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Bears!!!

This seems to be the single most recurring topic on this board and on many other boards like it.

Michael Strahn posted a very astute comment on his Brown Bear Hunting thread when he said that "brown bears live in mortal fear of humans" and will vacate whenever they detect a human in the area.  The same can probably also be said about the interior non-habituated grizzly.  Nevertheless, humans and bears will continue to conflict and both bears and humans will end up getting hurt.  And we will continue to discuss the subject ad infinitum.

In the past two to three years that I have been lurking on this site I think I can recall only two first hand accounts from hunters who have actually experienced a bear attack.  One post was a couple of weeks ago by Alaska Cub (I think that was his forum name) who related his story of an anctual attack and mauling.  The other post was a couple of years ago and related to an incident of a bluff charge.  When you consider the thousands of person-days spent in the field by members of this forum you can realize how rare bear attacks actually are.

For all the discussion we read and hear on this topic I don't recall anybody refering to actual historic data.  To read about the past one hundred years of bear-human interaction in Alaska go to
http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/brownbears/attacks/bear-human_conflicts.htm

I am reluctant to start another thread on this topic but thought it would be helpful to direct you to the above site where you can review some interesting data.  I apologize if the linkage has been previously posted.

-Dan

Message Thread:

• The topic that won't go away DanC Dec 11 2005
  • On being misquoted- Michael Strahan Dec 12 2005
    • mortal fear martentrapper Dec 13 2005
    • bear and human CONfrontation... Brian Richardson Dec 12 2005
  • Settle down a bit..... DanC Dec 12 2005
  • my experience twodux Dec 12 2005
    • false charge fishermann222 Dec 12 2005
      • 10 YDS !!! Sheep Hunter Dec 13 2005
  • bears ovis Dec 12 2005
  • Correction! AlaskaCub Dec 12 2005
  • Bears twodux Dec 12 2005
    • Bears!! Sheep Hunter Dec 12 2005
      • BEAR Bighorse Dec 12 2005
    • Bears AkHunter45 Dec 12 2005