Govt arrests 76 y.o. man who shot bear that attacked him in his own yard!

[Politico]

It's illegal to possess a shotgun in Massachusetts?

No. He saw a bear in the yard. Instead of staying inside and feeding the birds later he grabbed a shotgun and went out there. That's baiting.

 

[Lakhota]

Authorities believed the female bear had cubs.

Auburn Man Facing Charges After Killing Bear In His Backyard « CBS Boston

 

[idb]

Yes - call for help. It's un-american to take care of yourself.

Not at all un-American to take care of yourself. It is simply smarter not to confront dangerous wildlife with food and a gun. It would have been better in this case to notify the proper authorities that there was a bear on your property than to go outside to confront the animal while carrying food and a gun.

A bit like a group of men standing outside your home being noisy. You don't have any right to shoot them until they pose a risk to you, your family, or your property. You don't go out with a gun to water your lawn. You call the authorities to ask them to vacate.

He showed poor judgement at the very least and possibly baited the bear into a confrontation to get rid of the perceived threat. If you live in bear country you should not use bird feeders because it attracts the bears.

Well sure, we need to accomodate bears and not do what we want to on our property.

Nothing wrong with that, right? It's the American way.

"What is this place called?
Nature you say?
Well it can just get out of my fucking way cos I'm American!!!"

 

[Lakhota]

So, one shot from a shotgun and the bear dropped. What was he using - slugs?

 

[ba1614]

. He should have stayed indoors and called for help if he didn't want to have to kill the bear.

Yes - call for help. It's un-american to take care of yourself.

Not at all un-American to take care of yourself. It is simply smarter not to confront dangerous wildlife with food and a gun. It would have been better in this case to notify the proper authorities that there was a bear on your property than to go outside to confront the animal while carrying food and a gun.

A bit like a group of men standing outside your home being noisy. You don't have any right to shoot them until they pose a risk to you, your family, or your property. You don't go out with a gun to water your lawn. You call the authorities to ask them to vacate.

He showed poor judgement at the very least and possibly baited the bear into a confrontation to get rid of the perceived threat. If you live in bear country you should not use bird feeders because it attracts the bears.

Please stay in the city, we have enough citidiots out here.

 

[Circe]

Not at all un-American to take care of yourself. It is simply smarter not to confront dangerous wildlife with food and a gun. It would have been better in this case to notify the proper authorities that there was a bear on your property than to go outside to confront the animal while carrying food and a gun.

A bit like a group of men standing outside your home being noisy. You don't have any right to shoot them until they pose a risk to you, your family, or your property. You don't go out with a gun to water your lawn. You call the authorities to ask them to vacate.

He showed poor judgement at the very least and possibly baited the bear into a confrontation to get rid of the perceived threat. If you live in bear country you should not use bird feeders because it attracts the bears.

Please stay in the city, we have enough citidiots out here.

Right. As I suspect BA1614 knows, never, NEVER call the police or Animal Control if you have a bear problem. They will ALWAYS be on the side of the bear, trust me. I keep sheep and have been on plural sheep forums, and the hair-raising stories of bears and sheep in Pennsylvania, Montana, etc. all go to show that the worst thing you can do is call the police. Bears love to kill sheep, as does every dog that ever lived, including little pet Fifi. Quite small dogs will go for the throat and just hang there while the sheep runs around until it bleeds out.

There ARE good reasons for guns in this country, more often than any city person has any idea of, and I will be unhappy if this current pyscho problem ends up banning all guns in America like in Britain.

 

[Unkotare]

The old guy lives pretty well out there in a 'house' that looks a lot like a big shed. Keeping a weapon at hand is probably a necessity.

 

[PratchettFan]

It's illegal to possess a shotgun in Massachusetts?

No. It's illegal to bait a bear. We had the same kind of thing happen here. There is a program to control deer ticks and it uses feeding stations to bring the deer in. A bear started getting at the feed and we had to shut it down, because it is illegal to feed the bears. This is a common law in most states to keep people from attracting bears into populated areas.

 

[ShootSpeeders]

You could have probably made a good point in this post. Instead you chose to be a dick.

The board notes you have nothing to offer but personal attacks. Thanks for admitting i'm right.

 

[ShootSpeeders]

[ If you live in bear country you should not use bird feeders because it attracts the bears.

Hey stupid. Everything food attracts bears. To hear you tell it garbage cans and barbeque grills should be illegal too. Same with gardens. Hell - picnic tables have food smells on them so we can't allow them either. Can you think at all.?

 

[ShootSpeeders]

It's illegal to possess a shotgun in Massachusetts?

No. He saw a bear in the yard. Instead of staying inside and feeding the birds later he grabbed a shotgun and went out there. That's baiting.

Only a loony lib would call that baiting. Damn bear invaded his property!!

 

[ShootSpeeders]

So, one shot from a shotgun and the bear dropped. What was he using - slugs?

Probably. Nothing wrong with that. I once shot a slug into a 300 pound illegal who mouthed off to me. He was dead for he hit the ground.

 

[HUGGY]

Democrats don't want white men protecting themselves. We're supposed to be like blacks, women, and hispanics and run to the govt whenever we have a problem.

Richard Ahlstrand, Massachusetts man, faces charges for killing bear

1 day ago
Richard Ahlstrand of Auburn, Mass., thought he saw a bear eyeing him when he was in his yard on Thursday, so when he went out to fill his backyard bird feeder on Friday, he carried a shotgun. Ahlstrand was right. The bear — estimated to stand 7 feet tall and weigh 400 pounds — chased him across the grass, and Ahlstrand shot it. Now the 76-year-old is facing charges of illegally baiting a bear, illegally killing a bear and illegal possession of a firearm. Ahlstrand believes his life was in danger and that he "wouldn't be here" if he hadn't fired his weapon, but environmental officers disagree. "What was I going to do," Ahlstrand asked. "Say, 'Mister Bear, would you excuse me please while I go make a phone call?

What if it was a burgler in his back yard? Would he be in his rights to go outside with a big wad of cash in one hand and a shotgun in the other? Either the dumb fuck was baiting the bear or he was incredibly stupid...either way he should be charged with something as it is a danger to the community to be acting stupid and carrying a loaded shotgun.

 

[Truthmatters]

this guy wanted to shoot the bear.


Its pretty clear

 

[LordBrownTrout]

. He should have stayed indoors and called for help if he didn't want to have to kill the bear.

Yes - call for help. It's un-american to take care of yourself.

Not at all un-American to take care of yourself. It is simply smarter not to confront dangerous wildlife with food and a gun. It would have been better in this case to notify the proper authorities that there was a bear on your property than to go outside to confront the animal while carrying food and a gun.

A bit like a group of men standing outside your home being noisy. You don't have any right to shoot them until they pose a risk to you, your family, or your property. You don't go out with a gun to water your lawn. You call the authorities to ask them to vacate.

He showed poor judgement at the very least and possibly baited the bear into a confrontation to get rid of the perceived threat. If you live in bear country you should not use bird feeders because it attracts the bears.

I have property in Montana and have seen bears on the property. I take my handgun with me if bears are present...not to provoke an incident but for self defense.

 

[Crackerjaxon]

this guy wanted to shoot the bear.


Its pretty clear

You're taking for granted that he knew the bird seed was bear bait. That's a pretty big supposition.

 

[HUGGY]

this guy wanted to shoot the bear.


Its pretty clear

You're taking for granted that he knew the bird seed was bear bait. That's a pretty big supposition.

Ya..if the guy is 10 years old. At 76 he is baiting the bear. I watched an old man yesterday antagonize my pitbulls that were behing a chain link fench by honking at them and making threatening gestures at them for about ten minutes before I yelled down from my third floor balcony "Hey MORON quit screwing with my dogs!" That said old moron got out of his car and told me he did no such thing. He was about the same age as the bear baiter. I'm surprised both of these old fuckers got to be that age. Life usually weeds out stupid people by that many years.

 

[9thIDdoc]

. He should have stayed indoors and called for help if he didn't want to have to kill the bear.

Yes - call for help. It's un-american to take care of yourself.

Not at all un-American to take care of yourself. It is simply smarter not to confront dangerous wildlife with food and a gun. It would have been better in this case to notify the proper authorities that there was a bear on your property than to go outside to confront the animal while carrying food and a gun.

A bit like a group of men standing outside your home being noisy. You don't have any right to shoot them until they pose a risk to you, your family, or your property. You don't go out with a gun to water your lawn. You call the authorities to ask them to vacate.

He showed poor judgement at the very least and possibly baited the bear into a confrontation to get rid of the perceived threat. If you live in bear country you should not use bird feeders because it attracts the bears.

I disagree entirely. People have a right to have a bird feeder, to replace the food in your bird feeder, to be armed on your own property, and to protect yourself. And there is nothing stupid about arming yourself if you think there may be a possible threat. Do you think children and pets were not also at risk?

 

[PratchettFan]

Yes - call for help. It's un-american to take care of yourself.

Not at all un-American to take care of yourself. It is simply smarter not to confront dangerous wildlife with food and a gun. It would have been better in this case to notify the proper authorities that there was a bear on your property than to go outside to confront the animal while carrying food and a gun.

A bit like a group of men standing outside your home being noisy. You don't have any right to shoot them until they pose a risk to you, your family, or your property. You don't go out with a gun to water your lawn. You call the authorities to ask them to vacate.

He showed poor judgement at the very least and possibly baited the bear into a confrontation to get rid of the perceived threat. If you live in bear country you should not use bird feeders because it attracts the bears.

I disagree entirely. People have a right to have a bird feeder, to replace the food in your bird feeder, to be armed on your own property, and to protect yourself. And there is nothing stupid about arming yourself if you think there may be a possible threat. Do you think children and pets were not also at risk?

Disagree or not, most of the laws on this say that if you put food out and it attracts bears, you have to stop doing it. Why you put it out or whether it is your property or not makes no difference.

 

[ba1614]

Not at all un-American to take care of yourself. It is simply smarter not to confront dangerous wildlife with food and a gun. It would have been better in this case to notify the proper authorities that there was a bear on your property than to go outside to confront the animal while carrying food and a gun.

A bit like a group of men standing outside your home being noisy. You don't have any right to shoot them until they pose a risk to you, your family, or your property. You don't go out with a gun to water your lawn. You call the authorities to ask them to vacate.

He showed poor judgement at the very least and possibly baited the bear into a confrontation to get rid of the perceived threat. If you live in bear country you should not use bird feeders because it attracts the bears.

Please stay in the city, we have enough citidiots out here.

Right. As I suspect BA1614 knows, never, NEVER call the police or Animal Control if you have a bear problem. They will ALWAYS be on the side of the bear, trust me. I keep sheep and have been on plural sheep forums, and the hair-raising stories of bears and sheep in Pennsylvania, Montana, etc. all go to show that the worst thing you can do is call the police. Bears love to kill sheep, as does every dog that ever lived, including little pet Fifi. Quite small dogs will go for the throat and just hang there while the sheep runs around until it bleeds out.

There ARE good reasons for guns in this country, more often than any city person has any idea of, and I will be unhappy if this current pyscho problem ends up banning all guns in America like in Britain.

There wouldn't be a bear problem around here because we'd dig a hole with the hoe and bury every one of them. Throw a few coyotes in for good measure before we cover it up.