Bear killed

[James Wilkinson Sword]

People shoot bears every day, get over it. They're vicious creatures that would kill you given the chance.

[Frank]

Guess you have to be careful on the golf courses in Siberia.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

Yes, losing your ball in the snow is a bugger.

[rbowman]

Bullshit. afaik there hasn't been a non-captive bear in Great Britain for a thousand years or more. I encounter them a few times a year; most run like hell or tree to get away from me while others ignore me and go on about their business.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

This is predominantly a USA group, so that's what I was referring to.

[DerbyDad03]

My sister lives outside Springfield, Massachusetts which is far from being a "rural area". One night she ran over something big while driving near a reservoir. It damaged her car enough that she had to pull off the road about a 1/4 mile later. She called 911 mainly because she didn't know what she had run over and wanted to make sure the police knew about.

When the officer arrived she was told that she ran over the bear that someone else had hit a few minutes before she came down the road. The officer said that there was car parts (not hers) near the scene but no vehicle in the area.

It makes one wonder why someone would have left the scene with what appeared to be significant damage. Did the driver not know what he hit and fled thinking it might have been a person? Drunk? Unlicensed/uninsured? Who knows.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Unless you need a police report to collect on your insurance, why hang around? You could do enough damage to total a car though, but if it was a beater, no big loss.

[gfretwell]

If the car was still running, why would he hang around? I doubt the bear had insurance.

[Vic Smith]

If I couldn't drag it off the road I would call the police and tell them to come out and remove it.

[DerbyDad03]

MA requires that any damage over $1K be reported, but you have 5 days to submit the report. So, yeah, leaving is not an issue, other than the fact that he left the bear lying in the right lane for other drivers (like my sister) to hit.

It wasn't until my sister ran it over and called the police that the "hazard" became known. When my Dad came to pick up my sister, there was a police car blocking the lane so no one else would hit the bear - again.

When I hit a deer (on a country road) I dragged it to the shoulder and called 911 just to let them know. They seemed to appreciate it, at least they said they did.

No big deal, but still a curiosity.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Could be worse. We had an incident here in town a few years ago. Woman I know hears a thump, thump. Turned out to be the town drunk/druggie she ran over. He was already dead.

I don't recall if she drug him off the road though.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

I'd assume other drivers would se it and avoid it. I'll get out and shift a mall obstacle, but I wouldn't try to drag a bear, especially covered in entrails.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

So she managed to hit someone without seeing them? What if it had been a live person?

[gfretwell]

Maybe he did, the cop seemed to know about it.

"When the officer arrived she was told that she ran over the bear that someone else had hit a few minutes before she came down the road"

[DerbyDad03]

The same thump, thump happened when I ran over a kid.

Don't worry, it wasn't with a car. I had a summer job driving a "train" around the old 64-65 World's Fair grounds in Flushing, NY, now the site of Flushing Meadows Park (US Tennis Open, Shea Stadium/City Field, Men In Black, etc.)

The train consisted of 2 covered cars pulled by a mule (basically a forklift without the forks). I drove the mule and I always had a helper standing on the back of the last car watching over the train. He didn't see a young kid climb down into the well where the steps were and sit there dragging his feet. On one point the kid got fell off and the back car went thump, thump as the wheels went over him. I had no clue it had even happened.

My "helper" came running up along side the mule and yelled "Stop! You just ran over a kid! I was standing on the back and the car went thump, thump and then I saw the kid on the ground." He acted out the thump, thump like he was still standing on the back of the car holding onto the railing. We didn't laugh then but we still laugh every time we tell the story, re-enacting his thump, thump action.

The kid was fine, just upset. I used my radio to call the main office (the boat house) and the city police came over. The mom and kid got into the police car to go to the ER just to be safe. I continued on my route and when I got back to the boat house another police car was there. My boss came out and told me that they wanted to arrest me for leaving the scene of an accident. Apparently they hadn't gotten word from the cops that took the kid to the ER that it was all under control. All they knew was that there was a report of a "hit and run" involving the park train and a kid.

My boss was one of my best friends back then and we still laugh about it whenever we get together. "The car went thump, thump!"

[DerbyDad03]

The cop said he called it in on the way to coming to her aid. He noticed it as he swerved around it on the dark road.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Don't recall all the details, but it was a dark and rainy night and he was dressed in dark clothes, dead, laying on the road. I guess it would be the same as running over a tree branch.

If it was a live person, chances are they would not be laying down in the travel lane.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

That's odd, because I distinctly remember stopping easily for a tree branch on a dark wet night (they're all like that in Scotland). Does she not have headlights?

[gfretwell]

Then how did he know someone else hit it first?

[gfretwell]

A real American would skin it out for a rug and take the back meat for the freezer.