Why don't we just exterminate all bears?

[BigThief]

Haha amazing. Some good ol righteous indignation to reel in the rubes. How dare you suggest wanting to contact the Calgary Zoo in order to test out my anti bear equipment is trolling. My word!

Don't get mad at me you've lost your ability to be subtle with this stuff.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by BigThief

Haha amazing. Some good ol righteous indignation to reel in the rubes. How dare you suggest wanting to contact the Calgary Zoo in order to test out my anti bear equipment is trolling. My word!

You have a better alternative?

You really thinking flicking on a modern noise maker (that's already used on humans) is going to cause some detrimental problem for the bears? I mean, you could make the argument it could save bear lives and reduce the risk of bear/human encounters. Hell, you could have them in mountain towns and they could be activated to shoo away bears.

And a super powerful strobe light? You don't think you could turn that on in a few different scenarios with bears to see how they react?

Give me a break.

[BigThief]

The idea of someone with zero background in natural scienc, Zoology, Mammalogy or any related field calling up the local zoo and going "hey bruh, can I access your bears?" Is stupid and ignorant on a painful level.

Also do you think none of this has been studied before?

https://sanangelo.tamu.edu/files/202...s-in-texas.pdf

Congrats, you got me lol

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Sliver

No offense at all, but you come across as beyond stupid to think it's trolling.

I hike with bear bangers and every single person in my family has bear spray. We carry it when walking to our dumpster in Canmore let alone going anywhere else. I fire off a bear banger before a hike to clear the trail.

My hiking stick is a literal spear.

I have a knife in a sheath on my front backpack strap.

I've been stalked by a mother bear with two cubs.

My daughter encountered a grizzly behind our condo by the golf course and I had to run over there to retrieve her.

I own four shotguns, one of which is a stubby (legal) for bear encounters.

You can't use shotguns in soooo many places and I don't trust bear spray 100%.

I get emails basically daily from "bearsmart" warning/notifying people of where bears are in the bow valley.

So...stfu about insinuating I'm trolling. I don't want to get eaten by a bear. Congratulations you don't go out in the woods or mountain bike around bear country. Or, maybe congratulations you haven't encountered catastrophic life-changing/life-ending events in your family so you think the world is a safe place. Let me handle the bear defenses and I'll leave you in charge of bad internet comments.

Give it time. Some of us know you're not trolling. Many thought the rascal and garage parties and were trolling until it became more commonly accepted as others started doing similar things.

IMO no way Calgary Zoo would let you test stuff like that on their bears. It'd be a media fiasco for potential abuse of animals if it got out. You're better off seeing if there's some sanctuaries/bear rehabilitation facilities/park rangers you could go to ask them questions about whether your stuff will work/if it's against the rules.

Most likely they won't let you test it for personal purposes, but maybe you could ask if the design has components that would work to deter a bear.

The only way that maybe they might let you test if perhaps if you went to some of those places and asked if something like this could work as a method to steer a bear from a distance to somewhere they can more easily manage them (ie: Park rangers, trying to get a bear to leave populated areas in the parks vs telling people to go away for an unknown period of time) and if there's a need to design stuff like this. If they need a bigger idea, but then you quietly adapt it into a smaller one for personal use, you might get the answers you're looking for. Heck, ask what they do currently and try to incorporate those concepts into your existing designs.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by BigThief

Don't get mad at me you've lost your ability to be subtle with this stuff.

Yeah, except I've never been a troll.

A guy doesn't like dogs: what a troll!

A guy doesn't want to get killed by bears: what a troll!

A guy thinks teachers only work 3/4 of year and 2/3 of a day because he looked at their schedule and that's literally the hours: what a troll!

A guy thinks big weddings are a huge waste of money: what a troll!

Sorry dude, it's dumb to have read anything I've ever written and conclude I'm a troll.

Go to the Banff visitor's facebook page. Every second question is about bears. Congrats you don't care about bears...many do. Bear defense is huge business. Literally everyone who visits Banff and Canmore who plan to do outdoor activities buys or rents bearspray. On the Canmore facebook page, there are multiple posts a week by people looking to sell their bearspray before concluding their vacation.

Bear defense is big business. A bearspray costs, what, $80 or something? For a spray can of pepper water? I have an idea for something that is potentially better and its efficacy isn't fricken wind dependent.

Much easier to criticize than create, though, so go nuts. But it is ridiculous to think an idea for bear defense that's safer for the bear and the human using it is a dumb thing to pursue. Even dumber to think the guy who has been thinking about bears - and how to fend them off - regularly since he was a kid is trolling because he came up with an idea that would be safe and legal to use in national parks.

[BigThief]

lol that was awesome, and typed quickly too. The faux outrage.

Okay you're serious. Thinking you're going to call up the Zoo and gain access might mean you should get checked for early onset dementia. Thinking the science community doesn't know how a wildly known animal reacts to...light.. Is more evidence of that.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by BigThief

lol that was awesome, and typed quickly too. The faux outrage.

Okay you're serious. Thinking you're going to call up the Zoo and gain access might mean you should get checked for early onset dementia. Thinking the science community doesn't know how a wildly known animal reacts to...light.. Is more evidence of that.

I'm not going to call up the zoo. I don't know anybody there. I asked if anybody here knows anybody there so they could ask directly.

[KelVarnsen]

Lol

[Fuzz]

I think of all the times I've wandered around Canmore growing up, you know, 10 year old going in the woods, walking home from friends places taking short cuts through forests and meadows, frog hunting in the Larch marshes, late night runs, and not once did a bear ever attack me or any other kid who has ever grown up in Canmore and done the same. Not one of us ever had bear spray or a murder stick.


I've seen many bears around, including in my back yard. I've run into them biking, hiking, playing disc golf, driving, walking, eating wild strawberries. I still go for night walks almost every night I'm there along the river. I'm not so afraid I need 10 different types of protection because I've actually been educated about them, and grew up with them. So when I see the ridiculous list of things you need to feel safe, it kinda feels like the best thing for everyone involved is for you to stay out of bear country before someone or something gets hurt. You are more a hazard to yourself and everyone around you than a bear would ever be.


And yes, it's funny to imagine you with all your bear gear walking to the Grizzly Paw at 8pm with your head on a swivel. I can't imagine how you can even find any joy out there will all the fear endlessly dripping into your eyes.

[topfiverecords]

[Reggie Dunlop]

I routinely hike in dense woods while eating a jar of hunny.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I think of all the times I've wandered around Canmore growing up, you know, 10 year old going in the woods, walking home from friends places taking short cuts through forests and meadows, frog hunting in the Larch marshes, late night runs, and not once did a bear ever attack me or any other kid who has ever grown up in Canmore and done the same. Not one of us ever had bear spray or a murder stick.

I've seen many bears around, including in my back yard. I've run into them biking, hiking, playing disc golf, driving, walking, eating wild strawberries. I still go for night walks almost every night I'm there along the river. I'm not so afraid I need 10 different types of protection because I've actually been educated about them, and grew up with them. So when I see the ridiculous list of things you need to feel safe, it kinda feels like the best thing for everyone involved is for you to stay out of bear country before someone or something gets hurt. You are more a hazard to yourself and everyone around you than a bear would ever be.

And yes, it's funny to imagine you with all your bear gear walking to the Grizzly Paw at 8pm with your head on a swivel. I can't imagine how you can even find any joy out there will all the fear endlessly dripping into your eyes.

Well, I guess I choose to face my fears and enjoy life versus hiding in my room playing video games with BigThief. Believe it or not, it's possible to thoroughly enjoy the outdoors while also wishing you could shotgun a bear's face off if he got too close to you. Kinda like how humanity has dealt with bears since the dawn of time: they get close, you kill them. Since that's illegal, I want the best defense possible. I don't know if bear spray is the best thing we have and if there's something better within the law that's what I want.

[Red Slinger]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

I routinely hike in dense woods while eating a jar of hunny.

Oh bother.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Well, I guess I choose to face my fears and enjoy life versus hiding in my room playing video games with BigThief. Believe it or not, it's possible to thoroughly enjoy the outdoors while also wishing you could shotgun a bear's face off if he got too close to you. Kinda like how humanity has dealt with bears since the dawn of time: they get close, you kill them. Since that's illegal, I want the best defense possible. I don't know if bear spray is the best thing we have and if there's something better within the law that's what I want.

You aren't facing your fears, though. You are acting irrationally, which is to give in to your fears.


And no, that's not how we act around bears since the dawn of time.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

You aren't facing your fears, though. You are acting irrationally, which is to give in to your fears.

Giving into your fears would be to avoid areas with bears. I don't let them stop me from doing anything.

Originally Posted by Fuzz

And no, that's not how we act around bears since the dawn of time.

lol, yeah? Never heard of Europe? Two extinct species and brown bears are barely anywhere, anymore. The reason? Killed by people.

[Fuzz]

That's just like saying you don't mind spiders because you only exist in a bee suit.


They probably didn't kill them out of fear. Anyway, we know that's not necessary.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

That's just like saying you don't mind spiders because you only exist in a bee suit.

Wouldn't that analogy only make sense if I hiked around in an Ironman suit? I hike in shorts, guy.

[Fuzz]

But you want to be armed like Ironman, so it still works.

[calumniate]

Why don't you just walk up to zoo headquarters and ask them? Record everything please

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

But you want to be armed like Ironman, so it still works.

Nah, more just want to walk around the woods like everyone else did from 1700 - 1960...with a gun and to be allowed to defend myself against a bear attack.