Fast, light and gunless in the arctic

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Cosmoline

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It was only a matter of time before the "fast and light" gurus took on the Brooks Range.

http://www.ryanjordan.com/

They are of course gunless. It's part of the "fair means" doctrine they have. They're not the first ones to cross that area with no rifles, but their accounts of griz encounters so far tells me they're underestimating Mr. UAH "Sneaking" around a sow with cubs? Bad idea. We shall see if they end up following Treadwell, but unlike Timmy boy they're dealing with true barren ground griz here, not fat and happy coastal brown bears. Dial's been around the block, but that doesn't mean he's entirely sane. My guess is they'll make it, but I'm more concerned about the cultists of the movement who try to follow them without the benefit of triathalon-level physical development and experience in the bush. But then again, it's been a few days since they reported in. You get arrogant out there and this state will kill you, even if you are super fit and super fast and ultra light and xtreme to the max.
 
Good grief. They're not even carrying pepper spray?
At the very least I'd be carrying a .44 magnum pistol. Not much good against a pissed off grizz but better than nothing.
 
I think they mention one of them has spray. But even more dangerous than being gunless is their attitude. To them it's this race to get to some arbitrary point furthest away from roads. What a truly bizarre goal. They're also on a race, necessitated by their self-imposed time constraints and the fact that they have limited gear, limited food and no safety net. They should be going in there slower and heavier, so they can take the time to avoid bad griz areas if needed. Above all else they shouldn't be treating this like some sort of contest. They're way too arrogant.
 
I think they mention one of them has spray.
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They also mention strong winds too. Good luck deploying spray under those conditions.:uhoh:

Their lives aren't worth the weight of a Ruger .454 Alaskan? Sorry to hear that.
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I'm not. The herd needs thinned. Better to thin out fools and idiots first. I agree with Cosmoline that they'll probably make it, but the "cultists" that follow may make for interesting entertainment.:evil:
 
I'm not. The herd needs thinned. Better to thin out fools and idiots first. I agree with Cosmoline that they'll probably make it, but the "cultists" that follow may make for interesting entertainment.
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Well, grizzlyman learned his lesson.

If anyone has never heard, he was some dude who lived "as one" with grizzlies in Alaska, until one of them ate him for lunch.
 
Maybe they will get lucky and run into a southern ranging polar bear. When I was working north of 60 we saw quite a few of them. Was told by the local reps that they will range 50 miles a day looking for ANYTHING they can eat. And they WILL eat anything...
 
If the human is more stupid than the bear, what is wrong with the bear eating the human?
Bears eating humans do an important job in evolution, they make sure those humans survive who are not stupid enough to be eaten by a bear.
 
This time while walking a high bench below a ridge, a grizzly on the ridge spotted us from half a mile away and ran straight for us.

We tucked down under the bench hoping that the grizzly would come behind us catch our scent and give us a wind advantage for our bear spray.

That's exactly what happened, when he kept approaching and we were sure he would charge.

We made lots of noise and eventually scared him off leaving him wandering around the scent trail we left.

Tonight we are at a beautiful quite serene camp on Surprise Creek at the base of one of the most scenic ridge walks so far.
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Man, some people just cannot get a clue. Apparently, this episode proved their invincibility. To them.
 
If they become bear droppings, so be it. Some people don't understand that it wasn't our brute strength that got us to the top of the food chain. It was our brains and our tools.
Animals generally don't have pity, compassion, conscience, reasoning, etc. They are hungry, you are food. Lunchtime.
 
I like Ron White's comment about the grizzly man. He said he remembered those times when his Dad told him he wouldn't amount to *****. "Well Pappa, look at me now! A steaming pile of bear feces. Aren't you proud of me." :D
 
The funny thing is that if there was some magical way to make the bears understand and be able to use firearms, they would be packing and using them in a heartbeat.

And no matter how you tried to explain the "contest" these gents are undertaking, the bears would never be able to wrap their heads around that one.

;)
 
A good friend of mine lives up in Fairbanks. Told me not to worry too much about which load to put in the handgun for bear defense. According to him I'd never get the chance to use it. Seems they like to have a couple backup guys with 300 win mags keeping an eye out for unfriendly bears. Wandering into true wilderness - with a fully functioning food chain - sounds a bit too idealistic for me.
 
That's an old myth. While I much prefer a rifle, handguns are used for bear defense on an increasingly regular basis. You just don't hear about it outside Alaska.

http://www.adn.com/front/story/7875611p-7769246c.html

He didn't take notice until his dog Thelma let out a distinct, low-pitched growl. Gillespie drew his .44 revolver, just as a pair of adult bears burst from dense brush 15 yards away, he said.

The roaring grizzlies, hackles on end, lowered their heads and charged. He said he thumped warning shots into the ground before them, scaring one off.

But the bigger bear, about 400 pounds, kept coming. Gillespie fired three rounds, hitting the grizzly with a death blow to the temple. The animal collapsed with a sigh about 12 feet away, he said.
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These sort of encounters happen all the time up here. The keys to coming out on top are speed of the draw and location of the hit. The power of the projectile does not matter as much. Nothing short of a 30mm cannon can physically stop a bear with its force. But even a 9x19 in the shoulder joint or brain pan will stop one.
 
Thanks for the linked article, Cosmo. I enjoyed this bit: :D

Longtime Seward resident Doug McRae, a former big-game guide and trapper, said grizzly numbers have risen because the state rarely allows brown bear hunting on the Kenai Peninsula. Hunting is also not allowed in the park, established in 1980.

A swimming grizzly charged him near Seward two years ago, said McRae, 62. An antler carver, he was hiking through brush near the popular Resurrection River trail looking for shed moose horns. He saw a huge brown bear stalking a moose across a 50-foot-wide branch of the river, he said.

He said he shouted to warn the animals of his presence. It worked. The bear dove toward McRae like an "Olympic diver."

"He just exploded, made about two jumps into the water and started swimming hard as he could right for me," he said.

McRae dashed about 200 yards to his truck at the trail head. Never one to use bear protection, he now carries pepper spray and jingles with bells when he hikes.
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The bear probably heard: "Lunch over here! Come and get me!" :D
 
Some years ago I was in the Brooks range with my father and brother, one drainage over from the Kongakut. We are strolling along and come across a guide with a bunch of newbies. The newbies were all wearing brand new clothes and gear with enormous cans of pepper spray hung around thier necks. But the guide was the real show. He was wearing purple spandex pants and mirror shades, I am sure his guiding experiance was limited to Aspen or Sun Valley, especially after he looked at my short barrel 12 gauge and asked if I was sheep hunting! His clients looked scared to death and probably rightfully so being entrusted to the idiots care.

oh, the guides weapon was a rusty old savage bolt gun with a long flouresent surveyers flagging tied to the muzzle, presumably so he would remember where he put it.
 
Saw one of those nature specials. A griz RAN DOWN an adult deer! The deer ran. The bear ran. The deer leapt bushes. The bear ran over them. The deer dodged and jumped. The bear grabbed it and... I never had any idea just how fast those bears are. To actually out run a deer, and not on an ambush charge either. No way any human could outrun a bear.
 
Saw one of those nature specials. A griz RAN DOWN an adult deer!
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From what I've heard a grizzly will outrun a quarterhorse for the first 50yards. A couple thousand pounds of muscle...and all wheel drive :evil:
A family friend got a job timber cruising up in Alaska, going into bear country. My dad helped him select a .445 supermag (what a sweet piece that was). He isn't really a gun-guy but he realized going unarmed was not a smart thing to do in the wild.
 
hm.

not sure how true this stuff is, but this is what a guide up in skagway told me (he runs a fur shop) a few months ago when I was up that a ways.

1. three miners headed back to the city one winter. they left a camper trailer with all their food supplies inside, packed inside sealed plastic jars. came back four months later - to discover that their trailer had been peeled back FROM THE TOP like a sardine can, all the jugs busted open and flour and rice and what not spewed all over the inside of the camper.

2. bear he once shot took a 30.06 hit directly to the head. blew off a small chunk of bone, but easily deflected. did eventually go down, but not until the 3rd shot. from the other two guys. no way he could have done it himself - bear was doing about 30 mph.

and from a female ranger i met:

1. friend of hers killed a rogue grizzly with a .357 mag. right to the heart, she assumes, because it was DOA on the first shot. that ranger, though, put three more into Mr. UAH and waited quite some time to make sure it wouldn't suddenly get back up.
 
Ultra light, and sneaking around bears?

Slow and heavy would seem to be safer. And on the extreme end of that scale, we have bear armor: http://outside.away.com/magazine/0597/0597grizzlies.html
grizzly3.jpg


More on the inventor.

CR
 
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