Whitey at Stinson again, it's the time of year for the warde

[mattwaverat]

Usually if the head is missing it means it was shot by a fisherman not taken by whitey. You'll see lots more seals that way than with bite marks on the beach.
- M

[pierrews]

[h2oshots]

speaking of the landlord...has anyone seen Graymatter around lately?

[LeeD]

That Mistral 256 was a good solid wave board.
Superimposed photoshop not so good, as the water would be surging ahead of the nose of the shark, and the fins further below would not show up as well.
And according to most shark experts, the shark doesn't turn upside down until just after it breaches.
The one that bit FatDave's board (about an 11'er), never turned upside down, according to witness'es 6' away.

[robertmiller]

[LeeD]

While I can agree with you that Whitey's head shot is the most economical, you'll find that almost all shark attacks on humans.....torso and legs are the target.
Sure, we're blindingly fast swimmers, unreal reflex's with lightning quick moves, but sharks can't always miss, can they?
And all those vids of a shark (Stumpy, residence Farallons) totally taking out seals and faux surfers, there's no clamping or biting around the head and shoulders.
I think KillerWhales go for the head. Sharks might be too callous to give any thoughts to attack points.
Federal mandates little affect most commercial fisherman, as a seal caught in a net full of fish means easily a $1,000 loss if you try to release the seal without injury.
Shotgun blasts usually affect a nice 1" entry hole, with about a 6-9" exit wound out the other side.....not taking anyone head completely off.
I'd worry about sharks if carcass's were around fresh and smelly.

[robertmiller]

[ikrtolica]

There used to be a guy that worked for the marine mammal center collecting heads from seals that had died and washed up on the beaches. I'm not sure if they still do that, but I do occasionally see headless seals on the beach.

As far as the head shot from sharks - I was standing a few feet from epenrose when we saw the shark attack the seal at Bolinas, and I can say that there was not a lot of that seal left after the attack. The whole thing lasted a few minutes, and the seal was definitely putting up a fight.

[LeeD]

Steinhart Aquarium's own BobMcCosker or sumpdin like dat....
I guess seals aren't equipped to poke at the sharkeyes, peel at the gills, poke it's nose, or stick an arm down it's throat, like humans.
Yeah, I was surfing Cronks mid beach left peak on a South when a shark attacked a seal on the NorthCorner. All the surfer's there immediately got out of the water, yelling and all, so I had the waves all to myself.

[south-west]

I really doubt that the sharks at Waddell are packing shotguns.