Bear Attack On The Dogpound

[bigbowtrout]

I fish the pound a few times a month and never seen even a sign of a bear but this is crazy. I hope the guy makes a full recovery.

 

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2008/0...755391-sun.html

[darrinhurst]

That's nuts!

 

I hope he makes a speedy recovery.

[tgo]

There's more black bears around that area than most people realize, at least thats what has been told to me by locals.

Earlier this summer I was fishing around Bottrell and came around a corner and saw a bear up in a tree. I was shocked, but reached for me camera to take a picture as the bear hadn't noticed me yet. I looked back at the bear after finding the camera and he is staring right at me and beginning to climb down the tree. I slowly exited his view then hauled ass back to the car. I told the guy who runs the campground and he said he hears about 25 sightings a year, he didn't even sound remotely concerned.

Its so natural to be really quiet on that creek since the fish can spook so easily, beiong really quiet and alone around bears is not a good thing though. Before this year I fished dogpound if I wanted to get out of the city and not have to worry about bears because I was fishing alone.

Hope this guy is alright and recovers quickly.

[Justfreewheelin]

wow, I was just out in that area yesterday. better bring the bear spray next time.

[ham]

Im not suprised but thats crazy I guess it must have been pretty sudden

[Taco]

OK I'll say it and prove to all that I'm a loudmouth ***hole...... another bear dies because some idiot doesn't know how to handle himself in a bear confrontation. A bear biting his fat ass and legs says he was runnin' away and if you wanna provoke a bear attack...run like hell whenever you see one. If he woulda stood up to that blackbear he likely just have an elevated heart rate and a good story to tell.

 

Educate yourself if your gonna go fishin' where there's wildlife otherwise stick to the city sections of the Bow.

[strand]

agreed. if you fish these mountains/foothills long enough you will have a allot of bear stories and a few cougar stories too. now that the fly fad has hit full boar, every jackass city boy with a rod wants to play hillbilly! STAY ON THE BOW. its allot safer for the bears. if you just cant stop yourself from entering the woods, let em know your there. its NOT your backyard! STAY OUT!!

[Taco]

agreed. if you fish these mountains/foothills long enough you will have a allot of bear stories and a few cougar stories too. now that the fly fad has hit full boar, every jackass city boy with a rod wants to play hillbilly! STAY ON THE BOW. its allot safer for the bears. if you just cant stop yourself from entering the woods, let em know your there. its NOT your backyard! STAY OUT!!

 

Huh?

[agbff]

Apparently there was a griz downstream from the catarack turnoff. source.... two elderly americans, the lady said it was the "cutest animal ever."

[firefrog]

Hello

Knowing what to do and actually doing what you should know are two different things. Sure if you can see them from a distance, you have time to figure out what to do. I've only come right up on a bear once and I froze. As luck had it, it didn't see me. If it had, those seconds would have dictated my fate. I couldn't think fast enough - human nature, I guess. So what's my point? Prevention. Can't be emphasized enough.

I have a suggestion to share. Wear a cow bell; not the cute little jingle bells - a big honking cow bell. I tied it to my daypack. I get teased about it, but I have NEVER came across a bear while I was wearing it. Play safe.

Cheers.

[orvisonly]

I never cease to get amazed by the number of people that are so freaking worried/titalated about bears.

 

Since 2000 - more than 40 people have died from West Nile in Canada - 14 from bear attacks (4 by Griz). Smoking related deaths are estimated 50, 000 PER YEAR!

 

Of the bear attacks the vast majority are people that are alone.

 

i swear, growing up that being attacked by a bear was never something anyone was fixated on. Could it be the influence of the migration from the east that makes this such a popular topic now?

 

classic that two elderly americans would nail the id of a bear as a grizzly.

[Parry]

agreed. if you fish these mountains/foothills long enough you will have a allot of bear stories and a few cougar stories too. now that the fly fad has hit full boar, every jackass city boy with a rod wants to play hillbilly! STAY ON THE BOW. its allot safer for the bears. if you just cant stop yourself from entering the woods, let em know your there. its NOT your backyard! STAY OUT!!

 

 

First Off, I'm 23 and been fishing in the back country for years. Ive seen many Bears but a cougar? If you have alot of cougar stories then i am quite sure you are fishing in the calgary zoo. You do not see cougars, they see you especially in the bush. Maybe you account driving and seeing a cougar as a story. Im not saying you dont see cougars in the bush as its does happen, but a few? and above that who the hell are you to suggest some "Jack Ass City boy" stay on the bow? The average person would no suspect a bear to be this near to the city, let alone know that glenmore park has had a resident black bear show its self directly in the city a couple years in a row now, or know that Cougars have been seen in the last year as far down as Bowness. Instead of insulting people, maybe try and educate them? as many of the useful members of this board have done in previous posts. For all you know this individual could very well be a part of this community and rather then you berate him, maybe you should offer him a speedy recovery.

 

I already know Individuals like Taeke have offered insight into this area about being Bear Aware which i am grateful and sure many others are as well. But we do not know the facts of this encounter. Its one thing for a person to say they would never run from a Bear, but what if Its being very aggressive and charging, sometimes emotions and feelings take over and one reaction is to Run for your life. We are after all only human.

 

My 2 cents

 

Dustin

[dube]

It's been a while since I've made a post but I'm going to bite on this one.

First of all I hope the dude quick recovery and I don't intend to offend anyone but.....

 

Anyone who goes into the wilderness for whatever reason is taking their life into their own hands period. Especially when going alone. I always fish alone and besides wildlife there is so much else to consider. I could just as easily slip on a rock crack my head and drown as be mauled by an animal. I think too many guy's myself included get so wrapped up in getting to that hole up ahead or trying to find that perfect perch to cast from that we lose sight of everything else. My main concern is letting someone know where I am so that if I do screw up at least there is a chance at finding my body.

 

One thing I have thought of many times, mostly while walking some high trail back to the truck after a great day fishing is that no matter what nothing will take me without a fight. And I sure as hell will not turn my back on any wild animal especially to run. Bloody hell man don't run. Try running from a dog or a 4 year old child for that matter. It's going to chase you no doubt, no doubt. And bears are fast man like lightening fast so where the hell are you going to get to? To a tree and climb that? So I carry a skinning knife real close to my hand and if an attack is imminent it's on and the first thing to hit you will be it's face and just below that is it's throat and below that is it's chest and heart. It's short and sharp and could spill the guts of whatever with one good swipe. I'll go for it no question and emotion does not play into it. We are just animals after all and my back yard or theirs if push comes to shove you have to get back to basics. All the shotguns, pepper spray, bangers and bells you can carry ain't worth crap if you can't make a split second decision. I just think you have to come to terms with the fact that anything can happen and can you accept the responsibility? Think of buddy a few years back who sawed his arm off with a pocket knife after a huge boulder pinned it to the ground. Everyone was amazed at his ability to actually endure that but what would you do? Lay there and die? If you don't trust you have that kinda fight in you than I feel you should think twice before wandering out into the woods.

 

As far as this story I have to agree the guy must have made a wrong move. Bears are a tad territorial especially if there happened to be food nearby but they are also really lazy and won't spend more energy than they have to, especially this time of year. Which is probably why he survived, the bear gave him a quick licking and took off. I'm sure as well that if he would of stood his ground the bear would have veered off. To bad for the bear really.

 

Anyway I'm no expert but I'm not counting on a bell to save my life either.

[Weedy1]

The hell with this, I'm moving to bear country to get out of the same city as Dube.

[reevesr1]

The hell with this, I'm moving to bear country to get out of the same city as Dube.

 

Sweet!

Though I'm not sure I would agree with his choice of tactics, Dube certainly has one thing right. You need to think about how you would react. It will help you immensely if you do have an encounter. When faced with EXTREME pressure of any kind, training can pull you through. I've been in a couple of what seemed like life and death situations. In both cases I was able to fall back on my training and the fear, while still present, faded to the background a bit while I focussed on the task at hand. Shook like a baby after both events afterwards.

 

Anyway, think about what you would do in an encounter. Whether you are from the city or not.

 

Taeke, you just take 'em on with your bare hands!!

[DonnieM]

Bear spray is light, very effective, not costly and works 99.99% of the time. Its an investment in your life. As for the cow bell there is absolutely nothing wrong with that tactic either, and good on yah for using one. I lived in Canmore for many years and pretty much everyone I know in the climbing community out there uses a bell of some sorts as well as bear spray, the key is to not surprise the bear, but to let him or her know that you are coming and are in the area. Good luck to all and a quick recovery to our brother in rods with his leg injury.

[nebc]

OK I'll say it and prove to all that I'm a loudmouth ***hole...... another bear dies because some idiot doesn't know how to handle himself in a bear confrontation. A bear biting his fat ass and legs says he was runnin' away and if you wanna provoke a bear attack...run like hell whenever you see one. If he woulda stood up to that blackbear he likely just have an elevated heart rate and a good story to tell.

 

Educate yourself if your gonna go fishin' where there's wildlife otherwise stick to the city sections of the Bow.

 

On the other hand there are already far too many black bear, so I would not fly that flag too green.

[dube]

For the record I do wear a bell and carry spray as well, all the time (while fishing anyway). I do have a few tricks to exhaust before I go for the knife but I think rick picked up what I was laying down. Have a plan.

[lonefisher]

Snagged a fallen tree in the flood plain last night and turned around to discover a Griz on her hind legs bout 40 yards behind me. Saw what appeared to be 2 cubs in the edge of the bush..... elevated heart rate...... better believe it. I was right on a corner and a little trapped. She knew I was around but I didn't think she had seen me yet so I managed to remain behind cover and slowly retreated across the river (over waist deep but a slow current luckily) I didn't run but I didn't see any point in standing ground in this situation...... if she had seen me it woulda been a different story.

 

I have run into a good number of bears over the years and anyone who can say that they know exactly what to do before hand likely hasn't run into many...... Situations are always different and bears are all different..... Not every charge is gonna be a bluff. Bears attack or charge for a variety of different reasons and you need to be able to recognize situations for what they are and react accordingly...... 99% of the time you don't wanna run but I can think of one situation atleast where you would.

 

Oh..... and to hypothesis about how this guy is wounded and how that shows that he ran or behaved incorrectly is just a little bit retarded. He mighta behaved correctly and simply turned at the last moment when he discovered it wasn't a bluff charge. Bears are wild animals and therefore not 100% predictable and that might be one of the most important things anyone with an overly cocky attitude towards bears should remember.

[DonnieM]

Good post Lonefisher. I have a similiar story, but its not about me, and its not as happy of an ending. When I was living out in Canmore, I dont know if any of you guys on here will recognize the name but there is a lady by the name of Lisa Dube that lived out in Canmore for most of her life and she was one of our top olympic bikers so that is where she lived and trained. A few summers ago Lisa was out biking with two of her good friends up on the benchlands on a public road leading up to Silvertip Golf Course. She was a few paces ahead of her friends and she rounded the bend and there was a very not friendly grizzly bear. The bear started to charge and she told her two friends to bike for there lives down and she would distract the bear and draw it away. What actually happened nobody actually knows but the speculation was that the bear charged so quickly it knocked her off her bike, so she scrambled up a tree, about 50 ft up, and the grizzly also came with her up the tree, and she ended up jumping from 50 ft to get away, but dying because of the fall. Long story short, she was a seasoned Canmorite and outdoorswoman, and in the end made the wrong decisions, or made the right ones but still got caught. Bears arent a joke, and need to be taken seriously. Nothing bugs me more than people that just wont give out the respect that is deserving, its not so funny when you get caught with your pants down, thats for sure. And the worst to see is tourists pulling over to snap photos, I mean there is so much education thrown at you when you enter the national parks about how to be bear aware, but its almost like people think they are on safari or something.

[tgo]

agreed. if you fish these mountains/foothills long enough you will have a allot of bear stories and a few cougar stories too. now that the fly fad has hit full boar, every jackass city boy with a rod wants to play hillbilly! STAY ON THE BOW. its allot safer for the bears. if you just cant stop yourself from entering the woods, let em know your there. its NOT your backyard! STAY OUT!!

 

A little overboard don't you think? I bet you'd expect to see a black bear on Dogpound Creek eh? Anybody carry bear spray on Dogpound here? Anybody makes tons of noise on Dogpound? If yes I bet you don't catch many fish there then.

 

All we know is the man suffered injuries to his leg, maybe he was trying to fight it off with his fishing rod and thats why it got chewed up. Maybe he was fighting off the bear, fell over and the bear bit his leg, who the hell knows. Yeah people have to learn to AVOID encounters and know WHAT TO DO when you do encounter one, be able to recognize different bears and act accordingly, take into consideration cubs if they are around etc. Thats a good message, but don't insult a stranger when you don't know the full story.

[dube]

lonefisher;

you most certainly make some good points and I'm not trying to be cocky. I've never actually been attacked by a bear and all of my contact with them has been resolved peacefully; thankfully. (Only wild animal I've ever been attacked by is a hen ruffed grouse after inadvertently walking through her chicks and I've got to say they put up a good fight. A beak in the chest is not as funny as you might expect) But like you say bears are not at all predictable and may become aggressive for any number of reasons and of course you may do everything right and still get the worst of it so I'm simply saying that I'm always aware that things may unravel at any point and I'm willing to take responsibility for my own life. If that means wrestle a bear that came out of nowhere or drag my ass back to a trail or road on my elbows if I break a leg I'm going to do it. No one else is going to save my ass.

Again, you raise some good points about this particular attack. Maybe he did do everything right. Maybe he did actually fight the bear off and that's why he made it. No use speculating I suppose. Still I don't think it's wise to ever turn your back on a wild animal even if it's on top of you. I would think most people would agree not to turn your back until it's out of sight and then if you want to turn and run like hell then giver.

Lisa's story is a good example of how it really doesn't matter how experienced you are outside you can be caught with your pants down. On the other hand it's sad because she did make a few fatal errors, jumping 50 feet out of a tree would be one of them. I maintain that at that point when you are physically being attacked by a bear or it is aggressively pursuing you getting away is no longer an option. They are too fast and too strong. In my mind the last stitch effort will be to fight like my life depends on it and that's it. Trust me I'm not looking to fight any bears but like anything else that may make me face my own mortality I'm not going to try and out run it and I won't just lay down and die either. If that's cocky or disrespectful then so be it.

[toolman]

There are lots of black bears and a few Cougars, spotted along the Bow each season, often right in the city. The CO's down in Fish Creek, were trying to run off a black bear last Tuesday evening (chuckin' rocks at it). I was tempted to pull over and ask him if I could join him for some fun. I don't really like black bears very much and any opportunity to put the rocks to one, is always fun. When I was younger, we used to park at the local landfill (dump) in the late evenings and sit quietly in the truck with the engine and lights off. Then, shortly after dark, we'd turn the highbeams on too see if any bears had shown up to dig in the trash. Then, (while trying not to spill your beer), we'd jump out and put the rocks to em'...man that used to be fun...

F'in black bears...

[mikefromsundre]

OK I'll say it and prove to all that I'm a loudmouth ***hole...... another bear dies because some idiot doesn't know how to handle himself in a bear confrontation. A bear biting his fat ass and legs says he was runnin' away and if you wanna provoke a bear attack...run like hell whenever you see one. If he woulda stood up to that blackbear he likely just have an elevated heart rate and a good story to tell.

 

Educate yourself if your gonna go fishin' where there's wildlife otherwise stick to the city sections of the Bow.

 

I sure hope none of the family of the man attacked read this post, because it is insulting. If I was laying in the hospital and reading it I know I would be trying to make a speedy recovery to get out and "talk" to you. How do you know what happened. How do you know the man did not trip or slip. Further more animals are unpredictable. My point -don't call someone an idiot when you don't have a clue what happened! And you know for sure the guy has a fat ass do you?

[RDevonshire]

Hey all, hope for a full and speedy recovery to that man,

 

 

l wanted to say a few things about bears,that people arent taking into consideration. l worked seismic for a better part of six years, and have had many encounters with bears of all size. Being in secluded bush where we would get heli into seen lots of them. My most memorable occasion was,, we always worked in groups of 5 most the time in a line so one time buddy of mine was working about 20meters ahead of me and we were just coming off a hill up in the fort stjohn area, l just happened to take a glance ahead and a black bear was a foot behind him, just following sniffin his back pack. So rate away got on the mic and called him sayin he had a black bear rate behind him, now it gets funny, he then replys Rob quit jokin get back to work. Now l say it to him again that if you think im jokin then why dont you stop and have a look. Now it must of took about 3mins before he finally looked and still to this day ive never heard a grown man scream like that. It was screeching loud, the bear freaks out decides to start running towards me now. l was starting to laugh but that changed quickly and just stood my ground, bear got about 10 feet from me full charge and just 90 into the bush after a few choice phrases as loud as l could. Morale of the story is your in its domain and if they want to get ya they will. Oh yeah the bear mace is just pepper for the bears steak. If you ever been sprayed by the stuff you will find that you better hope it doesnt make them more mad then they are. Best bet is stand your ground avoid eye contact choose a couple of choice phrases walk slowly backwards,,,, if that doesnt work throw out the old snicker bar and hope he takes the bait or get ready to stab them in the eyeballs.... Dont be afraid to take a bear awarness course if your going to be doing alot of backpacking, the bell does help but it always seemed to me that its the dinner bell and you supplyed the pepper what a great tourist the bear must think, hahaha, play safe, travel in groups. Oh yeah and remember that a full grown bear can beat the worlds fastest man twice over in a race so if you think your fast guess again....