There’s much talk about bears attacking and killing people this year and rightly so. There’s been a fair share of it, enough that people are asking why. Officially, nobody seems interested in stepping up to a microphone and explaining the truth to people, I would suppose because of the billions of dollars that stand to be lost when people opt out of some of their vacation plans due to bear fear.
Whether that fear of bears is founded or unfounded, it is time for the official talking points on bears to be tweaked just a tad and for park and campground officials to take a closer look at their procedures and policies concerning bear problems. Hiding and covering up problems for the sake of money isn’t the best approach.
Bill Schneider shares with his readers how not to get eaten by a bear. His idea is that people need to be prepared and aware when they head into the woods. He offers up tips on how bears act and react and things you can do to minimize the risk of being attacked.
While Schneider’s advice is most assuredly endorsed by “experts”, there is one thing in his article that I don’t like.
But I didn’t see any bears! Now you know how to be safe, but if you do it all, you might not see a bear—or elk or moose or wolf or any other large wild animal—and you might not enjoy your outing. So you want to study up on bear awareness and make the choice on how safe you want to be.
After giving sound advice to his readers, he now downplays its importance and suggests that if you want to really have a good time forget about some or all of the above tips in order to be able to see wildlife. I’m not so sure that this is the best advice, especially for the novice outdoorsman.
My advice is to take the information Mr. Schneider offers and educate yourself as to what the so-called experts believe to be the best way to minimize attacks, put them into practice and be smart about your outing.
Tom Remington
