Mkelcy
New member
Back in SoCal, no firearms but two German Shepherds (littermates who were about 5.5 years old at the time of this encounter - Hanna - the female, and Sammy - the male).
Most weekends back then I’d take the dogs out for a 3 mile one way (6 mile round trip) walk in the Angeles National Forest up a closed and gated/locked fire road to an abandoned Nike missile base. There was a small parking area at the bottom of the road and if no one was parked there, you could be about 99.9% certain no one was on the road ahead of you. In those cases, I’d let the dogs off leash once we're past the first curve of the fire road. The road is pretty much cut into the side of the mountain, uphill to the west, downhill to the east. We’d normally go all the way up, I’d water the dogs at the abandoned Nike base (which had a ginormous water tank still full of fresh water), and then put them on leash for the walk back down to the car.
About a month before my story really begins, on the way down when I had the dogs on leash, they suddenly got very alert, with their ears, heads and tails all up in the full alert position. As we walked down the road there was a small valley uphill on the right - between two hills that rose up from the level of the road. I saw something that looked about the size of a small sheep (maybe 100 pounds) burst out of the brush, run across the small valley and then stop by a tree up hill from us where it turned and stared at us. The dogs and I just stared back. After a few moments, and realizing we could be engaged in this staring contest all day, I took one step forward, whereupon the dogs started barking like crazy and the animal – a small bear - ran over the top of the hill and disappeared.
I told the dog breeder/trainer about it and he confirmed my concern - a bear could easily kill the dogs. So since seeing the bear, I'd been leashing the dogs before we got near where we saw it and letting them off leash when we were well clear.
Well on the day of my story we were still climbing to the place where I'd been leashing them, when, sure enough, there's the bear and the dogs are off leash. They both take off up the road about 100 yards after the bear who plunges down the slope on the right hand side of the road.
As the dogs are disappearing, the mother bear bursts out of the brush hot on the dogs' heels. She's a whole different order of animal from the one that already concerned me, probably 300 - 350 pounds, fast and aggressively protecting what turned out to be her cub. I heard one bark and then seconds later one dog burst up over the east edge of the roadway ahead of me, then the second dog, then the adult bear right behind them. They ran down the road a bit toward me and then all three disappeared over the edge again going down slope. A moment later Sammy came up over the edge about 20 yards ahead of me, followed by the mother who got close enough to roll him. As she was preparing to kill Sammy, Hanna came sailing in and slammed into the bear’s side. Hanna bounced off and evaded the bear and Sammy was able to get up and escape. Then all three went over the edge of the road down the slope once more.
I’ve never personally seen anything quite as brave as what Hanna did – taking on an animal that outweighed her by 270 pounds without thought to what might happen to her, to save her brother and pack mate.
A moment later one of the dogs popped up over the edge of the road, followed closely by the mother bear, and both ran directly at me. The dog ran right by me, but the mother bear stopped about 6' from me, eyeballs me and tries to decide what to do. I figured in for a penny, in for a pound, so stared it right in the eyes, stood up as straight as I could, raised my arms over my head and yelled "hey" as loud as I could. Fortunately, she decided she needed to see what the dogs might be doing to her cub, so she turned and took off.
After what I think were one or two more rushes up over the edge of the road - one or two dogs, followed closely by the mother bear, and then back down slope again - I was finally able to get Sammy on leash as Hanna took one last run down the hill. When she realized that she was alone, she came trotting back to me, I leashed her and we all headed back down to the car, having had enough excitement for the day.
We (the dogs as I) were very fortunate that I had two dogs and the adult female had a cub. She couldn't focus on any of us because she had to worry about what the other dog might be doing to her cub and so wasn't able to start and maintain an attack. If I had been up there with only one dog, that dog likely would have been killed. If the female bear had been up there without a cub, some or all of me and the dogs might have been seriously injured or killed.
I also learned after the fact that a dog WILL bring the bear that’s chasing it back to you, it’s just a matter of when.
Hanna in front, Sammy in back - both moved on now.
Most weekends back then I’d take the dogs out for a 3 mile one way (6 mile round trip) walk in the Angeles National Forest up a closed and gated/locked fire road to an abandoned Nike missile base. There was a small parking area at the bottom of the road and if no one was parked there, you could be about 99.9% certain no one was on the road ahead of you. In those cases, I’d let the dogs off leash once we're past the first curve of the fire road. The road is pretty much cut into the side of the mountain, uphill to the west, downhill to the east. We’d normally go all the way up, I’d water the dogs at the abandoned Nike base (which had a ginormous water tank still full of fresh water), and then put them on leash for the walk back down to the car.
About a month before my story really begins, on the way down when I had the dogs on leash, they suddenly got very alert, with their ears, heads and tails all up in the full alert position. As we walked down the road there was a small valley uphill on the right - between two hills that rose up from the level of the road. I saw something that looked about the size of a small sheep (maybe 100 pounds) burst out of the brush, run across the small valley and then stop by a tree up hill from us where it turned and stared at us. The dogs and I just stared back. After a few moments, and realizing we could be engaged in this staring contest all day, I took one step forward, whereupon the dogs started barking like crazy and the animal – a small bear - ran over the top of the hill and disappeared.
I told the dog breeder/trainer about it and he confirmed my concern - a bear could easily kill the dogs. So since seeing the bear, I'd been leashing the dogs before we got near where we saw it and letting them off leash when we were well clear.
Well on the day of my story we were still climbing to the place where I'd been leashing them, when, sure enough, there's the bear and the dogs are off leash. They both take off up the road about 100 yards after the bear who plunges down the slope on the right hand side of the road.
As the dogs are disappearing, the mother bear bursts out of the brush hot on the dogs' heels. She's a whole different order of animal from the one that already concerned me, probably 300 - 350 pounds, fast and aggressively protecting what turned out to be her cub. I heard one bark and then seconds later one dog burst up over the east edge of the roadway ahead of me, then the second dog, then the adult bear right behind them. They ran down the road a bit toward me and then all three disappeared over the edge again going down slope. A moment later Sammy came up over the edge about 20 yards ahead of me, followed by the mother who got close enough to roll him. As she was preparing to kill Sammy, Hanna came sailing in and slammed into the bear’s side. Hanna bounced off and evaded the bear and Sammy was able to get up and escape. Then all three went over the edge of the road down the slope once more.
I’ve never personally seen anything quite as brave as what Hanna did – taking on an animal that outweighed her by 270 pounds without thought to what might happen to her, to save her brother and pack mate.
A moment later one of the dogs popped up over the edge of the road, followed closely by the mother bear, and both ran directly at me. The dog ran right by me, but the mother bear stopped about 6' from me, eyeballs me and tries to decide what to do. I figured in for a penny, in for a pound, so stared it right in the eyes, stood up as straight as I could, raised my arms over my head and yelled "hey" as loud as I could. Fortunately, she decided she needed to see what the dogs might be doing to her cub, so she turned and took off.
After what I think were one or two more rushes up over the edge of the road - one or two dogs, followed closely by the mother bear, and then back down slope again - I was finally able to get Sammy on leash as Hanna took one last run down the hill. When she realized that she was alone, she came trotting back to me, I leashed her and we all headed back down to the car, having had enough excitement for the day.
We (the dogs as I) were very fortunate that I had two dogs and the adult female had a cub. She couldn't focus on any of us because she had to worry about what the other dog might be doing to her cub and so wasn't able to start and maintain an attack. If I had been up there with only one dog, that dog likely would have been killed. If the female bear had been up there without a cub, some or all of me and the dogs might have been seriously injured or killed.
I also learned after the fact that a dog WILL bring the bear that’s chasing it back to you, it’s just a matter of when.
Hanna in front, Sammy in back - both moved on now.
