Yet another bear attack

elker said:
Using 22 single shot while there were thousand of better firearms? Those prospectors must hate to live longer
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Those old time prospectors, the group that occupied the wilderness areas of northern Canada and in particular northern BC, were of the that group who had been in the wilderness for a hundred years, ending in about 1960.
They were the best bushmen this country has ever seen, or ever will see. It was extremely rare for any one of them to have been killed by a grizzly bear.
It is obvious that you don't have the foggiest idea of surviving in the wilderness of a bygone era.
 
It sounds as though it may have taken place in the area where I've done a lot of my Moose hunting over the years.
On my last trip there with Dad.





And, in more recent years with a few hunting buddies.



My Moose trips to that neck of the woods have been somewhat hampered in recent years with Moose on draw only in MU 5. Boo, any more info on the exact area where it happened?? I used to live in Wells and my sister & I share ownership of the family cabin at Bowron Lake.
There are a fair number of Bears in that area, expecially at some of the upper areas of the Bowron River when the Salmon are running.
 
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I worked doing forest surveys up in that area 15 years ago and the bears were running around like rabbits there then... I remember you could hear them digging into bees nests, getting stung to sh!t and pissed off. It seemed like they were everywhere around you. I remember, just as you describe, the sound of those twigs snapping in the bush. My partner and I were packing around a pistol grip Mossberg 500, but fortunately never had to use it... Had tons of other bear encounters over the years in other places as well. Never a problem - the black bears never really made me worry too much, but anytime a Grizzly was around we always beat a hasty, quiet retreat without even thinking about it...
 
H4831 said:
I have no idea why Tyler J-- would restart such an old post, but I will still add.
The old prospector, whether armed or not armed, was exactly the way he wanted to be, through personal choice.
I will bet he didn't have a rifle, because old time prospectors almost never carried a big rifle. They always had a gun to keep them and their dog in food and it invariably was a single shot 22 and a supply of shorts for it. They had no fear of black bears and relied on their bush skill to keep from having an encounter with a grizzly.
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I'm not sure what happened . I opened the hunting forum, didnt recognize the threads figured I ended up at the wrong spot but their was some interesting topics so I checked em out. Than I see it is from 05 . Oops ;)
 
tylerjwitty said:
I'm not sure what happened . I opened the hunting forum, didnt recognize the threads figured I ended up at the wrong spot but their was some interesting topics so I checked em out. Than I see it is from 05 . Oops ;)
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That's OK, it is one topic that never changes!
 
"Yet another bear attack" is very misleading, however, if it is just a resurrection of a single incident many years ago. The fear of getting eaten by wild animals is WAY out of proportion to any actual risk. People will advocate always having a gun when walking in the bush for fear of attack, and the same people will answer text messages while driving. We live in a strange world of misguided fears and complete acceptance of seriously risky behavior. Fear of texting while driving is not nearly as romantic as having an excuse to carry guns to protect from what are largely imaginary fears.
 
rral22 said:
"Yet another bear attack" is very misleading, however, if it is just a resurrection of a single incident many years ago. The fear of getting eaten by wild animals is WAY out of proportion to any actual risk. People will advocate always having a gun when walking in the bush for fear of attack, and the same people will answer text messages while driving. We live in a strange world of misguided fears and complete acceptance of seriously risky behavior. Fear of texting while driving is not nearly as romantic as having an excuse to carry guns to protect from what are largely imaginary fears.
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You sure got that right!
I always figure Saskatchewan folk are good at figuring things out and using common sense.
In the boondock Saskatchewan where I grew up this was a virtual necessity.
 
H4831 said:
Those old time prospectors, the group that occupied the wilderness areas of northern Canada and in particular northern BC, were of the that group who had been in the wilderness for a hundred years, ending in about 1960.
They were the best bushmen this country has ever seen, or ever will see. It was extremely rare for any one of them to have been killed by a grizzly bear.
It is obvious that you don't have the foggiest idea of surviving in the wilderness of a bygone era.
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The group or woodsmen you speak of from years past, brings a couple more stories of Grizzly encounters from the Bowron Lake area to mind. The first is from a book my cousin, and a partner of Al Patchett, wrote about the life & times after the gold rush in that area, 'Once Upon My Time'. A back woodsman and later an early game warden in that area by the name of Frank Kibbie was severely mauled by a Grizzly. Although badly injured, the thing that apparently saved his life was he emptied the contents of a .45LC, Colt SAA into the Bear as it was doing its deed on Frank. Perhaps not the best tool for the job, but was considerably more effective than the empty rifle his partner handed him before he headed for the high country, at a rapid pace. He apparently had a beard from that day on , partially to cover the resulting facial scaring. A lake on the Bowron chain of lakes was named after Frank Kibbie.
The second somewhat similar tale I recall happened at a much later date to a gentleman, Frank Cushman, who was a big game guide around the Bowron area for many years. He was in the process of getting some of his hunting cabins ready for the up coming season. Upon entering one of his cabins close to a small lake, he came face to face with a Grizzly who happened to be in residence and was very 'unhappy'.
Frank, while backing up into the lake, put a number of shots into the bear stopping it and at that time, Frank was waist high in the lake. The last I heard, that bear had been stuffed and was now on display in one of the banks in Quesnel.
 
H4831 said:
Those old time prospectors, the group that occupied the wilderness areas of northern Canada and in particular northern BC, were of the that group who had been in the wilderness for a hundred years, ending in about 1960.
They were the best bushmen this country has ever seen, or ever will see. It was extremely rare for any one of them to have been killed by a grizzly bear.
It is obvious that you don't have the foggiest idea of surviving in the wilderness of a bygone era.
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Exactly right. I remember our family meeting an old trapper near his cabin in the Likely, BC area way back in the day. We had an 870 and Savage 99. He asked my Dad what he thought he was going to meet in the bush as he only ever carried a .22. Big, big difference between the men and the boys out there in the old days. Sadly, I am very clearly one of the boys compared to those old timers.

WetCoast
 
I suspect plenty of bygone era folks ended up as Bear food as well, lost to the mist of time and gnashing of hungry teeth...or cholera got to them.

Folks that did survive all that were tough.
 
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Colin said:
I was up in Ft Nelson last year inspecting the new bridge being built near town, the crew there told me that they had a bunch of problem bears and had to use the excavator bucket to fend off a grizzly, as their company: Ruskin, did not allow firearms.
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^^^^
Well, I would not want to be the Company on the receiving end of a law suit if it did not allow its employees to carry firearms in remote area's and a bear or cougar killed an employee. The lawsuit could be VERY expensive.

ALSO, when is some spouse left behind after a tradjic incident like this going to sue the Feds, and provincial CFO for denying an ATC, or wilderness ATT. Sad to say, That MAY get things moving on the CFO front.



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Old thread indeed, but still interesting. I've never been one to carry firearms outside of hunting season while in the woods on foot ... I do find however, the more I read these bear threads the more I want to carry!
 
noway123 said:
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^^^^
Well, I would not want to be the Company on the receiving end of a law suit if it did not allow its employees to carry firearms in remote area's and a bear or cougar killed an employee. The lawsuit could be VERY expensive.

ALSO, when is some spouse left behind after a tradjic incident like this going to sue the Feds, and provincial CFO for denying an ATC, or wilderness ATT. Sad to say, That MAY get things moving on the CFO front.



.
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Apparently some of the big oil exploration companys won't allow firearms in the remote camps for any reason..
 
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