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Author
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Topic: Tourists...
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Lonny
PANTS ON THE GROUND
Member # 19
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posted June 29, 2015 02:39 PM
Wife and I had to be in Bozeman, MT last week so we decided to stay a few extra days and see sights. We drove to Yellowstone one day and spent the day in the Lamar Valley looking at critters.
We walked up a little rise about 50 yards off the road and low and behold a grizzly bear was digging around in a low spot. The bear could not be seen from the road. We were only about a 125 yards away from the bear, but it had no clue we were there. As we watched with our bino's it caught the attention of other people driving the road and soon 10 or so other people had stopped and walked over to see what we were looking at.
Everything was fine until some Asians who from what I could tell did not speak English, kept edging closer. One lady in particular, kept moving forward until she was probably only 60 yards from the bear.
By now I realized the bear was eating on a long dead buffalo.
Sorry, these pics aren't DAA quality by any stretch. Actually took them using the camera adapter thingy that came with my Swarovskis.
Bear before people showed up.
Asian lady gettin' way too close
At one point the bear stopped chewing on the buffalo mess and stared at her for what seemed like way too long and than took several steps towards her. The lady was completely oblivious. A few minutes later the bear suddenly decided things were better elsewhere and walked over the hill into some timber.
Just as we were leaving a Ranger showed up and they shut the area down.
[ June 29, 2015, 02:41 PM: Message edited by: Lonny ]
Posts: 1209 | From: Lewiston, Idaho USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Dave Allen
Hi, I'm SUPER DAVE, IN CHARGE OF Q STUFF (and Goat Leader) "I'm really not trying to be a dick".
Member # 3102
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posted June 29, 2015 04:23 PM
Very nice Lonny !!
As far as the lady goes. You just can't fix stupid !!
Posts: 1986 | From: Jordan Valley Oregon | Registered: Aug 2008
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted June 29, 2015 06:20 PM
The bear was trying to decide if he wanted sushi or buffalo jerky. That collar triggered a brief flashback and he decided neither.
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted June 30, 2015 02:40 PM
As I have mentioned a couple times previously, the African parks keep a lid on maulings and killings but the stupidity of people is amazing. They think these animals are tame, like a petting zoo.
There was an incident in LA, at the zoo a couple years ago. Some young men were teasing tigers and one had enough, leaped over a barrier considered safe, but wasn't and hunted down a couple of those guys, killing one of them hiding in the snack bar. I think that's the way it went?
So, on the one hand you want the Japanese lady not harmed, but on the other hand, how else are you going to teach them a lesson?
Oh, and not more than a few weeks ago, some woman was driving in a reserve in Africa with the windows down, which was stressed as a NO NO. Reached in and killed her while her male companion shooed the female lioness away.
Now, I did the same damned thing in Kruger. A passive looking baboon sitting right beside the road I didn't pay attention to, but he saw bananas between the seats, in front, right practically in my lap! Scared the shit out of this here dumb ass. You know, of course; baboons have longer canines than lions, right?
Good hunting. El Bee
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31462 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Lonny
PANTS ON THE GROUND
Member # 19
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posted June 30, 2015 04:50 PM
On the flip side of walking up on a grizzly bear eating on a carcass with zero fear, we stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs just inside the north entrance to stretch our legs for a bit and overheard an interesting conversation.
This is an administrative area with lots of buildings, people, and cars. Right next to where we stopped, a man and women, with two teenage girls were asking a ranger if it was safe to walk up to the hot springs.
The wife asked if there was any bear danger. Hell, it was crowded enough that in most cases you would be within spitting distance of people the entire time on the boardwalk to the hot springs.
Then she asked about bugs and if they needed bug spray, because they had none.
She asked about whether they would need sun screen and how long the "trail" was because they didn't want to be in the sun too long. She also asked if there was any shade around or water if they should need it.
Things must have looked a little too dicey because they got in their car and drove on.
I simply can't wrap my mind around being that afraid of anything remotely outdoorsy. How do people like that survive? What do they do for a living?
Posts: 1209 | From: Lewiston, Idaho USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Kokopelli
SENIOR DISCOUNT & Dispenser of Sage Advice
Member # 633
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posted June 30, 2015 08:14 PM
Lonny;
I've talked to several people that absolutely cannot comprehend the idea that I often hunt alone.
It's sad to even think about how much of life they must be missing out on.
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And lo, the Light of the Trump shown upon the Darkness and the Darkness could not comprehend it.
Posts: 7580 | From: Under a wandering star | Registered: Apr 2005
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earthwalker
Cultural Editor & middleweight arm wrestling champion/Intermountain Region
Member # 4177
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posted June 30, 2015 08:47 PM
Look at it this way.
Those people who can't be outside like will be the first ones gone.
We'll be the ones surviving.
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another long hot smoky summer coming
Posts: 1105 | From: Intermountain region | Registered: Jul 2012
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DAA
Utah/Promoted WESTERN REGIONAL Hunt Director
Member # 11
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posted July 01, 2015 03:14 AM
That's pretty neat!
Spent some time in YNP last summer, enjoyed it. Lots and lots of Asians and a lot of people doing dumb stuff, but that's to be expected I guess.
- DAA
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"Oh yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em." -- George Hanson, Easy Rider, 1969.
Rocky Mountain Varmint Hunter
Posts: 2676 | From: Salt Lake City, UT | Registered: Jan 2003
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knockemdown
Our staff photo editing Guru, par excellence
Member # 3588
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posted July 01, 2015 06:10 AM
Very cool, Lonny!
Would be interesting if the Park Rangers pulled back & allowed all the Darwin Award candidates to earn their stripes...
Posts: 2202 | From: behind fascist lines | Registered: Mar 2010
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Moe
Knows what it's all about
Member # 4494
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posted July 01, 2015 07:52 AM
My wife and I went through Yosemite last May. Susan got out to take a picture of Half Dome while I sat in the truck parked by the sidewalk. I was amazed at the number of Asians touring the park. Then I noticed them looking down the hill. I heard one of them say "bear". A bunch of them gathered along the walk to see the bear but a couple of them started down the hill to get a closer look and some pictures. Being a black bear it just decided to leave. I was thinking about my years in Alaska and wondered what a 1700 lb brown bear would think of what it perceived as a threat.
And speaking of this, the thought of that nitwit Timothy Treadwell shown in the movie Grizzly Man. I have no sympathy for the guy but it pisses me off that he got his girlfriend killed and eaten by a brown bear. The moron was in a national park "protecting" the bears and violating the law most of the time. First of all, there's no hunting in a national park so who was he protecting the bears from? You mess with the bull, you get the horn. He asked, almost begged, for his fate but I do feel bad for the girlfriend who was dumb enough to trust him.
[ July 01, 2015, 07:53 AM: Message edited by: Moe ]
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I snatch kisses. And vice versa.
Posts: 593 | From: Oregon | Registered: Nov 2013
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knockemdown
Our staff photo editing Guru, par excellence
Member # 3588
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posted July 01, 2015 10:42 AM
nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom...
Posts: 2202 | From: behind fascist lines | Registered: Mar 2010
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Lonny
PANTS ON THE GROUND
Member # 19
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posted July 01, 2015 04:54 PM
Knockem- I would bet those Rangers that have spent some years in the park have literally seen it all.. The good, bad, and just plain stupid..
Koko, yeah, it must be sad to live such a sheltered life that anything outdoors is seen as a danger and totally foreign to what they know.
I know some people think YNP is a circus and it can be, but the last few times we've been there it has been enjoyable.
Stay away from the Old Faithfuls and such and things are far better IMO.
I've found that once in gamey country simply pull over, set up the scope, and do some glassing. Often times somebody will pull in and ask if you are seeing anything. It can be kinda cool to see their reactions when they look at a grizzly that is half a mile away.
On this last trip, we had a family pull up and ask what we were looking at. It happened to be a grizzly that was so far away that with the naked eye, it was simply a dot.
The whole family took turns looking through my scope and as soon as their eyes adjusted and they actually saw the animal they would let loose with some sort of gasp or expletive.
What surprises me is the people who come from far away and do not have any optics whatsoever. And many of them never even stop their cars.
Posts: 1209 | From: Lewiston, Idaho USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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