Grizzly Attack

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TheSheWolf
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Re: Grizzly Attack

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officialwafflez wrote:Cameron Hanes ..."I’ve hunted grizzly in Alaska and been in grizzly country many times in the Lower-48, and it’s common knowledge that grizzly in the Lower-48 are more aggressive than bear in Alaska. I believe one reason why is because they aren’t hunted down here so they are less fearful of man."
I can't help but wonder, if that's true, if it's related to something I'd read a few days ago... basically that brown bear (that includes Grizzly) populations that converge on rivers to fish & eat salmon together have a far more well-developed set of social behaviors. Apparently it's by necessity, so they can all fish & eat in close proximity to one another. I know the bear watchers, humans, can usually be seen fairly close and the bears don't often show aggression toward one another or toward the humans. Maybe it's something to do with that.

I wonder why someone shooting a non-social (individual) animal as prey, during a hunt, would teach other animals of that species to fear humans? Like-... I get that deer, wolves etc fear man in places they're hunted. I assume that's because they see "holy cow, that guy just killed Hairy Dave with a boom-stick!" But solitary animals? How do they learn this from the deaths of other solitary animals, presumeably nowhere near them? That's just curiosity speaking, mind.

There's also an interesting study about crows, scarecrows, and human body language. Apparently they could tell when someone intended to shoot them, even when the weapon was concealed--as opposed to totally ignoring the men.

It's interesting stuff.
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InstinctiveArcher
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Re: Grizzly Attack

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Bears are extremely intelligent. I don't know how, but they figure it out pretty quickly. Sows start teaching their cubs that humans are bad, not a food source and usually it works out ok. Generally bears that are baited know that humans are bringing the food, and if they show up to the bait sometime and they can smell where another bear was killed, then I would assume that is partially how they figure it out. Along with that, bears that have been shot at and missed, or even non-fatally wounded figure out very quickly that humans aren't something that they want to mess with. Bears may not be very social, but they still know who's in the area. I've seen where little bears would come in, grab a quick bite at the bait station, then turn and book it out of there because they know that there's a dominant bear in the area. What Cameron says is very true about bears that aren't hunted being aggressive. Where I live it is extremely difficult to draw a bear tag, since it's on a lottery system, and it usually takes eight years to draw. You get a point each year, and once you've accumulated eight points, you get a tag. Around where I hunt, everybody knows everybody and all that, and I pretty much know for a fact that the last guy to hunt bear anywhere near there was seven years ago. Since then the bears haven't been hunted at all, and the sows have raised several sets up cubs now that don't see humans as a threat. They now are beginning to see humans as a food source. Not necessarily the people themselves, but their houses, gardens, livestock, and deer bait piles. Last year alone I heard of 7 different people within a 2 mile radius of my grandpas that had encounters with bears that were aggressive or just didn't care that there was a human standing right there yelling at them. I had a similar encounter with an aggressive sow and two cubs as well during deer season which could have gone south very quickly. Luckily it didn't. In areas where grizzlies can still be hunted, such as Alaska, they have something called the 20th bear. That is basically saying that most bears won't give you any issues, but every now and then you are going to run into one looking for trouble. It used to be the same in British Columbia before somebody stopped thinking straight and banned grizzly hunting.

Anyways, I don't know whether hunting would have prevented this from happening or not. With bears it's so difficult to predict how something is going to turn out. It's just really unfortunate that this incident turned out the way that it did, and my prayers go out to the family of the guide during this tough time.
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officialwafflez
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Re: Grizzly Attack

Post by officialwafflez »

TheSheWolf wrote:
officialwafflez wrote:Cameron Hanes ..."I’ve hunted grizzly in Alaska and been in grizzly country many times in the Lower-48, and it’s common knowledge that grizzly in the Lower-48 are more aggressive than bear in Alaska. I believe one reason why is because they aren’t hunted down here so they are less fearful of man."
I can't help but wonder, if that's true, if it's related to something I'd read a few days ago... basically that brown bear (that includes Grizzly) populations that converge on rivers to fish & eat salmon together have a far more well-developed set of social behaviors. Apparently it's by necessity, so they can all fish & eat in close proximity to one another. I know the bear watchers, humans, can usually be seen fairly close and the bears don't often show aggression toward one another or toward the humans. Maybe it's something to do with that.

I wonder why someone shooting a non-social (individual) animal as prey, during a hunt, would teach other animals of that species to fear humans? Like-... I get that deer, wolves etc fear man in places they're hunted. I assume that's because they see "holy cow, that guy just killed Hairy Dave with a boom-stick!" But solitary animals? How do they learn this from the deaths of other solitary animals, presumeably nowhere near them? That's just curiosity speaking, mind.

There's also an interesting study about crows, scarecrows, and human body language. Apparently they could tell when someone intended to shoot them, even when the weapon was concealed--as opposed to totally ignoring the men.

It's interesting stuff.
Bears very commonly overpopulate areas in which they are the apex predator, essentially where there is bears, there should be a season. They're not an endangered species. A very good example of this would be California's Mountain Lion problem. I have a good friend and bank fisherman who was stalked by one.
ingame name is BryanTheHunter
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TheSheWolf
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Re: Grizzly Attack

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InstinctiveArcher wrote:Bears are extremely intelligent. I don't know how, but they figure it out pretty quickly...
That's all very fascinating stuff, and explains a lot of it. I wasn't aware they'd keep tabs on other bears, or that they were intelligent enough to maybe figure it all out. Thanks for the details!
officialwafflez wrote:Bears very commonly overpopulate areas in which they are the apex predator, essentially where there is bears, there should be a season. They're not an endangered species. A very good example of this would be California's Mountain Lion problem. I have a good friend and bank fisherman who was stalked by one.
I'm not sure if you actually meant that in response to what I said? If so, I wasn't suggesting the opposite at all.
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officialwafflez
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Re: Grizzly Attack

Post by officialwafflez »

TheSheWolf wrote:
InstinctiveArcher wrote:Bears are extremely intelligent. I don't know how, but they figure it out pretty quickly...
That's all very fascinating stuff, and explains a lot of it. I wasn't aware they'd keep tabs on other bears, or that they were intelligent enough to maybe figure it all out. Thanks for the details!
officialwafflez wrote:Bears very commonly overpopulate areas in which they are the apex predator, essentially where there is bears, there should be a season. They're not an endangered species. A very good example of this would be California's Mountain Lion problem. I have a good friend and bank fisherman who was stalked by one.
I'm not sure if you actually meant that in response to what I said? If so, I wasn't suggesting the opposite at all.
No, just making a statement.
ingame name is BryanTheHunter
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