Dean Weingarten has a good find at Ammoland.
Judge Eduardo Ramos, the U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of New York, has issued an Opinion & Order that a ban on stun guns is constitutional. A New York State law prohibits the private possession of stun guns and tasers; a New York City law prohibits the possession and selling of stun guns. Judge Ramos has ruled these laws do not infringe on rights protected by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Let's briefly…… [read more]
A retired Canadian fish and wildlife agent has voiced concern that black bears are “hunting” humans more frequently in Alberta, but that’s not a big concern in Wyoming, some biologists said.
Veteran wildlife agent Murray Bates says he’s noticed a disturbing shift in the pattern of black bear behavior over the course of his 34-year career.
“Grizzlies were protecting their territory, young and food, but certainly, on occasion, killing a human,” he said. “The key word here is hunt. During my tenure I was starting to notice a shift in black bears attacking humans and grizzlies maintaining traditional patterns of attack or kill.
“The records and experts may state otherwise, but I found myself investigating more complaints of black bears tracking humans as prey, then killing and feeding on them,” Bates added.
[ … ]
“I would still rather encounter a predatory black bear than being involved in a surprise encounter with a grizzly bear at a carcass; time is not on your side in the latter whereas with a proper response a predatory black bear can be deterred (first choice is bear spray, followed by standing your ground and fighting with rocks, sticks, and etc.),” he said.
I’m not surprised. When hunting is discouraged and guns are outlawed, the predators will roam free to do what they want.
Suck it up, Canadians. There’s more to come with the impending laws against basically any firearm, including hunting with bolt action rifles. Get used to it, change your government, or carry non-permissively.
And as for his advice to “stand your ground,” that’s not even done in America without a weapon. The whole notion is legalization of the use of weapons in stand your ground cases rather than having a duty to retreat.
It’s probably not a big concern for Wyoming because they carry guns.
Goldsby’s husband, Thomas, was out walking their elderly dog, Dandy, at about 4:45 a.m. along Main Street when he ran into a Knoxville police officer shining his spotlight along the First Baptist Church lawn.
The officer rolled down his window and asked him if he had seen a bear.
[…]
Bear sightings in Knoxville occur with some frequency. Erland [PD Spokespuppet] said he recalled one instance, about three years ago, when a bear refused to leave a tree in Morningside Gardens Apartments in the Five Points neighborhood. In that instance, TWRA wildlife officers tranquilized the bear and relocated it to a forest, he said.
Bear populations are growing in Tennessee, but it is more common to see bears in the spring and summer, according to the TWRA website.
East Tennessee’s black bears are normally elusive and shy animals, and unless they have become accustomed to human food sources, they tend to avoid people, the website says.
Any local can tell you that that is a bald-faced lie. The article had just said sightings “occur with some frequency,” which is much closer to the truth. It’s never good to see a bear in winter. Winter bears are usually hungry and may have no fixed den location. They should be avoided. Info about bear dens is here and here. I suspect they’re living within city limits and certainly in Knox County.
If you encounter a bear at close range, the TWRA advises, “Make your presence known by yelling and shouting at the bear in an attempt to scare it away. If a bear is reluctant to leave then proceed to throw rocks or other objects at the bear while continuing to yell. Portray yourself as the dominant animal and do not back down. If a bear is close enough that you feel uncomfortable, slowly back away, continuing to yell while watching the bear at all times. Never run from a black bear as this may trigger a natural response to chase.”
Discharging a firearm inside city limits is illegal, but self-defense, which the State has preeminence over, is not. I generally carry hollow points unless purposefully going to a less populated region; that may have to change. Run by communists and being overwhelmed with carpetbagging leftists who destroyed Maryland, California, Illinois, and Massachusetts, Knoxville is turning into an unpleasant place to live; bears are the least of its problems.
The bear hunting season could be returning to New Jersey after farmers and residents have complained about the surging black bear population and the Department of Environmental Protection reporting that encounters with bears have increased by 237% over 2021 numbers, according to reporting from News 12 New Jersey.
Those factors have prompted Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to reconsider his stance on the season, which he canceled in part starting in 2018 and entirely last year, following through on a promise he made to animal rights activists during his 2017 election campaign.
“Since the outset of my administration, I have promised to ground every difficult decision on the latest science and evidence in order to protect our communities,” Murphy said in a statement last week while signaling support for reviving the hunt.
“From the data we have analyzed to the stories we have heard from families across the state, it is clear that New Jersey’s black bear population is growing significantly, and nonlethal bear management strategies alone are not enough to mitigate this trend.”
Murphy’s change of heart would be a welcome one for many state residents who have complained of increased encounters with bears that have terrified residents and damaged crops and livestock.
“They really knock a lot of corn down, eat a lot of corn and they’ll take anywhere from 5% to 25% of a field. We’ve seen some fields that have been 70% decimated this year,” Phillip Broadhecker, a farmer from Hampton Township, told News 12. “You can actually go on to Google maps and look at Earth views in the fall of fields and see circles and round spots in fields, and it’s astounding how bad it is.”
Broadhecker said the damage doesn’t stop at crops, noting that livestock and even people’s pets have been the targets of the growing population of bears.
“We’ve got a lot of livestock that have been killed or injured up here. Goats, chickens, pigs, small horses, even people’s dogs,” he said.
A bear seems to have made itself at home in a Chatsworth neighborhood and one homeowner captured some of its antics on video.
Dr. Alon Antebi told FOX 11 the bear has wandered the neighborhood since Labor Day.
The bear was seen cooling off in the pool and even hopping into the jacuzzi.
But Dr. Antebi says the bear also raids their outdoor kitchen and spills beer from the fridge.
There’s also concern that the bear is getting more aggressive.
“Yesterday we were having morning coffee and he came up literally three feet away from our glass door, our dogs started barking so he ran off, went into the pool, then jumped the fence.”
Animal control has told Dr. Antebi since he lives in the bear’s natural habitat there’s not much they can do unless the bear becomes more aggressive.
“Unless the bear becomes aggressive”!?! So sorry, once you’re dead, we’ll come to help you.
One article said it was a Grizzly. But in LA? Despite the color of the bear being light brown to tan, the body type is not that of Grizz. Blacks can range in color. Size can be deceptive. What do you think: Ursus americanus or Ursus arctos horribilis? Or maybe the Mexican Grizz isn’t really extinct?
I don’t know where this was. I paused the video enough times to see that he was using a pistol. I’m guessing that this was a sow with two cubs on the larger end of things and felt a bit threatened.
A man in the ski town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado shot and killed a black bear that entered his home in the middle of the night. According to the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife (CPW), homeowner Ken Mauldin dispatched the bruin with a .40 caliber Glock handgun after it opened and walked through an exterior door.
“The door was unlocked, and it’s one of the older-style lever door handles. So, the bear pushed on that to get the door open,” CPW public information officer Rachel Gonzalez tells F&S. “[Mauldin] was alerted when his wife screamed. It was just after 2 a.m. when we received the incident notification.”
Three things pop into my mind.
First, this is yet another anecdote that justifies carry inside the home.
Second, this anecdote justifies closing and locking the door.
Third, that’s a lot of rounds. Nine rounds to put this bear down. This advocates for accuracy or high capacity, or preferably both.
We’ve got some big, bad boys back East too. Be careful in the bush. Carry a large bore gun with you when you venture out. I take it the only thing that stopped this fight was the fact that they were too winded to carry on.
Watch the video, but here is my analysis (the comments on YouTube are idiotic).
The caption says, “wild horses.” Eh, maybe so. I don’t know. There’s a salt/mineral block in the video, so it isn’t completely a wild herd. No commenter points this out. In any case, this is their neighborhood. They know their way around.
Second, the horses are barely at a lope. I know. I have trained horses. They can keep this speed up – and much faster than this – for far longer than the bear. The bear is heavy. A large portion of the musculature of the horse is dedicated to doing just what they’re doing. The adult horses are in absolutely no danger. They just chose to run rather than fight because that’s the easiest thing to do. It’s all instinctive. There was no calculus.
Third, the reason they’re loping is twofold. They won’t waste energy if they don’t need to, and they’re probably protecting the foal. That foal is likely in danger, but that’s the only horse in danger.
The bear is in danger too. If the horses decide to make a fight of it with the bear (assuming the bear catches up with the foal), one strike from a rear hoof will crush the bear’s skull. Even a glancing blow would break his jaw (killing him) or cause internal injuries (causing organ failure). A horse kicks much faster than a rattlesnake strike, and delivers 2000 psi pressure. Don’t ever underestimate a horse’s ability to kill. I know cowboys who were centimeters from death from a potential head blow.
I repeat. The herd is in no danger. The foal is in danger. So is the bear, so that bear must be very hungry.
