Bear-proof suit scares off grizzly


13:55 10 December 01
Alison Motluk


The first live tests of Troy Hurtubise's grizzly-proof suit have found that its best protective feature is its bizarre appearance. Hurtubise donned the suit and squared up to a 145-kilogram (320-pound) female grizzly last week but the bear just found it too weird.

When confronted by Hurtubise in the Ursus Mark VI suit, the bear smelled a human, but saw an alien. "There's no grizzly that's going to come near you in that suit," the bear handler told him, after he spent 10 minutes in a cage with the cowering animal.

Hurtubise has been tinkering with his bear-proof garment for 15 years and has been the subject of a television documentary and the recipient of an IgNobel prize. The grizzly test was supposed to be the first live encounter, and was part of a trio of try-outs in British Columbia, Canada.

Tooth and claw

In the first test, the suit had to go it alone, without Hurtubise inside, with a fearsome opponent - a 545-kg (1200-lb) male Kodiak bear. The suit was placed into the cage of the giant bear, to get him accustomed to it. Eventually, the bear began to sniff the contraption, fashioned from steel, titanium, chainmail and rubber, and then proceeded to jump on it.

"You could hear the metal straining," says Hurtubise. "He started to investigate the thing with claw and tooth."

Though it ripped off chunks of rubber, all was well until the bear began to shred the protective chainmail and was called off by the handler. Hurtubise has learned that you should never skimp on chainmail. "I should have used shark chainmail," he now laments. "Instead, I sent away for butcher's chainmail from France."

Without effective chainmail, the bear handler decided not to allow an attack by the Kodiak. But he did permit Hurtubise to take on the smaller female grizzly.

Bear breath

Finally, he went back in the ring with the Kodiak - but no contact was allowed. It took the bear a while to approach but soon enough it was just six inches away. "I could feel his breath coming through my visor," says Hurtubise. "I was terrified."

Nonetheless, he plans to face the beast again - with full contact - in spring 2002, once he has installed the proper chainmail.

And he has decided that Ursus Mark VII will have to have a redesign, to look a little more human so it does not scare off the grizzlies. "I'm just glad to get home in one piece," he says. "I've got Christmas to look forward to."

------------------
saeed@ emirates.net.ae

www.accuratereloading.com

Saeed,

I guess I will never cease to me amazed at what humans will do.

It's good to have guys like this around, makes me look normal!

Don

Dosen't sound like it is something you would want to wear in the field. Iam surpized he didn't use kelvar. I seen dog bites on ballistic vests that didn't even come close to penatration. I wonder what a real mad sow grizz would to in the wild. The real test is cover it with honey and some anise oil and go lay on the beach in AK.

I actually saw the documentary they are talking about. Pretty weird.

As far as Kevlar, think about it. Even if the the teeth don't get through, those jaws are still going to break every bone in your body.... It needs to be rigid construction.

Dutch.

Reminds me of the advert I saw a while ago on bullet proof vests. There was actualy some bloke wearing it. On the low velocity one his friend shot him with a 357 and he dusted himself off and laughed. On the high velocity one his friend shot him with a 7.62 FAL and he picked himself up, groaned a little and laughed. A short while late his friend developed a flinch.... he sort of missed the vest but not the man.....

I was face to face with three Brown Bears that were mad as hell, after I shot their buddy. I don't ever want to be in that situation again. All I can say about this guy with the suit is, he is going to get hurt or killed. At least we will not have to worry about his genes being carried on when they recover his jeans. Good shooting.

------------------

I saw this on TV also, funny stuff. BTW, kevlar vests rely on speed of impact to cause interdiction. Slow movers, ie knives, have been know to penetrate. Maybe someone from S Texas remembers the story from Corpus Christi, vest demo, 2-3 inch knife blade, full penetration. Iv'e been up close to a big brown, on the Eagle river of Alaska, before it became a mall. I think 2-3 ft of concrete betwixt her and me would not have made me feel safe. Maybe 2-3 miles of space.

Saw this guy on Ripley's Believe it or Not. He actually stood in front of a brick wall and had a car on a pendulum swung into him, forcing him through the wall. He came out unscathed, but had the wind knocked out of him.

The toughest part of his testing on bears was getting into bear country. I can't remember how much the suit weighs, but he can barely move in it.

Expensive hobby! Well, probably not much worse than reloading and hunting Africa.

Canuck

Dutch is right about needing the rigind construction. I saw a documentary about the shark-proof suit made out the chainmail that looney said he needed. This woman was dressed in it and the shark didn't get his teeth into her, however he did break her arm, the one that was holding the fish, all to pieces.

I saw him on TV also. That suit can really take a beating. When is he going to take on a Buf or Rhino? Everyone has to have a hobby.

------------------
NRA Life member

Those shark mesh suits are amazing. The best was invented by an Australian girl, Valerie Taylor. She was probably the woman mentioned by Carr4570.
She has been bitten by sharks alot. She and her husband are acknowledged as experts on sharks and total nuts to boot!
Won't stop the bruising though!

This thing is the mark4 or something. with an earlier version this guy showed up at a biker bar and told the guys to come outside and hit him with sledgehammers, pickaxes, axes and such. The bikers thought he was nuts(very perceptive people) but decided it sounded fun. Mayhem ensued.

Someone called the police...they showed up to see this guy in a bulky suit being beat on by bikers with said implements. when the cops finally figured out what was going on they let everybody go but told him to not cause these large public disturbences.

At something like 100-150 lbs the suit isn't really practical. I think the guy nearly passes out from exhaustion walking several hundred yards.

Seems I recall that the original intent was to crawl into grizzly dens in the winter for research?

One of those projects that got out of hand, I think........ I wouldn't know about such things... !

I'm headed to Yellowstone this summer. Wonder if he rents this thing out. I've tired of hunting bears with a stick.Maybe we could just do a WCW Smackdown. LOL

Maybe we could just do a WCW Smackdown. LOL

Now thats Sports entertainment.
Man v's Bear!

Can you smell what the rock is cookin!

I saw this guy on Tv also. I will have to say it is quite an interesting idea. I'm not sure what good it is, other than it might be very entertaining to see him walk up to a big wild brownie on a moose kill!

Maybe Ringling Bros circus could go bear hunting with a human cannon and use him as a 1,050,000 grain, 52 IQ bullet?

Saw the documentary, the first versions where totally weird! I agree that every man should have a hobby but this one beats everything else I've seen in pure strangeness. As several have said above the suit almost immobilzes the guy so the practical use must be almost nil. The sight of him slowly toppling over when trying to walk in the field was very hilarious. So, good for a laugh in any way!

I also saw the special on this guy. that car had a lot of energy but not much speed and a broad cross section. If that big bear hits him a good one he may not be broken out side but he will be inside.

"And he has decided that Ursus Mark VII will have to have a redesign, to look a little more human so it does not scare off the grizzlies."

Uuuhhhh, am I missing something? If the suit scares 'em off, you don't have to worry about getting chomped, and I thought not getting chomped was the idea.....Silly me.

I watched this documentry. it was called "Project Grizzly."

I love this guy. He's dedicated his life to getting beat up by a grizzly while wearing this suit.

No, not very practical to walk around in, but the world needs MORE people like this...

he walks around with two giant Bowie knives, since he thinks that if he got attacked by a bear, the knives would be on his body, available, while he might lose a gun. He's pretty good at throwing the knives, too!

It's an entertaining show, and available on video. definately worth renting.

Hard to figure about this suit of bear armor. Would seem to work on paper, but is there a way to keep the armor rigid? Shark mail is good stuff...unless the shark in question is a 15-20ft great white. Jaw strength alone would crush the bones beneath the shark mail.

As for kelvar...sure, it takes out the high velocity stuff, but the impact is still there. I can safely bet that if someone wearing a kelvar vest was shot by a 45/70 loaded for lever actions, the bullet wouldn't penetrate, but the person would be killed or severely injured by the impact.

The same with bear armor. Sure, you can avoid the claws and teeth. BUT...can it protect you from a swipe from his paw? Ot withstand his weight as he stands on top of you?

I for if it scares the bear away, it's done its job. An armor that fully protects against all aspects of a bear attack? I don't think it exists...unles you call it a battle tank.....

TXLoader

An easy way to tell grizzly dung from say black bear poop. The grizzly dung will have bits of chain mail and hunks of bowie knives mixed in with the humanoid teeth and eyebrows.