On 20 Jun 2003 at 7:41, Steve Brown wrote: > Bears are a relevant subject to kayaking, and firearms are a relevant > subject when dealing with bears. Black bear attacks are virtually > always for food. You as the food, not the food you brought to eat. If you were a writer for a supermarket tabloid, I'd say - good show. However, as a useful post, this contains too much hyperbole and nonsense. Sorry for the bluntness, but I and another fifty-odd members of my kayak club just finished a weekend of fun and frolic kayaking at a waterfront campsite in the Parry Island First Nations reserve three hours north of Toronto ON. There was a black bear at the campsite - no one was eaten, nothing was shot and everyone had a good time. Even Bert, my fellow club-director's Doberman-Aussie Sheepdog mix was more interested in the chipmunks than the bear. Predatory bear behavior is rare and most bear attacks have nothing to do with them wanting to eat anyone. In fact most "attacks" are bluff charges - a bear's way of saying "go away this is my territory". (Polar bears are the exception - but few of us are lucky enough to paddle in polar bear territory). Algonquin Provincial Park, a few hours drive from where we were, has one of the highest rates of predatory bear attacks recorded in North America. At last count, there were three (3) such attacks in the last 100 years IIRC. _All_ the interesting kayaking and canoeing areas around here are in bear country. I still don't carry a gun, bear bangers or even bear spray. I consider myself lucky if I even see a bear. I _have_ been eye-to-eye with a bear and, while my heart rate certainly climbed, I suffered no scratches, bites or missing body parts. What I did see was how fast a bear can run - in the opposite direction. Go on kayaking, keep a clean campsite and don't stress out over bears. Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Jun 23 2003 - 06:50:18 PDT
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