Just What Does Ian Gills Understand?

[Redwood]

This bear won't attack anyone....

[ballvalve]

I would skin a roadkill bear, and have, but that guy would have been better left in the forest.

Shoot deer. Let the noble bear try and survive the onslaught of asphalt.

And do not forget the golden rule: If you kill it, you eat it.

Had a nice Sparrow dinner once when the ol' man caught me blasting a treeful. Made a lasting point. Plucking sparrows is hard work.

[Ian Gills]

Another excellent reason to ban guns Ballvalve. Thank you.

To protect America's dwindling natural habitat.

[Cookie]

Well, Ian, where my property in the mountains is located is very rustic. I share my property with bear dens where my creek runs. We share the same water. I flip over rocks looking for fossils knowing that they are there somewhere. To go into these parts of the mountains where black bear are plentiful without a shot gun or scatter gun, or what I also carry, a 30'06 rifle, isn't too smart. I love those bears, I love camping and hiking, and I live to be one with nature, but, it is also, risky with the bears when you can't take shelter. To go without something to protect yourself incase, you come upon a bear just coming out of his hibernation & is hungry, or a mom walking with their young ones; or sometimes, from just a bad bear like a bad person. Not taking something with a big enough gauge is not too smart. I take a shot gun and rifle to protect my kids, my company, and me; hoping, I will never have to use it.

But, you could always try talking him out of it. But, I am not sure that bear is going to listen to you, Ian. For one, he may not understand your accent and your King's English, he is afterall, an American Bear. He might think you might taste better, coming from England and all, lol.

Come to think of it, you could use your bobbie, but, their heads are pretty darned hard. Won't work Ian.

[Ian Gills]

My advice then Cookie is is lose the gun and move. Or just don't go out.

[Cookie]

Don't ever go camping then, Ian. Just curious, what would you do, if you did go camping, in the woods in the forest, and a bear came charging at you, Ian, what would you do? What would you do to protect your loved ones?

[Cookie]

Ian, we are different than your England. We all were raised around guns, and bows. I can do either. I grew up fishing with my dad, I was using a bow he made at 5 years old and shooting into bales of hay, I was cleaning his guns at 10. We were instructed on the safety and how to use them. A mistake a parent makes is to make their kids curious about guns etc. Teach them. Maybe, you don't have forests in your country but here we do. And, I won't allow anyone to use my camp property without toting something to protect theirselves, just in case. Something more than a club, Ian.

[Ian Gills]

what would you do, if you did go camping, in the woods in the forest, and a bear came charging at you, Ian, what would you do?

I'd run at him. I'm 275 pounds. He'd move.

You do not need guns. Like you say, you have bows, crossbows, knives, bats, stones, everything. I don't care what you carry.

Except guns.

The crucial difference is that none of these other weapons can kill 6 people in 30 seconds.

6 Americans.

6 American children.

[Terry]

Okay,
I think this bear is a Whistler Blackcomb bear going through garbage. This used to be at the end of the last ski run, and then we would hop on a bus and go back to the Whistler gondola, which was across the street from my parents condo.
Avoid the bears, hop on the bus, and head back. Now there is a beautiful village where the garbage dump used to be.

[ballvalve]

Another excellent reason to ban guns Ballvalve. Thank you.

To protect America's dwindling natural habitat.

Here, you have made an error. Habitat reduction has no connection whatsoever with guns.

In fact, it would be quite the reverse; the honorable hunter, of which most are, would be the most vociferous advocate of habitat protection.

It is the hunter that pounds his head on the steering wheel and sheds a tear when the new Waldomart and lowes pave over the swamps and wild mushrooms, the frogs and salamanders that once ran free, and where the hunter spent his days growing up.

If we were to speak of wildlife, there is a general increase in the population of most game mammals, as children today rather use guns in the ether world. Here, they slaughter fictional characters in a most disturbed way that debases the traditional father to son transfer of weapons and their ethical use.

I think it is clear that the sensational shootings are brought about compliments of our deeply disturbed media. And parents with the brains of slugs and amoeba's.

Hereabouts, the population of deer, bear, lions, and even squirrels have reached huge proportions. You really could hunt with a spear again.

The problem is the expanding population of the human species, again, one of the only that kill for pleasure and perversion. The reduction, education, and stabilization of humans expansion is our only hope.

And at least in America, weapons must remain a part of our life as much as a figurehead royalty matters to the Brits.

[Ian Gills]

Let Federally-paid marshalls or rangers deal with the culling.

There is no need for ordinary citizens to do that here.

You're not a backward country....any more.

The hunter must be brave and honorable. He must summon the courage to give up his right to own a gun so that those who do harm with guns are also not allowed to own one.

But so far it looks like hunters in America are just too plain selfish and cowardly to do that.

And, media or not, there are a lot of gun deaths in this country.

Once again, in my country a gun death would be national news. Not local news like it is here. You guys seem to accept gun murder as normal without thinking.

It is not normal for a child to get caught in the cross-fire anywhere. It is not normal for a child to take his father's gun to school anywhere. It is not normal for a member of Congress and six others to get shot anywhere.

Get my drift?

What you have going on here with guns is a national disaster. The welfare of the many must overrule the rights of the few.

And that means your guns are going to have to go.

I'd start saying goodbye to them.

[Cookie]

If that bear was running at you, that bow would be of no use. Did you ever hear of Timothy Treadwell?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Treadwell

I'd run at him. I'm 275 pounds. He'd move.

You do not need guns. Like you say, you have bows, crossbows, knives, bats, stones, everything. I don't care what you carry.

Except guns.

The crucial difference is that none of these other weapons can kill 6 people in 30 seconds.

6 Americans.

6 American children.

[Cookie]

I will tell you a true story here Ian, which will clearly illustrate how dark our national forests can get when no moon or other lighting is present. And, anyone who camps in the forest will appreciate and know this to be true. It is so dark in the forest when a full moon is not present, nor anyother lighting that you literally cannot see your hand in front of your face or the person walking in front of you.

This is what happened to me. My husband wanted to show our young sons the dump near our camp. When I say near, I mean about one hour driving. His near was not my near. It was already approaching dusk when we entered the closed and empty dump. We started walking through it, heard a water fall but couldn't see it, and we found some stuff to look at, showing the young boys all the waste and saying, " this is why we recycle." This was well before it was the in thing to do. We probably walked about a mile at least and then, as we turned around to head back the darkness hit. Suddenly, it was so dark that it became scary for I knew, the bears eat dinner here and were due. I was walking behind my husband, carrying my younger and lighter son, while holding onto the back of my husband's belt. Yes, it was that dark Ian. I needed to shift my son on my hip and when I did I lost my hold onto his belt. But, I could still hear his steps in front of me, the crunching of the leaves, and twigs. I just stayed in tune with the noise and when it stopped so did I, figuring he was trying to gain his bearing, his direction.

Then, I heard my husband's voice saying, " you still with me?" But, it was coming from another direction. I didn't think he was capable of throwing his voice but, I still reached out in front of me, and grabbed hard what I thought was his belt, and I pulled back a handful of what felt like was hair, and heard him, " growl...."

I was like... following a bear.

I very quietly stepped to the other side and kept stepping sidewards until, I thought I was where I heard his voice coming from. I whispered, " where are you?" He answered, " I am here..." and, I kept tuning into his voice until, I found him.

We found the entrance and exit to the dump. We got into the car, I showed him the hair, the clump of black hair, I had in my hand. When he started laughing, I wanted to shove it up his nose. I have that hair framed and when my kids were small, they loved to show people about the night their mom pulled it from a bear and their dad lived for their mom, to frame it.

[Cookie]

Yet, Ian, there are also other dangers lurking in the woods. Especially, always come dusk.

For instance, this one night after dinner, we cooked out, I saw front the windows that way down front was a lone dog, and we had left overs. I can't stand to see anything hungry, it crushes me. So, I made this nice little doggy a plate and asked my hubby to walk it down front to feed him. Well, we were always a match made in heaven and he complied.

I didn't notice since I was busy cleaning up that he was gone for a while, and what was all that noise?

He then walked in handing me the plate saying, " the fox wasn't hungry."

oops.

[Cookie]

We were driving through the mountains to our camp, a camp we loved and couldn't wait to get to. I love the mountain roads and always take notice of the glacial rocks, ( read up on them Ian) and other things, like maybe, a good place to look for fossils or sometimes, I notice an animal which needs help.

This one day, I noticed this cat, sitting all by himself, in the middle of nowhere. I asked my hubby to turn around so we could get this cat and help him. Without so much a grumble he turns around and parks the car walking down to the cat. I turned around in my seat to watch him grab a Bobcat.

The cat started snarling and attacking and the kids and I watched in amazement at how fast daddy could run. Back in the car, with a few bleeding scratches, he said, " he didn't want picked up."