Ok.

I lived in AK 1982-88, and had quite a few outdoor adventures.

True.  The only way to fell a charging grizzly (browns wouldn't be found
outside Talkeetna - they are coastal) is to shoot it directly in its open
mouth, thus breaking its spine through the back of its throat, or shoot it
in the eye, thus rendering its central nervous system unusable.  A single
bullet elsewhere is not likely to incapacitate it.


So, let's add a bit to the parable and quandry.  Still include the prior
parts:


As the bear charged, I did not shake, I did not shudder.

I thought momentarily of where my shot should go to fell the bear.

I lifted my rifle and shot it dead in the eye.

My aim was true.

I felt cold, dispassionate, and in control.

Afterward, when the bear dropped, I felt a surge of relief, and an uneasy
queer feeling in my gut.

My limbs began to shake.  If another bear had charged at that moment, I
would certainly have been killed.

But one did not.

The forest was quiet except for the buzzing of a few mosquitos by my ear.

I hope I am not evil.





> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion forum for environmental ethics.
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Chris Perley
> Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2002 3:45 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: bear quandary
>
>
> Tony wrote:
> >
> >         The best reaction to a confrontation is to make oneself
> small and
> > avoid making eye contact. In a charge, fall into fetal position
> with hands
> > on back of neck.  As a rule, the bear will lose interest in you when you
> > cease to be a threat. Second best option is to use bear spray -
> hot pepper
> > spray - and spray it in the bear's face.
>
> But in a charge it is
> > often hard to
> > get a handle on the spray and use it properly.
>
> You don't say?
>
> We had a post grad Canadian forester while I was studying.  He could tell
> great yarns over a beer.  One of his favourites was concerning cruising in
> Canadian forests.  The standard approach is to plot a forest using compass
> and hipchain.  In his case a compassman would set the route and
> the cruising
> forester would record the data.  They often came across bear (he
> said).  He
> told hysterically funny stories of compassmen running past him at a great
> rate of knots, some of whom weren't that great at English.  He maintained
> that 8 times out of ten both parties would run away from each other, or -
> once you got up a tree - the black bears (I think) would keep on running
> past the tree.  The grizzlies scared the proverbial out of him.  They
> stopped and shook the tree!
>
> Forget the foetal position.  I'd run.
>
> CP



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Richard Haimann, P.E.
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