Brown Bear attacks group of teens in Alaska

[DougPaul]

Not disagreeing with the narrated and discussed "best practice" in the event of a grizzly attack. Just saying even standing next to one stuffed in a museum case tonight made my hair stand up on the back of my neck to look at his jaws, paws, and claws! It would be tough to do an adequate job of playing dead and not running. You can read it as many times as you like but the book is a far cry from hearing, smelling and feeling one close to you in the circumstance these guys were in.

Best practice may not always be the easy or intuitive practice...

In emergencies, one often/usually acts according to a pre-planned or pre-practiced script if one has one (otherwise instincts (ie run) tend to take over). I, for one, do not wish to practice bear attacks so I will do my rehearsals mentally...

I'd much rather go in with some (authoritative) book knowledge than to try the range of responses to see what happens myself... The book in question is written by a known expert--in contrast I cannot tell if someone who is/has been there is truly knowledgeable or just some Rambo wannabe.

I am not against local knowledge, but it is better if combined with the knowledge of the experts whether their words are written in a book or spoken to you directly.

Doug, my post regarding black bears around here was not relative to the NW bears and perhaps not relative to the thread except to say our stats can and likely will change due to more run ins and food storage issues. If I ever have the good fortune to be in the NW I would also want to be in the company of someone familiar with that habitat, not hiking solo with a lot of book sense about what to do. My encounters on NH trails have been next to nil, two cubs from a distance treed on Blueberry Ledge trail late one day. No sign of the mother. And the odor and noise of a big fellow one day on Rattle River, and yes I ran like hell in the direction opposite the noise!

It was not a reflection on your Eastern experiences--I was simply informing people that blacks in the NW have been reported to behave somewhat differently from blacks in the East, so Eastern experience may not apply fully to the NW.

FWIW, I have also had several encounters in the East, all without serious consequences and I have hiked in grizzly territory, fortunately with no close encounters.

Doug