Another DUPe report: Man eaten by bear

[Jack 99]

Here's another DUPe (Deliberately Unarmed Person) report:

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Man Eaten By a Bear in Alaska
It happened late Friday on a campground that is just a quarter-mile from a bear-viewing platform operated by the U.S. Forest Service in Hyder, Alaska. George Tullos, 41, was camping alone, using only a tarp for shelter when he was apparently attacked and killed by a bear and partially eaten. The campground in which he was staying is located along the Canadian border about 75 miles from Tullos' hometown of Ketchikan. In an odd twist, the campground lived up to its name: Run Amuck. Bruce Bartley, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said he could recall only three cases of bears attacking people and eating them in the past 20 years. Alaska State Trooper Sgt. Kurt Ludwig said there had never been a bear attack before in the viewing area, even though "the tourists have been known to get extremely close to the bears." --Cathryn Conroy

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I forgot the Colonel's bear rules but I remember one of them was "Bears are not cute."

Unfortunately, all too many people grow up "Disneyfied" and think nothing of trotting up to within 40 or 50 feet of a bear.

Have you any idea of how quickly a bear can cover 40 feet? I can't even imagine the level of delusional thinking that allows you to go to the woods into known Bear Country without adequate firepower.

 

[Herodotus]

Quite frankly, I don't know how you can assume:
1. This man was unarmed.
2. That he in anyway approached the bear on his own accord. They imply that he was attacked in his shelter, as I read this.
3. That he grew up in Disneyland. They say he lived in Ketchikan, Alaska (?), in which place I would assume that few are naive about bears.

 

[Jack 99]

1) I assume he was unarmed because you can't take firearms to those viewing areas. Personally, I'll never voluntarily get within 100 yds of a bear without some backup. That's just me though.

2) Probably was attacked in his shelter. Once again, without adequate physical protective barrier between him and the bears (i.e. camper), he just shouldn't have been there, especially unarmed.

3) Maybe he wasn't naive but he certainly didn't heed the essentials. I'm willing to bet he was unarmed and had no effective barrier to bear attack. I'm also willing to bet $50 his food got him into trouble.

For kicks you ought to trip around Jellystone for a week. Hang around long enough and you'll see people doing some of the stupidest stuff around wild animals. I don't think it ever registers with them that these are really potentially dangerous animals. And yes, its mostly the result of the Disneyfication of society.

Sorry, this dude gets no sympathy from me. If you don't know what you're doing around bears and you refuse to be armed (or let yourself be disarmed by Park Rangers) YOU SHOULDN'T BE IN THE WOODS!

 

[Cliff]

Personally, I wouldn't want to set up camp that close to any kind of a "bear-viewing" platform. The odds of the bears being habituated are much too high for my tastes.

The report didn't say if it was a black or a brown (grizzly) bear. Given the reported circumstances of the attack and subsequent feeding, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was a black bear rather than the dreaded "ursus horribulus."

The timing of this post is rather interesting - the wife and I were camping last week and had a bear(s) encounter at Ramshorn campground (located off the South fork of the Yuba river in CA.)

The snuffling of the bears around our tent awakened my wife, who in turn woke me up. We were both armed - Miriam with her model 629 .44 mag and I had my trusty Colt Trooper .357 - the bears were about 3 feet from us, separated only by the nylon tent fabric.

Miriam started banging away on a couple of metal bowls that were on her side of our sleeping rig (a couple of other campers mentioned that there were bears afoot when we set up camp) and the bears took off.

The food and coolers were in our truck. The paw prints are still on the side of my camper shell. Roughly a 4" wide paw print makes for about a 5 foot bear.

The encounter was relatively innocuous, but having our sidearms did much to enhance our peace of mind.

Normally, in a campground like that, we have them as goblin insurance. That we carry when hiking in the wilderness is a given.

As the old saw goes - "Chance favors the prepared mind."



Cliff

 

[TougherInAlaska]

The man eaten by the bear, George Tullos, was someone I went to school with in Ketchikan, Alaska. At 41 years old and with his lifelong experience living in Alaska, I can assure you he would never have approached the bear. He had gotten a summer job and was staying at the campground to save money. In my opinion it’s unreasonable to assume he did anything to bring on the attack. He was by no means an ignorant tourist in the area. He had lived in bear country all of his life.

 

[Brit]

At least my Glock 9mm would accompany me. Sixteen rounds of 147g deep penetrating hollow points, under the firing pin. And an extra 17 rounds. Plus a very bright flashlight!

And never in a tent!

 

[stinkeypete]

If you show up with your little Glock and no knowledge of the area or the wildlife, and sensible ways to act around an apex predator, you’ll make the news too.

The point the OP is making is “don’t act like it’s a stuffed bear in the Lodge.” It’s a wild animal.

 

[44 AMP]

Welcome to tfl!

TougherInAlaska, Thanks for the information about the guy eaten by a bear 21 years ago.

While tis never too late to set a record straight, reopening a thread 20+years dead is, I think, a record.

Welcome to TFL!

 

[CP93]

So much for the right to arm bears.

 

[Brit]

S-Pete.
My purpose in carrying my Gen 4 Glock 19? Because I always do. And are way more leerier of two-legged predators (Of the Humankind) than bears.
Our travels, my wife of 28 years and I are from Hotel to Hotel. Not canvas abodes.
Even now we go to Grand Kids, via an airport to Airport. Once a year.
The other set of Grand Kids are 3 miles away!
Urban areas? That is the only place I carry guns! Concealed.

 

[jmr40]

Guys, this is a 21 year old thread. There is a fair chance George Tullos would have died of natural causes by now, he'd be 62 if the bear didn't get him.

 

[Doyle]

There is a fair chance George Tullos would have died of natural causes by now, he'd be 62 if the bear didn't get him.

Watch it Bubba. I turn 62 in 2 months.

 

[NoSecondBest]

Talk about “hindsight”. This thread’s so old you’d need the Hubble telescope to read it.

 

[7.62 man]

Just put up a sign that says "Don't Feed The Bears"

It is supposed to work the same as new gun laws. LOL

 

[Double Naught Spy]

1) I assume he was unarmed because you can't take firearms to those viewing areas.

This is a big assumption on many counts. Having worked in Alaska and dealing with locals, just because you aren't supposed to have firearms in a given remote area doesn't mean people don't have firearms there. Many are quite practical-minded.

With that said, the victim most definitely could have been legally ARMED with bear spray. Just because you don't have a firearm does not mean you are unarmed.

Also remember that having a gun doesn't mean that you will be able to shoot it. You can be attacked and killed and have been armed. These two were attacked in their tent. One was effectively immobilized by the bear on top of him and the other could not get the rifle to be operational.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bear-attacks-2-sleeping-b-c-men-1.805451

This guy was attacked and dragged from his tent in a place where he worked and firearms are basically required and he apparently did have one. https://apnews.com/article/international-news-travel-europe-a43ef54f75e3d4dfca9f226cbf4975f7
http://icepeople.net/2020/08/28/pol...in-his-tent-when-the-fatal-attacked-occurred/
The bear was shot by others in the campground.

If you show up with your little Glock and no knowledge of the area or the wildlife, and sensible ways to act around an apex predator, you’ll make the news too.

Yep, and quite likely for successfully defending off a bear attack just as would be the case if it happens to experienced people. Despite Brit's big talk about the bullet performance and mag capacity of his Glock, as Dean Weingarten of Ammoland has pointed out in his biased reports, pistols of many calibers (including 9mm) have repeated proven effective in bear defense (black, brown, grizzly), even by tourists.

https://www.ammoland.com/2020/03/up...r-attack-93-cases-97-effective/#axzz6tWgEAoTr

I mention that Weingarten is biased in his reports because he does not use the same standards for evaluating bear spray performance as he does pistol performance. Bear spray is considered a failure if a bear is sprayed and still attacks a person, even if more spray eventually drives off the bear. Pistol performance is considered a success even if the bear attacks the person after the person shoots it, and then the bear is driven off or killed with subsequent shots. Weingarten is not a fan of bear spray.

Guys, this is a 21 year old thread. There is a fair chance George Tullos would have died of natural causes by now, he'd be 62 if the bear didn't get him.

He did die of a natural cause. Actuarial information indicates that he had better than an 80% chance of making it to 70, regardless of the cause of death.
https://www.hamiltonproject.org/cha...ear_old_living_to_a_given_age_by_sex_and_year

 

[Mainah]

He did die of a natural cause.

And now my keyboard is covered in coffee.

 

[Paul B.]

Even if this is a thread reincarnated, the following comment by Clifff way back then is one I agree with.

"The report didn't say if it was a black or a brown (grizzly) bear. Given the reported circumstances of the attack and subsequent feeding, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was a black bear rather than the dreaded "ursus horribulus."

There have been more attacks where the victim was eaten by Black Bears than by Grizzly Bears and Alaskan Brown bears combined. Where I used to hike in nearby mountains before bad knees sidelined that hobby, I always carried a large bore revolver, usually a .44 magnum because of the possibility of a bear or Mountain Lion encounter. I did run into a few bears and one lion but they ran off. Just never knew what the next one might do though. I never did have to shoot one in Arizona although many years back I did have to kill a Black Bear that caused a serious situation.
Paul B.

 

[RETG]

Grizzlies tend to be very territorial and extremely upset with humans if there are offspring nearby, but I have heard blacks are more likely attack just to attack.

Been told by many experts if a grizzly attacks for being in their territory, you have a chance to lie down and keep your face down when they roll you and eventually, when they figure the threat is gone, they will leave. (Met a lady park ranger years ago who did this and lived.)

The black if it attacks and you lie down will most likely take advantage and maul you to death and possible have a quick take out snack for the trip home.

That's what I have been told by quite few guides and NP personal in bear country areas.
I have not tried laying down in front of a grizzly to see if it works, and hopefully, never will. But if I do, most likely the bear will leave due to the foul smell emitting from my drawers.

[/IMG]

My experiences so far are with grizzlies and so far, bear spray and dogs have kept me alive to write this. Other bears spotted were far enough away to not be a threat.

However, best photo I ever got was a female black with four cubs.

[/IMG]

But as for the article historic account states it was a brown.

From a list of bear attacks kept up to date on Wiki...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America

George Tullos, 41, male July 14, 2000 Wild Hyder, Alaska Tullos' partially consumed body was found at a campground near the Canada–US border in Southeast Alaska. The bear was shot and killed.

And just in case bears bother you in your dreams; map shows national parks and areas not to visit.

And note, for example they call out Yellowstone; but that more or less pertains to the entire greater yellowstone eco system that is a lot of land outside the actual park boundary

.

 

[ballardw]

I will play devils advocate in that all of the numbers shown in the map reflect bodies that were found and cause identified. Never found aren't going to be counted.

And working with the Idaho Vital Statistics data in the years 2000 to 2010 there were 0 (zero deaths) from bear attacks or poisonous snakes and spiders but 1 person killed listed as "struck by outhouse", another by a goat attack and 9 parachute/paraglider related deaths. So watch out for falling Portapotties and don't jump out of perfectly good airplanes.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Yoga (female Yogi) just ate a woman in Coloradograd. May she RIP.