Caribou Gear Tarp

Grizzly - How close is too close ?

Until you have been charged by a grizz it is difficult to comprehend how quick they really are. We were floating a river in AK last year and came around a corner on the river where a grizz was claiming a moose carcass. He started his charge at about 75yrds, about the same time we saw the pile of dirt he had used to cover the carcass. It was raining hard and my rifle was under a tarp and I was on the far side of the boat. I instantly threw the tarp off to grab my rifle and he was in the water coming at us before I could load a shell in the pipe. My buddy on the near side stood up and waved his arms about the same time the guy running the motor had it fired up and moving forward. He probably turned at 15 yards. I assure you, if there would have been a rifle at the ready he would have been taken down. We thought he was coming in the boat for sure...water was maybe a couple feet deep. They are fast, crazy fast.
This is still America, the guys investigating have to prove your guilt, you don’t have to prove your innocence. Who is to say what a reasonable distance is?...I guess that is for 12 of your peers to decide if the govt thinks they have a case. I would rather leave it in their hands than to be carried by 6.
 
Coach Chris has balls of steel.


I have audio somewhere of my group being charged by a grizzly bear. I will see if I can find it and figure out a way to post it. There is no video but you can hear how fast it happens
 
Coach Chris has balls of steel.


I have audio somewhere of my group being charged by a grizzly bear. I will see if I can find it and figure out a way to post it. There is no video but you can hear how fast it happens

Sounds like the grizzly might have even sniffed those balls. mtmuley
 
Until you have been charged by a grizz it is difficult to comprehend how quick they really are.
Coach Chris has balls of steel.
Grizzlies are faster than many can comprehend until you see it first hand. I accepted a long time ago that if the bear wants you it has you. Not much is going to stop it.
The one thing you have on your side is keeping a cool head.
Accepting their presence in my everyday life has perhaps given me a bit of detachment.
Statistically driving to the trailhead is more dangerous than hiking in grizzly country. That doesn't stop anyone from driving.
 
Bit late to the party. Saw between 40-50 grizzly this year. 80% on Kodiak, 20% in Yellowstone ecosystem (I live there). In the lower 48 if you can see them they're too close. As others have said, 99% of bear sightings are going to be fine. It's the unpredicatable 1% that you have to worry about. They're wild animals.

I've called them in with bugles. They will also come to gun shots (dinner bell). If you don't have an elk down just leave the area. It's not worth it. If you do have an elk down and then you see a grizzly, use your bear spray first. Their is a study they cite in the Yellowstone area that bearspray is 95% effective and guns 60%.
 
two occasions of physical contact
1. Grizzly sniffed my stomach through the wall of my tent in glacier natl park.
2. Grizzly slowly approached myself and a companion in the yellowstone backcountry. It sniffed her wrist and rubbed against my legs before walking away.
Too close for comfort

nope nope nope nope
 
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