OldRanger wrote;

Hey, Thanks for the book title. Another excellent source of bear info would be the National Geographic specials, The Grizzly Man, which is about the late Timothy Treadwel. And also NatGeo's special Hunter Hunted: Death Of The Bear Man which is about Vitaly Nikolaenko, who before his DBB (my newly coined abbreviation for "Death by Bear") had been observing brown bears in Russia’s Kamchatka region for 30 years.

What you'll find when you view these excellent documentaries is that both victims went way beyond respecting the bears acceptable comfort zone as related to space, distance, and just plain aggravation limit, and also that they (the victims) were unarmed.. The bear was armed, he brought teeth and claws with him every time he went out hiking.. we should be so smart. Well, Nikolaenko did have a two pound container of pepper spray in his hand when he became DBB.

Yes, I'm way ahead of you.. I know that Comrade Vitaly went on aggravating bears for 30 years without being killed, but the point is, he is NOW DBB, versus not NOW being DBB. I believe both DBB victims would have had a better chance with a G word in their posession. Preferably a .45 caliber Glock G word.

Oh yeah, not sure if this is true, but I heard the US Army is considering exchanging all of the troop's guns for pepper spray. To avoid the enemy from coming into camp, our young troops will only need to keep their barracks and outposts in the middle east clean of all Halal certified foods, and set up bivouac only in a "legal" (guaranteed that the bear, sorry.. Enemy, knows it's off bounds for him) government designated areas. I'm having trouble seeing the logic in that, but maybe I should just fall in line, and practice flat lining and praying toward Mecca five times daily, for if the election swings toward a certain choice, it is surely coming anyway? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Brum