Grizzly Adams

I actually made a mistake about Herrero's teachings, he used to teach play dead with grizzly's and fight back with blacks. Mr. Shelton says that this is flawed because an individual lying down on the ground may induce a defensive attack into a predatory one. His thoughts are that a person should have a defense system, either bear spray(large can) or a firearm. As i said read James Gary Shelton's book and you will be amazed at some of the attacks, some of the people who survived fought back and are here to tell their tale.

As far as shooting "too fast" bears here's and excerpt. "Terry then relized that he had to stand his ground in order to save himself. He dropped the bear spray and went for the 12 guage Mossberg Slugster that was slung across his back. The grizzly had started its final charge when the first dose of 00 buckshot hit it in the face at seven feet-the bear stopped, but didnt go down. The second round of buckshot hit the bear's face again, but the bear was still standing. Terry desperately worked his last shell into the chamber-it was a slug. When the gun went off, the grizzly was knocked over backwards.

Meanwhile, Joe had done a very brave thing: Instead of running away from the battle for life that was unfolding in front of him, he ran up behind Terry to help him. The bear went wild; it was spinning around on its side, roaring and bellowing at the top of its lungs. Terry ripped his vest off and shoved it at Joe, yelling, "Get me more ammo quick, get a slug round."

Joe tore into the vest, pulling the contents from the back pocket; he found birdshot, then buckshot, and finally, several slug shells. He slapped them into Terry's waiting hand. The grizzly was up and turning towards them when the slug ripped into its chest just behind the right front leg.

The bear collapsed on its side and lay still for a moment, then jumped up and ran to their right, stumbling and bellowing as it went out of sight. They could see that the grizzly still had ample power, and it sounded like the bear was coming around behind them in the timber."

These two guys worked for a logging co. in B. c. so they called for a helicopter. After searching for the bear they found it 200yds away and dead.

Here's another excerpt "Between 1990 and 1992 the play-dead/fight-back strategy was incorporated into most national and provincial park pamphlets. Some used Herrero's basic strategy; some had variations of it.

I took a strong stand against the play-dead/fight-back strategy in 1992 and told people they must have a defense system (spray or firearm), because the types of attacks where this strategy doesnt work are increasing, and because my research regarding spray-use against bears indicated a very high success rate.

I then explained to the course participants that when a person is attacked by a sow grizzly where the cubs run away, the play-dead concept works fairly well. But in an attack where first year cubs go up a tree, or second-year cubs follow the sow, or if a person is attacked by a predatory grizzly or one defending a carcass, the play-dead strategy doesnt work worth a damn, and there have been many attacks since 1990 that clearly demonstrate this."

So basically Stephen Herrero's false analogy, and dangerous one, was incorporated into national park's safety guidlines, as i stated, that is dangerous and has actually gotten several people killed. His teachings were and are worse than i depicted in my original post. If you read Shelton you will quickly see that he knows his stuff and has documented and researched many bear attacks, but like i said, read it for yourself then make some conclusions.

I have at least one of Shelton's books on bears, and two of Stephen Herrero. As far as I can see in Herrero's book, he never has said that one should not fight back, nor that one should always play dead. For example, on page 17 he explains "sudden encounters with grizzlies," and cites a couple of examples of people who got mauled and killed by bears in Canada, specifically what the people did during the attack, and how a grizzly who was defending her cubs turned predacious on one of the victims. The first victim fought back, but the bear increased the attack until he played dead. Once he did that, the bear left him and turned on the woman, who also fought back. The bear killed the woman within a few seconds, and then it dragged her down an embankment and proceeded to eat her." He also explains why the bear may have turned predacious at the moment.

Mr. Herrero writes in the same chapter that, "in this chapter I describe sudden encounters incidents and recommend the best course of action should you be attacked as a result of a sudden encounter. In chapter 4 I describe the other main set of circumstances associated with grizzly bear attacks-when a grizzly is seeking human food or garbage, or, rarely, humans as food. The course of action I recommend for someone attacked under these circumstances is different."

Later in this chapter he explains that, "After being attacked in a sudden encounter, or perhaps when a charging grizzly is just about to contact you, a person should assume a position that will minimize exposure of of vital areas and parts of the body where such attacks normally focus."

What he says is that in those instances where a bear suddenly charges and one does not have any means to protect oneself from a much powerful and deadly creature, one should at least try to cover one's face, neck, and stomach, because these are the parts the bear targets during such attacks. If one does not have a firearm, pepper spray, etc., fighting a grizzly bear that has charged because one may have surprised or gotten to close to its cubs may in fact leave one's vitals wide open for the bear to attack. Keep in mind that he has said that in each situation the measure one should take may be different. He is not saying that one should play dead with a grizzly that is defending its cache, nor with a bear that is predacious. A sudden encounter is a much different situation.

In his book he explains:

-Grizzly bear attacks
-Sudden encounters
-Provoked attacks
-The danger of garbage and habituation
-Other attacks
-Aggression without injury
-The tolerant black bear
-The predaceous black bear


And the book ends with bear management. In each chapter he tells the stories of bear/human confrontation, and explains what the humans and bears did during the attacks, including defense measures by the victims, such as fighting back, running, climbing trees, etc.

It's only on those instances of sudden grizzly encounters (at close range), and where one has no means of defending oneself that he recommends protecting one's vitals as much as possible.

However, there is least one case of a man fighting a young brown bear with a knife and his fists. This happened to a guy from Anchorage quite a few years ago. He won the fight, and his son got him to the hospital where he recovered. The story was published years ago, and it's also found in Larry Kaniut's book titled: "Some Bears Kill."

The pepper spray study at the USGS site I posted above was performed by Stephen Herrero.

Just saw in the Sunday paper that the Bush Administration is preparing to remove the Yellowstone's Grizzly population from the endangered species list. Apparently the National Wildlife Federation supposts doing so. Meanwhile the Sierra Club, the National Resources Defense Council and Earthjustice are threatening to sue the Bush Administration if it does.

Blah, blah, blah...

The Yellowstone grizzlies were listed as "threatened" in 1975 when it is thought there were about 200-250 in that area. Now the Bears are estimated at about 600 and growing 4%-7% a year.

It goes on to say the Feds believe that Montana, Wyoming and Idaho - working with the Feds - are well prepared to guarantee the long term health of the Yellowstone Grizzlies.