An extraordinary amount of stupidity, which seems the norm these days.

Ten feet away ... Imagine standing ten feet from a basketball hoop.

I blame Clint Howard

quote:

Originally posted by PatAz:
An extraordinary amount of stupidity, which seems the norm these days.

My father was a NPS LE Ranger for most of my teenage years... 1980-1987... and I mostly grew up in parks.

The things I saw visitors do back then boggled my teenage mind.

Keeping food in your tent is one thing, it's stupid but if you're not an experienced backpacker maybe you don't know.

...but using a granola bar to lure Mr. Bear over for a photo op?

Not even immediately deadly stuff:

I'll go hiking in the new boots I just bought and get stranded with hamburger feet 5o miles from the nearest road.

I'll cut across from this trail to that one, it's only a couple of fingers away on the map...

I won't bring properly preserved/ prepared food and have my whole family pissing out their ass 100 miles from a hospital...

I won't boil/bleach the water from that creek, it looks clean... same result as above.

I'll pitch my tent in this nice low spot so that when it rains I can go for an unplanned rafting trip on a flash flood, without a raft.

I could go on, and on...

At 14 I knew for certain I was smarter and wiser than half the adults on the planet... certainly a better backpacker.

We had a famous bear researcher up in northern Minnesota. Back in my delivery days with the company that's not brown I filled in for one of the couriers that did his deliveries. I had a package for him that was priority overnight. When I got there I went into his office but no one was there. I seen a door open that went out the back and I knew he had a very large fenced in area where he kept bears for his research. These were mostly orphaned bears whose mothers were killed by hunters. What I didn't know is he was also dealing with wild bears who come out of the forest and showed no fear of him or him of them.

I stepped out the back door to find him dealing with a wild mother and her two cubs outside the fenced area. I said excuse me I have a priority delivery that requires a signature sir. One moment please he said. I stood right by that door. The mother and those cubs were no further than 20 yards from me with him between us. He reached down and picked up one of the cubs! I about shat myself! He was checking it's heart rate. All of a sudden the mother bluff charged him and when she got within ten feet of him she slammed both her front paws to the ground. You could feel the vibration, a big cloud of dust went up and huffing and head shaking by the bear. I was frozen in place I fully expected this guy was going to get mauled right in front of me.

He calmly put the cub down turned around and looked at me and said lets see what you got there.

Next time I seen the regular courier I related the story to him. He said yeah he does crazy shit like that all the time.

They should make a sign.

{editing post from a month ago in case someone misses the fact this is sarcasm. Added some fancy rolly eyes......

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Georgeair,

My wife and I were driving through Custer State Park in South Dakota. We saw several Bison and several cars stopped with people out taking pictures. Two young women were backing up to the largest bull with their smart phones up taking selfies. I told my wife this might not end well. Fortunately, they got to within a couple of feet of his head and he just stood there.

I hope they didn’t shoot the bison.

People are stupid.

If they put up a camera and made everyone watch it before entry, people would still fuck with the animals....

I barely raise an eyebrow anymore; obviously, it’s never going to stop.

While in Yellowstone a couple years ago, I was amazed how close we had to get to Bison in our car just to get where we were going.

No way were we getting out of our car, even though they looked docile and others we getting out to take pictures, plain fools!!

quote:

Originally posted by LimaCharlie:
Fortunately, they got to within a couple of feet of his head and he just stood there.

And that right there is why their friends will do the same thing.

quote:

No way were we getting out of our car, even though they looked docile and others we getting out to take pictures, plain fools!!

Similar experience when we went last spring. Most memorable was watching a group of people at a roadside pullout pointing out into a field. Expecting to see a bear chowing down on something slowed down to look and sure enough; Mr. Wizard is walking across field to get a closer pic of a small group of ~10 bison. He was easily 70-100 yards from cover and cars.

Tasty.

The Pope was taking a tour of the United States. Anxious to see all of its beauty, he included a trip to Alaska.

As the Pope was being driven along, enjoying the majestic beauty of the 49th state, he was suddenly shocked to see a grizzly bear attack a man and begin to maul him. From his sandals, long hair and tie-dye t-shirt, it was obvious the man was an old hippie.

Seemingly out of nowhere, two large good ole boys sprang up, shot the bear dead, pried the old hippie out of the bear's paws and then gently began to bandage his wounds.

The Pope was overcome with joy. "This is wonderful!" he said "All this time I have heard about the hate between the Left and the Right in the USA, but these good ole boys risked their lives to save this old hippie! I am so thankful to have witnessed this! Bless you men!"

As the Pope drove off, the two men looked at each other with a a puzzled expression and shook their heads. Then one said to the other "Do you think we need to go into town for another one, or do you think we can get another bear or two with this one?"



.

Getting written for speeding is fairly common in a few areas around the east entrance to Glacier Park. And it's NOT a Montana mover it's some Federal BS with a very hefty fine. We visit GNP several times a year and the Rangers trolling for speeders annoy me to no end. You pass one and a few miles into the Park here are dozens of idiots crowding a moose or bison with calves or trying to run down bear cubs. WRITE those idiots! But they never seem to be at those situations.

The idiots are ruining the experience at many Parks. Between over crowding, NO place to park, crowded campgrounds, folks tossing garbage bage around, etc. Sad situation. So many idiots out there.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. So many in society today are just too stupid to expect any measure of common sense from.

I saw this Friday at Alligator River NWR. This is a 350-400lb bear that was walking down a road. I came up behind it and stopped a respectable distance away. Two cars passed me, one of which then passed the bear and pulled over and cut off its route (the black car and the heavy guy in the yellow shirt). The guy in the SUV on the left drove right up behind the bear. And the guy in the big SUV in front of the black car backed up to where it is in the picture. And there is a guy in a red pickup hauling ass down the road kicking up all kinds of dust trying to get to the scene. This is not how to photograph animals. This bear knew where it was going and was diverted into a flooded ditch to get away from these assholes. You wouldn't believe some of the dumb shit I've seen people pull around these bears. I saw a lady and her husband in an SUV chasing down a mother with cubs one day until the mother had to divert into a ditch with her cubs to get away.

[/QUOTE] Death In Yellowstone is on my reading list.[/QUOTE]

I read that last year. Kinda boring at times but sure talked about some very stupid people.

People are stupid. Part of me wants to feel sorry for her but nope, come on your a 70 something-year-old and think getting that close to a bison is a good idea.

I have seen brown bears in the wild and sure I wanted a good picture but guess what. I don't have a great picture because I didn't get close. Seen a mother Elk with very young babies. Again could have tried for an epic picture but nope.

Aw well, stupid people as least provide some entertainment.

quote:

Originally posted by Micropterus:
I saw this Friday at Alligator River NWR...

Some people deserve to be mauled.