A bear and a prayer!

[Trailrider #896]

True story: Lady is out walking on a mountain trail when she sees a momma bear coming toward her. She slowly backs away, and I guess the outcome was okay.  But it reminds me of that singin' story by Phil Harris. Can't remember all the lyrics, but, Ol' Phil says, "Lord, you rescued Daniel from the lion's den; you rescued the three from the fiery furnace.  Lord, I'm askin' you, please... If you can't help me, don't help that  bear!" 

[Texas Maverick]

1 hour ago, Trailrider #896 said:

True story: Lady is out walking on a mountain trail when she sees a momma bear coming toward her. She slowly backs away, and I guess the outcome was okay.  But it reminds me of that singin' story by Phil Harris. Can't remember all the lyrics, but, Ol' Phil says, "Lord, you rescued Daniel from the lion's den; you rescued the three from the fiery furnace.  Lord, I'm askin' you, please... If you can't help me, don't help that  bear!" 

Yeah I heard that one as well as the bear sitting down and started saying a prayer and the guy asked the bear if he was a Christian bear and he said he was. The guy thought he was saved until the bear said "Please bless this meal we are about to partake in". 

 

TM

[T.K.]

Now, thats a BEAR!

[Eyesa Horg]

That would leave a mark. 

[Pat Riot]

Back in the 80’s me and 3 of my city boy surfer friends went to Yosemite for a 4 day camp trip. I think we stayed in the Dewey Point Campground and the first morning we were there we hiked to Dewey and Glacier Point. These points overlook the valley. 
I had my backpack packed with a gallon of water, some snacks, some survival gear and my Colt .45 Combat Gov’t loaded with 230 grain hardcast and 3 other mags loaded the same. 
If I remember right the hike was 3.5 miles to the first site - Dewey Point. After we had gone a couple of miles one of my buddies offered to take the pack. I said “No”. None of these guys knew a thing about guns. 
We stopped for a break. I went into the woods due to nature’s call. When I came back here’s Paul rifling through my pack. I immediately got mad and snatched my bag and he says “What do you have this for?”

He held up my .45. I asked him for it back.

He said “No!”

The safety was still on and being that Paul was a big guy and in superb physical shape I didn’t figure tackling him was the way to go so I said “Paul, we are about to fight. You might hurt me but I know how to fight and I will fight dirty. Give me back my gun.”

He stared at me for a second then handed it over. 
We continued our trek and about 15 minutes later I saw claw marks in the pine trees in this round of pine trees. They were all 8-12 feet off the ground. I had seen black bear claw marks in tree trunks as a kid. These were way bigger than those and much higher. 
The picture @T.K.posted above with the bear paw looks like it could have made the marks we were seeing in the trees. 
Dave says “I wonder what did that?”

I said “Bears…or maybe one bear that’s been around for years.”

”No way…you’re high! No bear could do that!”

Craig and Paul both said nearly at the same time. “I think Tom’s right.”

Then Paul says “Good thing we have a gun”

(oh…all of a sudden Mr. Lefty is happy there’s a gun. I said something I remembered from a funny joke)

”What do you mean ‘We’ white man?” 
 

Anyway, that evening we went to the Ranger’s Campfire for their evening lecture and it was about bears. 
My skeptical buddy Dave told the Ranger about the claw marks we saw on the trail and asked if those were really bear claw marks. 
The Ranger said “Absolutely those were bear claw marks. There’s a big male brown bear we call (a name I can’t remember) and standing upright and stretching he could easily reach 12 feet.”

My buddies didn’t doubt me anymore. Luckily, none of them were dumb enough to ask if a .45 would stop a bear. Guns were illegal in Yosemite then. 
 

Later Paul asked if my .45 could kill a bear. My inner little devil popped up and I got to use another joke line.

I said “Oh, the gun’s not for the bear. It’s to slow one of you down if the bear is chasing us so be nice to me for the rest of this trip.”

[Alpo]

Me finding Paul going through my pack would have meant that when we got back from Yosemite that would be the absolutely last time I had any type of interaction with Paul.

[Cypress Sun]

 

[Cypress Sun]

7 minutes ago, Pat Riot said:

Back in the 80’s me and 3 of my city boy surfer friends went to Yosemite for a 4 day camp trip. I think we stayed in the Dewey Point Campground and the first morning we were there we hiked to Dewey and Glacier Point. These points overlook the valley. 
I had my backpack packed with a gallon of water, some snacks, some survival gear and my Colt .45 Combat Gov’t loaded with 230 grain hardcast and 3 other mags loaded the same. 
If I remember right the hike was 3.5 miles to the first site - Dewey Point. After we had gone a couple of miles one of my buddies offered to take the pack. I said “No”. None of these guys knew a thing about guns. 
We stopped for a break. I went into the woods due to nature’s call. When I came back here’s Paul rifling through my pack. I immediately got mad and snatched my bag and he says “What do you have this for?”

He held up my .45. I asked him for it back.

He said “No!”

The safety was still on and being that Paul was a big guy and in superb physical shape I didn’t figure tackling him was the way to go so I said “Paul, we are about to fight. You might hurt me but I know how to fight and I will fight dirty. Give me back my gun.”

He stared at me for a second then handed it over. 
We continued our trek and about 15 minutes later I saw claw marks in the pine trees in this round of pine trees. They were all 8-12 feet off the ground. I had seen black bear claw marks in tree trunks as a kid. These were way bigger than those and much higher. 
The picture @T.K.posted above with the bear paw looks like it could have made the marks we were seeing in the trees. 
Dave says “I wonder what did that?”

I said “Bears…or maybe one bear that’s been around for years.”

”No way…you’re high! No bear could do that!”

Craig and Paul both said nearly at the same time. “I think Tom’s right.”

Then Paul says “Good thing we have a gun”

(oh…all of a sudden Mr. Lefty is happy there’s a gun. I said something I remembered from a funny joke)

”What do you mean ‘We’ white man?” 
 

Anyway, that evening we went to the Ranger’s Campfire for their evening lecture and it was about bears. 
My skeptical buddy Dave told the Ranger about the claw marks we saw on the trail and asked if those were really bear claw marks. 
The Ranger said “Absolutely those were bear claw marks. There’s a big male brown bear we call (a name I can’t remember) and standing upright and stretching he could easily reach 12 feet.”

My buddies didn’t doubt me anymore. Luckily, none of them were dumb enough to ask if a .45 would stop a bear. Guns were illegal in Yosemite then. 
 

Later Paul asked if my .45 could kill a bear. My inner little devil popped up and I got to use another joke line.

I said “Oh, the gun’s not for the bear. It’s to slow one of you down if the bear is chasing us so be nice to me for the rest of this trip.”

 

I had my own little encounter with a bear in Yosemite.

 

In 1971 or 72, my family went to California and visited various locations...Yosemite was one.

 

We stayed in a "campground" that had a sort of cabins that were clustered around central restrooms. The cabins weren't really cabins, they had a solid, raised floor but above the floor it was basically a tent. One night, I had to use the restroom so I went to the central restroom building which didn't have doors but was a solid building. 

As I was sitting there on the toilet with the stall door closed, alone in the building, I noticed bear feet walking around in the bathroom. I don't think it was a grizzly but I was trapped in the stall with no escape. The bear sniffed around and then stuck his head under the stall door and sniffed. I never saw his eyes, but he knew I was there. He sniffed around a little bit more and left. When I got back to the cabin, I woke everyone up and told them about the bear...I don't think they believed me but who cares. 

[Pat Riot]

41 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said:

 

I had my own little encounter with a bear in Yosemite.

 

In 1971 or 72, my family went to California and visited various locations...Yosemite was one.

 

We stayed in a "campground" that had a sort of cabins that were clustered around central restrooms. The cabins weren't really cabins, they had a solid, raised floor but above the floor it was basically a tent. One night, I had to use the restroom so I went to the central restroom building which didn't have doors but was a solid building. 

As I was sitting there on the toilet with the stall door closed, alone in the building, I noticed bear feet walking around in the bathroom. I don't think it was a grizzly but I was trapped in the stall with no escape. The bear sniffed around and then stuck his head under the stall door and sniffed. I never saw his eyes, but he knew I was there. He sniffed around a little bit more and left. When I got back to the cabin, I woke everyone up and told them about the bear...I don't think they believed me but who cares. 

I remember those. We had one reserved for another Yosemite trip and there was a mix up and we didn’t get a tent cabin. Luckily we brought all of our camping gear so we stayed in another campground above the valley. It was a crappy trip. 
 

On the same trip that we were on in the other post I made a bear had come into the campground around 1 am. It literally tore the front part of the roof off an Isuzu Troop to get a cooler on the front seat. 
Man, what a sound to wake up to. 

[J-BAR #18287]

Skin that one, Pilgrim, and I'll bring you another!

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

When my daughter was eight, we went to Sequoia National Park on a camping trip in October. We went to a Ranger's presentation one evening and the ranger asked if anyone had seen a bear. One couple had seen one far away on a hill. The ranger stated that the bears usually do not hibernate in Sequoia.

 

As we were leaving the park, my daughter was skeptical about any bears being around so I told her to watch the trees as we were going down the mountain. Well, she spotted a small one in a tree that was about 50 feet off the road and the bear was about 30 feet up into the tree so it was about level to the road. We stopped a little down the road, got out of the truck and walked back to see it.

 

When it heard us, it started down the tree. As it hit the ground it took off in the opposite direction and, simultaneously, my daughter took off running for the truck!

 

 

[Cypress Sun]

51 minutes ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

Skin that one, Pilgrim, and I'll bring you another!

 

His character made the movie and the laugh while chasing the "Grizz"...priceless.

[Oak Ridge Regulator]

Needs his toenails trimmed

[Jabez Cowboy,SASS # 50129]

"The Preacher and Bear" We used to preform this number, at almost every concert as a Family...

 

Jabez Cowboy 

[J-BAR #18287]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP96n0gyNz0&pp=ygUMY2hyaXN0eSBiZWFy

 

[J-BAR #18287]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4NSa4riL_I&pp=ygUbamVyZW1pYWggam9obnNvbiBza2luIGdyaXp6

[Subdeacon Joe]

21 hours ago, Pat Riot said:

We stopped for a break. I went into the woods due to nature’s call. When I came back here’s Paul rifling through my pack. I immediately got mad and snatched my bag and he says “What do you have this for?”

He held up my .45. I asked him for it back.

He said “No!”

 

I'm surprised that you didn't take your gear and leave after recovering your gun.