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UPDATED: Camper pulled from hammock by a bear ~Great Smoky Mt National Park

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Sections of the GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK are now closed in N.Carolina.

The article does not specifically say so, but presumably there is now a search for the bear in that area.

Campers appear to have done the right things, hung their packs, food, etc out of reach of the bears. Not sure if he was in a hammock tent or just a hammock. The campers were a father/son team, the son was yanked out of his hammock by the bear. They were in 2 different hammocks. Hammock tents are becoming more popular with campers/backpackers.

http://www.wlos.com/news/features/t...ed-after-bear-attack-21406.shtml#.VXTtehg8KrU
GRAHAM COUNTY, N.C. --Several trails have been closed today in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park after a bear attack.

The trails are closed in the Hazel Creek section of the park.

Park officials say last night at about 10:30 p.m. a 16-year-old male from Ohio was pulled from his hammock by a bear. The incident happened at campsite 84 approximately four and a half miles from the Fontana Lake shoreline.

According to officials, the victim's father was able to drive the bear away from the campsite. The victim and his father hiked to the lakeshore and were transported to a boat dock by campers. Graham County emergency service workers took the victim to a landing zone and he was flown to Mission Hospital in Asheville at 3 a.m. this morning.

The young man is in stable condition after sustaining multiple injuries including laceration to his head.

Hazel Creek Trail, Jenkins Ridge Trail, Bone Valley Trail, Cold Spring Gap Trail and campsites 82 through 88 are closed.
“While incidents with bears are rare, we ask park visitors to take necessary precautions while hiking in bear country and comply with all backcountry closures,” said Superintendent Cassius Cash. “The safety of our visitors is our number one priority.”

The father and son were on a multi-day backpacking trip in the Smokies. Both campers were sleeping in hammocks approximately 10 feet apart and had all equipment, food, and packs properly stored on aerial food storage cables.
For more information on what to do if you encounter a bear while hiking, please visit the park website at <http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/black-bears.htm>. To report a bear incident, please call 865-436-1230.
On a personal note my wife and I plan to be hiking in that general area in about 3 weeks. Might change our plans and divert to a different park area.
 

Av8r3400

Gone Flyin'
Re: Camper pulled from hammock by a bear ~Great Smoky Mt National Park

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undy

New member
Re: Camper pulled from hammock by a bear ~Great Smoky Mt National Park

Yup. Bears are nothing to fool with. They're both lucky that Dad was able to chase it away.

I don't know about a handgun. Several years ago I had my family out in the boonies by Elkhorn, MT (BTW, the BEST ghost town in America, IMHO), and met Ed McGinnis, the retired cop who lived up there and ran a general store. The next morning, on our way back into town, we met Ed on his ATV, coming out to check on our well being. He was packing a pistol, and I asked why. He said "bear, just in case". So we got to discussing what sort of firearm I might want to carry "just in case", since I had my wife, kids and dog to consider.

Ed carried a .38, with a big clip and the entire box of shells in clips on his waist. He claimed he could empty the whole lot of them in just seconds, and he seemed pretty sure of it. He said it would take most of them to stop a bear, but mentioned that the big clips were only legal for law enforcement personnel. (Maybe a .44 mag would be a different story?)

Ed recommended I buy a double barrel, twin trigger, 12 ga. shotgun, take it to a gunsmith and have it sawed off to the shortest legal length. Transport it unloaded. Load the first barrel with OO buckshot, and the second with a slug. If a bear charges, shoot it first with buckshot in an attempt to scare it away. He told me I wouldn't have time to chamber the second shell, but a twin trigger gun could fire immediately. In case the bear continues, shoot the slug.

In his opinion, if I killed a bear, even in self defense, then the real trouble would start with the local authorities.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Re: Camper pulled from hammock by a bear ~Great Smoky Mt National Park

A bear in Montana is probably a Brown or Grizzly. A bear in North Carolina is likely a Black bear, which is smaller and generally less agressive and a lot easier to kill. Hunters often use 308 Win or magnum handguns to take Black bears during hunting season, 30-30 lever actions are probably not that uncommon for Black bears either.

When I was in college I hiked part of the AT, (Tennessee/Kentucky) and with some college buddies. We had a Black bear destroy our tent while we slept in it. I actually slept through the whole thing, woke up with the tent laying on my face. Guy in the middle said the bear was standing on top of him and was pretty scared. Bear never got into the tent, he just walked right on top of it, collapsing the tent on us, then walked on top of the fallen tent. Yelling scared it away.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Re: Camper pulled from hammock by a bear ~Great Smoky Mt National Park

They were lucky!!!!

I've never lived in bear country and have never been "up close and personal" with one although I have seen them in Wyoming, Tennesee and Colorado. If we did live in close proximity I don't know what type of firearm I'd carry. I think that I'd err on the side of "bigger is better", especially in handguns. In East Texas there isn't anything that you can't take with a .243 or 30-30 and my handguns are .38/.357 and 40's, but I'd opt for something larger in both rifle and pistol. The shotguns I have covered.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Re: Camper pulled from hammock by a bear ~Great Smoky Mt National Park

UPDATE w/VIDEO

http://abcnews.go.com/US/teen-details-moment-bear-pulled-hammock-head/story?id=31673101

Teen Details Moment Bear Pulled Him From Hammock by His Head


Jun 10, 2015, 3:14 PM

A teenage boy who was dragged by a black bear as he slept in a hammock said initially he had no idea what was attacking him.

"I just felt a lot of pain in my scalp. ... I thought maybe it was a wild dog," Gabriel Alexander, 16, of Athens, Ohio, told The Citizen-Times this week from a hospital bed. "I was afraid."

Gabriel and his father, Greg Alexander, were in the middle of a camping trip in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Saturday. The two were 40 miles into a 50-mile backpacking trip when they took a break, sleeping in hammocks 10 feet away from each other. Around 10:30 p.m. near Hazel Creek in the North Carolina section of the park, Greg Alexander said he was startled awake.

"I woke up to [Gabriel’s] screaming and I saw a bear," he told ABC affiliate WLOS-TV in Asheville, North Carolina. "[It] seemed to have bitten him in the head and was dragging him ... towards the bushes."

Greg Alexander said he fought the bear off and then he and Gabriel, who remained conscious during the attack, hiked five miles to a lake where some campers helped them get to a helicopter.

"I just had to get the bear off of him. ... I think I kicked [the bear] a couple times, and it didn't seem to have any effect," Greg Alexander said. "I just jumped on him and started punching it in the face."

Gabriel Alexander suffered injuries including deep cuts to his scalp and face. He remains at Mission Hospital in Asheville, but is expected to make a full recovery.

"I'm just glad he's alive," his father said.

The park said the Alexanders had properly stored all food and equipment. Park spokeswoman Dana Soehn said a male bear had been caught in a culvert trap Tuesday and euthanized humanely. She said hair and blood samples for DNA had not been returned yet.

Until the park can confirm that the euthanized bear was the one that attacked Gabriel, the spokeswoman said trails and campsites would remain closed. Staffers were also reportedly on site to monitor for bear activity.

"Human safety is our number one concern," Soehn said.​
 
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