SENECA LAKE, Ariz. - A man out camping with his brother woke up with one heck of a headache, only to discover that a bear was biting him in the head.

Thanks to his quick reactions - and to the handgun he was carrying - Rodney
Black, 51, will be OK. Black and his brother were sleeping at their campsite at Seneca Lake,
Ariz., when Black said he felt an intense pain in his head. He said the next thing he knew, he was on the ground, blood was gushing everywhere and he couldn't see a thing.
His said his brother screamed out "Bear!" and he managed to get out his handgun and shoot the animal dead. "I don't know where I hit him," Black told the Arizona Republic. "He went
down on the first shot and I emptied my revolver into him. I knew that I needed to make that first shot, or I was in more trouble. "A hungry bear is one thing. A hungry, angry bear is something even worse."

The nearly 200-pound bear was out scavenging due to the dire drought conditions in the Southwest, experts said, adding that Black and his brother didn't take proper precautions to keep him out of the neighborhood. "These guys had grilled up some steaks and left the wrappers near where they were sleeping," Whitman Cassadore Jr., chief game ranger for the San Carlos Recreational Wildlife, Game and Fish Department, told the Arizona Republic.
"The bear was hungry, looking for some food."
Black was treated at a hospital and then released. State Game and Fish said it was the first bear attack in Arizona this year.

Too bad about the bear - Dan

It's a good thing those guys had a handgun being so ignorant of proper procedure in bear country... the article certainly doesn't paint those "bearing arms" in much of a positive light. With a little intelligent planning, that situation didn't have to become termianal. Like Dan said, "too bad about the bear"...

Brad

The bear was shot because he attack. Screw the bear. The bear thought he found some easy eating but I guess he didn't. The bear could of just of easly run off with the wrappers and lived but he decide to go after some bigger meat. The bear got what he deserved.

It's always too bad when someone gets injured when pursuing our passion, but when you bring it on yourself, you have no one to blame but yourself. Cooking where you sleep, trash around
camp................not a responsible picture.
Disrespect breeds contempt at the top of the food chain; doesn't matter whether you're man nor beast or first or second in the chain. Fool around and be irresponsible with bears long enough and you'll learn a stern lesson.

I agree with Dan...................

Bears can be a real pain in the arse, however, when we enter their territory, we had best play by their rules.

This attack was brought on by human foolishness....and the end result could very easily have gone the other way.

A couple of lucky hombres that will hopefully pay more attention to their camp protocol in the future.

As an aside, it would be interesting to know what the handgun calibre was and the type of ammunition used.

~Holmes

Most any of us would shoot the bear in a hunt or in selfdefense. Don't worry about the bear it was just another bear. The guys were stupid to have food around for sure. But still the bear got what was coming to him. I also would like to know what caliber was used.

PDS, I've no problem with people hunting bears or shooting them in self defence, I've done both. BUT, a future game animal, and a great animal in it's own right had to die because these guys don't know anything about camping in bear country. What a waste. As mentioned, if they keep setting themselves up as snacks, sooner or later they'll be eaten, but how many bears get wasted before these folks smarten up or get removed from the gene pool? Sheer folley. - Dan

Dan not many bears get wasted because they attack people the small number that are removed because they attacked someone has hardly any effect on the over all bear population. Espeicaly with blk bears their population in most areas are going up by leaps and bounds. Just last week I had to remind one that it isn't nice to break down my electric fence and get into my garden. He left really fast with a load of 7.5s in the butt at 80 yards. No the few that are shot for selfdefense makes no differants. As far as being good game animal maybe maybe not he good very well have been a mangey half ass game animal.

Dan,

I think your attitude is misplaced. We are at the top of the food chain, and errant bears that think otherwise should be eliminated. It didn't sound as if these men did anything very wrong. They left some steak wrappers out instead of burning them. Remember that most of wooded north America is "Black Bear:" country. Only a couple of decades ago, nearly every Black Bear would work very hard at not running into people, because most people were armed in the woods, and Bears had learned to avoid people or get shot. In the last couple of decades the touchy feely group has been teaching that black bears are just people in a fur coat, and they are really, really nice, just like disney. Now a fair amount of people are paying the price.

I think people should take reasonable precautions. But blaming these men for leaving out some steak wrappers is like blaming the beautiful woman who gets raped for wearing a tight sweater. We are at the top of the food chain. The lower criters need to be reminded of it. These men eliminated a critter that was getting way too uppity, and saved at least one life in the process. I am all for sending this guy a honorary accurate reloading membership cetificate!

I agree with OVIS. irresponsible campers to say the least. Too bad about the bear.

Brian

Who knows what the true circumstances are here; the news media is usually biased anyway. I know ofone guy who was mauled by a bear, and the news paper reported it as his fault. He was a professional and all precautions were taken, but the news media didn't report it that way. I would like to know the caliber of handgun though.

Given the information I have (which isn't much) I stand by what I said. I think Ovis said it very well. Being the top of the food chain bears (OK, It's a bad pun) a certain amount of responsibility, and fron this article, I don't see that these guys were showing much. I've seen situations where bears have gone after people who did all the right things, it happens, and you should see what a polar bear can do to an 11 year olds' arm. But it looks like these guys put themselves at more risk then they needed to be. And I still say "Too bad about the bear". - Dan

Did the guys head smell like steak? Far as I am concerned the bear made a bad choice. I can see if you cook in your tent or store your food with you in your tent, you can run into some bear problems that are not neccessary.
How far do you go to keep your food away from you? You hang the stuff in a tree and the bears can smell it farther away. Unless you cook buck naked, the food smell is on your clothes. Do you hang them in a tree as well?
IMO that unless you have food with you right in your tent, a bear has no business entering a made made structure with the stench of man in it.
If you happen to be in an area that you have a vehicle near by, then it makes sense to store your food in there to cut down on oders.

Keeping a clean camp is the responsible thing to do, none the less.

Daryl

Gentlemen,
I just returned from a hike this very minute from Upper Russian Lake, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. Those of you who know this place like Ovis (and others) will agree that it is indeed bear country! Thousands of Sockey Salmon have made it past the falls just below Lower Russian and bears are out. I just wanted to share with you the conversation that the ranger and I had as we jockeyed for a parking spot at the trail head.
Ranger: "Do you have any bacon in any of your pockets?" Says I: "No. Did you miss breakfast?" Ranger: "No, it's a question that we now have to ask...It seems that we've had a few photographers carring bacon around in their pockets trying to lure bears close enough for pictures!" Says I: "Have the next of kin posted funeral service dates and times yet?" Ranger: I know...It sounds like the "Darwin thing, does'nt it?" Says I: "I'll send flowers!" The ranger just walked away shaking his head and muttering words to the effect of "Dumb Cheechakos!" He is going to have a long week, I'm sure. Somehow this seemed relative and appropriate to the spirit of this string.
best,
bhtr
PS... cheeachako means newcomer or greenhorn. It has been and will be again used as a synonym for idiot!

Bearhunt'r

Bacon, eh? It absoulutely amazes me the lack of respect people give a bear, black or brownie, and then blame it on the bear when they get your attention. There are some bear using here on the Anchor but, the bunch, as a whole, are a pretty mellow group. Been back about ten days from six weeks outside(first trip out in seven years) and it really made me appreciate home more then ever.
Looked over a couple of nice blacks in central Canada, one really nice one, but passed as I've taken bigger. Season's right around the corner, I hope yours is safe and successful.

Joe

A couple of years ago I did a Moose hunt in Alaska, we were about 450 miles west of Anchorage and dropped off by a float plane. The guide warned us about bear proofing our site, he stated that there was a poor berry season and the bears were moving heavily in search of food, which is a life death scenario for them. We followed his rules and they never sunk in until the third day we heard the roars of a bear for two days, although we never saw him, believe me I donot want to tangle with some grizzly in the middle of a pitch dark cold night. I don't care what type of gun your packing, I donot want an encounter with a 800 pound grizzly from a dead sleep in the dark, trust me, you keep your camp clean. Sometimes people don't believe they are not in "the bush" deep enough to consider that a bear-human encounter may happen, but I have read alot about these black bears in urban settings like New York, Pennsyvania and California where it is not uncommon to have them in your face. How many brave guys would grab a wild raccoon or coyote with their bare hands think about a 200 to 400 pound black bear or even a larger grizz.
For those that are interested in the odds check out this site on Bear-human conflicts in Alaska.

http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/brownbears/century.htm

raamw -

You are correct. I had a face to face (okay, we were about 3 feet apart, but, it SEEMED a lot closer than that) with a really BIG black bear one night on my front porch. Definitely would not want to go hand to hand with that bad boy!! My wife said she'd never seen me move that fast as I came back inside and closed/locked (the brain does not function as clearly as we'd like under stress sometimes) the door.

R-WEST

We are NOT at the top of the food chain. We are #2, at best. When enough bears encounter death and destruction by human beings and live to tell about it, or just remember it (like cubs growing up without parents), then we might be at the top of the food chain. Meanwhile, we are bear food when the bears want it, and only our own behavior can prevent that. I suppose you could get a rough estimate of what value a man puts on his life by whether his preventive behavior addresses food handling or gun handling or both.

We are at top of the food chain. We have eaten lots more bears then they have eaten us. Bears are only here because we let them be not the other way around.

Armed human = top of food chain
Unarmed human = part of food chain

Greg

And sometimes, armed human is still part of the food chain. - Dan

Why do I keep thinking that if maggots could read, they'd find this thread rather humorous?