Man sues landowner and hunting guide for bear attack………….

Additional damage is done by a stupid news account of the incident.

A hunter has sued a guide and the landowner for damages he received when he was hunting in grizzly country and was attached by a bear. The outfitter dropped the plaintiff off to watch for elk and took another hunter to shoot a deer. The outfitter was on his way back to the first hunter when he heard a shot. Upon arriving on the scene, he found the hunter on the ground who said he had been slapped by a grizzly. The hunter allegedly lost an eye in the attack.

At this point, I think I would be grateful I was not grizzly lunch. However, it gets better or actually worse.
The hunter is suing the landowner because the landowner was paid so the hunter could hunt on the land (OK, grizzlies are owned by the state, but the land owner is liable for them….). The hunter is suing the guide for “not give him training on how to deal with bears or provide him with bear spray.”

I bet he did not give the plaintiff pants either. Seriously, rarely do I bring up personal responsibility, but in this case, who is responsible for whom? Besides he had a gun that was big enough to bring down an elk supposedly. Let’s see, I made a grizzly mad do I want a gun or bear spray.

Sort of like the joke when walking in bear country you should take a bell and bear spray with you. To help identify black bear scat, they are smaller and are various colors. To identify a grizzly scat, it has bells in it and smells of pepper spray. See photo below!

But this story takes a new twist when one journalist decides to add new requirements to Montana’s state law and the duties of a guide or outfitter. He takes off comparing the training of government employees working in bear country have 112 hours of training to an outfitter and guest. The outfitter/guide did not give the client any?

I can see the advertisement now. Come to Montana to for a one week hunt lasting four weeks. After your three weeks of grizzly training we’ll let you out of the classroom to shoot something.

These hunts should be a big seller.

The article gets worse. “Do guides and outfitters like Johnson have the training and skills necessary to protect their clients during a worst-case scenario with a bear?”

I can’t believe this journalist has been outdoors. Having participated in a lot of Search and Rescues for hunters, no one can keep a hunter safe. Besides it is outdoors, there are a million ways anyone can get into trouble in the woods. No one person, let alone the Montana National Guard can keep some hunters safe.

1. If you are going hunting/walking/anything in grizzly country you better know what you are doing.
2. If you don’t know what to do in grizzly country don’t go.
3. If you don’t know what type of animals are going to be in the woods with you, stay out of the woods until you do. Most second class members of the BSA can help you with this.
4. If you are a journalist and believe that outfitters need to keep their clients perfectly safe, go back to New York City.

To see the original article Man Sues Church Universal And Triumphant, Hunting Outfitter. To see the article that would give grizzlies pause see Lawsuit will bring scrutiny to Montana hunting guides.

The only thing that will bring scrutiny to Montana’s hunting guides is dumb articles that encourage hunters to sue.

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