Dealing with ANY situation with the required amount of violence is how things work. What the fuck did you expect him to do, REASON with the fuckin thing?
You can talk and talk and talk about what you THINK he should have done, but when you’re face to muzzle with 300 pounds of angry meat, you do what you can with what you have.
And honestly, if he HAD brought a gun along, junior’s daft ass would have found THAT, shot himself, and this would be an entirely different thread
It was probably a ranger, and it’s standard procedure. Bears are not threatening creatures unless you do something stupid. This guy and his family did something stupid by leaving food out. Once that happened I can’t fault his response, but it was his own fault for getting into that situation.
give us a few sane words about your apparent hatred of Marines, please.
Some possibiliyies;
You’re an Air Force veteran.
A Limousine Liberal.
Your lover left you for a Marine.
You’re from a Marine family.
I dunno.
You realize that the majority of Marines have lived their whole lives without ever killing anyone, even a bear. Right?
Your anger isn’t directed at the death of a bear, but at the Marine, and everyone who might not think he’s an idiot.
I honestly don’t get it.
Peace,
mangeorge
So a Marine killing a bear (unintentionally) by chucking a piece of wood at its head is no doubt impressive. But what about some of the other feats of strength on display from the same webpage as given in the OP?
I’d like to emphasize a few points that others have said here.
The situation was the guys own doing;
a) he did not secure his camp so as not to attract bears.
b) he did not teach his 6 year old not to hit bears with shovels.
Once the bear attacked he had no choice but try to defend the stupid kid and himself with whatever was handy.
He threw the log to scare it and it was dumb luck that it actually killed the bear.
He deserved the ticket because again, it was his fault that he attracted the bear and that his kid antagonized it.
Had he done what he was supposed to do in a bear prone area chances are good the bear would still be alive and doing what bears do when not enticed with free food, like eating berries, cavorting and pooping in the woods, and a bunch of strangers on a message board wouldn’t have this to argue about.
The fact that he was/is a Marine has nothing to do with anything.
I live in bear country. I’ve only encountered 4. Two I had to scare away. But they just would not budge. Just kept watching me and the house. Finally, I ended up shooting a stump or tree near it. That seems to do the trick.
jjim, clearly you are not a Marine. However you are being too hard on yourself. I think everyone here would agree that the loss of a son is a small price to pay for not looking “brutish”. I say well done, man.
When I was a kid, I did a bunch of camping with my dad and the scouts. As an adult I did a bunch of camping with my kids.
Never once was I instructed not to hit a bear with a shovel. Also I have never told anybody I was camping with not to hit a bear with a shovel.
There are some things that just seem to be so out of the ordinary that you don’t necessarily issue instructions ahead of time about them.
“OK kids now if Big Foot comes into our camp tonight here is what you should do…”
“OK kids if ET shows up tonight here is what you do…”
Wile E pretty much nailed it. It was the guy’s own fault the situation occured, but after that he acted appropriately, and if6was9 is grossly mistaken in his worldview.