Treadwell Book Excerpt:

[+hikergps]

2 years ago a couple friends and I took the local scout troop on a week long, 50 mile hike in the Tucannanon Wilderness Area. One day we spend a good portion of an afternoon coming across fresh black bear droppings dead center of the trail. The boys did a good job of keeping the noise levels up and keeping their eyes open. We had a good a deal of wildlife awareness education before we left and a daily reminder before we started. Cougars are another nasty critter that is fairly common in the NW. We even see them once in a while here, on the edge of the Columbia Basin in dryland wheat farm country. Every year a local rancher loses a couple calves to them. Good stuff Criminal, thanks for taking the time to start the thread.

[+GeoRoo]

2 years ago a couple friends and I took the local scout troop on a week long, 50 mile hike in the Tucannanon Wilderness Area. One day we spend a good portion of an afternoon coming across fresh black bear droppings dead center of the trail. The boys did a good job of keeping the noise levels up and keeping their eyes open. We had a good a deal of wildlife awareness education before we left and a daily reminder before we started. Cougars are another nasty critter that is fairly common in the NW. We even see them once in a while here, on the edge of the Columbia Basin in dryland wheat farm country. Every year a local rancher loses a couple calves to them. Good stuff Criminal, thanks for taking the time to start the thread.

 

I see on KING 5 news tonight that a wolverine was captured and tagged in the Cascades. It's a juvenile female, so there's a family. I didn't know we had them in our state. Here's a good info. page on bears and cougars in our state. WDFW Cougars/Bears

 

I've walked up on a sow bear with cubs several times and lived to tell about it. I was deer scouting near Omak at an old homestead and walked right up on a sow with 2 yearlings. They were busy pulling apples off an old apple tree and never saw or heard me. They were about 50 ft. away. I had a shotgun, so I just stood there frozen. The sow saw me and gave out a loud woof. Off she ran without even looking back for her cubs. The cubs were so busy with the apples they never even saw mom leave. I wish I would have had my video camera.

 

Finally one cub looked around for mom and saw me. Gave out a cry and both went tearing off in the same direction mom went. I could see mom running like a horse about 300 yards across the sage brush. They can really move when they want to!.......

 

I've had cougars on my front lawn and a family of bobcats living nearby, so I worry more about cats than bears. Many chickens, ducks and turkeys have provided meals for my visitors this past summer and fall. There's a 2 yr wait for wildlife removal unless the cats are threatening humans. The hound hunting ban is working very well!.......

[+1stimestar]

Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you get screwed. Can I say that word here? A coworker of mine's husband got mauled by a grizzly. He was at his hunting camp and came over a rise and surprised a momma and her cubs. This was an experienced, Alaskan hunter. Along with punctures through a lung, he also had his scalped peeled back with one of his ears, the muscles from his calf stripped off the bone when she had a hold of his leg and shook. He actually got a cell phone signal out of there and guided helicopter rescuers to him, using his cell phone. How he did all that was a pure miricle. After 2 years he is walking again though still has to use a cane. But at least he is alive, which they highly doubted for a long time. They flew him to Anchorage to get him stabalized then sent him on to Seattle. It's scary because he says that it was like she wasn't even mad or anything but more like she was showing her cubs how to do it. They just sat there and watched.

 

Edited to say using his cell phone not gps. Must have had gps on my mind lol.

Edited February 24, 2006 by 1stimestar

[+denali7]

... it was like she wasn't even mad or anything ...

 

i definitely believe that. i once read that they are strong enough to lop a cow's head off with one swipe. i think of that every time i see a cow, and there are a lot of cows around me. i know cows aren't too exciting, but look at just how big they are when you see them up close--that says a lot about just how strong bears are. i've also read that the warnings and wrestlings bears do with each other would easily kill a human.

no doubt treadwell was mesmerized by a fascinating and awe-inspiring animal, but, as 1stimestar's post illustrates, an animal like this has a power that must be respected even when admired. sort of like the ocean: love it, but respect it. that's the line treadwell crossed.

Edited February 23, 2006 by denali7

[+Criminal]

Looks like the show will be on Discovery Channel Saturday and Sunday night at 8pm.

[+rvmarine]

Thanks Criminal for the posts. We lived on the head waters of the Missouri river outside of Helena MT. I owned a rather large brown dog at the time called Picus. My mother saw Picus swimming across the channel of the river and ran down to the riverbank to call him back. Picus just kept swimming to the other side ignoring my mothers pleas to come back. As Picus emerged from the river, my mother got the shock of her life as Picus had grown into a full size adult Grizzley Bear.

We took photos, I wish I could share but havent located them in some time. The photos would also reveal that the Grizzly had swam to a small beach that jutted out from a straight faced bluff over 300' in hieght and the only return path would be back to our side of the river, which the Grizzy did, but much further down stream then where we were at.

[+MT CatRancher]

I just saw Grizzlyman last night (or at least asmuch of it as I could watch ). if ever there was a guy that needed to get eaten by anything, it was Treadwell. Good lord, the guy was a compleate freeking wack job, how one person can single handidly give a bad name to Enviromentalists, Animal lovers, Outdoorsmen, Film makers and God knows who els is beyond me. Wow, What a freak.

[+hydnsek]

Thanks to Criminal for the heads-up on the Grizzly Man showings. Wasn't familiar with his story until this thread, and the movie was fascinating and unsettling. Treadwell was definitely weird and courting disaster, but some great footage of bears and foxes and the Alaskan backcountry. Too bad that Amie got caught up in his mania and paid the price. His friends seem a bit deluded still.

[+foxfire949]

I think what has always bothered me most about this incident was not that Treadwell got himself killed. It's that he brought his girlfriend out there and got her killed.

 

and that's all I have to say about that.

[+Wandering Bears]

 

[+Cav Scout]

Treadwell... I watched the movie about him when I was in Iraq. Real smart guy. He loved everything. This is why we should pay more attention to our kids when they are young.

 

I carry a 44 magnum when ever I cache on the trails of Alaska. Bells and waving your arms don't work...

[+1stimestar]

Treadwell... I watched the movie about him when I was in Iraq. Real smart guy. He loved everything. This is why we should pay more attention to our kids when they are young.

 

I carry a 44 magnum when ever I cache on the trails of Alaska. Bells and waving your arms don't work...

 

Hey are you back?

[+denali7]

our local cache group will be getting together to hang out and watch this film on saturday april first.