A hammer and a Polar Bear

Sometimes, I read something that just blows my mind. Humans can be very effective in impossible situations and the following story reflects that simple fact. A group of men are surprised by a mother polar bear and her two near adult cubs.

Keeping your head about (or on) you can save your life.

The only thing he could grab was a hammer from his snowmobile’s glove box.

“I took the hammer and put it in her mouth and pulled it to make her get mad at me instead of going after him. He was the only one with the bullets. Without him, we can do nothing. I had to do something.”

The wildlife officer grabbed the rifle and pulled the trigger, only to hear the click of the hammer on an empty chamber.

www.thestar.com...

I find it hard to believe that story. The man said he wrestled the polar bear and tried to pin it to the ground? No way is that possible, a polar bear is gargantuan compared to an adult human being. And At one point he mentions the polar bears paws were on him. A polar bear would have slashed that man open with one swipe from a paw after it had knocked the man down just from laying its paws on him alone.

I think the story is a total fabrication. That's just my .02.

Very heroic story but the whole time I'm reading it I'm think "You idiots, you're on Snowmobiles. I think it's time for the mobile part!"
Maybe they didn't have time for that but I'm sure if they could get to the hammer the snowmobile becoming a plow wasn't far from possible.

Although in retrospect it does sounds kind of like a tall tale. I thought Polar Bears where very very very dangerous. I've never heard of anyone wrestling one and living to tell the tale.

Originally posted by kimish
I find it hard to believe that story.

So do i.
Polar Bears are so agressive that i highly doubt that a man with anything else than a rifle or a 45 magnum in his hands would have any chance of survival.

Anyway fighting a polar bear with a hammer is a bad survival advice, staying out of harms way is the only good unarmed tip.

This guy gets my vote for King of All Badassery of All Time.

He sounded like it was no big deal, had even happened to him before. He mentioned poking a bear in the nose with a camera. I don't think this story is at all fake. You guys just can't grasp what real men are like.

reply to post by kimish

I think the story is a total fabrication. That's just my .02

How about a fist, instead?

A bit advice from an Inuit elder helped a man survive encounter with This polar bear.

It would be wise not to discount their knowledge (and deeds) so readily.

Well all you would have to do is use the hammer and put a hole and the ice and kick the polar bear in the ice hole!

I like how everyone is an expert and knows for certain when something is impossible.
I firmly believe anything is possible, and when it comes to the native peoples that have lived there for quite a long time, I would imagine they know a thing or two when it comes to polar bears.

Originally posted by Majestic Lumen
I like how everyone is an expert and knows for certain when something is impossible.
I firmly believe anything is possible, and when it comes to the native peoples that have lived there for quite a long time, I would imagine they know a thing or two when it comes to polar bears.

Everyone who lives around polar bears know how dangerous they are and carry at least one rifle and one handgun.

Then again, there's always jackasses...

Originally posted by phoenix0714
Eh, these guys are idiots. They are drunks too, I bet. The polar bears and the indians have a truce. I'm sure that the problem here was that the polar bear mistook these guys for real indians, otherwise she could have taken them out just like that. Let me ask you this. Why did these guys go to check the stash that they heard had been raided by polar bears without even having their guns loaded. And since when does a polar bear sneak up on an indian anyways.

I lived in AK for a few years and while I was there I heard a real story from the indians about how a fat old eskimo lady killed a polar bear with her one bare hand. Here is how it goes, and it's much better than the story above.


One day, very late in the winter season, an old lady was walking in the woods looking for food. Her family had been without for a long time, and she was very hungry. The old lady knew that the odds of finding something for her family to eat were slim, but she had all the time in the world and nothing to eat, so she was out wandering around, looking for anything that her family may have missed during the months before.
While she was wandering, she came over a hill and was surprised to see a polar bear also scrounging for some unclaimed morsel. The old lady knew that she could not outrun the beast, so she stood her ground and waited to see what would happen. The bear and the woman sized each other up for a little while, and both knowing that it had been a long and hard season and not likely to get better any time soon, they made a joint decision that only one would leave the hill alive, and the other would become dinner.
Well the bear knew that he had the upper hand as he approached the plump, furry little eskimo creature, and he thought he would have it easy. The old lady also knew that the odds were well against her, for she had no weapon with which to defend herself. Almost surely she was doomed.
The great beast lumbered up to the little thing, his belly rumbling as he rose to tower above the waist high fur ball. Opening wide his giant toothy mouth, he went in for the first bite. But alas, the little old lady was wise and resourceful. At the very last moment, staring deep into his powerful gaping jaws, she jammed her wooly mitten inside. All the way down the monsters throat, up to her elbow, and then she withdrew her one bare hand with open eyed surprise.
Caught up in sudden surprise himself, the great white beast threw himself down onto the snow. He tried and tried to cough up the furry padded mitten, thrashing around in the snow for a long time. But his efforts were useless, he could not breath. Eventually, he curled up in a big pile on top of the snow and admitted defeat, becoming both a feast and a great story at the same time for the woman and her people.

They say it is a true story, but I guess you'll have to decide for your self. Just thought I'd share.

Originally posted by Majestic Lumen
I like how everyone is an expert and knows for certain when something is impossible.
I firmly believe anything is possible, and when it comes to the native peoples that have lived there for quite a long time, I would imagine they know a thing or two when it comes to polar bears.

Try telling that to this guy...

en.wikipedia.org...

The OP is BS. A man wrestling with a Polar bear and puts a hammer in its mouth than pulls it out... lives to tell about it.... That is pure fiction.

Polar bears are soo strong and heavy compared to a man that if a polar bear were to lay its paw upon a person said person would be immediately taken to the ground and that would be the end of said person.

reply to post by masqua


i am not going to comment on the merits , demerits or veracity of polar bear wrestling

but based on the preamble to the tail , the entire group sounds like a pack of darwin award nominees in waiting

they knew bears had raided the meat cache - but just wandered up - with firarms stowed and unloaded ??

a firearm without ready ammo is an expensive stick

reply to post by Ivar_Karlsen


Polar Bear scared away after hit by a bottle.

Originally posted by superman2012
reply to post by Ivar_Karlsen

 

Polar Bear scared away after hit by a bottle.

She was lucky, damn lucky that it was in a town with other people around to help her.

From reading the description on youtube those bears had killed and eaten at least one person, and probably taken any food they could find.
That doesn't change the fact that the polar bear is an extremly dangerous animal that have killed several experienced Arctic researchers in my neck of the woods and elsewhere.

With polar bears around, better safe than sorry, carry firearms, period.

reply to post by Ivar_Karlsen


I absolutely agree with you! I was just amazed that the polar bear didn't take such an easy meal after being hit with a bottle!

Originally posted by kimish
I find it hard to believe that story. The man said he wrestled the polar bear and tried to pin it to the ground? No way is that possible, a polar bear is gargantuan compared to an adult human being. And At one point he mentions the polar bears paws were on him. A polar bear would have slashed that man open with one swipe from a paw after it had knocked the man down just from laying its paws on him alone.

I think the story is a total fabrication. That's just my .02.

edit on 23-12-2011 by kimish because: (no reason given)

It's about technique not power.....I could take down a man twice my size if I knew how to handle the situation properly. I could take down shaq easily if I knew how to go about doing it.

These people and the many many generations before them ...this is all they know....I trust them over you any day because for one, they don't create stories like this to get famous or get rich....they just told what happened.

Those people have a way better chance surviving that then you would.

Knowledge is the real power. And they obviously have plenty of it. Which is why they can survive for generations in what is considered "un-habitable " land.

Originally posted by FrozenMist
How about a fist, instead?

I'd believe that.

There are many reports of it working on White Pointers too.

The most likely explanation, aside from a total fabrication, is that the bear was fat, happy, and not all that interested in fighting for a meal that day. I just can't see a human coming out the winner against a seriously angry polar bear. The size and strength difference is simply far too great and the end result would inevitably be a mauling.

A human versus a polar bear is roughly equivalent to a chihuahua taking on a rottweiler.