Man fights bear and wins

[cbrunny]

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/s...d-pulls-him-in-he-beats-it-back-with-a-hammer

A Boy Scout leader was pulled into a cave by a bear in northern New Jersey but beat the animal away with a rock hammer while the three Scouts with him called for help, authorities said.

Christopher Petronino, 50, and the Scouts were hiking at Split Rock Reservoir on Sunday afternoon when he stopped to show the boys a cave, NJ.com reported. He dipped into a small crevasse leading to it, and the bear grabbed him by the foot and yanked him inside. It began biting his legs and shoulders and Petronino fought it off, NJ.com reported.

“Petronino struck the bear twice in the head with a rock hammer. He then pulled his sweatshirt over his head and curled into the fetal position,” Bob Considine, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said in a statement. “He yelled to the Scouts, who were outside the cave, to leave and go get help.”

I don't like bears. Glad he got away!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/s...d-pulls-him-in-he-beats-it-back-with-a-hammer



I don't like bears. Glad he got away!

It actually happened to me 43 years ago. It was (only!) an adolescent Griz. Fetal position? Tried to bite into the back of my head! I was in the Whitefish hospital for two weeks. I'll save the details for the campfire when you can pass around a goblet of brandy with some sugar in it.

After my release from the hospital, the local ranger station staff had a barbecue, and I was sitting in the barracks hall with friends . . passing around the brandy. An old and withered Blackfoot on the trail crew entered. You could smell the Old Crow on his breath, an he pointed his shaking finger at me. [I suspected he had the DT's.]

"I sent the bear after ya! . . . "

17 years ago an only a few years before I retired, a fellow professor and a friend from a different school asked me to dinner at the local Chinese. They brought with them an Indian shaman from Peru. So I told him my story. It left him looking stunned, and I had no reason to think his reaction wasn't genuine.

Finally, he became more composed and assumed an authoritative posture. Pointing his finger, he said in Spanish: "The Bear is your animal guide in the spirit world."

I'm still trying to figure that out. I don't dislike bears. But I choose to appreciate them from a greater distance than the circumstances of that "first encounter." Probably 2nd only to the chimpanzee for animal intelligence.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

He did the right thing fighting back. The playing dead... not so much. He's lucky he made it out in one piece.

 

[JSt0rm]

It actually happened to me 43 years ago. It was (only!) an adolescent Griz. Fetal position? Tried to bite into the back of my head! I was in the Whitefish hospital for two weeks. I'll save the details for the campfire when you can pass around a goblet of brandy with some sugar in it.

After my release from the hospital, the local ranger station staff had a barbecue, and I was sitting in the barracks hall with friends . . passing around the brandy. An old and withered Blackfoot on the trail crew entered. You could smell the Old Crow on his breath, an he pointed his shaking finger at me. [I suspected he had the DT's.]

"I sent the bear after ya! . . . "

17 years ago an only a few years before I retired, a fellow professor and a friend from a different school asked me to dinner at the local Chinese. They brought with them an Indian shaman from Peru. So I told him my story. It left him looking stunned, and I had no reason to think his reaction wasn't genuine.

Finally, he became more composed and assumed an authoritative posture. Pointing his finger, he said in Spanish: "The Bear is your animal guide in the spirit world."

I'm still trying to figure that out. I don't dislike bears. But I choose to appreciate them from a greater distance than the circumstances of that "first encounter." Probably 2nd only to the chimpanzee for animal intelligence.

Same.

 

[Oyeve]

You come into my house unannounced I will attack too! Glad hes alive but hes very lucky!

 

[kage69]

It actually happened to me 43 years ago. It was (only!) an adolescent Griz. Fetal position? Tried to bite into the back of my head! I was in the Whitefish hospital for two weeks. I'll save the details for the campfire when you can pass around a goblet of brandy with some sugar in it.

After my release from the hospital, the local ranger station staff had a barbecue, and I was sitting in the barracks hall with friends . . passing around the brandy. An old and withered Blackfoot on the trail crew entered. You could smell the Old Crow on his breath, an he pointed his shaking finger at me. [I suspected he had the DT's.]

"I sent the bear after ya! . . . "

17 years ago an only a few years before I retired, a fellow professor and a friend from a different school asked me to dinner at the local Chinese. They brought with them an Indian shaman from Peru. So I told him my story. It left him looking stunned, and I had no reason to think his reaction wasn't genuine.

Finally, he became more composed and assumed an authoritative posture. Pointing his finger, he said in Spanish: "The Bear is your animal guide in the spirit world."

I'm still trying to figure that out. I don't dislike bears. But I choose to appreciate them from a greater distance than the circumstances of that "first encounter." Probably 2nd only to the chimpanzee for animal intelligence.

A black bear put my dad in the hospital for a few days, back in the early 90s, what ended the struggle was him remembering to play dead. Given he was a Maine State guide who took people on guiding hunting trips, I don't hold it against the bear. Getting jumped for just hiking around in the woods though, not cool!

Good thing that one was a youngin. The old timers are often missing some of their teeth and/or can't hunt like they use to, so the 'play dead' routine can be risky with an animal who is a lot less picky than a kid. The one that got my dad had been injured somehow, had an infected wound that drove him nuts, as well as charge in like a rabid dog. No huffing and puffing or fake charges with that guy. If it had been a grizzly he probably wouldn't have made it.

You still have scars? Pics?