[pct-l] Questioning authority

[Bighummel@aol.com (Bighummel@aol.com)]

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Reynolds writes:

> It is about SLEEPING WITH YOUR FOOD in bear territory. Eventually a bear
> crashes a tent and someone gets hurt. Yes, I know, you don't care. What
> does
> that have to do with you making it to Canada? So what if some dumbass
> weekender gets killed by the bear that you started down the road to tent
> crashing.

So let's take this same logic to the problem with mountain lions.  Yes, I
know, you don't care.  Small women trail running alone leads these big cats
to think that this is something that they might like to take down.  So what
if some dumbass weekender gets killed by the lion that you started down the
road to runner catching.  Hmmmm,  so let's outlaw trail running because it
just might happen someday down the road.  Oops, it has already happened!   Oh
My God!  Well, then now we really have a good case to outlaw lone, small
trail runners!

Nope, it just doesn't fly.  We in California elected to stop hunting mountain
lions, fully knowing in the back of our collective minds that someday one of
these big cats might just come out and munch one of our friends or family.
That's the price of keeping them out of extinction.  The similar thing goes
for the bears.  We have caused the problem by not allowing the hunting or
painful-fear-instilling of bears in and around the National Parks.  We are
trying to solve the problem in other ways, but even the solutions are not
being adhered to and the bears are still having their way with some
uninitiated.  Those of us deeply concerned about the situation take steps,
either in equipment or strategy, to prevent an ugly situation from coming to
us.  Like the mountain lion situation, wherein we know not to trail run
without a backpack on, alone, in mountain lion country, if we are small in
stature, in the bear situation we know what not to do in order to increase
our odds of a bad encounter.   It is just a fact of life that in order to
co-habitate these areas with bears, they are going to be tempted to take on
the opportunities that are given to them.  Somebody is going to get hurt by
doing something really stupid with a bear, and, yep, your right Tom, I don't
care.  It's called the Darwin Awards.  However, the true solution is to make
ALL black bears afraid of ALL humans in ALL areas.  Only then will the
liklihood of a bad situation be minimized.

Let's hear it for rubber bullets, flash bangs and wristrockets!

Greg "Strider" Hummel