You, calling anyone, much less me, illogical. What a joke! 
What part of unprepared don’t you understand?
Sorry for the double post, Martin my boy, What part of putting his family in danger don’t you understand? What part of pulling his family’s safety out his ass don’t you understand?
The guy was camping in a national forest; I believe carrying a gun in a national forest is forbidden by law(?). If the guy had killed the bear with a gun, I think he would have been in a lot more trouble than just getting a ticket for not securing his campsite.
I think the chief marine critic in this thread doesn’t have a leg to stand on and can’t admit it.
I’m done with this piece of crap. You think he’d have been in more trouble if he hadn’t secured his campfire? Or you think he’d have been in more trouble if he actually carried a gun? Or you think he’d have been in more trouble if he hadn’t brought his family into a den of bears??? Step back and think about your “logic” here…
This is bewildering.
The last time a bear was running at my six-year-old (the bear had crept into our camp on tip-toe and was stealing the pic-a-nick basket that we had our white-bread and baloney sandwiches in, and Junior, reacting quickly and instinctively, had hit it over the head with a skillet - spanggg it went) I was lucky enough to have my protractor and slide rule with me.
In the two seconds I had to act, I calculated the trajectory of a multitude of escape routes, and the risk-to-execution ratio of several courses of action, and the result suggested retrospectively having brought my .45 with me. Alas, lacking a time machine with which to furnish my forethought, I abandoned this tactic and instead decided to give it a good talking to.
Sadly, the bear grabbed Junior and dragged him into the woods, where he became dinner for the bear and two companions, a shorter one wearing a bow tie, and a disturbingly cute lady bear wearing lipstick. It was a horrible sight, although I do note that the bears were mannered enough to put napkins around their necks while they were ripping Junior to shreds.
Despite having taken the intellectual way out and having cleverly avoided the use of brute force, I had to deal with the dear wife’s hystrionics at the loss of Junior. I, however, believe the experience taught him a damn good lesson - namely not to whack bears with skillets, even if they are making off with one’s pic-a-nick basket - and one he is unlikely to repeat.
To my chagrin, my quick thinking was not in fact rewarded, and, due to my oversight in keeping my pic-a-nick basket unsecured, I was ticketed by one Ranger Smith, and ordered not to feed my children to any more bears, even if they are smarter than average.
jjimm is smarter than your av-er-rage bear. 
if6was9, jjimm is making fun of you.
jjimm Well I find your tale hard to believe. We don’t have bears in the UK, other than in zoos, so unless you were on holiday in some far distant clime I’m afraid I must say “Bah Humbug” to your pack of lies.
Furthermore, bears cannot creep on tip-toe, they can skateboard, ride unicycles, juggle and hang glide but tip-toe they can’t…they have no toes to tip-toe with
So there
Says you, happy. I tried to bow out of this fight. If you want to continue it, bring it on, bitch.
:rolleyes:
Touche’. I did try to bow out of this fight. Heaven forbid someone should speak ill of the almighty Marines.
I’m baffled by your logic, frankly. I am following your lead, though. I, too, am done with this piece of crap.
Where my mother-in-law lives in Tennessee it’s not a matter of going to the bears - it’s the bears coming to you. The local city park has “bear proof” trash cans. The park has cautions about bear encounters. Bears sometimes wander into peoples’ back yards. Or front yards. Not terribly common, but it does happen. Black bears don’t just live in remote areas
As for guns - against a bear you need a pretty big one. The last thing you want is a pissed-off bear in pain coming after you.
No, people speak ill of the military all the time here. It’s not something that is going to shock anyone. What shocks people is your argument makes no sense whatsoever.
You’re either incredibly misinformed about what the forests of the eastern United States are like, or…I don’t know what.
What world do you live in where going to a State forest, an area explicitly set up and designed for well, camping, is equated to going to a “den of bears?”
First you say your problem is the Marine’s violence. Then you say, "no, it’s not that, it’s the fact that the only reason he responded that way is BECAUSE HE’S A MARINE!!! So obviously, he’s dumb, and stuff. Since he’s dumb, he threw a log, instead he should have just never gone to the woods at all. Yeah, that’s what I would have done, lord knows the woods are filled with bears, possibly hobgoblins too, so only a dumb, stupid Marine would take his family into the hobgoblin-filled forest! Worst of all, if that dumb, stupid Marine got what was coming to him and an army of bears and hobgoblins attacked his family and he fought them off with a mixture of Kung Fu and use of the Force, people would be giving the dumb ass praise for well, being a mindless idiot who was only able to fight them off because he was a mindless idiot!
Oh, and I like your response to the wholly rational idea that maybe him carrying a weapon into the forest was legally questionable:
Not only did you fail to address the point that perhaps bringing a firearm into a State forest may not be entirely legal (especially at certain times of year, in my experience), you failed to make any point at all. What does this quoted passage even mean?!
Some thoughts about hiking in the east:
In National Forests (not National Parks) guns are allowed and hunting is a major activity.
99.9% of hikers don’t carry guns because there’s no need to. There are no animals worth mentioning that can threaten humans. Mountain Lions are essentially a non-issue in the east, and bears aren’t aggressive if you treat them right.
This family should have secured their food better. They attracted the bear, the bear was just doing what comes naturally.
Once the bear was interested in the food and people, yelling, throwing things, making noise is the correct and recommended course of action. The bear being killed by the log is a fluke, I doubt his intention was to kill the bear.
Criticism of the camper/marine beyond no securing his food is silly and shows complete misunderstanding of reality. Bears are an issue, but you deal with it by securing your food, not by staying away, carrying a gun, or making an elaborate plan.
That was one brave cop who issued the ticket.
No, because if he had used his mind he would have taken the proper precautions with storing his family’s food. Especially if he was camping with small children.
The guy was stupid and irresponsible.
He’s damn lucky the situation fell out the way it did.
You’ll take my logs when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers.
(also sorry)
if6was9 - would you still feel this same anger if he wasn’t a Marine? If he was just average Joe Citizen camping with his family, would you still think the same thing?