Save a bear stop the trains
Bears
Trains killed 8 grizzly bears in Montana during 2019. That’s enough dead bears, so time to lawyer up. Lawsuit filed to put a stop to the slaughter. Suggesting Slow them trains down and less night time trains.
Personally let nature take its course natural selection will eliminate those train loving bears. Or designate a bear free corridor 400 yards either side of tracks and the bear protection groups can monitor and shoo the bears away.
When I was in college years ago, my roommate's dad was a retired railroad engineer from Ohio. When I met him I got to talking to him about his job. I asked him if he'd hit any big bucks with the train and he said, "Oh yeah, plenty of big bucks can't stop the train. " He then added that he'd hit and killed 10 people in his 40 years as an engineer. I think my jaw hit the ground. He said they were either drunks along the tracks or suicides and you can't stop the train. A strange turn to the conversation for sure.
Scoot, I'm sorry for your bad experience. I was a funeral director when I was younger and saw a lot of things I wish I could unsee. I didn't mean for my story to come off as only drunks or suicides get killed by trains and apologize if it came out that way.
You got to be Sh***ing me!!!
See.....no need for herd control by hunters, we have trains.
Wasn't much of a bear vs train problem until we got a bear behind every tree stump in the forest. They aren't cutting new corridors to lay more track. Just so many danged bears now it can hardly be as surprising thing.
Maybe just change out the 'cow' catcher to a bear catcher. Good PR.
Years ago there was a SciFi book where some kids did something really stupid and got killed. One of the characters said, rather cynically, "Think of it as evolution in action." Bears that fail to respect trains will remove themselves from the gene pool.
Here in WY during the winter the trains kill hundreds if not thousands of Antelope every year.
Moose will take on a train sometimes...just once though.
There are some people who blame trains for the decline in moose populations in Minnesota too.
Hunted with John Bartlett in NW Montana years ago. He engineered a train from there to WA state. Said that once there was a grain spill on the tracks and they eventually had to go in and clean it all up because of the critters they were hitting. He mentioned bears and moose as the main ones.
August 1987 - I hit a drunk with my semi.
Obviously, they need to relocate the bear crossing signs to a safer area.
I seen 3 drunks hit a parked train once not even at a crossing hit hard enough to derail a few cars too.
Trains tracks are endangered here in Wisconsin back in the day there were train tracks criss crossing the state. Now most are pea gravel bike paths for the yoga pants ebike crowd.
However Black bears and wolfs are doing great never realize the connection before less train tracks more more bear and wolfs. Hmmmmm
In Alaska, probably many other northern states too, animals get hit by trains in the winter. Moose are nailed frequently because the tracks are the only thing cleared of snow. So when a moose gets on the tracks and there is a wall 6'+ of snow each side, they run on the tracks and don't/can't charge off to the side.
Here in NM bighorns get nailed frequently in one part of the state, narrow canyon and same thing, they don't/can't head off the tracks fast enough.
As noted, the huggers could care less about prey roadkill, they only care about predators...
Shiloh-
That spill did happen and they made the railroad clean it up because the grain was fermenting. The bears would eat it and get drunk and fall asleep in the tracks. Can’t make that up. Unfortunately thier was a herd of bighorns that got decimated because of it too. I worked with some guys that ran on that line in the late 90s. I think it was around paradise Montana. I’ve run trains for 30 years and you wouldn’t believe the animals we kill every year. Most I’ve ever killed in one shot was ten whitetails. They were running away from the train and we just kept gobbling them up into little fur balls. That will hurt your management program!!!! Hit a #1500 black angus steer one time going 50 mile an hour. U have no idea how much cow shit is in one of those things until u center punch one with a drawbar and make it into a poop piñata. Had a buck jump in front of the train when he hit the other bank watched both his antlers pop off one spring. Stopped the next time through and picked them up. I’m lucky enough to have not killed anyone but have been involved in probably 30 grade accidents, most of them the train was at 10mph or less. The people all say the same thing- I didn’t see the train!!!!!
Wow Shedhead!! I would love to ride that train route that John worked and just get to see the country!! I'm sure it would get old after a while like any job, but you guys definitely get to see some stuff!!
There are deer in NY? 8 ,
Worked with an old head that always had a knife with him to cut the loins out of a fresh train kill. Kept them in a bag on ice til he got to the next terminal
