Indians For Guns

This is the picture a hiker took of a 135-kg black bear. A few minutes later, it killed him


Associated Press | November 26, 2014 | Last Updated: Nov 26 12:37 PM ET
More from Associated Press

A New Jersey hiker killed by a bear in September took a series of photos of the animal with his cellphone before it mauled him to death.

Police in West Milford have released photos taken by 22-year-old Darsh Patel before he was killed by the 300-pound black bear while hiking with four friends in the Apshawa Preserve, 70 kilometres northwest of New York.
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The photos show the bear behind a fallen tree in the woods. Investigators say the phone was found with puncture marks from the bear.

The photos were released after NJ.com filed an open records request.

West Milford police and the state Environmental Protection Department said last month that the bear did not seem interested in food and exhibited “stalking type behaviour.”

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/11/26 ... illed-him/

Very unfortunate end for Darsh Patel....May his soul rest in peace!
His last moments recorded in his cell phone camera sadly turned out to be his pictorial obituary....
Wonder what prompted the bear to attack Darsh????
Briha

brihacharan wrote:Very unfortunate end for Darsh Patel........
Wonder what prompted the bear to attack Darsh????
Briha

Maybe the fact that Darsh was too worried about getting some good shots to post on facebook or youtube and apparently got too close.
When you see a bear, you give it a wide berth, putting as much distance between yourself and it.
People forget that Disney cartoons are fantasy and that animals in the wild are just that; wild.

When heading into Bear country it is prudent to carry Bear spray at the very least.
Luckily in the US, in most places - not NJ, though, one can carry a firearm though a handgun may be a poor defense againt a large Bear.
I'd much prefer to have a pump action 12 gauge shotgun with slugs.

It is possible that poor Darsh did do something to provoke the bear. Since the poor fellow lost his life, I am not in the mood to criticize him, whatever happened.

It is good to look over these events to see if there is something valuable to learn, however, I feel that the general public often is looking to find someone to blame when these sorts of things occur, because it makes them feel as if justice is done.

Justice is a human concept. Bears and other wildlife are just that: wild, and they are looking to survive. When people engage in unfortunate anthropomorphisation --attributing human ideals and values to animals -- all sorts of unfortunate conclusions can be reached. Perhaps poor Darsh did this, or maybe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I've run into a number of bears in my time -- I remember once when my Dad thought something went wrong with our travel trailer in Yellowstone Park, and I jumped out of the back seat and ran to the back of the car to check out the hitch. A bear was waiting by that same pull-off and evidently figured that a meal was in store when we pulled in and stopped. I had just jumped over the tongue of the trailer and the bear was not 6 feet away. I never moved so fast in my life getting back into that car. My performance of clearing the trailer tongue on the return trip was undoubtedly an olympic performance. It is a wonder that I didn't soil myself. That bear was huge!

As XL says, stay away from bears! If you want to see one, go to the zoo, the circus, or Russia, where they keep them as pets. Any sort of wildlife is just that: wildlife. They are nothing to fool around with, although in my lifetime, I've seen more than enough fools try to.

This is tragedy to loose life in such a horrible manner..may he RIP. NJ has had issues with bears etc mulling around neighborhoods close proximity to public. NJ is one of the most densely populated states in US. ANother issue is ban of hunting and wild life has exploded in recent times..one needs to be prepared for such eventualities / accidents

I saw the title of the thread and thought it would be something funny. Not funny

Poor guy! Praying for his soul!

From the pic, it seems he was too close to the bear. AT least close enough for a bear to outrace a human in a trice. I remember reading (Kenneth Anderson) that bears are extremely aggressive when surprised. And since they have bad eyesight (for an animal, that is) and rely mostly on their sense of smell, it is usually a surprise for them to be approached from downwind. Or maybe the sound of the picture being snapped provoked him?

I remember staying up a tree on the Pindari Glacier route for about 2 very painful hours as a mother and two cubs walked by. The Mom did smell us (me, my cousin and a fellow trekker), but probably decided that three scared ****less young boys were harmless. Thank God we saw them on time and had a rather convenient tree on hand, although looking down a few hundred feet one one side and a suspicious mother bear on the other was sheer torture! Longest 2 hours I ever spent! Even after they left we were too scared to come down until another large group of trekkers came by!

[quote="essdee1972"]Poor guy! Praying for his soul!
I remember staying up a tree on the Pindari Glacier route for about 2 very painful hours as a mother and two cubs walked by.

Lady luck smiled on you kids
Because Bears can & do climb trees (as is known when they forage for "Honeycombs" )
looks like Ma Bear was very forgiving that day
Briha

As Brihaji mentions, climbing a tree is no escape from Bear.

Think this guy had to go change his pants?

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I know, Brihaji & XL. I believe to this date that she was being merciful. If she had given the tree a couple of shakes, the three of us would have ended up as a bloody mess 200 feet below! The tree was at a 60 degree angle on the edge of the path.

Although an experienced outdoorsman in the group told us later that evening that the bear was probably full and did not see us as a threat, I still anthropomorphise and like to think she took pity on three kids shivering in the branches and sweating buckets. Maybe the pheromones one emits under severe emotion helped us - she couldn't help smell our fear!

The experience of poor Darsh reminded me of sitting on that tree all those years back, and I sent a quick thanks to the chap Up Above and to the (probably) long dead mother bear!