon bucket that I put him in.
We had notified the Fish and Game Department that we had killed a sow and captured a cub, so they sent their bear biologist to investigate the shooting and he brought a culvert trap to put the cub in. He ruled the shooting justified, I gave him the cub, and the next day he went back to the site with dogs and a couple of other biologists, and they caught another cub.
They took both of the cubs to a wild animal re-hab facility in Helena where they took care of the cubs for two years then released them back into the forest.
So Davey Crockett said he grinned down a bear, and I can say that I caught a bear!
Last edited by buffybr; 01-30-2015 at 05:50 PM.
01-31-2015, 06:31 AM
#14
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 9,230
Not really. My bears (one in CO and one in BC) both came pretty easily and there really wasn't much to tell. Saw them and shot them. Each only took a single round and went all wobble legged and tipped over in a big hairy heap. Wish I had some hair raising tale to tell about tracking a wounded one down in heavy cover and dropping it in full charge or about hunting for days on end to find one to take, but that would be a fabrication.
Kind of like my biggest bull elk. I was hunting for meat and ran into a really big bull. One shot from my 7mm Mag and down he went, less than 150 yards from the truck. Never discount the power of luck!
Kind of like my biggest bull elk. I was hunting for meat and ran into a really big bull. One shot from my 7mm Mag and down he went, less than 150 yards from the truck. Never discount the power of luck!
Last edited by flags; 02-01-2015 at 04:45 AM.
01-31-2015, 05:49 PM
#17
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Central VT/Big Horn WY
Posts: 1,543
There is a book called Grizzly Attack in Colorado. It's about the last grizzly killed in Colorado in the late 70's. It's a short read, only 200 pages or so but a good story. Worth the read.
http://wisemangrizzly.com
http://wisemangrizzly.com
02-01-2015, 04:46 AM
#18
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 9,230
There is a book called Grizzly Attack in Colorado. It's about the last grizzly killed in Colorado in the late 70's. It's a short read, only 200 pages or so but a good story. Worth the read.
http://wisemangrizzly.com
http://wisemangrizzly.com
02-01-2015, 05:36 AM
#19
Super Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Trumbull County, Ohio
Posts: 9,520
While rabbit hunting in PA when I was 12 we were walking a power line. A couple of my cousins were out on the power line, my grandpa and I were on the edge of the woods walking the edge. A bear stood up right in front of us. You could tell he was sleepy, looked like a groggy eyed dog you just woke up off the couch. We both pulled our shotguns up and my grandpa said "Hey bear, don't you come any closer." Then continued to talk to it. That bear just stood there and stood there looking at us. Finally he grunted, and walked off into the power line brush. We stepped it off and he was six steps from us.
Another time while chasing deer I was on my hands and knees crawling through some nasty stuff. Barking and yelling and hollering. At one point I ducked under some brush and it seemed like the world blew up around me. The brush was moving, breaking, and I heard the bear snorting. I never saw that one but he came out on the drive and others saw him.
I worked three summers in Colorado at a youth camp during college. Lots of bear stories from there. We would often chase bears off the trash bins, etc. My favorite was a bear that managed to crawl through the kitchen window one night. Tore the kitchen up. A few nights later I hear him in there again. So I decide to try and chase him out. I peak into the kitchen and see a little bear. Couldn't have weighed fifty pounds. So I open the two exit doors from outside then run into the kitchen banging on a pot. The little bear took off scared. I figured I'd teach him a good lesson so I chase it up the hill about fifty yards yelling and banging on pot. Come around the corned of a wood shed and there stands the little bear, standing right behind mama. Well, mama wasn't too happy. She's stamping the ground, snorting and shaking her head around. I just quietly and slowly backed away. Figured the bears won that one.
I have hunted bear the last three years in PA unsuccesfully. Haven't seen one during bear season. But I see them almost every deer season, so eventually I think I'll get a PA bear.
-Jake
Another time while chasing deer I was on my hands and knees crawling through some nasty stuff. Barking and yelling and hollering. At one point I ducked under some brush and it seemed like the world blew up around me. The brush was moving, breaking, and I heard the bear snorting. I never saw that one but he came out on the drive and others saw him.
I worked three summers in Colorado at a youth camp during college. Lots of bear stories from there. We would often chase bears off the trash bins, etc. My favorite was a bear that managed to crawl through the kitchen window one night. Tore the kitchen up. A few nights later I hear him in there again. So I decide to try and chase him out. I peak into the kitchen and see a little bear. Couldn't have weighed fifty pounds. So I open the two exit doors from outside then run into the kitchen banging on a pot. The little bear took off scared. I figured I'd teach him a good lesson so I chase it up the hill about fifty yards yelling and banging on pot. Come around the corned of a wood shed and there stands the little bear, standing right behind mama. Well, mama wasn't too happy. She's stamping the ground, snorting and shaking her head around. I just quietly and slowly backed away. Figured the bears won that one.
I have hunted bear the last three years in PA unsuccesfully. Haven't seen one during bear season. But I see them almost every deer season, so eventually I think I'll get a PA bear.
-Jake
02-01-2015, 12:01 PM
#20
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Michigan
Posts: 3,952
Great thread. Like Flags, I've not had much in the way of adventure when hunting bears. I've had a couple walk up to the stand and check me out. But that's about it.
Fishing, and hunting other game is another story. One time (we don't name streams in Michigan) but I was fishing a fairly well known one. I was working a hole in a bend with the bank tall behind me. When I heard a snuffing sound. I turned and saw a sow with three cubs right at head level and maybe five feet away. The sow was trying to catch my wind. Lucky I was smoking a cigar and that's what she got a snoot full of.
ATB
Fishing, and hunting other game is another story. One time (we don't name streams in Michigan) but I was fishing a fairly well known one. I was working a hole in a bend with the bank tall behind me. When I heard a snuffing sound. I turned and saw a sow with three cubs right at head level and maybe five feet away. The sow was trying to catch my wind. Lucky I was smoking a cigar and that's what she got a snoot full of.
ATB