Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Bear attack in Banff NP

I carry the ACR RESQlink+ but am seriously thinking of adding the Inreach for the two way comms. Here in the states the ACR unit sends a direct link to a military/gov. sat system that is supposed to be more reliable than the Iridium system but no way of comms. so when the wifey gets the phone call about the emergency signal to check if you are in the same area as the pinged signal, wifey has to wait for some time(hours/day or two?) until SAR have made contact with you and are able to communicate back to her whether she needs to start digging a hole or pick your sorry ass up at the hospital. The ACR unit has a long battery life (5 years?) but must be sent back to the factory for battery replacement. There is also a mandatory registration process that needs to be re-upped every couple of years so may be different than the Inreach.

Sounds like plenty of different types of PLB/SAT units out there. Just depends on your requirements. I assume that the PLB's would be compatible here in Canada as our SAR assets are interoperable. Be worth confirming though before relying on it.

Ref being armed/not armed, I always carry a short carbine outside the parks when I'm in the bush. But, I also have spray, practice with both.
Not everyone has the opportunity or desire to be armed for a number of reasons in Canada. I do think our gun laws suck, if I could carry a handgun, I would.
Being able to carry a gun in a National Park here is unlikely to ever be allowed. Hell, I know of folks who believe we should not be allowed to carry bear spray even.
Most of them don't even venture outside the city, the rest well....sucks to be them if they ever run into a bear that is intent on not getting out of the way.
Jeff

On the topic of Grizzly pops....I was out Mule deer hunting with my Son for a few days, was skunked, but did notice an unusual amount of Bear sign in an area not known for much Bear activity, a poor black Bear area to be sure. I was wondering if it was Grizzlies, then my Son saw one walking across the hillside 300 yds below him.

I/we always took precautions with downed game, but another level is required now there is one or more Grizzlies in every area around here now.

Happened to run across this. Someone said Grizzly's don't kill, they eat. Listening to the Black bear cub, I'd say that's about right.

When I have killed animals in Grizz country, I get the animal cleaned on outta there ASAP and while I am skinning and quartering it, if I am bow hunting I have my shotgun at arms length always. If I am rifle hunting I have my rifle at arms length as well.

Leaving an animal overnight, isn't the best thing to do!

A friend of mine shot a whitetail buck, at a range of about 75 yards. The grizzly got to that buck before he could, and took it away. Not an entirely unusual occurrence in these parts. Numerous times, guys have bugled in a grizzly. They have learned that bugling and gunfire might mean an easy meal. GD

Yeah, my family in the EK says when they have an animal down, the flashlight reveals eyes in the area waiting for them to leave so they can move in.

As an aside.....I was hanging a treestand and had a Black Bear come running full speed to within 30ft of me and stop....I could see him through the brush looking at me lol, of course I had the rifle pointed at his face already, he wasn't very big maybe 150-200lbs...he was attracted to me breaking branches and stuff I guess, not sure wth...

673;
Good morning my friend, I hope you're all getting some rain too?

Also of course I hope you and your fine family are well.

We're just down from a quick morning run looking for elk, whitetail or a mulie for my friend, finding none of the above but absolutely finding some easy access downed trees we'll go collect tomorrow. They're Spruce and Lodgepole which we don't mind both for starting fires and for early fall and late spring fires.

Where we were the mulie study folks picked up some grizzly photos on their trail cam this fall, but it didn't show for us today.

Black bears continue to be an issue for us down here, with one of the local 3 year old units attempting to muscle me out of a hanging mulie buck a week ago today. We exchanged harsh words and he finally left.

Then yesterday when my good wife was coming home, she phoned me to say he was sitting in front of the one garden, which she walks by to get into the house from the garage where she had to park.

Again harsh words and steel ball bearings were hurled and again it left.

It's going to end poorly for that one sooner than later 673, I can feel the neighborhood has lots whatever spirit of goodwill we had for it.

Good luck on your hunts this fall and here's to no more interference from the bloody bears.

Dwayne

Dwayne,

Couple weekends ago at our hunt camp one of the guys was building a stand and had a black bear run right by him about 30 yards away. Wasn't going full blast and doesn't think it even saw him (hard to believe with him hammering and sawing), but it was definitely on a mission to get somewhere.

We don't bring guns up except when we're actually hunting. Usually its 2-3 guys working together so no worries, but this guy was on his own.

I’d agree in a general sense but there are plenty of cases where hunters have had bears move in on them either due to meat hanging or the gun shot effect (I have had griz issues involving both of those situations) but also rare predatory instances.

The bicyclist who was killed in Ovando MT a few years ago was one such very unfortunate incident. She wasn’t pulling a Treadwell nor feeding the bears.

Its just Bears being Bears. Native people were killed and beat up by Bears all the time according to fur traders journals, but they still weren't afraid of them.
That is the connection to the land, Bears are a part of that, I think it quite common for Native people to think they will eat the animals and harvest all foods, but then in return they will eat you one day.

673;
Good afternoon once more, I still hope you're all well.

Thanks for the interesting take on it from a FN perspective.

While I'm not nearly as connected as you are of course, in any conversations I've had with FN folks on the subject, I'd suggest the majority shared your opinion.

As a "by the way" sort of a question for whenever we get a coffee together or next phone chat, do you know why the Okanagan FN folks didn't hunt bears?

Had a couple of friends who were from local bands but they didn't know why exactly it was they didn't. One was going to ask an elder and get back to me, but unfortunately he succumbed to an illness before we were able to have that chat.

Again this might be something you know, but I want to say that the Woods Cree folks from Saskatchewan ate bear as regularly as they could get it. Muskwa or maybe better phonetically spelled Maskwa is a Cree dialect for bear if I'm not again remembering wrong.

Personally I'm not exactly afraid of them, but more and more I'm wary shall I put it? Some of them don't really take "No" or "Bad Bear" or "You _____ ______" either for that matter to heart, even when delivered with volume and enthusiasm.

Best to you all once more sir.

Dwayne

T Inman;
Good afternoon to you my cyber friend, it's been too long since I've said hello and it's my fervent hope you're feeling and doing well lately.

Again my grizzly experience is mostly second hand but my black bear experience is as recent as yesterday as mentioned.

A few years back I was lucky to correspond a fair bit with one of two BC sheep hunters who got jumped by a sow and cub in their tent. They were somewhere north of Canal Flats so the Kootenays.

Anyways as far as anyone could ascertain, they did absolutely nothing to provoke the attack other than being there chasing sheep.

There but for the grace of God go I for sure T - way too many times to count I'll add, as I've tented in grizzly country in BC, Alberta, Montana and Wyoming.

Like 673 says, "It's just bears being bears" sometimes and like other things in life, we have to play the card we've pulled don't we?

All the best to you sir and good hunting.

Dwayne

when we tented on our elk hunts in grizzly country we never unloaded our rifles , revolver was loaded and had a flash light handy too , but i had a lot of faith in a mule named Radar when we were up in the mountains he let us know if bears were close plus he always sniffed bear tracks when we went a cross the tracks Radar was one smart mule. i have very little faith in bear spray but if i have to shoot a bear i will spray bear once its dead just to make sure bear is dead .

pete53;
Good afternoon sir, I trust you're all well and getting decent weather today.

There were a trio of decent bear survival and bear attack books authored by the late James Gary Shelton who became a bear attack expert over the years of studying them.

He figured that spray worked about 80% of the time, but didn't put forth a theory as to exactly what happened in the 20% where it didn't.

When corresponding with one of the two sheep hunters who got attacked over east of us in the Kootenays, we both chuckled over how many experts in the BC media suggested bear spray would have saved them.

Our plan was to put some of the experts into a tent, have them give a mighty blast of OC Bear spray inside the tent and then video it.

Honestly I still giggle a wee bit thinking about that.....

Mules, the right dog and possibly the very occasional horse near the tent would be an asset I'd think.

A buddy in the Yukon had a Chocolate Lab/Staffordshire Terrier cross that was trained to pack and was a bear announcer par excellence as they say.

All the best and good hunting.

Dwayne

Reminds me of a bit of excitement we had at our Black bear hunt a few weeks ago.

One guy shot a bear at the feeder. Found out later it was a low lung shot. Bear just laid there, then after a few minutes got up and staggered off. We left it settle for 1/2 hour, then myself and another guy joined the hunter. Neither of them had ever followed up a wounded animal before, so I set out the ground rules. Started at the barrel checking sign, then in a skirmish line about 15 yards apart.

Shooter saw the bear standing looking at us about 60 yards away. I had a shot so took it. It disappeared again. We walked up slowly and as I came over a rise, I saw the bear laying about 15 yards away. I hollered that I'd spotted it and it rolled over and started to get up! I made a quick shot to the head and it went down for good.

That kind of adrenaline rush I don't need!!

A good friend of ours was, for a time, Chief of the Carrier band in the central interior. She told us they ate bear regularly but that pregnant women were cautioned not to eat bear paws. I don't recall what the consequences of that dietary item might have been. Residents of any area which contains bears, grizzly or black, should be able to accept that they are part of life. I do like it better when I am aware of them before they are aware of me. Here, in the EK, there are bears. They are a fact of life. I consider them as something to be aware of but nothing to obsess over. An occurrence, such as that in Banff, is a reminder that there is always some risk to wilderness activities. GD

greydog;
Good afternoon sir, I trust you're getting a wee bit of moisture out there today too and that you're all well.

Thanks for the info on the Carrier FN folks, it's a topic that's always interested me.

For whatever it's worth, I worked with a few Vietnamese folks over the years and one of them specifically asked me for the paws from a bear. They made soup out of them and it was some sort of either medicinal or ceremonial significance, sorry I forget now which.

As usual I'm in agreement with your thoughts on bears and us and how we who live in the outlands interact with them.

All the best to you all and good hunting.

Dwayne

Dwayne,
By the simple act of cutting a bunch of firewood, then not getting it split and put under cover in a timely manner, I caused it to rain a bunch. Twice!
As I write this (at 2:45 am), I have just come in from hazing a small herd of elk out of the yard. The bull insists on bugling right under our bedroom window; making it hard to sleep. This is pretty well an annual thing. None of the bulls are of legal size, or he would be in the freezer.
This is life in the country. Although we are being overrun by people in the summer, and during season, we still have some wild. I wouldn't have it any other way. Regardless of the type of animal, our lives are enriched by their existence, even when they are an annoyance. Deer, elk, bears, wolves, cototes, cougars, and more, we have had them all in the yard at one time or another. I will admit, not all have survived the encounter, but not without cause. GD

So.....an Elk bugles under your bedroom window and then you go outside looking for a fight?? lolol