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Author
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Topic: Another Grizz Attack
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4949shooter
SECOND PLACE HIGGINS (MAGNUM P.I.) LOOK A LIKE CONTEST
Member # 3530
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posted October 04, 2016 03:36 PM
The guy's account of the incident, courtesy of Intercooler from 10mmfirearms.com:
Grizzly 10/1/16
Hello everyone.
Thought I should share yesterday morning's Grizzly incident.
I took an early morning hike in the Madison valley to scout for elk. Knowing that bears are common throughout southwest Montana, I hollered out "hey bear" about every 30 seconds so as to not surprise any bears along the trail.
About three miles in, I stepped out into an open meadow and hollered again. A few more steps and I spotted a sow Grizzly bear with cubs on the trail at the upper end of the meadow. The sow saw me right away and they ran a short distance up the trail. But suddenly she turned and charged straight my way. I yelled a number of times so she knew I was human and would hopefully turn back. No such luck. Within a couple seconds, she was nearly on me. I gave her a full charge of bear spray at about 25 feet. Her momentum carried her right through the orange mist and on me.
I went to my face in the dirt and wrapped my arms around the back of my neck for protection. She was on top of me biting my arms, shoulders and backpack. The force of each bite was like a sledge hammer with teeth. She would stop for a few seconds and then bite again. Over and over. After a couple minutes, but what seemed an eternity, she disappeared.
Stunned, I carefully picked myself up. I was alive and able to walk so I headed back down the trail towards the truck 3 miles below. As I half hiked and jogged down the trail, I glanced at my injuries. I had numerous bleeding puncture wounds on my arms and shoulder but I knew I would survive and thanked god for getting me through this. I hoped the bleeding wasn't too significant. I really didn't want to stop to dress the wounds. I wanted to keep moving and put distance between us.
About five or ten minutes down the trail, I heard a sound and turned to find the Griz bearing down at 30 feet. She either followed me back down the trail or cut through the trees and randomly came out on the trail right behind me. Whatever the case, she was instantly on me again. I couldn't believe this was happening a second time! Why me? I was so lucky the first attack, but now I questioned if I would survive the second.
Again I protected the back of my neck with my arms, and kept tight against the ground to protect my face and eyes. She slammed down on top of me and bit my shoulder and arms again. One bite on my forearm went through to the bone and I heard a crunch. My hand instantly went numb and wrist and fingers were limp and unusable. The sudden pain made me flinch and gasp for breath. The sound triggered a frenzy of bites to my shoulder and upper back. I knew I couldn't move or make a sound again so I huddled motionless. Another couple bites to my head and a gash opened above my ear, nearly scalping me. The blood gushed over my face and into my eyes. I didn't move. I thought this was the end. She would eventually hit an artery in my neck and I would bleed out in the trail... But I knew that moving would trigger more bites so a laid motionless hoping it would end.
She suddenly stopped and just stood on top of me. I will never forgot that brief moment. Dead silence except for the sound of her heavy breathing and sniffing. I could feel and her breath on the back of my neck, just inches away. I could feel her front claws digging into my lower back below my backpack where she stood. I could smell the terrible pungent odor she emitted. For thirty seconds she stood there crushing me. My chest was smashed into the ground and forehead in the dirt. When would the next onslaught of biting began. I didn't move.
And then she was gone.
I tried to peek out without moving but my eyes were full of blood and I couldn't see. I thought that if she came back a third time I would be dead, so I had to do something. Staying in position on the ground, I slowly reached under my chest to grab at the pistol I was unable to get to earlier. I felt I needed something to save my life. The pistol wasn't there. I groped around again but nothing. I wiped the blood from one eye and looked around.
No bear.
The pistol and holster were lying five feet to my left. The bear's ferocious bites and pulling had ripped the straps from the pack and the holster attached to it. Now trashed, that backpack may have helped prevent many more serious bites on my back and spine.
I picked everything up and moved down the trail again. I couldn't believe I had survived two attacks. Double lucky!
Blood was still dripping off my head and both elbows and my shirt was soaked to the waist and into my pants. But a quick assessment told me I could make it another 45 minutes to the truck without losing too much blood.
I continued the jog just wanting to put more distance between that sow and I.
At the trailhead was one other vehicle. I really hoped that person didn't run into the same bear.
I snapped a couple quick photos and a video of my wounds, laid some jackets over the truck seat and headed for town. I stopped a rancher along the way and asked him to make a call to the hospital. When I got into cell service, I made a quick call to my girlfriend to ask how her morning was going, before freaking her out and asking her to bring me a change of clean clothes to the hospital.
Another call to 911 and I gave the operator a quick run down of my injuries and asked her to call the hospital and give them a heads up that I was ten minutes out.
Moments later I was met at the front door by the doctor, nurse and an officer. I had to ask the officer to open the door, put my truck in park, and unbuckle my seat belt. My left arm was useless. He was impressed I had taken the effort to buckle.
Once inside, the x-rays revealed only a chip out of the ulna bone in my forearm. Following was eight hours of stitching to put me back together. Most were arm and shoulder punctures and tears. A 5" gash along the side of my head will leave a nasty scar, but I'm hoping my balding doesn't come on too quickly and leave that one exposed. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
And finally, this morning, numerous deep bruises and scrapes are showing up from the bites that didn't quite break the skin. Dark bruising in the shape of claws, line across my lower back and butt where the bear stood on me. Also a few more chest bruises and facial abrasions from being smashed and slammed into the ground.
Not my best day, but I'm alive.
So thankful I'm here to share with all of you.
In a couple weeks I will have to clean out the truck a little better. My girlfriend says it looks like I had gutted an elk in the drivers seat.
Todd Orr. Skyblade Knives.
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Posts: 2274 | From: New Jersey | Registered: Dec 2009
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earthwalker
Cultural Editor & middleweight arm wrestling champion/Intermountain Region
Member # 4177
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posted October 05, 2016 06:31 AM
Seen the story on the news the other night. Scary to say the least.
[ October 05, 2016, 06:32 AM: Message edited by: earthwalker ]
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another long hot smoky summer coming
Posts: 1105 | From: Intermountain region | Registered: Jul 2012
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted October 05, 2016 07:21 AM
Stories like this piss me off!
First of all, I was thinking, why scout without a handgun? Several paragraphs later, turns out he had one.
Then I'm thinking, why did he use bear spray without the insurance of having a fuking gun in his hand? I hope he will ponder that decision for a while.
Here's the thing. There were reasons why early settlers exterminated wolves and grizzlies over a hundred years ago before fucking Liberals decided they added to the romance of the wilderness adventure.
I like people a hell of a lot more than bears. Those cubs saw the whole thing and are programed to do the same to any human they encounter. The momma bear should be shot, and let the cubs survive on their own! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
I wonder what the victim thinks about killing the bear? It's 50/50 that he wouldn't do it if he had the chance to fire a "warning shot".
Thanks for posting, 49!
Good hunting. El Bee
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31459 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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4949shooter
SECOND PLACE HIGGINS (MAGNUM P.I.) LOOK A LIKE CONTEST
Member # 3530
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posted October 05, 2016 03:47 PM
You're welcome anytime, Leonard.
A friend from Wyoming tells me the guy had a .357 magnum revolver with him.
[ October 05, 2016, 03:47 PM: Message edited by: 4949shooter ]
Posts: 2274 | From: New Jersey | Registered: Dec 2009
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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 October 05, 2016 05:19 PM
The sow did that because of no jobs, no healthcare, and being treated poorly by white guys like this elk hunter. If they kill her, you just wait and see. Within no time at all, those bears will burn down the forest. Bear Lives Matter, goddammit!!!
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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 October 05, 2016 09:15 PM
Somebody is paying too much attention to CNN.
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31459 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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NVWalt
Does not claim to be overly bright!
Member # 375
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posted October 06, 2016 04:24 AM
Well said Cdog911 . Some people just don't get it do they. Those poor creatures were here before us and deserve to be free and wild. But they sure do taste great next to the potatoes and gravy.
And yes their really was a reason they were exterminated in the lower 48.And for good reason.
Had a 357 and didn't use it? How stupid can one get.And those cubs? Years ago we would take the black bear young ones and smoke them up. Better than any ham!!!!
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Support Communism and help destroy the United States of America ! VOTE DEMOCRAT. "In the end, they aren't coming after me. They are coming after you!" D.Trump
Posts: 636 | From: Tellico Plains, TN | Registered: Aug 2004
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted October 06, 2016 05:41 AM
It's the same thing with lions. Modern Liberals do not value human life, when it comes to protecting some marginal creature. I think we went 100 years between lion fatalities until California and the Sierra Club decided to protect lions. Now, there are 5 or 6, and who cares if some mountain biker gets eaten once in a while if we can protect these magnificent animals.
I'm not necessarily for wholesale slaughter but when lions and bears have lost the fear of humans, a female yuppie should not be running in the woods, on her period, in shorts and a halter top. Without a gun. But, even then, lions put the sneak on behind your back, so the advice to raise your arms and appear as large as possible is a waste of time.
Right now, there isn't an honest survey of lion numbers in The People's Republik. But, the last time they ventured an educated guess it was about 7,000 and that was considered critical, the species was near extinction, fer cripes sakes! Hardly, but now we have reached a saturation point where the land cannot hold any more and they fight for territory, cubs get pushed out and venture into suburban areas where they get hungry and kill dogs and stalk children.
This is where our complicit Media comes to the rescue and suppress any news item that would tend to alert the folks to the danger. Make no mistake, when it comes to a human life or a couple of adorable lion kittens, you know which side they will favor.
We had a chance to end the moratorium twenty years ago through a referendum and it looked pretty promising until about two days before the November vote. They started airing an ad of a couple of cute, adorable orphan cubs. That did it! How could anybody want to hunt and kill these beautiful and threatened animals? Total bullshit, but the vote wasn't even close.
And now, the dirty secret is that contract houndsmen kill something like 200 lions a year under depredation permits, with our tax dollars footing the bill. But, at least those demented sport hunters are forbidden from participating in the effort to suppress lion numbers. The Disney crowd wins every time. When there was a lion season, the limit was 75 and it controlled numbers because there were a lot of hunters in pursuit, and just like deer, it only takes a few days for lions to get the message, get nervous and stop thinking that they are the top of the food chain. It worked for 150 years or so until the bunny huggers got involved.
Now, they think five humans is a small price to pay for these noble creatures to roam wild. And, that's only when it can be proved beyond doubt, even aliens from outer space coulda done it? California politics is strange.
Yeah, I'm pissed that a few dedicated assholes can illogically control game management in this state, the state with the highest number of lions in the entire North America. Of course, that is a secret, they still have to perpetuate the fiction that lions are "threatened" in the Golden State. Which is total bullshit! Disgusting politics!
end of rant, thanks for your attention!
Good hunting. El Bee
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31459 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Kokopelli
SENIOR DISCOUNT & Dispenser of Sage Advice
Member # 633
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posted October 06, 2016 08:32 AM
El Bee
When the Moratorium was first put to the Calif. voters, I read the whole damn thing.
All smoke & mirrors.
Buried in the endless mind numbing wording was the part about millions of dollars being transferred from the General Fund to 'The Board' that would oversee the purchase of vital lion habitat.
Nowhere was the 'Board' named !!!!
Want more ????
There's a 'Sunset Clause'.......at which time all monies and properties become the possession of (you guessed it !! ) THE BOARD.
Lions and emotion were used to bank serious coin for somebody.
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And lo, the Light of the Trump shown upon the Darkness and the Darkness could not comprehend it.
Posts: 7579 | From: Under a wandering star | Registered: Apr 2005
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