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Not Something You Want to See, Hear, or SMELL While Camping

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 8:38 pm
by 308Mike
Any guesses where this was taken? Alaska, Montana, Colorado, Canada,, etc., etc.

Image

I don't think he's part of this Alaskan street gang:

Image

Re: Not Something You Want to See, Hear, or SMELL While Camping

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:40 pm
by Netpackrat
I really, really dislike those things. Got a black bear tag yesterday, even though I have no plans to hunt them, but it was free. That way, should I need to shoot one that is being troublesome, I don't have to justify my actions or turn it over to the state. The brown bear tag is only $25, so I may get that too, just to carry with me. Also got a moose tag in case a bull is dumb enough to walk up my driveway when I am out at the cabin; I see their tracks all the time.

Edit to add; that picture probably isn't in Colorado, since the official line seems to be that there are no grizzlies in Colorado anymore.

Re: Not Something You Want to See, Hear, or SMELL While Camping

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 9:52 pm
by randy
Sort of like there ain't no mountain lions/wolves 'round here, only feral dogs?

Re: Not Something You Want to See, Hear, or SMELL While Camping

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 10:22 pm
by Flintlock Tom
Any guesses where this was taken? Alaska, Montana, Colorado, Canada,, etc., etc.
An "over-nighter" at the San Diego Zoo?

Re: Not Something You Want to See, Hear, or SMELL While Camping

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 10:54 pm
by Darrell
Netpackrat wrote:(T)hat picture probably isn't in Colorado, since the official line seems to be that there are no grizzlies in Colorado anymore.
As mentioned in the link above, a grizzly was killed in Colorado in 1979, after being thought extinct in the state for many years. Heckuva story, a bowhunter and guide came face to face with an old sow grizz under questionable circumstances, he wound up killing the bear Tarzan style, by stabbing it to death with an arrow while being mauled. He was in some hot water over the incident, but wound up in the clear.
Ghost grizzlies - grizzly bears in Colorado
E: The Environmental Magazine, Jan-Feb, 1997 by David Petersen

Does the Great Bear Still Haunt Colorado?

The San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado hold some of the richest grizzly habitat in North America, and in prehistoric times the great bears were ubiquitous there. But by the mid-19th century, killing by ranchers and government trappers had reduced Colorado's grizzlies to a few shy survivors. In 1952, after a federal trapper killed an adult female north of Pagosa Springs in the south San Juan Mountains, wildlife officials declared the grizzly extinct statewide. Across the next 28 years, many credible grizzly sightings were reported in the San Juans, yet the official word remained: gone.

Then, in 1979, along the Continental Divide south of Pagosa Springs, an "extinct" Colorado grizzly was surprised on its day bed by a bowhunter named Ed Wiseman. The bear, perhaps feeling cornered, attacked. Wiseman was knocked to the ground and severely mauled, but managed to stab and kill the bear with a hand-held arrow.

Through the summers of 1981 and 1982, the Colorado Division of Wildlife conducted an extensive live-trapping operation in hopes of capturing, radio-collaring and releasing any remaining San Juan grizzlies. Failing in this - and in spite of the fact that search leader Tom Beck, a renowned black bear biologist, stated in his final report that "failure to catch a grizzly does not mean a definite absence of bears" - the state reverted to its traditional "extinct" stance.
You can read the rest here:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... _19192504/

Some think there's a remnant population down in the southern San Juan mountains, and some say they've seen them moving north into the central mountains--there was a reported sighting on Independence Pass in the Sawatch range a few years ago. An old timer local I worked with in the high country in the '70s told me he knew of a mother and cub grizz headed south near Boreas Pass between Summit and Park counties in the early '60s. Also, I posted this pic once, I don't remember which version of the forum it was at. It was taken outside Lake City a couple of years ago by a coworker. It's certainly well fed, whatever species it is:

Re: Not Something You Want to See, Hear, or SMELL While Camping

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 1:13 am
by Combat Controller
My father knew the bowhunter, I remember him telling me about it right after it happened.

Re: Not Something You Want to See, Hear, or SMELL While Camping

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 7:15 pm
by Termite
Mike's picture looks like a job for Mjolner, my 9.3x62. 286gn RNSP @ 2300-2400fps should do nicely. Or maybe NPR's Marlin Guide gun.

Re: Not Something You Want to See, Hear, or SMELL While Camping

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 10:18 pm
by Netpackrat
Termite wrote:Mike's picture looks like a job for Mjolner, my 9.3x62. 286gn RNSP @ 2300-2400fps should do nicely. Or maybe NPR's Marlin Guide gun.
More like an M82 Barrett. But the .450 Marlin Guide Gun would have to do, since I'm not likely to be packing a .50 BMG around.

Re: Not Something You Want to See, Hear, or SMELL While Camping

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 10:38 pm
by Dedicated_Dad
Warning: :jacked: though SORTA on-topic...

Anybody see the show a few weeks back about the guy who killed what he thought was a polar-bear that turned out to be a polar/grizz hybrid?

CRAZY story - and very interesting, though the thought that the poor guy had to deal with so much legal insanity was pretty sickening...

DD

Re: Not Something You Want to See, Hear, or SMELL While Camping

Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 12:51 am
by AZMARK
Termite wrote:Mike's picture looks like a job for Mjolner, my 9.3x62. 286gn RNSP @ 2300-2400fps should do nicely. Or maybe NPR's Marlin Guide gun.
That'd do well for the first pic,

For the second pic, I'm falling back an calling in artillery. :shock: