Fairbanks professor wishes she had brought a gun.

[thxmrgarand]

From the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer (July 14):


 Alaska woman recounts terrifying ordeal with bear[/size]The Associated PressFAIRBANKS, Alaska — A 43-year-old professor says she fought off a grizzly bear that stalked her and her nieces by throwing everything she had at it — including a package of macaroni and cheese.Alyson Jones-Robinson said they encountered the aggressive grizzly while hiking Thursday at Chena River State Recreation Area, east of Fairbanks. She said it wasn't especially big — perhaps a 2- or 3-year-old that weighed between 100 and 200 pounds — but it was not afraid of them or her dog."It was terrifying. On a scale of one to 10, it was above a 10," the North Pole resident told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner ([font=inherit !important]http://is.gd/ALJvVO[/font][/font]). "My adrenaline was going so fast, all I could think of was getting the kids and dog to safety. I told the girls if the bear attacked me to take the dog and don't look back."Jones-Robinson told her nieces, ages 13 and 9, to run back up the trail while she confronted the bear."It was kind of trotting around me, and then it would charge and growl," said Jones-Robinson, an English professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. "It charged, and I used my bear spray when it was about four feet away and then I fell with my pack on and dropped the bear spray."She said the bear charged at her several times, including once after it tried to attack her dog. That's when she smacked it in the head with her walking stick, which broke. She also attempted to distract it by throwing the package of macaroni and cheese."As it circled around me, I heard the girls yell, `There's another one. There's another bear up here,'" Jones-Robinson said.She told the girls to drop their backpacks and come back. The first bear continued circling. Jones-Robinson fumbled for a bottle of mosquito repellent.The bear eventually retreated, but followed them for about a mile, bluff-charging several times before finally wandering off."When I got down off the mountain, I collapsed," she said. "I was overwhelmed."Since she had left behind her backpack — and her car keys — during the encounter, she and her nieces had to hitchhike back to Chena Hot Springs Resort. They later hired a locksmith to open the door.State park ranger Dane Happ said he believes the bears that bothered the hikers were the cubs that were seen with a sow along the trail and in the campground at the trailhead last year. The trail remains open, but rangers posted signs to alert hikers.It was a terrifying escape for Jones-Robinson and her nieces, who were visiting from Washington state."All I could think about was this bear is so close to me I can see its teeth," she said. "I could have kissed it. I wished I had a gun."———

[hillbill]

the old saying goes, always better to have a gun and not need it than need it and not have it.
 
i wonder what made the bears so agressive?

[BBF]

What are the chances she is a Democrat??

[mechanic]

They say if you examine grizzly scat, you will often notice little bells, and the aroma of pepper spray...
 
Ben

[Dand]

thxm   You left off the end of the story from the Fairbanks News Miner.  I added colors and emphasis:


---------------------
............Jones-Robinson still was having a hard time comprehending the whole thing Friday.

“If somebody had told me I would hold off one or possibly two bears with a walking stick and a can of natural insect repellent I would have told them they were crazy, but you do what you gotta do,” she said. “I wasn’t going to let that bear eat my dog and I definitely wasn’t going to let it eat my nieces.”

Which might explain why Jones-Robinson went out and bought a gun Friday.

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Woman two girls get bear scare on Granite Tors Trail
-----------------------

At least she became a gun owner.  Hope she practices and learns how to use it.

I might have let the dog go after it - that might have distracted the bear enough to make a better get-away.  Hard to say.  Sometimes dogs are good sometimes not.

[Dand]

Mechanic,  I hear more and more instances where the bear spray worked.  I think its a good thing to carry.  I  may be in deep wilderness of SW Alaska later this week.  I'll be taking bear spray. The biggest issue is having it ready and remembering to use it.


My biggest fear of it is wind - that stuff is really nasty.

[ironglow]

What are the chances she is a Democrat??

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
  In recent years, the hyphenated name may be a clue..    

[Sourdough]

Now that I got a computer back I'll weigh in on this issue.  I and many other people have been ranting all week about this dumb broad.  Yes, I called her a dumb broad on the radio when we were discussing the incident on Problem Corner. 
 
1. You don't put your car keys in your back pack, they go on your person. 
 
2.  You don't throw your back pack at a bear.  You need it on your back for protection of your back and neck, in the event you get knocked down and mauled.
 
3.  You don't mist the area, or spray the bear spray anywhere but in the bears eyes and nose.  Then only in short burst, not in a continous spray till you run out.
 
4.  Everyone is told there is Grizzly Bears at Granit Tores and Angel Rock.  Carry a gun if you go hiking in this area.
 
5.  Use a little common sense.  One adult and two kids in Grizzly country, with snacks and sweets in their back packs.  They were asking for trouble.  They have now taught these juvinal Grizzlies that sweets can be found in back packs, all they have to do is take them away from stupid people.  Sooner or later they are going to run across someone with a gun that will not let them have their back pack.  If we are lucky they will be killed.  If not they will be wounded, and we will have a situation on our hands.  The Grizzly I shot three years ago was below that trail.  I could see Granit Tores from my blind.  If they survive the summer, I might just might see those two bears this coming hunting season down on the river.  Maybe we can get some of the young GIs getting ready to leave, to shoot them and remady future problems.

[ironglow]

  Sourdough;
   Do you suppose she was a "chechako" ?

[Sourdough]

Yep, she sure was.  Chechakos either learn or they don't last long.
 
She was offended when I called her a Dumb Broad on the radio.  Then she made the mistake of calling in.  The talk show host backed me, and agreed with me.  Then the people that called in after wards really gave her a sever talking to.  Seriously doubt she will be going into the woods unarmed again.

[mcbammer]

I  hope   she  bought   a   300   mag  .   A  38  pocket   pistol   would   just   make   ole   grizz   mad.

[ihookem]

Most likely she is not a democrat anymore, or at least a liberal. anyway, what is a chechako?

[Sourdough]

Chechako, means New Comer, someone that does not know or understand the area.
 
Update:  These two young bears are now in serious trouble.  They have confronted several other people in the area.  Rangers patroling the area have been given the word to shoot to kill.  Grizzly season opens the 1st of September.  If they last that long, someone will shoot them and hang them on the wall.  All this because some dumb broad threw them her back pack full of goodies and car keys.  And did not know how to use bear spray.
 
These poor little guys will never have a chance to grow up and make a decent rug.

[bilmac]

A dog figured prominately in the story. I believe dogs are frequently the cause of bear encounters. The dog snoops around in the woods and finds some bear and pisses it off. So the bear chases the dog and where does it run for? Mommy.

[50north]

I'm sorry to bump this to the top again but I needed to say something .


 Do you really think someone with this mindset has what it takes to own and properly handle a firearm. Do you think the parents of those kids will let (aunt spazzy) take those kids on another nature hike.


I don't travel the 1.5 miles to work without a gun in my vehicle.

[Drilling Man]

She said it wasn't especially big — perhaps a 2- or 3-year-old that weighed between 100 and 200 pounds

  2 or 3yr old "grizzly" that only weighted 1 to 200 pounds...  Sounds like a blond colored blk. bear to me!
 
  DM

[nailbanger]

My daughter lives in bear country in Wyoming. While visiting there the past summer there was a story about a rancher whose dog tried to chase a griz sow with cubs. And of course it ran to it's owner. That rancher faces many surgeries to put him back together, it was said he was lucky to have lived.

[ironglow]

  I have heard that somewhere in Alaska, where hyphenated name, anti-gun, eco-freak Lefties like to go hiking, there is a sign which says:

``````````````````````````````````````

          A NOTICE TO ALL HIKERS

        Caution while hiking.  If you are anti-gun, at least sew little bells on the fringe of your shirt and carry pepper spray with you to deter bears.
         One important clue you should understand is to analyze bear scat, so you know what you are dealing with!
 
  A) Black bear scat is smaller and may have berry seeds in it with a bit of berry coloration.

 B) Grizzly bear scat is somewhat larger and may contain little bells and smell like pepper spray..

[bilmac]

This is an old thread. I think there was a more recient thread about a gal that was killed and et by wolves in this same area. University of Alaska is in f
Fairbanks so the critters have a pretty good food source there.

[ironglow]

  A fellow named Treadwell was living among bears, so he returned to the left coast and took his girlfriend back with him to AK..so they both could be eaten..    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SJiOZdAWco

    This claims to be the audio;
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9lCkFygaaQ

[Sourdough]

These were not Blond Black Bears, they were seen by too many people that know the difference.  They were Grizzly Bears, no Black Bears in that area.  Too high in elevation, and Grizzly population is too high for a Black to survive. 

The wolf incident took place down in Chignik, over 500 miles away, down on the coast.  That is closer to Dand's stomping grounds.

[tundragriz]

They were Grizzly Bears, no Black Bears in that area.  Too high in elevation, and Grizzly population is too high for a Black to survive. 

It was grizzlies and like stated above probably a pair of cubs, in which case they’d likely be 1.5 yr olds, but with that said this is excellent black bear country.  It is heavily forested with a lot of ponds, streams, and beaver dams.  I haven’t seen blackies there but I’ve only been there in the middle of the day and not in spawning season.  I have seen black bear tracks along the beaver ponds where they were munching on grass.  The road and trail areas are the same terrain and habitat as around Fairbanks.  The place is full of moose.  Below are a few pics taken in the Chena Rec Area from June of 2012 just before the incident.  They show the terrain and habitat. 


 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 From the Chena website: 
“Moose are the most popular wildlife to try to spot, and are numerous in this area in the summer after mid-June.  Other large mammals that inhabit the area are wolves, grizzly bears and black bears. All are wary of people and tend to stay in the back country. Some black bears can be spotted along the river trying to pick up dead or dying salmon during the July and August spawning season.”
 

[Drilling Man]

  I knew there was blk bears there, i've seen them myself...
 
  I was just wondering if the "grizzly" bears there have become "anorexic" since the last time i was in that area??  ha ha ha
 
  DM