[Hot brass]

A friend called with the story of a giant bear that was killed in northern Cal. I have not read of this. The bear was to have killed 2 hunters, from a party of 6. Shot 12 times with .338WM`s. Have any of you read or heard of this story. Said it was on the internet. Am I being smoked??????

[El Tejon]

I heard it was a GIANT MAGICAL UNICORN.:rolleyes::D

The Bears! The Bears! Arghhhh . . . .

[gun-fucious]

in CA the bears have to watch out for the people:

Yosemite Campers Kill Bear -- Apparently While Saving Food (Friday, August 16, 1996)
Steve Rubenstein, Harriet Chiang, Chronicle Staff Writers

A group of campers stoned a 2-year-old black bear to death in a backcountry campground at Yosemite National Park, rangers said yesterday.

The incident, which occurred Monday night in the Little Yosemite Valley area, about five miles from the Yosemite Valley trailhead, was reported by witnesses to rangers on Tuesday, according to acting Chief Ranger Don Coelho.

``There does not appear to be a good reason for what they did,'' Coelho said, adding that the attack on the bear did not appear to be self-defense by the campers. ``It looked like it had been stoned to death.''

A park ranger found and photographed the dead animal, which weighed about 100 pounds. Coelho said it had died from ``blunt trauma.''

Investigators questioned the campers, believed to be a youth group and two chaperones from Huntington Beach in Orange County. No arrests were made, but Coelho said rangers are taking the incident ``extremely seriously'' and will "attempt to prove a case'' of destruction of wildlife. Rangers allowed the youth group and two chaperones to continue their trip, and they were expected to leave Yosemite yesterday.

Park wildlife biologist Steve Thompson, whose department was investigating the attack, said the chaperones were throwing large rocks to drive the bear away from the campers' food, which had been improperly stored. At least one of the rocks struck the bear in the head, he said.

Rangers were trying to determine if additional injuries were inflicted on the animal and whether others participated in the attack. Thompson said rangers issued citations to the chaperones, who were not identified.

News of the attack was the talk of park employees, who were angry and horrified. Many employees used radio scanners to monitor rangers' conversations about the attack.

``None of us can believe anyone would do this,'' said Allen Mourton, assistant manager at the Tuolumne Meadows store. ``It makes you wonder what people are teaching their kids. We all want to make sure that nobody gets away with something like this.''

Representatives of the National Park Service declined to provide information about the incident, saying it was ``under investigation.''

[Art Eatman]

Well, if people can panic over spiders and grass snakes, why wouldn't ignorant folks go all bat-guano in the brain over a real, live bear?

100-pound bear, to me, seems like a fairly young one. Raised in a national park. Used to people as a source of food. Curious, inquisitive.

Bad mix.

There are times when I think that a ride-through tram is the only way for city folks to be allowed to travel through wildlife areas. Overnight inside a hotel or something, with Disney movies on a big screen.

Art

[4v50 Gary]

Stoning a bear to death? That probably hasn't been done since the neolithic age. PETA certainly would disapprove. It's more merciful to use a gun. :(

[H&Hhunter]

A friend called with the story of a giant bear that was killed in northern Cal. I have not read of this. The bear was to have killed 2 hunters, from a party of 6. Shot 12 times with .338WM`s.

I've got a sneaking suspiscion I know what the the picture is. It isn't of a guy holding up a huge bear paw of a recently deceased brown bear by any chance is it?

Oh and just by the way there ain't no grizzleys or browns in CA haven't been for long time.

[Bob R]

I am betting it was probably an undiscovered giant species of the banana slug. You never know what is lurking in those woods out there!


bob

[gburner]

Stoned to death?????

What did they kill it with, bong hits?

"he commenced to do the bear dance, two sniffs, a snort, a fly turn and a grunt.
It was so simple, like the jitterbug,
that it plum evaded me...it hung him up." God's Own Drunk.

[Dr.Rob]

The only true "giant bear" story is the one National Geographic is looking for on the Kamchatka Pennisula. The so-called "God-Bear" has not been seen for a long time but local hunters swear it exists and several pelts are inexistance. What the scientists don't know is if its a new species of bear, or a sub-species of brown bear, or an isolated genetic 'mutant' like black jaguars or 'blue' bears.

[Keith]

The pelt of the "God-Bear" was identified as a common brown bear long ago.
Other sightings have been theorized to be of polar bears which have been known to travel far outside the regions we commonly think of being polar bear habitat.
A few years ago a tourist took a picture of a polar bear on the Kenai Peninsula in south-central Alaska; seven or eight hundred miles from where the nearest polar bear is supposed to roam. They didn't think much of it until they mentioned it to some locals who laughed it off as being impossible. They produced the photograph which has been examined by biologists who acknowledge that it IS a polar bear and that the flora in the picture is of the type found in the area they say they took the picture.

A polar bear was actually shot on Kodiak in the 1940's. To get here it would have had to have walked nearly a thousand miles or rode the ice to the southern Bering Sea. It then would have had to cross the Alaska Peninsula and swim 50 miles across the Shelikof Straits to the island. Nevertheless, it was here and some local shot it!

Keith

[TallPine]

Park wildlife biologist Steve Thompson, whose department was investigating the attack, said the chaperones were throwing large rocks to drive the bear away from the campers' food, which had been improperly stored. At least one of the rocks struck the bear in the head, he said.

And the next thing that will happen is ...

some bear will have an allergic reaction to pepper spray, go into anaphylactic shock and die.

Then somebody's gonna be in BIG trouble. :D

[Rebeldon]

Dude, what if a bear pulls a knife on me and tries to take my wallet? What caliber should I use? :rolleyes:

[H&Hhunter]

Keith,
There is a photograph of a polar bear walking down the runway at Merril field in Anchorage. Taken back in the 60's I believe.

Rebeldon,
If that happens you should use buckshot.............(Sorry guys inside joke)