The following story was told by a Yellowstone Park Ranger at an evening campfire presentation at the Bridge Bay Campgrounds Amphitheater on bears.
Back in the days when tent camping was allowed at Fishing Bridge, a camper was relaxing in his tent reading a book . He noticed some motion in front of his tent and looked up just in time to be staring a black bear right in the face. The bear came through the screen of the tent as the camper went through the back wall of the tent and headed for the snack bar. As he was entering the snack door, another man was walking out of the snack bar with his arms full of groceries. The guy with the groceries glanced at the man jetting into the snack bar, and then turned to continue on his way, when he noticed the bear heading towards him. He threw the groceries into the air and climbed the closest tree. The bear walked up to the groceries and started to eat.
A couple in a truck drove up and saw the bear. The women grabbed a pot and pan, got out of the truck and started rattling them for all she was worth. The startled bear stopped eating and headed for the nearest tree.
Unfortunately, it was the same tree that the guy from the snack bar was seeking refuge in. As the bear climbed the tree the man climbed higher. They followed each other almost to the top of the tree. Finally a park ranger showed up and was able to stop the lady from rattling the pans.
The bear came down shortly after she had stopped and everyone had backed away from the area.
But it took the ranger almost two hours to get the man out of the tree!
\IStory Supplied by John W. Uhler - The Total Yellowstone Page\i
\BDescription:\b Grizzly bear encounters can be terrifying due to their enormous size and unpredictable behavior.
\BPhoto:\b Todtri Productions Limited
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"Picnic Bear",2,01630001.bmp,c,179.wav
A family was touring through Yellowstone Park when the father pulled over to check his map for directions. There was another family getting ready to eat a picnic lunch on the opposite side of the road. The picnickers had just set their picnic basket on the table when a bear came ambling out of the woods right for them. They all scattered for the car, the father ended up on top of the car with everyone else inside. The bear took the picnic basket and walked off into the woods to the amazement of the one family and the amusement of the other. The family swore it was Yogi, but no one saw Boo Boo, so it could not be confirmed! The other family shared their lunch with picnickers, but there was just "bearly" enough.
\IStory Supplied by John W. Uhler - The Total Yellowstone Page\i
\BDescription:\b Brown bears have very powerful \Pforepaws\p and jaws.
\BPhoto:\b Todtri Productions Limited
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"Swinging Ranger",3,01630063.bmp,c,180.wav
The following bear story was provided by Phil Blasingame. This story was told in the summer of 96 at an evening campfire program by a ranger.
Several years ago, there was a ranger whose name was Bob. One day, while on his way back to his cabin after a long day clearing trails with his saw, Ranger Bob looked down the trail he was traveling on and saw a huge grizzly bear lumbering towards him. The bear was unaware of the rangers presence so far, but he knew that it would be a matter of moments before he would be noticed, so he had to act fast. Being a ranger, he knew he could not outrun the bear and he also knew that if he played dead. he would soon be dead, so his only option was to quickly find a tree and climb it until the bear passed on.
So he dropped the saw, which made some noise, and found a tree that had enough lower branches that he could make his way up, which also made for some noise as well. Being a curious creature, the grizzly made his way toward the tree to see a small green ball scurrying up and making a whole lot of racket. The bear stood up and placed his front paws high upon the trunk of the tree and began pushing the pole pine back and forth... trying to discover what this green ball was...and because of the tapered shape of the pine tree, the top of the tree where Bob was clinging to began to sway back and forth... Ranger Bob was hanging on for his life. This went on for 15-20 minutes and when the bear was convinced that Ranger Bob was not coming down, he went on down the trail... back towards Bob's cabin. Well, Ranger Bob thought to himself that he would wait a few minutes before climbing down, knowing that the bear was still down the direction of the trail he had to travel. After a few minutes, the bear returned, but this time he had another bear with him. They eagerly approached the tree where Ranger Bob was held prisoner when the first bear began pushing on the tree again. The second bear joined in from the other side of the tree and pushed back against the first bear's efforts, causing the tree to sway beyond comfortable levels. Ranger Bob knew he couldn't hold on much longer with all of this whipping and jerking going on but to his surprise the bears finally stopped their harassment and went on down the trail, towards Ranger Bob's cabin. At last, a moment to catch his breath, Ranger Bob prepared to climb down the tree and try his luck, when he noticed the first bear coming back down the trail again, this time he was carrying a beaver under his arm!
\IStory Supplied by John W. Uhler - The Total Yellowstone Page\i
\BDescription:\b Brown bears have been known to snoop around campsites in search of food.
\BPhoto:\b Todtri Productions Limited
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"Hey! Did You See that Bear?",4,34700018.bmp,c,181.wav
\IStory taken from Stephen Herrero's book "Bear Attacks"\i
In late June 1960 Dr. Ian Stirling and a companion were working in the Verendrye Creek Basin of Kootenay National Park, British Columbia. Ian, a research biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service who is well known for his research on polar bears, showed significant calm and carefully thought-out action during a very frightening encounter.
At the time of the incident, Ian was a summer student working for the warden service of Kootenay Park. He and his partner's job for the day was to clear deadfall from the trail in Verendrye Creek Basin. Ian was a short distance off the trail and was standing by the roots of a large spruce tree that had fallen over. He heard "sporadic puffing" coming from the direction of the trail. He peered through a hole in the roots and saw a grizzly bear. He next saw the bear "lift his nose, test the wind," and then come running towards him. Ian and the bear next did two and half laps around the roots of the tree with Ian staying ahead of the bear. Ian saw an opportunity to sneak away to a big tree that he wanted to climb.
\BDescription:\b Bears are more likely to attack humans if they have cubs or food.
\BPhoto:\b Gerry Ellis - Ellis Nature Photography
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"Hey! Did You See that Bear? - (2)",5,34700030.bmp,c,182.wav
Ian's letter to me tells what happened next.
"I had only moved maybe twenty feet when she saw me, let out a most electrifying vocalization that I could only call a "roar," and she bolted after me. I can still see her clearing the log in as much detail as if it were yesterday. I began to run for the heavy timber but, after a few steps, realized it was futile. The choice was then to get knocked down or lie down myself and play dead. I dove head first into the edge of a thick clump of alders so that my head and neck and part of my shoulders were in between some of the thin trunks. I was lying on my stomach, (and I) crossed my heels and clasped my fingers together over the back of my neck. I lay absolutely still. At the time, I fully expected to be mauled or at the least bitten a couple of times. I also knew quite well that I might be killed. I was terrified at my circumstance but calm in that I knew what I was trying to do. The difficulty was going to be to carry it out if things started to get painful. I was concentrating as hard as I could on lying motionless and to endure whatever happened next to the best of my ability... I can still remember rather clearly how annoyed I was with my
