A fatal assumption.
Nearly every bear attack you'll ever read about was unprovoked. No one who's experienced in bear country every looks for trouble with bears, or any other animal, including fox, mink, racoons (rabies).
The grizzly is the most unpredictable of the bruins. Their personal space is from 50 to 400 yards. If they're in a bad mood and see you in their space, they'll be coming your way.
Polar bears are universally understood to be extreme predators, hunting men with unmatched tenacity. So much in fact, that they'll swim across open water to reach whatever ice (pack or shore) men are on.
A good friend of mine who regularly hunted Montana and Idaho when he was young enough to do so said walking in thick cover was so nerve wracking that he carried low or high ready. Said it wasn't unlike walking point, except the point man in this case wasn't allowed to pass through the kill zone, but was always in the middle of the kill zone.
He always hunted with a partner on self guided hunts. A gunshot was a dinner call for the bears. One man stood guard ready to fire, the other man tended to the kill. Once they retreated when warning shots failed to retreat a bluff charging grizzly. Twice they succeeded in shooting bears away (ground hits in front of bears).
Everyone in bear country leaves the bears alone. The bears, however, don't play by the same rules as humans. The most horrifying of attacks, perhaps, occurred summer 1967 in Montana's Glacier National Park.
1967: The Night Of The Grizzlies - Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Two grizzly attacks on two 19-year-old girls in different areas of the park by different bears at nearly the same moment.
www.ripleys.com
Excerpt:
In the early hours of August 13, 1967, a bear dragged 19-year-old Julie Helgeson from a campground below the chalet after gnawing the arm and legs of her male companion. By the time rescuers found her torn body hours later, Helgeson, a bright, charming Minnesotan, had suffered massive blood loss; though her bitten friend survived, she died on a makeshift operating table at the chalet at 4:12 am. At nearly the same moment, a different grizzly attacked another 19-year-old woman, Michele Koons, in her sleeping bag at nearby Trout Lake. Although Koons’ friends managed to flee, the young Californian wasn’t able to disengage her zipper, and the grizzly carried her into the night.
With fellow ranger Leonard Landa, Gildart found Koons’ body about 40 yards away from the campsite. Then, Gildart and Landa set out to find and kill the sow. They were searching for a bear that had long troubled the area around Trout Lake and Lake McDonald. A week before, it had chased a group of girl scouts, only backing off after taking their food. Yet, park management did nothing. Rules were lax in the 1960s with a hands-off approach, even towards the most menacing individuals.
Landa and Gildart spent the rest of the day searching for the hunter to no avail. The next morning, though, they faced a rude surprise. The hunters were being hunted. Just 30 feet away from the ranger station, they saw a bear raised on its haunches, looking out over the lake. Landa headed for their rifles.
Incredibly, the bear started towards Gildart, a highly unnatural behavior for wild bears who usually scattered at the sight of humans. But this one was afraid of no man, including the rangers. Gildart and Leonard acted quickly, shooting the animal in its tracks. They called in a forensic expert to verify whether or not the sow had killed Koons. After slicing the bear’s stomach open, the expert retrieved a ball of blond hair. No doubt remained.
. 8 years back hopped in a friend's Subaru instead of my bucket truck to Fort Macpherson, fun fast trip but wow what a nonstop beating that undercarriage took.