Feb 24, 2022
Wildlife biologist Amber Kornak had just started working on a bear study in Montana when she was abruptly attacked by one of her subjects - a large, male grizzly bear. Kornak stopped the attack when she deployed her bear spray, but she had to walk several miles out of the woods before making it to a hospital. The bear had chomped on her skull, and Kornak permanently lost hearing in one ear from the encounter. On this episode of Artemis, we talk about preparation when traveling in the backcountry. No amount of preparation can prevent what happened to Kornak, but being prepared did help ensure she escaped the encounter alive.
3:00 #bearpawproblems - freezer, kitchen table, reading nook, dog turds
7:00 A life/career focused on big-game species
11:00 Coat color variations in black/grizzly bears
15:00 A grizzly attack
21:00 "Excuse me... I just got attacked by a bear. Could you take me to the hospital?"
26:00 Later meeting the bear that chomped on your skull
28:00 Two cans of bear spray if you're by yourself in bear country & bear spray versus firearms
31:00 "The majority of time black bears run away... but not always."
33:00 Protecting your soft bits
34:00 Bear 399 near Yellowstone
42:00 Staying aware in bear country when you've lost hearing in one ear
43:00 Critter gitter
46:00 Grizzly vs. hunter conflicts over game carcasses
47:00 Pssst... grizzlies DO climb trees
49:00 ESA-delisting of recovered species
53:00 The role of hunting pressure in managing human-bear conflicts
59:00 Being afraid vs. being prepared
1:03 Artemis's "Go Confident as an Advocate" course
1:06 Let's hear it for gravity-assisted activities!