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Maggie’s How I almost died while out hiking and shooting today.

TheGerman

TheGerman

Oberleutnant
Full Member
Minuteman
    • Jan 25, 2010
    10,608
    30,199
    the Westside
    Went a bit north towards the mountains today to hike a bit further back, and up, to find a clearing to shoot for a few hours and then go back down in the late afternoon. I have been hiking and shooting in this area quite often and make it a point to keep going further back each week in hopes of finding a really good flat area to test loads with minimal wind, be in the middle of nowhere with no sight of anyone else for a few hours and do it all on a mountain, in the middle of higher mountains.

    So today's episode starts the same as it has for the last couple of weeks. I park the car in a golf course parking lot about 2.5 miles away from the general 'end point', hike my way out there through pretty much all rock and sand until I have to start climbing and have my ruck and rifle slung on my back. Everything is the same as always, starting elevation is around 5500 feet and the temperature got close to 100 again around noon; glad I'm wearing all this damn water. Find a new spot after a while and shoot for a few hours. I even go on to post in another thread on SH from my phone making fun of someone for not going out in the heat to shoot.

    I get done and start heading back. On my way back down, after the climbing part is over, I come across an area that was a pseudo lake last week due to some flooding in the area. The now dried up (but still soggy) lakebed is the kind of mud that you can get stuck in and that will take your shoes off of your feet if deep enough. I made sure to avoid it and walked along its edge yet still sinking in a few inches at some parts. So there I am, walking, sweating and generally tired when I start to notice some tracks in the mud all stemming from a clearing far across on the other side. This must be where anything coming out of that clearing crosses as I saw a few smaller critter tracks, multiple coyote tracks from what looks like a small pack that had wandered through earlier that morning and then some rather LARGE tracks. I grab my phone and started googling tracks from animals in the area I'm in. I'm standing there right at the tracks, looking between the examples online and comparing them to what I see. Coyote. No. Moose deer. No. Definitely not a rabbit. Not a mountain lion. Hmmmm. I wonder what the hell this could be.

    Hey, whats that moving around over there in the clearing on my side of the lake? I swore I just saw something. Must have been the wind mov.......holy shit its a MOTHERFUCKING BEAR that's been watching me look at these tracks like an idiot.

    The best part was the fact that when I slowly went to reach for my weapon in-case Yogi got too interested, I realized that I was practicing with a 22LR today. Yeah.

    For what seemed like 10 minutes the bear and I played the staring game where you win if you get the other to look away. I'm sure it was all of 20 seconds, but when you are going through multiple plans of action (see: escape) at the same time, things tend to slow down. I know you're supposed to startle them and make noise, but fuck trying anything crazy when you're on the spot like this all of a sudden. Mr. Bear decided that he didn't want to play and just wandered off further into the clearing.

    Moral of the story? Bring a 45 with you whenever you go shooting in the mountain/woods.
     
    Damn man, I'm glad that turned out good for you. People could be searching for you right now otherwise. Stay safe my friend!
     
    Annnnd, its still a black bear. Damn man that thing wouldn't of touched you with a ten foot pole. Don't worry about those lil' buggers. They're harmless.
     
    Good move Bro, good move. I like to keep a 45 on hand when out and about the hills.
     
    Unless you get between a mother and her cubs, black bears will leave you alone. I have shot 3 in the last 2 years. Last year I was turkey hunting and had a 500 pound bear walk by me less than 20 yards away.
     
    skip the 45 and go with the 44 mag pistol or carbine. Grizz will eat ya, black bear not really too often. I have the same issue here in S Fla, Crocs will eat ya, gator not too often.
     
    I understand always carrying a .45 ACP. When I go offroading in my Jeep, even out here in Southern CA, I always have it handy. There are alot of mountain lions out here. They have been know to snatch a jogger or a bicyclist off of trails. I get edgy justs stopping to take a leak next to some bushes. I'm just waiting to look up and see a 200 lbs. cat staring at me.
     
    ArmyJerry said:
    skip the 45 and go with the 44 mag pistol or carbine. Grizz will eat ya, black bear not really too often. I have the same issue here in S Fla, Crocs will eat ya, gator not too often.
    Click to expand...

    I'm not looking to argue bear behavior, so please don't take offense, but that's actually the opposite of what I was taught. When I was working in Alaska they explained to us that if the ass-kicking is imminent with a Brown bear you tuck up and protect your head. If you do that with a Black bear he'll see an easy meal and proceed to chow down. They advised us to fight if we didn't have any other choice with Black bears.

    They also explained that the Brown bears don't climb, but could knock down most of the trees we'd have a chance to climb, so not to count on that as an option either.

    As it turned out, we had 2 bear incidents on that job. One guy fell through the snow into a Brown bear den and tucked up. He as wearing a GPS surveyors backpack which saved him as the sow swatted him a few times. The other incident we had a crew member killed. One of our crews got too close to a den and the last guy in line got hit by a denning boar. The bear absolutely wrecked that guy, but never tried to eat him.
    Some of the Alaskans on here may remember that incident because it was so rare to have a fatal attack in the winter. It was February 1998 on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. We had every agency you could imagine involved in it.

    After that we hired bear guides, and they all used 12ga.
     
    Awesome story. I've seen them bowhunting a couple times, both when it was starting to get dark. After the first time I started to carry my 45. I know they're just black bears, but they do say they kill more people than grizzly's.
     
    No argument here, agree with everything you wrote. I hunt black bear and they are thick up in my hunting area in Maine, walking out of the woods after dark with the big critters (moose and black bear) is surreal.


    bogeybrown said:
    I'm not looking to argue bear behavior, so please don't take offense, but that's actually the opposite of what I was taught. When I was working in Alaska they explained to us that if the ass-kicking is imminent with a Brown bear you tuck up and protect your head. If you do that with a Black bear he'll see an easy meal and proceed to chow down. They advised us to fight if we didn't have any other choice with Black bears.

    They also explained that the Brown bears don't climb, but could knock down most of the trees we'd have a chance to climb, so not to count on that as an option either.

    As it turned out, we had 2 bear incidents on that job. One guy fell through the snow into a Brown bear den and tucked up. He as wearing a GPS surveyors backpack which saved him as the sow swatted him a few times. The other incident we had a crew member killed. One of our crews got too close to a den and the last guy in line got hit by a denning boar. The bear absolutely wrecked that guy, but never tried to eat him.
    Some of the Alaskans on here may remember that incident because it was so rare to have a fatal attack in the winter. It was February 1998 on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. We had every agency you could imagine involved in it.

    After that we hired bear guides, and they all used 12ga.
    Click to expand...
     
    Perhaps I'm missing something but I don't think that the OP made mention of what type of bear he was dealing with. I have zero experience with bears but I wouldn't trust anything less than a S&W 500 or 460V. You guys with the .45s are brave souls.
     
    Around here we have black bears that raid garbage cans, lick the gas grill clean, devour bird feeders, etc. Not a really big concern. Until one day Mama had 3 cubs in tow. I don't want to think of what would happen if I were to walk out at night and get between Mama and her cubs.
     
    Slapchop said:
    Perhaps I'm missing something but I don't think that the OP made mention of what type of bear he was dealing with. I have zero experience with bears but I wouldn't trust anything less than a S&W 500 or 460V. You guys with the .45s are brave souls.
    Click to expand...

    I'm guessing it was a black bear because he was, well, black. (enter das raccists!1!!)

    I don't think grizzleys are down this far south but I don't really want to find out. The bear seemed more interested in just watching me than anything else, never moved in my direction. I was simply taken/surprised because it was standing 75 feet from me and until he moved I didn't know he was there. We had a staring contest for a bit all while I had various plans on action running through my head if yogi decided to start heading my way that ranged from making noise/yelling at him, to a quick glance at where the high-ground was. When I go pistol shooting or do primary/secondary drills I have a warbelt with my handgun in it; I think from here on out when traveling into the wilderness I'm going to wear it regardless.
     
    TheGerman said:
    Hey, whats that moving around over there in the clearing on my side of the lake? I swore I just saw something. Must have been the wind mov.......holy shit its a MOTHERFUCKING BEAR that's been watching me look at these tracks like an idiot.

    For what seemed like 10 minutes the bear and I played the staring game where you win if you get the other to look away. I'm sure it was all of 20 seconds, but when you are going through multiple plans of action (see: escape) at the same time, things tend to slow down. I know you're supposed to startle them and make noise, but fuck trying anything crazy when you're on the spot like this all of a sudden. Mr. Bear decided that he didn't want to play and just wandered off further into the clearing.

    Moral of the story? Bring a 45 with you whenever you go shooting in the mountain/woods.
    Click to expand...
    So.... you had a staring game with a black bear and it almost killed you. Wow, talk about frickin' evil eyes. I've had only three close quarters engagements with bears. Mine must have been wearing sunglasses.

    #1 -- While hiking up the final switchbacks on the trail to the Grand Teton, Grand Teton National Park, WY. Sat down on a rock for a snack in a light drizzle. Momma bear crashes through the woods (don't they understand the "stay on the trail" etiquette?) a few feet to my right. Two cubs crash jump across the trail to my left. Yep, I'm between momma and kids, armed with a half-loaded 1-quart water bottle. Momma "woofs" after seeing me, the cubs jump down the trail, climb a couple of trees, and momma ambles off. A similar chain of events occurs to the couple a few switchbacks below me. We both report the incident to a ranger at the end of the day. He said that's common with this bear.

    #2 -- Hiking from Bear Lake (yes, for real) to climb Hallett Peak in Rocky Mtn. National Park, CO. A bear sauntered down the trail at 5am as a buddy and I were hiking in. We first spotted the bear by the green glow of his eyes from our headlamps. We all just stopped in our tracks and the bear took a wide berth before getting back on the trail. Both of us were fully armed with carabiners and 50 meter-long ropes.

    #3 -- Giving the hands a rest day from rock climbing in the Bishop, CA area, I went on a photo hike to Bishop Pass. Near the pass itself, while taking pictures of Kings Canyon N.P., a bear wandered out of the woods. I think he/she was admiring my Nikon. Probably was scared of that 200mm zoom lens, and soon wandered off. For backup, I was armed with a 28mm lens in my backpack.

    Good thing I was packin' heat in all those bear meetings.
     
    It is very important to identify the species of bear in your area and to take proper precautions. This helpful sign from the forest service should be of great assistance.
     
    Talk about being calm under pressure! Dudes seem to know what they're doing.


    [video=youtube;-jT9C9XRTK0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jT9C9XRTK0[/video]

    These bears don't seem as nice as the ones ropegun comes face to face with.
     
    Last edited:
    I have a good black bear story...well don't know if its good, but its a black bear story! :) We had a bear coming in and eating out of our garbage can growing up (outside of Boulder Montana) My brother bought a spring bear tag and figured if we saw it he would nail his ass, so one day we came home from school and sure as shit the bear was feasting away, he ran in the house and grabbed some fire power and I chased after him and we went out the daylight basement near the garbage can, the bear saw us and hauled ass, we lived right on the Little Boulder River, so we gave chase and the bear ran through some thick willows and across the creek...and so did we, once we hit the other side the bear went up a tree, my brother shot the thing....and shot the thing and all he did was piss it off, come to find out the gun he grabbed was his 9mm, for any of you who had any doubts the "9 might make it" is not the way to go! So then he turns to me and hands me a revolver and tells me he's going back to the house to get the .270 and to "keep the bear up the tree", by the way the revolver is a 22 caliber, Why on earth those were the two weapons he grabbed that day I will never know, but my dumb ass did stand under that tree while he went back to the house and the .270 did dispatch it with one shot, but I definitely shit my pants, I must've looked like Barney Fife under that tree with my little pee-shooter! :) When the bear came crashing out of the tree when he did kill it I think I re-shit my pants because I was pretty sure that not only was he not dead, but he was going to come straight for me and eat my ass for fucking with him! It weighed out at like 300 pounds and I was probably around 13 years old and my brother was 15....the joys of growing up in the sticks!

    We have run into Griz while hiking in Glacier Park in Montana and while hunting in the Bridger Tetons in the Thorofare area, knock on wood, so far they haven't fucked with us, They tried to eat my cousin Jesse's elk one year, he killed it just before dark, so we went back in the morning to get it and they had eaten some of the guts and thrown dirt all over it trying to cover it up. My cousins got some pretty good footage of two bore grizzlies fighting over that same gut pile the next night, there were also a sow and three cubs circling the area...they are thick up there and we will be heading back in there this year. Going October 8-20th, looking forward to a great elk and hopefully wolf hunt, and will be looking forward to dodging the fucking bears every chance I get! Stay safe and have a great hunting season all y'all! :)
     
    It can get harry fast. Good to hear you made it out ok.

    Several years ago I was in Grafton Notch Maine hiking with my dog Tucker. I usually have him off a leash until the trail get bad or the snow is very deep. But this time we were going up a very step face and I could tell he was a little uncomfortable with the angle of the climb so I hooked him up to help him climb. I was above him when I approached an overhanging rock. As I neared the rock I could feel something strange (words cant explain the feeling, but you know if you have been there) I was about 3 feet from the rock when I looked up. I was eye to eye with a BIG cat... My dog Tucker is a Red Bone and Golden mix and weighs about 70-75 pounds. This mountain lion was at least 2X his size. Needless to say I froze and was so glad Tuck didn't see the cat. It took what seemed an eternity but the cat turned and slowly walked off. As the bastard walked away he looked over his shoulder as if to let me know who was boss...

    That was a bit unnerving and Ill never forget it, I wish I had a camera or a go pro on me at the time.
     
    Ok this will take some set up, and I am just bustin your chops in good jest German so don't take it as a slam.
    I will start by what jumps to mind as I begin my read.

    "How I almost died while out hiking and shooting today."
    (hot damn! entertainment)

    "blah, blah parked suited up headed into no mans land"
    (OOOOOOOOOO>>>a snakebite story! gotta be, way cool, I am on the edge of my seat!) (really)

    "and shooting and sweating and hiking yada yada"
    (come on man get to the good stuff, you got my attention! gimme the goods man, scare me to death I'm ready!)

    "and then the pseudo lake, the mud, the horror"
    ( HELL YEAH! I knew it...got stuck in a miring quicksand, muddy ooze and struggled for life..knew it...scare me to death man!)

    "some tracks...oh the tracks of some strange creature, had to look em up on my digital crutch"
    "AWWWW SNAP! CHUPACABRA! SASQUATCH! SCARE ME TO DEATH MAN! I AM READY!"

    " a bear! a MOTHERFUCKING BEAR! WITH THE EYES OF SOME GYPSY WITCH!"
    (er..ah...mmm...you had to look up....bear tracks...ah..er...and you almost...what...shit yourself to death...was that the impending doom...now I am confused)

    "I did a reach around(yeah...my little play on words)and REALIZED I was shooting a 22lr today"
    (gatttdamned dude that must be one hell of a trainer! didn't even notice until that moment you were shooting a rimfire...the guys in the rimfire section gonna ride your ass now man :) )


    Ok turn in your man card, you had to look up animal tracks on an IPhone to identify bear tracks. If you wanted to determine what sound black bears make when they shit themselves you should have shot that pea shooter in the air. He would have probably bellered like a big baby and shagged ass.

    Still curious what the near death experience was. Your asshole nearly burst when your upper and lower intestines, simultaneously dumped too large a load to fit through said orifice? I am still confused.

    I was hoping for a good story. Here are some guidelines for future use. Protagonist(good guy, the Hero, in this case you) goes on an adventure. He meets up with The Villain(could have been a rattler, deadly vampire bats, hell even the creeping mud, I would also have settled for a chupacabra). After a brief struggle and some seemingly insurmountable tribulation our Hero vanquishes the villain and thus delivers the orgasm..(no wrong word)...crescendo..(no still wrong word, but I am close now...) the Climax...yea that is it THE CLIMAX! I didn't climax....sorry. I was left rather....limp.


    All in good fun German. Some will laugh and some will think I am twisted(probably) and some will think this post is just stupid. Either way its all in good fun. Yeah I have been surprised by aa bear. Yeah I know what that little acidic taste is in your throat when your adrenal glands dump their contents. Your chances of being struck by lightning are FAR greater than being mauled by a bear as an outdoorsman....I hear both will make you shit your pants though. I would rather be mauled by a black bear personally. I am scared shitless of lightning...but then I have been close enough to feel the heat from it more than twice and caught a light dose off a garage door when I was a kid.
     
    Definitely would have thrown poo at the bear. And never leave home without a pistol. HK tactical 45 with 13 rounds is a good start although it would just piss him off. Lol
     
    I always pack a 22 pistol when my buddy and me travel into bear country.....
    If we see a bear...I shoot my buddy in the knee and I run like hell.....
     
    We like to serve our bears a tourist now and then usually and nice plump German with some nice Bavarian senf. They seem to like the Mustard and some good German beer to flush it down with. Same with our friendly Great white sharks.
     
    armorpl8chikn said:
    Ok this will take some set up, and I am just bustin your chops in good jest German so don't take it as a slam.
    I will start by what jumps to mind as I begin my read.

    "How I almost died while out hiking and shooting today."
    (hot damn! entertainment)

    "blah, blah parked suited up headed into no mans land"
    (OOOOOOOOOO>>>a snakebite story! gotta be, way cool, I am on the edge of my seat!) (really)

    "and shooting and sweating and hiking yada yada"
    (come on man get to the good stuff, you got my attention! gimme the goods man, scare me to death I'm ready!)

    "and then the pseudo lake, the mud, the horror"
    ( HELL YEAH! I knew it...got stuck in a miring quicksand, muddy ooze and struggled for life..knew it...scare me to death man!)

    "some tracks...oh the tracks of some strange creature, had to look em up on my digital crutch"
    "AWWWW SNAP! CHUPACABRA! SASQUATCH! SCARE ME TO DEATH MAN! I AM READY!"

    " a bear! a MOTHERFUCKING BEAR! WITH THE EYES OF SOME GYPSY WITCH!"
    (er..ah...mmm...you had to look up....bear tracks...ah..er...and you almost...what...shit yourself to death...was that the impending doom...now I am confused)

    "I did a reach around(yeah...my little play on words)and REALIZED I was shooting a 22lr today"
    (gatttdamned dude that must be one hell of a trainer! didn't even notice until that moment you were shooting a rimfire...the guys in the rimfire section gonna ride your ass now man :) )


    Ok turn in your man card, you had to look up animal tracks on an IPhone to identify bear tracks. If you wanted to determine what sound black bears make when they shit themselves you should have shot that pea shooter in the air. He would have probably bellered like a big baby and shagged ass.

    Still curious what the near death experience was. Your asshole nearly burst when your upper and lower intestines, simultaneously dumped too large a load to fit through said orifice? I am still confused.

    I was hoping for a good story. Here are some guidelines for future use. Protagonist(good guy, the Hero, in this case you) goes on an adventure. He meets up with The Villain(could have been a rattler, deadly vampire bats, hell even the creeping mud, I would also have settled for a chupacabra). After a brief struggle and some seemingly insurmountable tribulation our Hero vanquishes the villain and thus delivers the orgasm..(no wrong word)...crescendo..(no still wrong word, but I am close now...) the Climax...yea that is it THE CLIMAX! I didn't climax....sorry. I was left rather....limp.


    All in good fun German. Some will laugh and some will think I am twisted(probably) and some will think this post is just stupid. Either way its all in good fun. Yeah I have been surprised by aa bear. Yeah I know what that little acidic taste is in your throat when your adrenal glands dump their contents. Your chances of being struck by lightning are FAR greater than being mauled by a bear as an outdoorsman....I hear both will make you shit your pants though. I would rather be mauled by a black bear personally. I am scared shitless of lightning...but then I have been close enough to feel the heat from it more than twice and caught a light dose off a garage door when I was a kid.
    Click to expand...

    Have to say, that's pretty good.

    No more stories until I run into a chuppacabra or end up in a porn movie, apparently.
     
    gotta love ARMORPL8CHIKN, even when he's flaming ME it's done just right. can't imagine how one would survive a good three way smack down between him, boltripper, and vjj punisher!

    German, look on the bright side, though scary (not really near death) and up against something that can crush your skull like you eat cashews, IMO it's a better way to go than getting hit by a drunk driver on the way back home. plus it'll save the family some $, it's cheaper to bury bear shit. :D

    i'd be more worried about ticks.
     
    shoot4fun said:
    I hiked from Coors Field to the Hyatt Saturday night. Saw lots of dangerous stuff there. I will never be afraid of a bear.
    Click to expand...

    You're right. I hiked back to our hotel on the marina from Petco Park in San Diego about a month ago and now that I think of it, I was better off with the bear.
     
    Bears have always ran away from me. I had a dream one night after I saw a black bear, that I only had my Cold Steel Boar Spear with me. The bear charged me, and I had to put the blunt end into the dirt, and let the bear impale himself with the sharp end! That would make for good story tellin' with the boys with that rug on the wall! J
     
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