Thoughts from Alaska: I really don't know where the brain children get their statistics for 'on average 3 people per year in North America' from...they never include Alaska in that number. As most professional guides (fish/hunting) here will tell you - if a brown bear (grizz) comes into camp, they get shooed away; if a black bear comes into camp, they will most times as not shoot the bear on site. This is because the blackie will continue to come back and haunt you whereas a brown bear will go away. Blacks have certainly been known to 'stalk' people here, mostly out of curiosity. It is also common knowledge here when confronted by a black bear, stand and defend yourself; when confronted by a brown, play dead. I have been on multi day paddling trips with black bears roaming several yards from my tent, with nary a problem. I did, however, have my 'hand cannon' very near! I like to think that it was due to the fact that I was in remote country where bears are not prone to human contact. Yosemite bears are certainly different. Bottom line: I do not travel unarmed into bear country, period. Bears are like humans, very unpredicatble. A recent article ran in our local paper of a man and his wife out on a hike charged by a brown bear. He was carrying 'bear spray' and used it. He and his wife were between a sow and her cub. The spray turned away the sow. Within a week, every store in town was out of bear spray. You can find the article at www.adn.com - look in their archives. The story ran the weekend of the 14th. Happy paddling! Scott in Alaska *************************************************************************** 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 Tue Jun 24 2003 - 03:35:50 PDT
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