A Wyoming man hunting elk in Grand Teton National Park was attacked by a bear Sunday, but managed to call for help after the bear left the area.
Details were sketchy: The 32-year-old Jackson man could not definitively say whether it was a grizzly or black bear that attacked him, and the extent of his injuries were not immediately known, although they were not considered life-threatening.
Grand Teton spokeswoman Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles said the man was hunting along the east side of the Snake River between Blacktail Ponds and Glacier View Overlooks when he was attacked about 11:30 a.m.
The man was carrying bear spray and following the recommended protocols for hunting in bear country, she said. The hunter told rangers that when he spotted the bear he dropped to the ground and covered his head, she added. It was not immediately clear if the bear was acting defensively, or viewed him as prey, said Ms. Anzelo-Sarles.
However, reports that the hunter had fired shots at the bear were in error, the spokeswoman said.
"It took about 45 minutes from the time of his call for the first responder to arrive on scene. He was about three-quarters and a mile off the road, in the river bottom," said Ms. Anzelo-Sarles.
The hunter received initial treatment in the field, and was transported to the road in a litter. An ambulance transported him to a Jackson hospital. Rangers were conducting an investigation Sunday afternoon to see if they could piece together what happened.
Attacks by bears in the park are extremely rare. There have been six reported bear attacks in the history of Grand Teton National Park- none were fatal, according to park records. In 2007 a female grizzly bear with cubs mauled a jogger near Jackson Lake Lodge in a surprise encounter.
Grand Teton's enabling legislation allows for a limited elk hunt in the park. All hunters participating in the elk reduction program are provided with a bear information and safety packet. The following guidelines are suggested for participating hunters:
* Hunt with a partner.
* Carry bear spray (required).
* Avoid “dark” timber during mid-day when bears may be using a day-bed.
* Have a predetermined plan of action for retrieving harvested game from the field.
* Be extra cautious after making a kill and when hunting in areas where animals have recently been harvested.
* Avoid hunting in areas where fresh bear sign is repeatedly observed.
* Avoid gut piles.
Comments
Last time I checked the statistics bear spray was 89% effective vrs 60% for firearms. With a firearm you have to hit your mark very precisely under the most stressful circumstances possible. With spray you have a wide dispersal area making it easier to deter the attack. In instances where the bear is surprised at close range neither method is good as there is not time to react. I will go with the odds, thank you very much Dave.
Statistics don't lie. A study of human/grizzly encounters in Alaska showed that those who used bear spray came away uninjured 92% of the time. And of the remaining 8%, none of killed and all suffered only minor injuries.
Firearms, on the other hand, were only effective 63% of the time. Those who were actually attacked suffered more severe maulings, and some were fatal. Oh, and the bear dies too.
So, stastically, if you use bear spray during a grizzly encounter, you have a less than 1 in 10 chance of being contacted by the bear. By contrast, you have a more than 1 in 3 chance of getting mauled if you choose to use your firearm.
As for the above poster's claim that hunters are seemingly unable to do two things at once (carry a firearm and use bear spray), it's a weak argument. In most cases, the bear will be spotted from a distance, so a hunter will have time to shoulder his rifle while removing his bear spray. I can do this in 2-3 seconds. In other cases, as in this particular instance, the encounter will be a surprise, and the hunter will have little time to use either the bear spray or their firearm. This hunter did exactly the right thing for this situation and has lived to tell about it.
What it comes down to is that each bear encounter is unique, and hunters need to respond to them individually. There is a time to use a firearm and a time to use bear spray, but the above argument that hunters can't use bear spray in a grizzly encounter is laughable. There was no reason grizzly 615 needed to be shot. Had the hunter been carrying bear spray there is a 92% chance that bear would be alive and the hunter wouldn't have been found guilty of illegally killing a grizzly.
In an article titled "Spray then pray" in the 9/29/11 Coeur d'Alene Press, "Chuck Bartlebaugh, director of the Be Bear Aware campaign for the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee" said the bear spray can "must be held with two hands so it doesn't tilt upwards." http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_c2828ade-7fad-5a77-be46-6cf1209e9023.html
Bartlebaugh is the #1 bear spray zealot in the world. Who am I to disagree with the master?
Efficacy of Bear Deterrent Spray in Alaska says, "In 96% (69 of 72) bear spray incidents the person's activity at the time was reported. The largest category involved hikers (35%), followed by persons engaged in bear management activities (30%), people at their home or cabin (15%), campers in their tents (9%), people working on various jobs outdoors (4%), sports fishers (4%), a hunter stalking a wounded bear (1%), and a photographer (1%)."
That data does not suggest that bear spray is an option when a hunter carrying a rifle startles a grizzly, .
There's no data on firearms vs. bears in Efficacy of Bear Deterrent Spray in Alaska or Herrero's Field use of capiscum spray as a bear deterrent. There's no data on firearms vs bears in a U.S. Fish & wildlife Service "fact sheet" on Bear Spray vs. Bullets.
So, Dave Smith, if "the bear spray cult" got this guy hurt, who do you blame for Steve Stevenson's death in September? He's the man who got killed by a gunshot when his partner started shooting at a wounded grizzly in NW Montana.
Is he dead because of "firearms propaganda" from the "firearms cult"?
Scour the records: no bears have died from bear pepper spray. No people have died from being accidentally sprayed while fending off an attack. Nobody has died because they chose to use bear pepper spray for You should be able to put together a comparable database for firearms used against attacking bears. However, I would request that you leave out the cases that were essentially shoot-on-sight, "I saw a bear and was afraid for my life" cases. Shooting a stationary bear at 50 paces doesn't really tell us much about the efficacy of firearms.
And the two-handed bear spray deployment? Maybe if you were shaking really bad, or were very weak, you'd need two hands. Try it for yourself. I am removing the safety on my inert can right now; the "kick" when discharged isn't enough for me to need two hands on it.
Dave, your views are black and white, and you think a gun is the only solution to every bear encounter while hunting, which is quite simple-minded.
If you see a bear at 100 yards and you feel you have time to shoulder your rifle and take out the spray so you're ready if the bear charge, do it. Stastically, you'll have a MUCH better chance at survival. If you see a bear at 50 yards and it charges you, by all means, use your rifle as a defense. You probably don't have time to take out your bear spray. If you surprise and are charged by a bear at 10 yards, you'd better do exactly what this hunter did: roll up in a ball an play dead, because you won't have time to use your bear spray OR your gun.
The fact of the matter is carrying bear spray is IN NO WAY a detriment or hinderance to hunters. None. Zero. It can only help them in the right situation. Your comment that hunters are simple-minded Neanderthals seeminglyincapable to switching from carrying a gun to deploying bear spray is an insult to hunters everywhere.
I was involved along with five other rangers in killing a grizz back in 1968. Three of us were carrying .357 magnum revolvers loaded with SuperVel. Three had 12 gauge shotguns all loaded with rifled slugs. We opened fire after a dart filled with a lethal dose hit fat tissue. The bear reared up on its hind legs and we opened fire from about 70 - 80 feet. As each of us emptied our weapons, we jumped into a vehicle. The bear finally stopped about ten feet from us.
When we autopsied the bear the next morning, we found that all 36 rounds had hit the bear. One of the rifled slugs, fired when he was standing up, had cleaned out his heart.
That bear covered about 60 feet without a heart! I'm not sure I'd have wanted to stand there with bear spray (it wasn't available back then), but after that experience, I almost think I'd be safer. As it was, I almost wet my pants.
So about the only thing I can say for sure is be prepared and be sure your will is up to date no matter how you try to face down a bear. But I do think spray might very well be the better bet.
I think the point of any kind of tear gas (including concentrated pepper spray) is that it practically would blind an animal if it gets close enough to the eyes. If the bear can't see, maybe it just keeps on charging but can't find its target.
Sounds like that bear could still see and move without a heart. Now it you're talking a direct head shot deeply penetrating the skull, I think it would have stopped right there. I have heard of rounds either bouncing off a skull or even sliding along the edge under the scalp without penetrating.