Bear Attack In Angeles National Forest

Man Injured By Bear After Trying To Distract It

Sep 3, 2004 2:54 pm US/Pacific
LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. (AP) A man was injured by a bear Friday in Angeles National Forest after he tried to distract the animal by throwing something at it, officials said.

State Fish and Game officials said the bear was also involved in an incident about an hour earlier in which it tried to enter a family's tent as they packed up to get away.

The injured 39-year-old man, who was not identified, heard the animal rummaging through the family's ice chest at about 2 a.m. while camping with his wife and daughters at the Chilao campground, about 30 miles north of Los Angeles.

The couple agreed that the man would distract the bear while the wife and two daughters ran for their vehicle. The bear retaliated after the man threw something at him, forest spokeswoman Kathy Peterson said.

"He swatted at him and that threw the man against the picnic table, and the bear turned his attention to the ice chest. As he was eating, the man made his way to the family in the car," Peterson said.

The Forest Service arrived to help the man, who suffered cuts to his chest. He was not seriously injured, Peterson said.

The campground was closed Friday so state Fish and Game officials could find and kill the bear for being aggressive, Peterson said.

In the earlier incident, which took place around 1 a.m. at a campsite about 50 yards away, a family saw the bear and decided to pack up and leave. As they took down one of their tents, the bear went inside, said Martin Wall, a patrol lieutenant with Fish and Game.

The bear also jumped up and down on the family's car and smashed the roof. The family fled to a bathroom and spent the rest of the night inside, Wall said.

Fish and Game knew the two incidents involved the same bear, believed to weigh between 200 and 250 pounds, because of its tracks, Wall said. The bear was recognizable by its unusual coloring: dark with light hairs on its back.

There have not been an unusual number of bear incidents this summer, Peterson said.

She said campers should keep food in odor-proof containers or even hang it high from trees so bears can't get it. Bears will even try to break into cars to get food if it isn't kept in an odor-proof container.

As a general rule, I think it's wise not to fuck with wild animals when they are eating.  Especially when they outweigh you

Black bear…

If a black bear was not being aggressive it was being a bear. This is exactly how a black bear would have handled another bear that was bothering him.

Thats what he gets for not throwing a big enough rock

Left out of the article:  A man and his wife and two daughters were camping  WITHOUT A GUN. . . . . .

why kill the bear?
tranq it and move it

Quoted: why kill the bear? tranq it and move it

not all of us drive tow trucks

My plan would have been thus.....


I run out, straight on assault with 12 gauge

Wife takes it from the left flank with the SKS

The kids run for the car to get daddies M249


but thats just the way we rehearsed it. it might be different in real life.

Dumbass, sound like a Wildboyz reject

Quoted: Quoted: why kill the bear? tranq it and move it not all of us drive tow trucks

Or have a tranq gun and a stockpile of barbituates...


+1 vote for perminant tranquilization with a 12GA slug...

A bear that is habituated enough to raid campsites is a DANGEROUS bear.

I have had personal experience in this matter (and yes, it was a black bear. We don't have the other kinds here)....

What no video!!!!?!?!?!?!??!?!??!!!!!!!

Why Tranq it and move it?  Why not  just make a nice bear skin rug and feed some of those millions of starving American children I am always hearing about

No guns with them when they went camping is because it was in California - remember - all the gun laws to keep folks safe?  I think they need to outlaw bears next - they're almost as bad as a .50 BMG taking out cars like that!  Had this been Alaska there would have been no news except someone showing off a new bear skin...

Bear slaps camper who threw rock at it.

The bear was quoted as saying "I'm Rick James, Bitch!"

Dumbasses go into bears AO. Bear asserts his dominance.
Don't fuck with the wildlife in it's home AO.

Quoted: Left out of the article:  A man and his wife and two daughters were camping  WITHOUT A GUN. . . . . .

I would not shoot a bear for raiding my cooler.

Quoted: No guns with them when they went camping is because it was in California - remember - all the gun laws to keep folks safe?

Cali law allows having a loaded, and even concealed firearm in your campsite. In fact you campsite has the same rules as your home. Which is much better than the laws of most states. if this guy was unarmed, it's becuase he chose to be. He could have had a 44 mag on his hip and an M1A on his shoulder if he wanted.

No bear bag, no bear box.. Dumb campers, though it sounds like the father meant well.  

Quoted: Left out of the article:  A man and his wife and two daughters were camping  WITHOUT A GUN. . . . . .

Uh-uh.  Not in Kali.  Pretty sure you can't even take a firearm into the forest out there.

Quoted: I'm still shocked that made the news.  That shit is so common place here it doesn't get a mention.  The damn bears in the Smokey Mountians have no fear of man and will raid your camp at will.  Saw one a couple of years back go right up to a picnic table with over 30 people having a group picnic and take a loaf of bread pretty as you please. BTW, not smart to pick fights with bears. Tj

When dealing with black bears first don’t mess with them. Second don’t show fear, don’t be submissive, and don’t turn your back.

When one bear turns his back on another bear that is submissive behavior and an invitation to get slapped around.

Back away calmly, if the bear charges raise your arms lunge forward and howl bloody murder but don’t turn your back and don’t run. As stupid as this sounds I have seen it work to many times to be counted with wild black bears and no one who did this with authority was attacked.

Grizzlies are an entirely different matter if one of those charges and you are not properly armed you are dinner.

Quoted: Quoted: Left out of the article:  A man and his wife and two daughters were camping  WITHOUT A GUN. . . . . . Uh-uh.  Not in Kali.  Pretty sure you can't even take a firearm into the forest out there.

Try to read the entire thread before posting. This has already been covered.

Quoted: why kill the bear? tranq it and move it

First it was involved in more than one incident.
Second it is bear season in CA (Archery) and soon will be general rifle season.
Ca Fish and Game do not tranquilize and relocate any bears this time of year for fear they will be bagged by a hunter and the hunter will be injured by the medication still in the bears system.

Quoted: Quoted: Left out of the article:  A man and his wife and two daughters were camping  WITHOUT A GUN. . . . . . Uh-uh.  Not in Kali.  Pretty sure you can't even take a firearm into the forest out there.

Pretty sure you are wrong.  The forest is where I do most of my hunting.

Quoted: Quoted: why kill the bear? tranq it and move it not all of us drive tow trucks

Just to beat Markm to it:


BOTH SHOULD BE BANNED!    

Quoted: Bear slaps camper who threw rock at it.   The bear was quoted as saying "I'm Rick James, Bitch!"

Quoted: Bear Attack In Angeles National Forest Man Injured By Bear After Trying To Distract It Sep 3, 2004 2:54 pm US/Pacific LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. (

La Canada Flintridge...one of the snottiest, stuck up, elitist areas of LA. HA. He got himself bitch slapped by a bear.

Quoted: Bear slaps camper who threw rock at it.   The bear was quoted as saying "I'm Rick James, Bitch!"

damn, beat me to it

They should've penned him up and raffled off a bear hunt...

Quoted: Quoted: Left out of the article:  A man and his wife and two daughters were camping  WITHOUT A GUN. . . . . . I would not shoot a bear for raiding my cooler.

Nor would I.
However, as soon as he smashed the roof in on my car all bets are off.

Should have just let it eat and leave. Itst he dumbass campers fault, the bear was just being a bear.

I agree, the bear was just being a bear. It was invloved with two "incidents"? Two incidents of dumb ass campers who should have known better than to have food laying around in a cooler at 2am. DUH! I knew better than that when I was SIX! Then he throws a rock at it? That was clever.....

Quoted: Bear Attack In Angeles National Forest There have not been an unusual number of bear incidents this summer, Peterson said.

That means there only 40 or 50 "incidents" in the state. Happens at Yosemite almost on a weely basis. Sequoia NP is almost as bad. People won't listen and continue to leave food out where animals -especially bears- can get to it.

Yosemite used to have (this was about 10 - 15 years ago) a video tape playing in one of the visitor centers of a bear going up to cars in the store parking lot. It would put it's paws next to it's head and look in the windows. At one car, after looking in, it smashes a side window with it's paw and crawls in. Next thing, a cooler comes flying out the window and the bear climbs out. The sits on the ground and peels back the top like a can of sardines and proceeds to chow down.

I was at Sequoia one time with my son and there was a large group of people camping about 50 yards away. It was after sundown and they were all sitting around their fire when this bear just walks up to the table where they had left all their foor sitting out. Stands there picking and choosing what it wanted when one of the women turns around and sees it and starts screaming her head off. The bear more or less ignored them for 5 minutes while it ate from their left overs. Then walked right past our campsite and into the forest like it was perfectly normal. Rangers set up a bear trap cage the next day and caught him / her that night. Those people were really freaked out. Rangers gave them a big lecture about leaving food out. They tried to tell the ranger they thought it would be ok because they were right there next to the food. Well, duh. The bear just wasn't hungary enough to want one of them, that or it thought they were "spoiled" because they smelled bad

I actually did hit a black bear w/a rock once. Different circumstances, though. I spotted him quite a ways off, meandering his way towards me (or more accurately, the irresistible aroma of my fish frying). I was on a hill, and the bear had to navigate a rather steep slope in order to reach me. I waited until he was about 50' away, then let loose with nice smooth baseball-sized rock. As luck would have it (and it was sheer luck) I hit him right in the snout. Poor guy was so startled it threw him off balance and he tumbled back down the hill, end over end.

Oh and yeah, I did have my rifle in my other hand, just in case throwing a rock at a bear turned out to be a really, really bad idea.

Quoted: Left out of the article:  A man and his wife and two daughters were camping  WITHOUT A GUN. . . . . .

BINGO!  At minimum an AR10 carbine.

Quoted: Bear slaps camper who threw rock at it.   The bear was quoted as saying "I'm Rick James, Bitch!"

That's hilarious.

Hehehe...

File down the front sight



- BUCC_Guy

Quoted: why kill the bear? tranq it and move it

Because they always come back. When I lived in Alaska some bears were moved a long, long way off and eventually found their way back to the easy eats.

It is my belief that once a bear get used to "welfare", such a easy to attain human vittles, it will be dependent for life.

Chilao is an interesting place.  One of the last spots owned by the original homesteading family is the Chilao Inn (or was)  Planted a bunch of trees up there  for an American Legion Forest Service  camp.  Lived in the fire trail crew barracks.  Volleyball net was made out of hurricane fencing fencing topped by split fire hose.  Needless to say we didn't play volleyball by Olympic rules.  Rule 1 was always wear your hard hat. Lots of Coulter and Sugar Pines. Ever seen a Coulter Pine pine cone? Wanna guess why we always wore our hard hats?




Not everything is bigger in Texas.

There were no bears around then and if there were they stayed well away from people.  the problems with beasrs is that they have overpopulated their habitat in most of CA so if you tranq and move them, you are going to put them in another dominant males turf, which means at least one more dead bear.  Also unfortunately a bear that has learned to associate people with easy pickings is going to come back if he can or go to where he knows where people are, if he survives the turf battle.

Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.......oh woops, wrong website...

Rule #1:  Don't bring a rock to a bear fight!!!!!!!

Do bears drink beer? Jim Beam,Maker's Mark,or Jack Daniels? Cause thats about the only thing I ever seem to load up in my cooler!

Quoted: Rule #1:  Don't bring a rock to a bear fight!!!!!!!

I don't go into the woods without a gun...EVER.

I don't care WHAT the gov't says.

better to be judged by 12 than eaten by one very large pissed off bear.