[dsn_klr650] outfitting and bears. nklr

[Jeff Walker]

> A friend of mine told me that the best defense against an attacking bear

is

> to shot your partner in the leg and you run like hell out of there. I

don't

> hang around this friend much any more. >

Yeah, I'd definitely find a new buddy. My bud and I have a battle drill rehearsed for this scenario (Anyone who has ever been in the Infantry knows you rehearse your battle drills, kind of like practicing a football play). First we will both mass fires, and maneuver apart from each other. The guy that the bear goes after runs like hell, and the other guy shoots. If the bear turns on the shooter then the roles reverse, and the shooter now runs like hell while the other guy turns and fires. A big word of caution here though as fratricide is a high risk. Communication and calm, accurate fire is of the utmost importance. You really have to trust your buddy, and he has to trust you. I don't have too many people in my life that I can trust in that way anymore since I'm out of the Army, except my brother and my long time best friend and hunting partner. He served in the Marines and rides a Yamaha, but I don't hold that against him. Most of the time I'm on my own in the sticks, and you better believe I'm looking for bear sign even when I'm riding 40 mph down a trail, and every single time I stop and check my map. If I see any, and I'm on unfamiliar territory, I turn right back around and go back. Avoidance is the best way to negate any conflict. Once as a kid out bow hunting with my father and brother, I was woken by a bear that came into our camp and was attempting to get our game we had strung up on a game bag. My father unloaded two full magazines (12 rounds, of which 10 hit) from his .45 ACP into that bear before it stopped. We counted at least three rounds that had bounced right off of its skull. What is the point? We had screwed up. We broke the rules. We knew we were in bear country, and we butchered our game and ate our food and had our garbage in our campsite. Also, we later discovered that there was bear sign within 50 yards of where we camped out. Know the rules and obey them, and you greatly reduce the risk of not becoming a statistic. And that's the last I'm going to say on this subject. If you want to read more about it, search the archives to this list and you will find a great deal of discussion. Just search for "Bears and Oil". Jeff