As many readers of this blog know, I love to hike and bring back pictures from the various trails of wildlife so this story was particularly chilling for me. Darsh Patel was hiking with his four friends when they spotted a black bear in New Jersey and stopped to take pictures. Patel continued to take five pictures with his cellphone as the 300-pound bear charged and killed him.
I have seen dozens of black bears while backpacking and hiking, particularly in Virginia and Michigan. Attacks are incredibly rare. I often see black bears on the Old Rag hike or other locations in the Shenandoah. I black bears come through camp sites at night in past years without incident.
In this case, the hikers are in the Apshawa Preserve in West Milford in September and decided to split up when the male bear got closer. The bear selected Patel and mauled him — even gouging his cellphone.
The bear was later shot by a police officer and was found to have digested human flesh. It was a four year old male bear.
Police said that Patel, 22, was the first person to be killed by a bear in New Jersey. That is a rather surprising statistic for a state like New Jersey with ample forested areas, even considering the low likelihood of such attacks. Black bears have killed 61 people in North America since 1900. As one bear site host remarked,”My chances of being killed by a domestic dog, bees, or lightning are vastly greater. My chances of being murdered are 60,000 times greater. One of the safest places a person can be is in the woods.”
Source: NY Post
Squeeky:
Is it unfinished because the bear ate the narrater?
My wife and I were hiking in Alaska, down a trail toward a glacier. It was a touristy area, and there were groups of people. The idiots in front of us had brought sandwiches with them and were eating them as they hiked the trail. Then one of them screamed and they came whistling past us like…well…like some city doobs that had just been spooked by a bear.
Bears can’t differentiate smells. If you are holding a donut, say, and encounter a bear, the bear cannot differentiate between you and the donut, so your are, in the bear’s brain, a huge donut. Throwing away the donut you are holding doesn’t help. You are the donut. Good luck!
At my cabin in norther Wisconsin, from which I am writing this comment, there are bears, coyotes, wolves, and cougars in the neighborhood. When I hike during the day (or even ride a bicycle) I usually have a pistol on my hip, although a 9mm round isn’t going to do much beyond irritating a large bear. Other times I carry a cannister of bear spray purchased from Cabela’s, and hope I can get off a good shot before the bear gets too close.
I feel for the late Darsh Patel; being mauled to death is a tough way to go.
The nation state of America is obsessed with the Ferguson situation. This is a catatonic shift now which some of you might see. Fifty years ago you had the recognition by many white people that the bigotry of some white people was wrong. Over time there has developed a black bigotry espoused by the likes of Al Sharton. The dialogue is framed by Al Sharpton in tones (not terms) of poor black boy murdered by a white cop. What confronts the world and is bounded in truth is the fact that a society has developed in which a male can impregnate a 14 year old female and then the female “gets her check”. The offspring is sort of raised by mom and often by granma and a step dad or two. There are other “entitlements” which are seen some blacks are quid pro quo for great great grandma’s slavery days. There are many white trash out there that live exactly the same way. Young 18 year adult felon comes along and gets killed. In front of the world is this whining momma, the seed giver dad who was never around and a step dad. Step dad is now center stage. When news is announced that the policeman who shot the fleeing felon would not be charged with murder or some white on black civil rights crime then stepdad screams out on social media and on national TV for the boys to go “Burn The Bitches”. And, the BBs went out and burned over twenty business buildings in Ferguson.
America is going to have to confront the BBs (Black Bigots) and turn off the welfare entitlements which creates Secton 8 neighborhoods of hoodies. The Al Sharptons have to be singled out. The arsonists have to be prosecuted. Those who cry over dead felons need to be ignored.
If you do not confront this America then it is all itShay downhill.
You need to have a discussion of these central issues on this blog. Tanksgiving was yesterday. You had little reason to give Tanks. You need to send some tanks to Al Sharton’s neighborhood and arrest him.
My Planet Remulak had previously counted on America to be the lead nation state on this planet Earth. We are now looking for alternative nation states to provide the momentum forward. Next week I wont be in New Orleans or Ferguson but in China.
@Trooperyork
Oh, LOL! This guy inspires me to do an Irish Poem!
Vice Ursa???
An Irish Poem by Squeeky Fromm
There once was a guy named Patel,
Who saw a black bear on the trail.
When he asked, “Please say cheese!”
The bear didn’t freeze!
Sooo, there once was a guy named Patel. . .
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Trooper York…Heh. And a 290+ pound gentle giant at that. 🙂
I wrote a poem last year that is relevant.
http://squeekyfrommgr.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/polar-bear-2.png
The Polar Bear
An Unfinished Poem
By Squeeky Fromm, Girl Reporter
Today I saw a Polar Bear,
So fuzzy, warm, and white.
I think I shall go visit him,
There in his cage tonight.
And then come back and finish this,
And tell of feelings deep,
And how I held him tenderly
And sang him off to sleep.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
( PS: If you don’t get it, ask yourself why the Poem is unfinished???)
I literally almost ran into a mother black bear and her cubs, while I was locked out of a rental cabin and waiting for a locksmith. I backed away and she permitted me to leave.
Someone once told me, if you have an encounter with a grizzly, you should curl into a ball, because it’s likely attacking because it felt threatened. If you run into an aggressive black bear, you should fight to the death, because it wants to eat you. I wonder if that’s true.
That poor man and his family.
terrible
I find this story hard to believe.
Everyone says that this bear was a gentle giant.
I don’t go outside at night on my own property unless I am armed. Mountain lions, foxes, bears oh my. During the day, I don’t have such fears. Bears are usually not in our vicinity and are more in the heavily wooded areas. I haven’t seen a mountain lion on my property, but I have seen the fresh tracks. The 80 yr old lady down the road killed one in the middle of the day. It was in her chicken coop. Got it with a 12 gauge shotgun. Better safe than sorry.
When we are hiking or out in the woods taking a Sunday drive on the Forest Service roads, we are also armed not just for the native wild life, but also the Mexican gang bangers growing pot and cooking meth in some of the more remote areas.
No one carries a rifle or a powerful hand gun on the hiking trail? For protection not hunting? I guess not.
RWL – you have any idea of what kind of fire power it takes to take down a bear?
I was out hiking once and got lost in the beauty of the forest. Several hours passed and I snapped out of my dreamlike state when I heard crunching noises behind me. I looked and it was a large brown bear. I started to run. The bear started after me. I could hear the noise of its heft on the twigs and leaves. Soon, I saw a field where I thought I could run faster so I headed for it. It must have been a quarter mile across and totally empty and flat, with one very tall tree smack dab in the middle. The tree must have been over a hundred feet tall with only one branch near the top. I was making speed but so was the bear. I could feel the vibration of its weight hitting the ground and it was getting closer. I had only one chance, to get to the tree and jump for the branch that must have been over eighty feet up the tree. Just as I was about to jump I felt a breeze through the seat of my pants as the bear took a swipe at me. I jumped like a rocket. Unluckily I missed the branch. Luckily I caught it on the way down.
I saw an advertisement for a cell phone camera that will capture the subject and the photo taker at the same time. Of course in this selfie world, even the interesting world around requires one to say ‘look at me’ as well. I can only imagine the look on this young man’s face when he realized this bear wanted a close up.
@Ken
Thanks Ken for sharing – next time my wife is shopping at the outlet malls, maybe I’ll try your hike instead of hours holding shopping bags.
Need a leg workout? Try Breakneck Ridge, NY
Going on a hike in Harriman State Park NY or the Ramapo State Forest in NJ, stay alert.
Pack smart for the day hike. There are bears, bob cats, fox, coyotes, skunk, rattle snakes, and wild dogs. Other than that it should be safe.
I have pictures of a sow and her two cubs from Glacier Park. The Rangers wouldn’t let use get with 500 yards. Even with my telephoto lens it was hard to get pictures. Bears are very very fast.
“I told you… I don’t like Papparazzi!”
Tony Soprano had a bear encounter out near his pool. He had enough firepower in his house to take out a rhino.
We have encountered black bears hiking. Never a problem. However, we were hiking near Banff. We cam up to a bend in the trail when my wife said, “Look @ the cubs in the tree!” Her vantage didn’t allow her to see mama @ the base of the tree. But, we followed procedure, backing away slowly, and had no problem.
We thought we heard a grizzly hiking outside Haines, Alaska once. It could have been a moose. But, we clapped rocks together and yelled, and again no encounter. Idiots where bells on their shoes to allegedly warn bears you’re in the area. The joke is, how can you tell grizzly scat from black bear scat? Grizzly scat has bells in it. If you want to let bears know you’re in the area, you need to be LOUD. Not, wear little tinkling bells.