Rinella's Bear Adventure on Afognak Island

[Shablabar]

I imagine a lot of you guys and gals listen to The Meateater Podcast, but just in case you don't, this latest two part series was a doozy.

http://www.themeateater.com/podcasts/ep-086-the-meat-tree-part-1/

http://www.themeateater.com/podcasts/ep-087-the-meat-tree-part-2/

All kinds of thoughts running through my head. What would I have done? Would I have made it out? Having heard this story, would I even go to such a place (yes, probably still would)?

Pretty wild stuff. Thoughts? Any of you folks have similar bear encounter stories to share? I love this stuff.

 

[SherpaPhil]

Just finished Part 2. Wild story. Definitely made me rethink the way I carry my deterrents.

I have been in the situation where I set down my pack with my gun attached and walked away. Luckily, a flushing grouse was all that reminded me I was an idiot.

 

[Art Vandeley]

Very well told story by those folks. I've only had one sketchy bear encounter and had happened to set my gun down like an idiot and walk up the trail a bit and that's where it happened.

 

[TRS_Montana]

Yeah, that was a good story. I have to admit that I am a little jealous of Dirt getting to say that he has ridden a grizzly bear.
Doesn't really affect the way I think since I don't hunt in that kind of grizzly country.

 

[Curvebow]

Great story and recap of it! I've never really hunted grizzly country (brown bear either!), but will be forewarned if I ever do.

Super high pucker factor for sure. I liked Steve's analogy of a herd of zebras scenario in which the bear didn't or couldn't focus on one individual and just scampered through them and left after the hiking pole wallop and Dirt falling onto his back.

 

[ChrisC]

I wonder if their lax attitude is due to the frequency of them hunting in grizzly country. Doing something so often probably creates some complacency. I've only hunted Kodiak once and all I could think about was where the bear spray was at.

 

[Irrelevant]

Some of my take-aways:
That in moment there was the idea that life will be forever changed...
That you can go from not seeing a bear to being attacked by one in seconds... just not warning
That some had the instinct to run while other to fight, and that you don't really know what you'll do or how you'll act until it happens
That some would, looking back, prefer that it didn't happen, while others will cherish the encounter (since no one was hurt).

I don't know if I would ever do a hunt like that. Certainly not alone, and maybe not without a crew of guys at least one of which was already experienced in brown bear country.

 

[Limitkiller]

I spend a fair amount of my outdoors time in grizz country and never felt unsafe. Most recently on an 11 day hunt in the Rocky Mountain foothills I had a friend from Hungary with me. On the very first day we showed up we saw a sow with two cubs about 15 km from our campsite. My friend got himself so worked up over it he refused to sleep outside on the 2nd or 3rd night and slept in the car.

The real eye opener for me was how close in wolves will come into camp. I heard "coyotes" in the night around camp. Sniffing behind my tarp shelter, out by the fire pit, some soft vocalizing. In the morning there were two sets of fresh wolf tracks around our campsite. The closest we could see were between us and our fire pit, and the pit was only 6 or 8 feet away. My buddy said he felt something press against his arm in the night, thought it was a branch. Probably a wolf sniffing him through the tarp. A MUCH closer encounter than I've ever had with bears, and I've camped in some pretty sketchy bear infested places.

 

[belly-deep]

I spend a fair amount of my outdoors time in grizz country and never felt unsafe. Most recently on an 11 day hunt in the Rocky Mountain foothills I had a friend from Hungary with me. On the very first day we showed up we saw a sow with two cubs about 15 km from our campsite. My friend got himself so worked up over it he refused to sleep outside on the 2nd or 3rd night and slept in the car.

The real eye opener for me was how close in wolves will come into camp. I heard "coyotes" in the night around camp. Sniffing behind my tarp shelter, out by the fire pit, some soft vocalizing. In the morning there were two sets of fresh wolf tracks around our campsite. The closest we could see were between us and our fire pit, and the pit was only 6 or 8 feet away. My buddy said he felt something press against his arm in the night, thought it was a branch. Probably a wolf sniffing him through the tarp. A MUCH closer encounter than I've ever had with bears, and I've camped in some pretty sketchy bear infested places.

Interesting about wolves. I left the tent one morning and discovered what looked to be the tracks of a wolf chasing a deer not more than 200 yards from camp. They had quite a back and forth. I was thinking, “man all this went on that close to my camp and I never even knew it was happening”

 

[dgever]

Listening to part 2 was a sobering moment for me. I have been in grizzly country once and am now ashamed to say that I acted like an a**. On one particular night with a thunderstorm rolling in and no convenient place to hang a food bag I ate and slept with my food bag under my tarp, all while being solo. I was carrying bear spray, which I was obviously putting too much trust in. Rinella and the crew made me realize that if something was to happen my chances of getting to the can and deploying it were slim to none. Forget about it if I was curled up asleep in my sleeping bag.

I saw my first grizzly the next day and two more on that same trip, all from very comfortable distances. If it weren't for this podcast those 3 encounters would have just added to my complacency.

David

 

[HSi-ESi]

I found the group hueristics portion of the story very enlightening. Very similar to back-country skiing / avalanche group dynamics. I hadn't thought of that aspect of it - mainly because I very rarely hunt with more than 2 people (and usually just me).

 

[Jim/Wa]

Just curious, is meateater still on TV or via some video medium? All I get on TV are reruns.

 

[nuevo_eph]

My takeaway is that they were physically exhausted due to the difficulty in traveling the terrain and let their guard down. What's interesting is that just a few podcasts before Steve was discussing how you can't let your guard down and yet that nothing can prepare you for that moment other than intense training like the SEALs do.

 

[airlocksniffer]

I wonder if their lax attitude is due to the frequency of them hunting in grizzly country. Doing something so often probably creates some complacency. I've only hunted Kodiak once and all I could think about was where the bear spray was at.

I'd say that's about right. I hunt in griz country quite often and it took awhile to get comfortable. However, with comfort comes complacency so I'll prob make some minor change to how I operate (mainly putting my spray on my bino harness rather than my waist belt). Great podcast.

 

[Southern Elk]

I live and hunt in grizzly country. I have been involved in two bear incidents, one grizzly and one black bear, and it always happens when you least expect it. I always have bear spray and/or a revolver with me. I don't worry about it because I'm as prepared as I can be. My big takeaway was how fast it happened. I don't think they could have done anything, no matter what, because of how fast it went down.

 

[JDH]

In in of his earlier podcasts, Rinella made mention of how he wouldn't mind being clawed by a bear just for the scar. I think he said preferably across his chest. I haven't listened to this one so maybe he mentions that the attack changed his opinion?