This story is a few years old but id like to share it with you because it happened only an hour away from where i hunt elk. Their names are Shane Fumerton and Bill Caspell. Whats really sad about it is that you see them here all smiles and happy posing with a nice elk that they shot not knowing that in less than 2 hours they are attacked and killed by a grizzly bear.

There are more pics and info on it at http://www.direct.ca/cabc/6ReAc.html - http://www.direct.ca/cabc/6ReAc.html   for those that want to take a look. What i was told by someone that knew them was that after they shot the elk they went back to the truck, grabbed some rope and other items for packing and left their firearms in the truck where the guns were found when search parties were dispatched. Needless to say that when the attack occurred neither one of them were armed to defend themselves.

Gary

Bears are a 'hobby' of mine.  Read just about everything written, most of what this guys says is valid.

The two killed were part of what is thought to be a pattern: shot at elk = dinner bell.  I've spent days watching moose gut piles in Alaska for grizzlies to show.  Usually with my 416 mag on my lap.

Everyone should know that for some reason Grizzlies/Browns bears are a political panic button.  Like the wolves re-intro into the lower 48, grizzlies are a hot political/enviro topic.  Most of the decisions I've seen are made for political reasons, not sound science nor wildlife management.  One valuable result  of the increased interest in big bears by the enviro movement is lots of dollars for studies.  But of course like most experts, these studies tend to say what the group funding/pushing want.  But still lots of information to increase everyones understanding of big bears.

The most common junk science I've seen is using black bear information to make grizzly decisions.  The author, Gary, is also guilt of this unscientific and wrong assumption.  Black bears and Grizzlies are to totally different species.  Like equating raccoons and Grizzlies.  I usually tune out when I see this in reports/ articles/ speeches.

I do agree with the author on the thing about human invasion of the wilds.  That is a greenie thing, seems to fit with liberal thought that man is NOT part of the environment.  Seems the same liberal greenies that say humans should not invade the wild areas, live on a remote mountain top where they can see all the wild stuff; they are special?

More on the killings of these two humans.  I would never get involved in dressing game, elk or moose, in grizzly country without a rifle and a buddy watching my backside.  I don't 'trust' (what ever that means) a large predator, including grizzlies or great whites.  I don't scare what the psycho mental state of a bear is when he attacks an human, I don't care if he had a bad childhood or had his head licked by Micheal Jackson as a child.  When will be get the humanization of animals out of wildlife management and public thought. Walt Disney and Bambi really changed more about wildlife management that 1000 years of science.

BEAR

PS my reference to 'Gary' was to :

 I know Bear. None taken! There are two authors that study bear behaviour. Gary Shelton and Stephen Herrero. I believe Shelton is probably in my opinion the most credible when it comes to bears but i like reading up on bears no matter who writes up on them.

Gary

Gary,

The literature (old stuff) on the Bears of North American is very interesting.  Some lore and some facts.  I like the Lewis and Clark accounts.  Tough bears back then and wimpy rifles.

BEAR

Hi Edip,

A very sad case indeed. Reminds me when i got my first moose. I used a wheelbarrow to get the thing out of there and it took a long time because i broke the blade on my bow saw so ended up cutting it up with my knife such as removing legs by cutting into the cartilage. When we went back to get the last front leg it was gone. The point im making is this. Two weeks before that i was hunting elk about half a mile above my moose kill site when i heard alot of branches breaking. I sat down cause i figured it was a herd of elk stumbling down the gully towards me. Crash bang and so on it went and now i got to thinking that elk do trip, stumble and make noise but not that much. I peeked over the edge of the bank where i was waiting and all i saw amongst the trees and bushes at 20 yards away was the indentiifiable hump between the bears shoulders. There were 2 of the grizzlies but i couldnt see the other only hear him not too far away from the one i did see. Needless to say i slowly and quietly backed out of there and left. Another case i know of is that when  i went dolly varden fishing in Fernie with my school buddy and his dad, we stayed at a camp ground. I was told by the guy who was taking us fishing that a week before we got there that a guy who worked in the Overwaitea supermarket  had poached a moose behind our campground. He left the damn thing there till night and went back to get it only to get mauled by a grizzly. He lived though. Made me nervous as i was 14 and staying in a tent which made me a ziplock sanchwich for the bears. One thing ive learned though is that when you tag your game in grizzly country, get it out of there fast and keep your rifle handy at all times until your driving home because once the smell of blood hits the air, its just a matter of time before youve got a situation on your hands.

Gary

I am very sorry to have to read about hunters getting killed or mauled by any bears. However, to many liberals don't print the true facts about bears in the wild and what they are capable of doing in a big hurry.

I learned years ago (thanks to a good DI ) that when on maneuvers, you took that rifle with you to the latrine to take a dump and it was always by your side when sleeping also. Slung over your shoulder in the chow line too. Now even the cooks had their weapons handy. So should every hunter who is near bear country and don't forget about those 2 legged bears lurking in the woods during a hunt. They can be worse than any bear in the wild.

Every hunter in the wild, regardless if your hunting ground hogs, deer, moose or elk in the high country. Never ever lose focus of where your at or what is around you, regardless if you see it or not. Always be prepared is the Boy Scouts Motto! Keep your weapon within arms reach.....Amen!

Bear, I have a question for you to answer please. I am trying to remember that man who has been writing about bears for many years and who did in fact prove to the world for the most part, that Grizzly's Bears and Brown Bears are one in the same. He has worn an eye patch over one eye because of being attacked by a grizzly while gathering data for said project at Yellowstone in 1978. There were 3 bear attacks that year, as I was there myself and helped carry one young lady down the mountain side with my wife.

Best Regards,

2Bits

Sorry 2bits, the eye-patch doesn't help.  I seem to remember that it was a DNA test that confirmed the "same species".  That would have been about early 1970s?????

Are you thinking about Frank DuFresne?  He was a good writter and was involved with AK wildlife studies on bear in the 1950-60?

I'll look thru my library when I get a chance.

BEAR

Hi 2bits. I remember who youre talking about but i cant put a name to his face right now. I remember another story of a man and his girlfriend up in Banff Alberta that also got attacked. The grizzly actually attacked her and he came to the rescue. They were featured on a Geraldo show one time. His whole head of hair and scalp was a prostetic makeover as the bear peeled the skin of his head like a banana. He was very lucky but him and his girlfriend did get married to put somewhat of a happy ending to the story. 

Gary

A friend from BC was telling me last weekend about a griz mauling up there during hunting season. The bear got the guy down, pealed off half of his face, bit his leg badly, broke ribs, and a collar bone. When his hunting partner got there, he put him together as well as possible, and got him in a vehicle to get to help, that was a long way away. He stopped at the first hunting camp they came to and asked for someone to drive them, so he could better keep direct pressure on the wounds. They refused, saying it was the last day of season, and they wanted to hunt. They finally reached some help, and got the guy to the hospital.

Bastards.

They would be in jail, here.

I'll bet they were city boys.

I hope those hunters lose sleep over what they did but they probably wont considering they didnt even have the human instinct to help someone knocking on heavens door. I hope they got skunked on their last day of the season. About 4 years ago at my favourite hunting spot i came across a huge pile of bear crap and said to my buddy that it had to be a grizzly or a monster black bear. Towards the end of the season a local hunter up here shot and killed the grizzly a mile from where i was hunting. He claimed it was showing signs of aggression and charged him. We dont have grizzlies around here where he shot that one but occasionally we get the odd one passing through every once in a blue moon. If you want to hunt grizzly you have to put in for a draw and then go up north to places like Fort Nelson, Prince Rupert, Williams Lake and so on. Ive never had a desire to hunt grizzly but i am starting to get an itch to try for sheep.

Gary

Actually he doesnt (the author) do a bad job of defending his theories. While he does talk about bear attacks in general he does refine this by explaining how G bear differ in the adaptation to kill robbing.

I do believe it was an local outfitter - Bob Fontana who went in and killed these bears. In the incident I recall, the gov doofs flew in saw one dead and decided there was no benefit in "harassing" the bears further. Bob threw a leg over his horse string, rode in killed the bears and found the 2nd buried body. He brought the bodies out for the families and the gov backed down on charging him. Bob was killed last July in Tanzania by a Cape buf.