Bear Bait

  • Published
  • By Torch Magazine
  • HQ AETC/SEM
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  A 25-year-old man was supposed to meet some friends in the Colorado Rocky Mountains to go on an elk hunting trip. He was going to be late getting up there, so on the way he bought a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken that could feed him and his buddies after the day's hunt. When he arrived at the site, he donned all his hunting gear, grabbed his rifle and set out to find his friends and to stalk elk.

When the hunting party returned later that evening, the man noticed the rear and a side window to his sport utility vehicle had been smashed in, and there were dents and scratches along the back and side of the vehicle.

It turns out, a black bear sniffed out the KFC and couldn't resist it. He mauled the vehicle inside and out, to include tearing up the vehicle's leather upholstery as he clawed his way to the yummy drumsticks.

The forest ranger later told the man that bears would be able to smell a bucket of KFC from 20 miles away, and the temptation would be irresistible to them. It was the perfect bear bait. Too bad it didn't work on the elk.