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Killer Bears
Suggests what causes bears to attack, gives advice on what defensive actions to take, and describes the details of many actual attacks
- GenresAnimalsNatureNonfiction
301 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 25, 2013
This was a train wreck type of book for me. I saw it at the library and couldn't put it down, despite being horrified by what I was reading. I love to hike, do it all the time, and have a pretty intense bear phobia, so I had no business picking this up. Because despite the author's intention, stated several times in the book, to "hopefully help at least just one person" (paraphrasing), I don't feel helped. In fact, I feel perversely scared now, beyond anything I might've imagined before.
It seems, according the Cramond, that bears are as varied in temperament and rationale as people; if you encounter one, nothing you do or are prepared for will necessarily get you out of the encounter alive or not permanently maimed. You can only hope for sheer, dumb luck. And bears are getting more aggressive in the contact zones, specifically, the areas where people and bears overlap, because they've come to rely on folks as a food source, literally at times.
I think Cramond's intention is to warn us away from the "Bambi syndrome", where we cutify wild animals and lose our fear/respect of them, which leads to dangerous encounters. Now I, and most of the wilderness lovers I know, have *no intention* of driving to Rainier or Yellowstone and hand-feeding a bear. But neither do I intend to stop entering bear habitat--discontinue hiking/camping--which is the only other suggestion he seems to have to avoid the possibility of being eaten alive.
Oh, did I mention that? Bears are one of the few animals that will just hold you down and start chomping at your guts. They don't often bother killing you first, which most other animals do. Yay. Also think you're safe in a group? A black bear attacked, killed, and partially devoured a group of three teenage boys in Canada. Think carrying a "bear gun" (as they call them in Alaska) is certain protection? Cramond describes a bear being shot five times by an experienced outdoorsman as it continued its undeterred approach on its victim. Think keeping a "clean campsite" will keep bears away? A grizzly entered the campsite of several grown women while they were asleep and dragged one out of an occupied tent in her sleeping bag and killed her. The rangers said the campsite was spotless, as bear-safe as you can be (no food, food resin, utensils, dishwater--nothing).
So, that leaves me simply terrified. I took my kids on an end-of-season hike around Bagley Lake at Mt Baker which was simply stunningly gorgeous. On the way back, skirting through rubble at the bottom of a boulder field / skree slope, I *swore* I heard grunting and huffing. I spent the rest of that postcard-beautiful hike in sheer, hair-standing-up-on-my-arms, goose-pimpled terror, knowing there was not a damn thing I could do if there was a bear and it decided it wanted to eat one of my kids or me. My hikes since reading the book have all been tinged with fear. I'm now happy for the high-traffic trails, where before I enjoyed wilderness solitude. And my goal to finally backpack... well I'm not even sure how I feel about car-camping at this point.
As for the nuts and bolts of the book: the writing is fine, if a bit colloquial, gendered, and dated. It's not fabulous, but he's proficient. It's pure content that I was after, absorbing story after story of bears attacking, maiming, killing, and eating people, hoping to find tricks to avoid it. No such luck.
If you value your wilderness relationship, I would not recommend this book. If you're looking for an exciting looky-loo read, go for it.
It seems, according the Cramond, that bears are as varied in temperament and rationale as people; if you encounter one, nothing you do or are prepared for will necessarily get you out of the encounter alive or not permanently maimed. You can only hope for sheer, dumb luck. And bears are getting more aggressive in the contact zones, specifically, the areas where people and bears overlap, because they've come to rely on folks as a food source, literally at times.
I think Cramond's intention is to warn us away from the "Bambi syndrome", where we cutify wild animals and lose our fear/respect of them, which leads to dangerous encounters. Now I, and most of the wilderness lovers I know, have *no intention* of driving to Rainier or Yellowstone and hand-feeding a bear. But neither do I intend to stop entering bear habitat--discontinue hiking/camping--which is the only other suggestion he seems to have to avoid the possibility of being eaten alive.
Oh, did I mention that? Bears are one of the few animals that will just hold you down and start chomping at your guts. They don't often bother killing you first, which most other animals do. Yay. Also think you're safe in a group? A black bear attacked, killed, and partially devoured a group of three teenage boys in Canada. Think carrying a "bear gun" (as they call them in Alaska) is certain protection? Cramond describes a bear being shot five times by an experienced outdoorsman as it continued its undeterred approach on its victim. Think keeping a "clean campsite" will keep bears away? A grizzly entered the campsite of several grown women while they were asleep and dragged one out of an occupied tent in her sleeping bag and killed her. The rangers said the campsite was spotless, as bear-safe as you can be (no food, food resin, utensils, dishwater--nothing).
So, that leaves me simply terrified. I took my kids on an end-of-season hike around Bagley Lake at Mt Baker which was simply stunningly gorgeous. On the way back, skirting through rubble at the bottom of a boulder field / skree slope, I *swore* I heard grunting and huffing. I spent the rest of that postcard-beautiful hike in sheer, hair-standing-up-on-my-arms, goose-pimpled terror, knowing there was not a damn thing I could do if there was a bear and it decided it wanted to eat one of my kids or me. My hikes since reading the book have all been tinged with fear. I'm now happy for the high-traffic trails, where before I enjoyed wilderness solitude. And my goal to finally backpack... well I'm not even sure how I feel about car-camping at this point.
As for the nuts and bolts of the book: the writing is fine, if a bit colloquial, gendered, and dated. It's not fabulous, but he's proficient. It's pure content that I was after, absorbing story after story of bears attacking, maiming, killing, and eating people, hoping to find tricks to avoid it. No such luck.
If you value your wilderness relationship, I would not recommend this book. If you're looking for an exciting looky-loo read, go for it.
December 4, 2019
Killer Bears, Mike Cramond, New York NY, Outdoor Life Books, 1981, 299 pages, Appendix of bear- attack statistics
I would definitely recommend this book to my friends and people who like books based on true stories.
This book was really good. The whole book is based off of true stories, and told as if you were the one listening to the person telling the story. All the stories in the book are about people being attacked by bears and how the survived. The author does a really good on making it feel like the reader is actually with them hearing the stories told. He also asks them a lot of questions that you the reader are thinking of. The author quoted the people that went through the different experiences very well. He also asked really good questions to make sure that he got the most details of the events. Also at the end of the book he puts in an appendix of bear attack statistics. Which adds on a lot of interesting facts and details of different events. More than the ones he wrote about in his book. Yes there is some graphic parts to it but that is part of the stories and what makes it so good.
As a person that likes this style of writing I wished we had more of these types of books in school libraries.
The author is very insightful and Knowledgeable about grizzly bears he was given a grizzly bear as a pet when he was a young boy. Then spent the next 50 years fostering that bear. The bear had “…a permissive-and even careless-attitude” (Perface, Killer Bears) towards him.
Even though this book is graphic in context I would recommend this book to everyone and anyone that is willing to read it.
I would definitely recommend this book to my friends and people who like books based on true stories.
This book was really good. The whole book is based off of true stories, and told as if you were the one listening to the person telling the story. All the stories in the book are about people being attacked by bears and how the survived. The author does a really good on making it feel like the reader is actually with them hearing the stories told. He also asks them a lot of questions that you the reader are thinking of. The author quoted the people that went through the different experiences very well. He also asked really good questions to make sure that he got the most details of the events. Also at the end of the book he puts in an appendix of bear attack statistics. Which adds on a lot of interesting facts and details of different events. More than the ones he wrote about in his book. Yes there is some graphic parts to it but that is part of the stories and what makes it so good.
As a person that likes this style of writing I wished we had more of these types of books in school libraries.
The author is very insightful and Knowledgeable about grizzly bears he was given a grizzly bear as a pet when he was a young boy. Then spent the next 50 years fostering that bear. The bear had “…a permissive-and even careless-attitude” (Perface, Killer Bears) towards him.
Even though this book is graphic in context I would recommend this book to everyone and anyone that is willing to read it.
September 26, 2020
First of all you will not learn how to live through a bear attack. Every bear is different. You will read examples of bear attacks straight from the survivors. I’m not big on hunting, camping, remote hikes, fishing or hockey so I scanned over those areas of the book. The writer was very experienced in the wild, and with bears. He was probably the best person to ever write a book like this.
The stories are captivating page-turners full of action and fear! I for one was already smart enough to stay safely away from bears (still I have had two very brief encounters with wild black bears, not by choice) and the book clearly warns people how dangerous all bears are. (All bears!)
I would recommend this book for it's detailed stories of bear attacks and how some brave souls survived them. I liked the home-spun, old fashioned way the writer tells the stories. He includes himself right there asking the questions to the people involved.
You feel like you are right there with him.
This book came out in 1981 the writer was already in his 60s. I tried to research him but only found out about his other 9-10 books he had written. From what I can tell he lived to be at least in his mid-to-late 70s.
The stories are captivating page-turners full of action and fear! I for one was already smart enough to stay safely away from bears (still I have had two very brief encounters with wild black bears, not by choice) and the book clearly warns people how dangerous all bears are. (All bears!)
I would recommend this book for it's detailed stories of bear attacks and how some brave souls survived them. I liked the home-spun, old fashioned way the writer tells the stories. He includes himself right there asking the questions to the people involved.
You feel like you are right there with him.
This book came out in 1981 the writer was already in his 60s. I tried to research him but only found out about his other 9-10 books he had written. From what I can tell he lived to be at least in his mid-to-late 70s.
September 28, 2009
Gave me nightbears!
June 12, 2022
Having also read Cramond's "Of Bears and Man," I found many of the stories in this book simply a rehash of the stories in that book (or vice-versa, actually). I'd say you really only need to read one or the other, and "Of Bears and Man" is probably the more well-written of the two, and more comprehensive, being written in 1986 (five years after this book). Still, this is a decent read and many of the key stories are here. Quite enlightening.
January 30, 2023
Bears are not teddy bears to cuddle with.
January 22, 2008
Another great bear attack book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews