© 2014-2021 Copyright by P. K. H. Groth, Denver, Colorado, USA All rights reserved - See contact page for for permission to republish article
excerpts.
Bear Hunting Stories
Cornered
to
Death:
A
rancher
described
a
disheartening
early
June
morning
incident
in
a
high
country
pasture
checked
by
his
brother.
Two
bears
team-
worked
an
elk
herd
toward
the
fence
corner.
The
cows
circled
trying
to
locate
an
escape
route
for
their
young.
The
females
finally
jumped
over
the
fence
to
safety,
abandoning
their
babies
for
their
own
survival
–
and
the
instinctive
survival
of
the
species.
The
bears
lurched
in
to
bat,
claw,
and
break
young
backs.
Then
the
bruins
ambled
away
from
the
eleven
dead
calves.
It
was
just
another morning sport challenge.
Retired
Federal
Game
warden
Terry
Gross
related
to
me
that
some
human
hunters
also
enter
a
mental
state
of
wanton
slaughter.
They
see
one
animal
fall
or
stumble,
and
instantly
keep
firing
at
other
animals
in
primitive
mental
disorientation,
out
of
reasoning
control,
and
having
no
empathy
for
animal life. They mentally converted to thinking they were shooting at mere targets instead of living things.
Bears
Habitually
Comb
Sloppy
Camping
Areas:
A
camper
using
an
illegal
encampment
site
outside
of
Durango
Colorado.
He
was
in
his
tent
eating
sunflower
seeds
when
a
bear
dragged
dragged
him
out,
mauled,
chased
him
down
as
he
fled
to
be
again
mauled.
Friends
with
their
dogs
assisted
in
driving
the
bear
to
bay.
However,
the
defiant
bear
sat
at
the
edge
of
a
parking
lot
watching
medics
and
police
helping
the
victim.
It
turns
out
that
homeless
people
had
been
using
the
illegal
camp
area
for
quite
some
time.
The
bear
had
became
habituated
to
foraging
for
food,
and
had
grown
overly
familiar
with
people.
Always
check
out
a
potential
camp
site
for
garbage
and
food
wrapper
litter
evidence
before
you
set
up
camp.
This
is
especially
important
to
hunters.
Previous
hunters
may
have
hung
game
nearby,
or
even
dragged
game
to
camp
leaving
a
long
scent
trail
to
be
followed
by
predators.
[The
photo
shows
an
intelligent
bear
checking
out
a
bear
trap,
and
deciding
the chicken bait was not worth the risk. Michigan Dept. Resources.]
Junk
Food
Not
Good
for
Bears
(and
You
Too):
Colorado
does
not
permit
baiting
of
bears.
This
permitted
research
into
the
effects
of
scrounged
junk
food
on
the
health
of
bears.
Jonathan
Pauli,
University
of
Wisconsin,
checked
diets
of
hundreds
of
black
bears
across
Colorado.
He
identified
bears
that
ate
high-calorie
foods
derived
from
corn
and
cane
sugars
using
blood
samples
to
extract
carbon-13
concentrations.
Carbon-13
is
higher
in
processed
sugars
than
natural
sugars.
Study
results
strongly
suggest
that
bears
scavenging
people
foods
may
ingest
up
to
30%
of
their
diet
from
processed
foods.
Graduate
student
Rebecca
Kirby
extended
the
study
to
see
the
impact
of
diet
on
bear
hibernation,
gestation
and
procreation.
The
thirty
junk
food
bears
in
this
study
hibernated
shorter
periods.
That is not good. Active bears deplete winter energy fat reserves sooner.
There
is
another
problems
for
the
bears.
Bear
physiology
is
unique,
because
during
hibernation
the
bear
system
compensates
for
aging
–
sort
of
stopping
it
(see
pages
on
bear).
Studies
of
other
smaller
mammals
also
suggest
that
hibernation
may
slow
down
aging.
Genes
enter
the
picture
here.
As
mammals
age,
the
snippets
of
cell
gene
chromosome
ends
called
telomere
shorten
over
time.
Bears
in
the
hibernation
study
had
shortened
telomeres,
while
free
ranging
bears
(not
scavengers)
appear
not
have
shortened
hibernation.
[The
study
must
be
statistically
enlarged,
because
few
free-range
bears
could
be
blood
sampled.]
Telomere
researcher
Jay
Shay
(U.
Texas,
SW
Medical
Center/Dallas)
wonders
if
the
connection
between
bear
if
human
food,
hibernation,
and
premature
cell
aging may be correct.
So
where
does
this
leave
us
humans?
With
a
conundrum
to
think
about!
Is
junk
food
not
only
a
path
to
diabetes,
lethargy, incapacitation and premature aging? Eat well and keep moving!