Another Bear Attack

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Minnesota doctor ‘severely mauled’ by two bears while hiking

Minnesota doctor ‘severely mauled’ by two ‘grizzly’ bears while hiking with friends on the Montana-Wyoming state border


Ear, nose and throat surgeon Bradley Johnson (pictured) was severely injured after being mauled by a bear on Sunday

A 48-year-old Minnesota man was mauled by a bear on Sunday afternoon while he was out hiking with friends near the Wyoming-Montana border.

Bradley David Johnson, who KARE11 reports is a respected ear nose and throat surgeon, suffered ‘severe injuries’ to his arm, shoulder and back after crossing paths with what were described as two grizzly bears in the Beartooth Mountains.

Johnson was with three friends at the time of the attack. While two of them raced off to find help, one stayed behind to take care of the surgeon.
The two friends reportedly told police Johnson had been mauled ‘by a grizzly bear’, though this has not yet been confirmed, The Star Tribune reported.

Pocahontas County Search And Rescue (PCSAR) and Guardian Flight were both able to quickly find Johnson, though medics were forced to hike a mile in from their chopper to reach him.

The team were able to stabilize Johnson’s injuries, and carry him to the helicopter, where he was raced to hospital in Billings, Montana.



Johnson was backpacking with three friends in the Beartooth mountains when he was attacked. While two of his friends left to find help, one stayed to look after him, and ended up trapped in the woods alone himself

Johnson was backpacking with three friends in the Beartooth mountains when he was attacked. While two of his friends left to find help, one stayed to look after him, and ended up trapped in the woods alone himself

Unfortunately, the man who stayed behind with Johnson could not fit on the chopper, and instead waited in the woods for hours for someone to come and get him, as the sun would soon set and he did not want to hike alone in the dark.

‘Because of the limited space on the helicopter, Guardian was forced to leave Johnson’s companion, Justin Reed, age 45 from Medina, Minnesota behind at Granite Lake,’ a statement from PCSAR read.


‘Night was approaching and Reed was unwilling to walk out in the dark, fearing he would become disoriented.’

At 7pm, a ground team from PSCAR and an officer from Wyoming Game and Fish set off to find Reed again and guide him out of the woods.

The mission took seven hours, and the group did not return until 2.15am on Monday.

A spokesperson for St Vincent’s Hospital told the Tribune Johnson was in a fair condition on Tuesday.



Johnson's friends said the surgeon was attacked by grizzly bears, but the bear responsible has not been officially identified

Johnson’s friends said the surgeon was attacked by grizzly bears, but the bear responsible has not been officially identified
 
If we all step back & look at the last several decades, concerning wildlife encounters, we'll see a pattern.
Animal rights activists got very busy in the late 1960's & early 1970's. They worked hard to change laws to "protect" more animals & reduce the human activities that helped control animal populations.
These same folks started a push to re-introduce many different animals into places they had been removed from, or had low to balanced populations.
Next,, the human population has grown dramatically, AND includes the millions of illegals that have encroached upon land & places that were once wild lands.
Development, gated communities, etc has caused wild places to shrink, while wildlife populations have enjoyed the protections AND ease of growth.
So now, we have more wildlife, less space, more interaction between animals & people, followed by the Disney mentality of people.
More serious & dangerous wildlife/human encounters are happening.

I do not see a change from that direction any time soon. I fear more & more encounters will happen, and they will result in more humans being injured or killed as a result.
 
My impression is they were back packing and not hunting. They are from back east. I guess they were city boys that didn't understand, the issues. Same as many campers they sit behind a very thin piece of metal, thinking they are safe. :mrgreen:
 
contender said:
If we all step back & look at the last several decades, concerning wildlife encounters, we'll see a pattern.
Animal rights activists got very busy in the late 1960's & early 1970's. They worked hard to change laws to "protect" more animals & reduce the human activities that helped control animal populations.
These same folks started a push to re-introduce many different animals into places they had been removed from, or had low to balanced populations.
Next,, the human population has grown dramatically, AND includes the millions of illegals that have encroached upon land & places that were once wild lands.
Development, gated communities, etc has caused wild places to shrink, while wildlife populations have enjoyed the protections AND ease of growth.
So now, we have more wildlife, less space, more interaction between animals & people, followed by the Disney mentality of people.
More serious & dangerous wildlife/human encounters are happening.

I do not see a change from that direction any time soon. I fear more & more encounters will happen, and they will result in more humans being injured or killed as a result.

That's all true, but there is one other factor at least in the southern states. Invasive species (think giant snakes and Nile crocs in FL), and out of control growth of formerly domesticated critters, such as hogs and wild cattle. It only takes a generation or 2 for domestic animals to revert to the wild.
 
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When you play with the bull, expect to occasionally get the horn.
I've been to at least a couple of places where people have (in recent history) been nailed by bears. I was hyper-alert, well armed, and maybe just a wee bit lucky according to the situation we got into in Montana but I came out w/o a scratch. In fact, we didn't even see the bears that we knew were close by.
Those folks tripping through the daisies, looking at the clouds, and living in la-la land need to understand there aren't any Disney creatures in those woods and YOGI isn't going to just steal your pic-a-nic basket.
 
Colonialgirl said:
I don't see anything about them carrying "protection"; They must be an "Anti-gun" bunch. Glad the surgeon survived.

I'm from the area where they are from. According to the local paper they had bear spray, but they surprised a sow and cub were too close. They were unable to deploy the say. Be care what you assume. It makes an ass...
 
I am bigger than most of the bears I've encountered, so they don't mess with me.

I've crossed paths with many, and in some encounters, I've had bears that took the time to check me out before they realized they met their match and ambled off.

I am always armed, but what has struck me every time, is how fast these bears are. At the distances I've been close to them, I would have to have been a quick draw artist to beat them if it would have been required.

So when I'm up in the mountains, I run thru my mind what it would take to get a gun into play when the time came. Without a rifle already in my hand, or a holster easily accessed on the outside of what could be layers of clothing, the firearm could likely be of little use if the bear decided to close the gap in what could be just a few seconds.

I'm no bear expert, as fortunately I've never had to wrestle one, but my message is, there's lots going on in very little time if you find yourself face to face with a bear that thinks he can beat you, and is willing to do so. A feller has just got to be ready, as some of my bear encounters have truly been in my face before I even knew a bear was anywhere near me.

I often replay in my mind, when my kids were much younger, we were bird hunting up in the mountains. I was carrying a shotgun with birdshot, and had a couple loads of slugs and/or buckshot in my pocket. A bear walked up behind us on a logging road, and was truly checking us out. I don't remember why I didn't have a larger handgun with me, or maybe I did and don't remember, but anyway, while I was trying desperately to get the slugs loaded into my shotgun, I was overcome by the truth that the bear could be on us before I could get the slugs loaded. A very good lesson in... A bear-capable gun in the hand worth a case of slugs in your pocket.

I cannot over emphasize, when a bear decides to move, and he's within sprint distance, a few seconds is not much time to get ready.

And finally, as cumbersome as a blackbear might seem to those that have only seen them on TV, a bear can be very stealthy. I've had bears jump into the brush ahead of me, and I truly never heard another sound from them. Did they get out of the county and not make a sound, or are they waiting in the brush, 10 yards away?
 
Depending on the bear, it sounds like they can run maybe 30 to 35 mph. for short distances.
This works out to about 45 to 50 feet per second. Don't know their rate of acceleration but guess
it would be pretty good, so as a round conservative number, ( assuming it wasn't the Usain Bolt of the
bear world ) from 30 yards out it could be on you in 2 seconds or so.
Think about 2 seconds....first you need to realize that yes it's a bear, and oh crap!....it's coming
to eat my face. Then draw your spray or fire arm and hit it as it's running over you.
Very... very.... few people stand a chance without already having the spray/gun in their hand.
I know on a range, primed and ready with a non-retention holster I average about 1.8 to 1.9 seconds
on the shot timer for 2 shots on a stationary target ( that won't eat me! ) in good lighting.
Dave
 
Mobuck said:
"They were unable to deploy the say{spray}."
That IS the same as not having it. In bear country, bear spray should be IN YOUR HAND.
I really don't know how realistic that would be. I grew up in the rockies and was in bear country most days I wasn't in school. I would have had to live with bear spray in my hand. I sent a stick spinning into the brush to flush a pheasant one day and surprised a mountain lion. Fortunately he went one way and I went the other. All I had on me at the time was a single shot .410 with #6 birdshot. I have quietly walked away from several black bears and one grizzly. I would never approach one obviously. I worry about the exploding populations of Grizzlies and Cats as well as wolves out there. We thinned them out the first time so we could live there.
 
lumbering.buffalo said:
Colonialgirl said:
I don't see anything about them carrying "protection"; They must be an "Anti-gun" bunch. Glad the surgeon survived.

I'm from the area where they are from. According to the local paper they had bear spray, but they surprised a sow and cub were too close. They were unable to deploy the say. Be care what you assume. It makes an ass...

Could you post a link. I haven't seen anything about bear spray. Was it in their pack?
 
lumbering.buffalo said:
Colonialgirl said:
I don't see anything about them carrying "protection"; They must be an "Anti-gun" bunch. Glad the surgeon survived.

I'm from the area where they are from. According to the local paper they had bear spray, but they surprised a sow and cub were too close. They were unable to deploy the say. Be care what you assume. It makes an ass...


AND of YOU for implying that.
 
This is where the surgeon should have had a .22 Derringer. He could have shot the Colonoscopy Tech. in the knee and then ran like hell.
 
One sure fix...stay out of bear country.

I'm also sure I'll never get attacked by a shark since I won't set one toe into the ocean. I just don't understand why people go into the ocean. There are just too many critters in there that can eat you. At least on land you can see a bear coming and maybe have time to crap your pants. But in the ocean, you never know what's going to come up under you and grab you until it's too late.
 

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