quote:

A boy was seriously injured when a bear attacked him Tuesday night near Palmer, Alaska State Troopers said.

The boy had been hunting with a man in the Palmer Hay Flats area off the Glenn Highway when they came upon a brown bear, troopers said. The bear mauled the boy, and the man shot and killed the animal during the attack, according to troopers.

First responders were called to the area at 6:37 p.m., and troopers said the boy had serious injuries and the man had minor injuries. Both were taken to a Mat-Su hospital, troopers said.

Officials with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game will return to the area with troopers on Wednesday to investigate.

Anchorage Daily News

Holy crap, on the Hay Flats. Glad they killed it. Hope the kid pulls through.

quote:

Originally posted by A7Dave:
Holy crap, on the Hay Flats. Glad they killed it. Hope the kid pulls through.

First thing I thought when I saw the hay flats. That said it seems somebody gets nailed every year near the Eagle River Nature Center.

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:

quote:

Originally posted by A7Dave:
Holy crap, on the Hay Flats. Glad they killed it. Hope the kid pulls through.

First thing I thought when I saw the hay flats. That said it seems somebody gets nailed every year near the Eagle River Nature Center.

I rather walk barefoot in the Arizona desert at night, stepping on Rattlesnakes and scorpions.

I cringe at the mention of snakes and spiders, scorpions and wasps.

I swear to God! I'd poach every single alligator I ever saw anytime anywhere. Gut shoot em, head shot with a silenced subsonic, become proficient with a crossbow, IDGAF. Completely goofs me up to think something can burst out of the pond and drag you back in and under.

The bears are around me and my place everyday from may til September. I don't give it a thought. I guess the one consideration I give is to load and keep handy my 9.3 around the house in case I gotta run out on the deck and shoot.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:
I cringe at the mention of snakes and spiders, scorpions and wasps.

I swear to God! I'd poach every single alligator I ever saw anytime anywhere. Gut shoot em, head shot with a silenced subsonic, become proficient with a crossbow, IDGAF. Completely goofs me up to think something can burst out of the pond and drag you back in and under.

The bears are around me and my place everyday from may til September. I don't give it a thought. I guess the one consideration I give is to load and keep handy my 9.3 around the house in case I gotta run out on the deck and shoot.

Familiarly breeds contempt.

There has been 31 people killed by bears in the last 12 years and only 14 killed by alligators.

Total population of alligators in the states is approximately 2,104,000

Total population of bears in the states 435,000.

One is far more likely to be killed by a bear then by a alligator.

If one would take in the human population different of the bears areas to alligator areas. I would believe that. bears vs alligator deaths the chances of being killed by a bear is far greater yet.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:
I cringe at the mention of snakes and spiders, scorpions and wasps.

I swear to God! I'd poach every single alligator I ever saw anytime anywhere. Gut shoot em, head shot with a silenced subsonic, become proficient with a crossbow, IDGAF. Completely goofs me up to think something can burst out of the pond and drag you back in and under.

The bears are around me and my place everyday from may til September. I don't give it a thought. I guess the one consideration I give is to load and keep handy my 9.3 around the house in case I gotta run out on the deck and shoot.

Familiarly breeds contempt.

There has been 31 people killed by bears in the last 12 years and only 14 killed by alligators.

Total population of alligators in the states is approximately 2,104,000

Total population of bears in the states 435,000.

One is far more likely to be killed by a bear then by a alligator.

If one would take in the human population different of the bears areas to alligator areas. I would believe that. bears vs alligator deaths the chances of being killed by a bear is far greater yet.

And you drone on and on and on and on and on and on from complete ignorance.

I guess math is not someone's strong point.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:
I cringe at the mention of snakes and spiders, scorpions and wasps.

I swear to God! I'd poach every single alligator I ever saw anytime anywhere. Gut shoot em, head shot with a silenced subsonic, become proficient with a crossbow, IDGAF. Completely goofs me up to think something can burst out of the pond and drag you back in and under.

The bears are around me and my place everyday from may til September. I don't give it a thought. I guess the one consideration I give is to load and keep handy my 9.3 around the house in case I gotta run out on the deck and shoot.

Scott -

I grew up here and as you with Bears, have a healthy respect, but not an irrational fear. There are some general safety practices that need to be observed.

We get small Bark Scorpions in our home. They are both the most numerous and the most venomous of Arizona's scorpions.

Keep your shoes and clothing off the floor, that alone stops most stings. Don't walk barefoot ANYWHERE.

However, I take risk when necessary. I race MTB's in a sport called ultra distance adventure racing. (bikepacking) It requires us to sleep on the ground around this stuff. I simply am willing to accept a certain amount of risk by doing so. I have not been stung while outside. Only inside my house, walking barefoot.

I get rattlesnakes all around my home. We don't walk around, outside, in the dark, during snake times of the year.

The nice thing about my stuff is I don't need a .44 Magnum to kill a scorpion or a snake. And cubs aren't much of a problem either.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:
I cringe at the mention of snakes and spiders, scorpions and wasps.

I swear to God! I'd poach every single alligator I ever saw anytime anywhere. Gut shoot em, head shot with a silenced subsonic, become proficient with a crossbow, IDGAF. Completely goofs me up to think something can burst out of the pond and drag you back in and under.

The bears are around me and my place everyday from may til September. I don't give it a thought. I guess the one consideration I give is to load and keep handy my 9.3 around the house in case I gotta run out on the deck and shoot.

Familiarity with the animals makes one view them differently.

We have lots of snakes, gators , wasps, spiders etc. They don’t worry me too much. That does not mean that I do stupid things around them.

If one is really lucky, they might see a gator snatch a hog. It is fascinating. I have seen it twice.

Grizzlies scare me more. I’m sure they would scare me less if I lived around them.

quote:

We have lots of snakes, gators , wasps, spiders etc. They don’t worry me too much. That does not mean that I do stupid things around them

Doing stupid things around a lot critters can get oneself hurt.

One of the reasons I live here is the lack of things that will kill you.
No bears.
No snakes.
No scorpions.
No gators.
No crocodiles.
No spiders except the cute kind.
Yes we do have wasps; I hit them with brake cleaner spray.
What you do need to worry about is the kids in certain parts of town that shoot each other at least once a week. Just don't go there and you will be fine.

In some parts of Colorado we have snakes and stuff. Here in Colorado Springs, the occassional lion and bear in my yard, hornets (but the traps work great on them), not much else. Up in Divide, 9300 feet, just lions and bears (black not too dangerous kind). Wish we had some grizzlies. Lived in Montana for a decade, they put a bit of edge on camping but it never stopped me.

We do have Cougars, but they are the two legged kind, and they don't bite.
Too hard.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
One of the reasons I live here is the lack of things that will kill you.
No bears.
No snakes.
No scorpions.
No gators.
No crocodiles.
No spiders except the cute kind.
Yes we do have wasps; I hit them with brake cleaner spray.
What you do need to worry about is the kids in certain parts of town that shoot each other at least once a week. Just don't go there and you will be fine.

I guess that explains your expertise

quote:

Originally posted by 458Win:

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
One of the reasons I live here is the lack of things that will kill you.
No bears.
No snakes.
No scorpions.
No gators.
No crocodiles.
No spiders except the cute kind.
Yes we do have wasps; I hit them with brake cleaner spray.
What you do need to worry about is the kids in certain parts of town that shoot each other at least once a week. Just don't go there and you will be fine.

I guess that explains your expertise

Expertise in some areas and not others.

Bears, gators, rattlers, scorpions, wasps, etc. You guys crack me up as none of those things are nearly as dangerous as the predators I live amongst… LIBERALS AND LEFTISTS! They’re far more dangerous than anything in the wildlife world.

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:
Bears, gators, rattlers, scorpions, wasps, etc. You guys crack me up as none of those things are nearly as dangerous as the predators I live amongst… LIBERALS AND LEFTISTS! They’re far more dangerous than anything in the wildlife world.

Moved away from the SF Bay Area in 1997 in part because of, ^^^^^^^^^.

But seriously, did you see the piece the other day about the senior lady out for a walk alongside a pond who was grabbed by a gator and drug back into the water?!?!?!?!?!

Seems to me that we have had an abnormal number of gator attacks this year. Yes, I remember this incident .

quote:

LIBERALS AND LEFTISTS! They’re far more dangerous than anything in the wildlife world

Far more dangerous to our gun rights for sure.

Personal phobias are interesting
In first and second grade I ran around barefoot in shorts in Tempe, AZ and made a nickel apiece for each scorpion I caught under homes. At that age it was big money and I remember college kids kidding me because I caught scorpions under a lot of frat houses.

Then when I worked as a biologist and raft guide in the Grand Canyon I thought nothing of running barefoot at night, and I caught quite a few rattlesnakes around camp.

For the past 43 years I have spent the majority at our Homestead on the Alaskan peninsula in what AK F&G claims is the densest population of brown bears in the state

One simply has to remain vigilant. What I can say is that while snakes and spiders can kill you, only bears can kill you AND eat you

So just for conversation, no intent implied, what is the best method for culling gators? I mean real wholesale reduction in population.
Poison or suppressed 22? Public bounty? Just shoot stick or hit every chance you get?

Just wondering.

In Florida, killing gators is tightly controlled. One can get a permit from a draw for the general season. Personally, I have private landowner tags . I got 24 this year .

Culling them would be different from hunting them. Personally , when we hunt them, we catch most of them on a line then shoot them with a 22 or 22 magnum.

We sometimes shoot them off the bank with center fires.

Scott:

They would disappear quickly if one started shooting at every gator part they saw. They are very skittish .

Very interesting and cool! Thanks Larry.

Say, do you remember that trip you took to Alaska back in the 90s to Rainy Pass and a couple snot nosed kids interrupted your dining hall wait for the weather to clear? That was me. We did a fly out to the south fork of the Kusko unsuccessfully for moose and used your strip to leap frog out. Sorry for the intrusion.

Neat for me to read about gator goings-on, thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by Scott King:
Very interesting and cool! Thanks Larry.

Say, do you remember that trip you took to Alaska back in the 90s to Rainy Pass and a couple snot nosed kids interrupted your dining hall wait for the weather to clear? That was me. We did a fly out to the south fork of the Kusko unsuccessfully for moose and used your strip to leap frog out. Sorry for the intrusion.

Neat for me to read about gator goings-on, thanks.

I do recall that . Wow, that was a long time ago.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Scott:

They would disappear quickly if one started shooting at every gator part they saw. They are very skittish .

Market hunters in Australia and the south sea islands. Killed thousands of croc's using a spot light then shooting them.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Scott:

They would disappear quickly if one started shooting at every gator part they saw. They are very skittish .

Market hunters in Australia and the south sea islands. Killed thousands of croc's using a spot light then shooting them.

Sometimes, as I learn about more this last Alaskan case, indiscriminately shooting is the cause of the entire incident

What scares me more than anything is having a beaver swim under and pop you on your leg when you are walking waist deep in a swamp at night. That is the absolute worst and is no fun. Always happens to me at least one time every duck season. I have seen a few large nutreas get aggressive but nothing like the alpha male beaver that is protecting the hut. Sow bear with cubs at night is nothing to play around with. They will get to you quicker than you think. With gators you have to watch out for your dogs. I do not minds snakes if I see them first but not a fan. Ground bees are pure evil and give you no warning. Swarm will be on you in no time.