RIP Largest Grizzly Bear on the Planet

[cosmickid]

Here's a photo of a 3 year old Alaskan Brown Bear, he was about 5 - maybe 6 foot tall. Photo taken from the bow of the ship I was engineer on.

dave

 

[fasteddy]

Not all human and bear encounters go bad.

Steve.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151847149254588

 

[Moto pope]

Sorry to totally dump the bear story, but I found Intrepid wheel woman's post much more amazing! Girl, I've been following your posts for a while now and just gotta ask, when are you writing a book of your life's story???

 

[Intrepid Wheelwoman]

Sorry to totally dump the bear story, but I found Intrepid wheel woman's post much more amazing! Girl, I've been following your posts for a while now and just gotta ask, when are you writing a book of your life's story???

I'm not that special MP. Over the course of my life I've met many women like myself who simply rolled up their sleeves and got on with it when it came to looking after their families. You just do what needs to be done.
I will admit I had some skills to start with that many women don't and I suppose I didn't feel as hemmed in by gender expectations as many women are in our society (not always seen as being a good thing when I was younger). Writing a book would certainly be interesting, - though it would be painful too and I'm not sure I would want to dig up some of the really bad times all over again. Better to let the past lie I think and be thankful that I survived it all.

 

[Moto pope]

I hear what you are saying, IWW, "your not so special," but, I don't see a lot of gals (in your generation) doing what you've done. Now, early 19th century through WWII American women often exhibited this level of fortitude, but much has been lost with our easy lifestyle since. Also, many who have written (published or not) of their hard lives, have found the experience quite cathartic. Dan, look it up!

 

[spanners]

I'd be the first to subscribe to a book from IWW.I always read her posts,one of the most interesting people on the forum. I think she would be a fantastic person to get to know. So wright that book .
Cheers spanners

 

[KCvale]

Facts tend to muddle things for just a fun topic about a really big frigg'n threat that would would literally make you crap your pants to take on if it was after you.

I agree the greater threat to me we need to be aware of in the desert comes in much smaller 'harmless looking' packages from 'cat like' things like mountain lions and bob cats to the 'dog like' things like wolves and coyotes, all the way down to the little f@#s like rattle snakes and scorpions.

The difference is these threats are much easier to neutralize with what I have on me (including just my shoes) at the time when something like this bear story is a whole different story ;-}

 

[Moto pope]

Here is a fact that is born out by many official agencies; humans are far more likely to be attacked by a dog than any other animal. Some breeds are bred for their aggressive nature, but a growing problem is the ferrel dog population in the US. In times of economic trouble people often dump their pets because they can not feed them. These dogs form small packs and roam free in search of what they can find to eat. They have no fear of man and become aggressive due to a pack mentality, finding courage from each other. Decide how you would protect yourself if attacked by dog/dogs before it happens.

 

[2door]

I always carry dog treats in my pocket just for that reason

Tom

 

[Intrepid Wheelwoman]

Dogs are scarey. The few times it's happened to me I've dismounted from my bicycle and used it so the bicycle is always between me and the dogs. Dogs will try to get around behind you to attack so it's really important not to let that happen. Because I walk with a stick I've always got a walking stick clipped to the bike so I do have a weapon to hand. So far it's worked out fine if I just keep moving away steadily and slowly using my bike as a shield while keeping my eyes on the dogs.

 

[Moto pope]

I really like (most) dogs, have a border collie mix, he is 15 yrs old. But if you google "dog attacks in the US" the stats are eye opening! Oh, and Tom, hope we don't, someday, read the following headlines: A Colorado man was attack by dogs yesterday, though not hurt badly, officers were unable to explain why the pockets of his jeans were torn and missing!

 

[CTripps]

I know we're drifting off topic, but in my observations after spending nearly 2 decades as an invisible man - sorry, food delivery driver; I called myself that because you can deliver to the same people every week for months and they still don't know what you look like/couldn't pick you out of a line up - I can say that generally, in my experience, the smaller the dog the more aggressive they tend to be. Certain breeds (pugs, bichon frise) excepted.

Larger dogs were more interested in who was visiting (and most of them love "Food Guy") after making the required noise. The smaller ones you couldn't turn you back on while handing the order to the customer.

One thing was pretty much universal though. If I asked a dog to "Be good, or you won't get any gravy" (KFC those days) they would usually sit right away and quiet down.

 

[fasteddy]

Installing cable for television gives you some interesting moments with animals.

You have a 40' wooden extension ladder balanced on your shoulder and you nudge the gate so you can get into the back yard with your eyes on where you have to work and then suddenly there is that "someone is watching me feeling" and as you casually look off to your left and there are two Dobermans sitting there taking a really great interest in who you are and what you are doing and no, they are not on chains.

Shift the ladder to your other shoulder, edge slowly towards the gate, hook it open with the ladder and slide out and breath a sigh of relief when you hear the two snapping, snarling dogs launch themselves repeatedly at the gate in an attempt to devour their now escaped prey and listen to their owner stand on the back porch and trill loudly and ineffectively "now you boys stop that".

Steve.

 

[Moto pope]

I once was trying to get into the back half of a barn I rented to a family. Their Doberman was chained in the front half they used as a garage. A sweet little girl told me it was OK, he doesn't bite. He proceeded to bite the back of my thigh, felt as if someone hit me with a ball bat hard as they could. Next day I had a 9 inch round bruise, and oh, it hurt! Don't believe what sweet little girls tell you!

 

[2door]

Many many moons ago when I was much younger I was on a job site with a service technician looking into an air conditioning problem at a mansion in Coral Gables Florida. The tech and I were squating down, examining the condensing unit outside the large home and watching and listening to the unit run. Neither of us heard the beast coming up behind us but I saw the shadow and turned to look into the face of the biggest dog I'd ever seen. His nose was a foot from mine and I froze.

The homeowner appeared around the corner of the house and yelled, "He won't hurt you". Ha ha...
Ever been face to face with an Irish Wolf Hound and not know his temperament?
Turns out he was the sweetest animal alive and just wanted to say hello. Big dog but very docile. He spent the rest of the time I was there leaning against me and getting scratched. Neat dog.

Tom

 

[Moto pope]

Tom, you turned around and froze? Guess the air unit was working after all.

 

[CTripps]

I remember one time I had a delivery with instructions to go to the back door (apartment at the back) of the house. The front unit resident was sitting on the porch. I look over the gate to the back door, and there's a huge Rottweiler standing in the doorway.

The guy on the porch says "Just go on back, don't worry about him, he won't hurt you."
I looked again, and replied "You know that, and I know that, but since I'm about to go into his yard, does he know that?"

I got a lot of 'pet stories' out of that job.. but I guess that's to be expected when you're visiting 20-50 households 6 nights a week.

 

[Ludwig II]

Tom, you turned around and froze? Guess the air unit was working after all.

It might have needed to.

 

[KCvale]

I had a spaniel mix many years ago I named Fred but we (friends, family) all called him 'Freddie the Wonder Pup'.
He was the hands down smartest dog any of us had ever seen and that still holds true to today.

Anyway, the back yard had an alley and big gate, and the front was just a little chain link door wide gate, just inside that gate was the kitchen 'back door' and it a had a doggie door for Freddie.

10' around the corner from that was my gas meter.

So I come home one day and as I go in the gate I hear this female voice just around the corner in back calling out Hello? Hello? Anyone there?
So I walk around back and here is this petite pretty young gal in a meter reader outfit sitting on my gas meter with Freddie sitting a couple of feet away.

Her story in short was she typically just uses binoculars to look over the fence or through the gate to read the meter from the alley but I had a rag on it and it obscured the readout.

She went on to say Fred seemed like a very pleasant non-threading dog which was indeed him temperament, so she came through the gate and moved the rag to get the gas meter reading with absolutely no problems from Freddie, until she went to leave...

Freddie sat himself between her and the gate, and when she tried to go that direction he gave her a warning growl.

She went on to say she would sit down on the meter, Freddie would relax, even come and be friendly and she'd pet him and talk all nice but as soon as she would try to leave Freddie would again insist she stay.

Apparently this game went on for about 45 minutes before I got home but she said she never really felt afraid, more pissed he wouldn't let her leave.

I got Fred as a little puppy from the pound and as I trained him the basics and he grew I knew he was a damn smart dog and he would do all kinds of cool things like big service dogs do (get me a beer from the frig for example).

When I came around back to explore the voice Freddie just stayed put until I went up and talked to the gal and of course as soon as I told Freddie 'it's OK' he left his post as she was now a new friend and as she pet Fred she scolded me for obstructing her view of my meter, then departed as she had entered with a friendly escort.

I can't explain this, I didn't teach him to do that, but I was single at the time and I'm going with he thought I might want to meet this new pretty young gal that came to our house and insisted she stay until I checked her out ;-}

 

[2door]

It might have been better if you'd just taught him to get a phone number.

Tom