Canada walking?

In message <[email hidden]>, Chris Townsend
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

They're on all fours of course. And very heavily built, especially grizzlies. Some American Indians
call grizzlies "real bears". I understood that when I first encountered one. It was massive and
rippled across the ground, muscles bulging. It was about fifty metres away and clearly didn't know
I was there.

The old joke is that the Ranger tells the tourist that to avoid Grizzlies you should wear bells and
use pepper spray if one attacks. Make lots of noise if your see grizzly poo, he continues, but don't
worry if you see brown bear poo.

"How do you know if its grizzly or brown bear poo?", asks the tourist.

"The grizzly bear poo will have small bells in it and smell like pepper," says the ranger.

From: gearreview.combearwarning.aspOpen ↗
--
Neil Pugh

Quoted message said:

I once came round a blind corner on a wooded trail and met a black bear coming the other way. It
was maybe ten feet away. We both stopped and then the bear took off, running uphill at amazing
speed. If it had charged I would have had no time to even start running.

Did you get a replacement for that heart monitor you blew....? Or your heart! Just turning a corner
on a wooded trail is anxiety inducing without him actually being there.....

Richard Webb

On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 20:47:49 +0000, Boo <boo@spam_me_no_spam.net>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The recommendations are to talk to the bear gently and either stand
still or back away slowly. The idea is to reassure the bear that you are not a threat.

Out of interest is this supposed to also work with angry bulls ? And has anyone here ever had the
misfortune to need to try it ?

Yes... And i'm still here.. Been chased by a few friendly ones as well. Managed to hold it and
walked away talking to them. I too needed a new heart monitor - especially after the friesian near
Welshpool.

The advice re running away from bears is good re bulls as well. They may just enjoy
playing, you wont!

I have also come across bulls in the backcountry,(balkans) this is unnerving - its like a bear
encounter, turn a corner in the woods and hello "Tommy/Harry"(1), and bulls in Romania/former
Yugoslavia and Greece always look a little like jerseys - a very dangerous breed. Worrys me as much
as bears.(they have them there as well)

(1) our bulls were always called Tommy or Harry, usually alternatively.

Richard Webb

Boo said:

If I'm fighting a bear can I be in a tank ?

I'm not sure that a tank is the best vehicle for negotiating steep mountain trails in
dense forest...

Paul
--
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* Paul Saunders <[email hidden]> deigned to grace uk.rec.walking
* with their presence by declaiming:

Quoted message said:

Boo said:

If I'm fighting a bear can I be in a tank ?

I'm not sure that a tank is the best vehicle for negotiating steep mountain trails in dense
forest...

Didn't someone invent an armoured suit for confronting grizzly bears? Not sure if it worked or ended
all mushed up in bear poo, tho'!

Regards: Jim Ford

In message <[email hidden]>, RJ Webb
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I once came round a blind corner on a wooded trail and met a black bear coming the other way. It
was maybe ten feet away. We both stopped and then the bear took off, running uphill at amazing
speed. If it had charged I would have had no time to even start running.

Did you get a replacement for that heart monitor you blew....? Or your heart! Just turning a corner
on a wooded trail is anxiety inducing without him actually being there.....

I didn't even have time to react before the bear was racing away uphill. It was a bit of a shock but
I only felt startled afterwards!

I've met a few black bears over the years, though none quite as close as that. The most scary was
when I came over a rise to see two little black bear cubs scramble up nearby trees ten or so feet
away. What was scary was that I couldn't see the mother so I might have been between her and her
cubs, which is a very bad idea. I retreated slowly until I was out of sight, then ran a hundred
yards or so before making a large circle round the rise to rejoin the trail well on the other side.
The rise was called Bear Cub Pass.

If it had been a grizzly in either situation I would have been far more worried.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The recommendations are to talk to the bear gently and either stand

Quoted message said:

still or back away slowly. The idea is to reassure the bear that you are not a threat.

Out of interest is this supposed to also work with angry bulls ? And has anyone here ever had the
misfortune to need to try it ?

Yes... And i'm still here.. Been chased by a few friendly ones as well. Managed to hold it and
walked away talking to them. I too needed a new heart monitor - especially after the friesian near
Welshpool.

I've heard that breed can be a dodgy proposition. My only experiences with bulls are that there's
sometimes one (a beef breed but idk which) kept with cows on the South Downs Way just south of
Lewes. He's never been any problem at all but it's always slightly nerve-racking going past. I once
saw him in a different field at some distance walking in parallel with a smaller version of himself.
He was contemplatively nutting him in the shoulder with every 4th step which was half-knocking the
other off his feet. Obviously a father-son thing :-)

The other time was in the Pyrenees when I came across a bull with some cows at dusk. The cows were
startled raising a noise which of course interested the bull somewhat. I beat a retreat by walking
backwards over the brow of a hill. I don't know if the single-wire electric fence would have kept
him away if he'd decided to see me off... Scared the life out of me at the time.

Quoted message said:

The advice re running away from bears is good re bulls as well. They may just enjoy playing,
you wont!

I have also come across bulls in the backcountry,(balkans) this is unnerving - its like a bear
encounter, turn a corner in the woods and hello "Tommy/Harry"(1), and bulls in Romania/former
Yugoslavia and Greece always look a little like jerseys - a very dangerous breed. Worrys me as
much as bears.(they have them there as well)

In "Clear Waters, Rising" Nick Crane mentions coming across a bear somewhere in that part of the
world but his legs disobeyed his brain and he ended up running from it. He survived to tell the tale
anyway :-)

--
Boo