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Bear Stories
- Thread starter Ed Fowler
- Start date
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- Jul 31, 2002
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- 2,954
After WWII my great uncle headed out west hunting with a friend, who was also a veteran. Uncle Willard had a sporterized 1917 Eddystone 30-06, which was the only "suitable" rifle (by their estimation) either of them owned. But he borrowed Great Grandpa's old Springfield Trapdoor carbine (45-70) to take along, and they planned to share/trade rifles every other day.
Well, the 2 of them split up one morning and were walking along the sides of 2 mountains, across a small valley from each other. Uncle Willard was carrying the 30-06 that day. He heard a shot come from his buddy's direction, and then a moment later he heard several more shots in rapid succession; much too fast for that old single shot trapdoor.
He hurried over and found his buddy with a dead bear, and then heard the story. Turns out the guy was walking along when he came across the bear laying behind a big log. I guess they saw each other about the same time, and he raised his rifle and shot it square between the eyes. But, he was aparently using the old soft lead round nosed bullets charged with black powder, and the round bounced right off the bear's sloping forehead. Which only had the effect of really pissing it off. He said he didn't realize how big it was until it kicked that log away, that it had been laying behind.
Well now he had a situation on his hands, but as it turns out, he was also carrying a 9mm Luger beneath his jacket, that he'd brought back from the War. He pulled that German pistol and dumped the whole mag into the bear at close range, which was enough to finish it.
Who'd a thought the 9mm would make a better bear round than the 45-70?
Well, the 2 of them split up one morning and were walking along the sides of 2 mountains, across a small valley from each other. Uncle Willard was carrying the 30-06 that day. He heard a shot come from his buddy's direction, and then a moment later he heard several more shots in rapid succession; much too fast for that old single shot trapdoor.
He hurried over and found his buddy with a dead bear, and then heard the story. Turns out the guy was walking along when he came across the bear laying behind a big log. I guess they saw each other about the same time, and he raised his rifle and shot it square between the eyes. But, he was aparently using the old soft lead round nosed bullets charged with black powder, and the round bounced right off the bear's sloping forehead. Which only had the effect of really pissing it off. He said he didn't realize how big it was until it kicked that log away, that it had been laying behind.
Well now he had a situation on his hands, but as it turns out, he was also carrying a 9mm Luger beneath his jacket, that he'd brought back from the War. He pulled that German pistol and dumped the whole mag into the bear at close range, which was enough to finish it.
Who'd a thought the 9mm would make a better bear round than the 45-70?
couple of bear encounters:
black bears are so plentiful here the are considered vermin here on the North Shore of BC, they are so used to humans (not good).
Anyways, was fishing last fall in Rice Lake on a little island when a 100lb or so black bear swam over and clambered up onto the 20' x 20' island i was on. Loud yelling didn't deter it, nor did smacking rocks together, and finally nor did a bear banger fired straight up (scare the crap out of all the people jogging though).
what did work was picking up a baseball sized rock, winding up and pegging the forehead of the bear, so hard i heard the THUNK. The bear sat down, batted his forehead with his paws, shook his head, rubbed it again with his paw and staggered and weaved off, sideswiping a little tree before swimming off the island. A few well placed rocks thrown at its rump got it moving a little faster. Couple seconds later as it dissapeared off the water and into the woods it suddenly crashed thru the woods and back into the water, with two jack russels going gonzo with the barking and nipping. The bear did'nt know what to do, face getting beaned in the head again, or chased and nipped at by the dogs, finally it swam towards the end of the lake where another fisherman shot about 3 bear bangers at its arse before it dissapeared into the woods.
second encounter was in Sqaumish, where a BIG black bear thought it would be fun to run after my truck - guess he could smell the cooler full of hotdogs/smokies/burgers/steaks for our camping trip. My buddy loaded a bear banger and fired it backwards , as i jammed the truck into reverse and gunned it back towards the bear, leaning on the truckers horn. The bear slid to a stop frantically backpeddled and spun around taking off at a gallop back down the road. Never did see it again, and we had our BBQ going for 4 days straight.
black bears are so plentiful here the are considered vermin here on the North Shore of BC, they are so used to humans (not good).
Anyways, was fishing last fall in Rice Lake on a little island when a 100lb or so black bear swam over and clambered up onto the 20' x 20' island i was on. Loud yelling didn't deter it, nor did smacking rocks together, and finally nor did a bear banger fired straight up (scare the crap out of all the people jogging though).
what did work was picking up a baseball sized rock, winding up and pegging the forehead of the bear, so hard i heard the THUNK. The bear sat down, batted his forehead with his paws, shook his head, rubbed it again with his paw and staggered and weaved off, sideswiping a little tree before swimming off the island. A few well placed rocks thrown at its rump got it moving a little faster. Couple seconds later as it dissapeared off the water and into the woods it suddenly crashed thru the woods and back into the water, with two jack russels going gonzo with the barking and nipping. The bear did'nt know what to do, face getting beaned in the head again, or chased and nipped at by the dogs, finally it swam towards the end of the lake where another fisherman shot about 3 bear bangers at its arse before it dissapeared into the woods.
second encounter was in Sqaumish, where a BIG black bear thought it would be fun to run after my truck - guess he could smell the cooler full of hotdogs/smokies/burgers/steaks for our camping trip. My buddy loaded a bear banger and fired it backwards , as i jammed the truck into reverse and gunned it back towards the bear, leaning on the truckers horn. The bear slid to a stop frantically backpeddled and spun around taking off at a gallop back down the road. Never did see it again, and we had our BBQ going for 4 days straight.
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Who'd a thought the 9mm would make a better bear round than the 45-70?
I can believe it, but I wouldn't want to test it.
This story happened over 20 years ago when my wife and I were going out. Her parents lived about 20 minutes drive outside of town.
It was spring and I picked her up after work to take her out to dinner.
As we were driving up the road we could see a guy walking with his "newfie dog" as we got closer we could see that he was walking and swinging a loaf of bread (he was walking home from a gas station/store). The newfie dog was a black bear and it was trying to grab the bread on the guys back swing.
I was driving an old scout 2 with big bush guard, I told my wife roll down your window and tell the guy about the bear. I said I will hit it with the truck if the bear goes after him.
We slowly approach and the guy looks over and she said look behind you, next thing you know the guy drops the bread and is off like a rocket.
The bear stopped mid-stride stunned and I swear it was a WTF look on it's face. It then grabbed the bread and trotted off
It was spring and I picked her up after work to take her out to dinner.
As we were driving up the road we could see a guy walking with his "newfie dog" as we got closer we could see that he was walking and swinging a loaf of bread (he was walking home from a gas station/store). The newfie dog was a black bear and it was trying to grab the bread on the guys back swing.
I was driving an old scout 2 with big bush guard, I told my wife roll down your window and tell the guy about the bear. I said I will hit it with the truck if the bear goes after him.
We slowly approach and the guy looks over and she said look behind you, next thing you know the guy drops the bread and is off like a rocket.
The bear stopped mid-stride stunned and I swear it was a WTF look on it's face. It then grabbed the bread and trotted off
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- Jul 21, 2001
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- 2,869
OK another bear story: Back in the late 40's there used to be folks traveling around with bears for side shows. One man had a brown bear that weighed around 200 lbs. He would come to town and set up a boxing ring kind of deal and for a $10.00 fee you could wrestle the bear.
I understand some readers may have never wrestled a bear, but it is kind of like wrestling a pig. Nothing to get a hold of and no where to go. Kind of like monkeys wrestling a football.
I was just a little kid the last time he brought his bear to town (animal cruelty folks got aggravated with the practice) but I got to witness one of the great events in our local town's history.
We had - as all small town have - a tough guy - I will call him Tony. Tony loved to fight and was very good at it!
Tony watched as others paid their money and got wore out trying to win where no win was possible. Bears are strong, much more so than you would expect.
The bear wore a muzzle and boxing gloves on his paws and home made boots on his hind feet (bears will also use their hind feet wrestling and claws can hurt). On each side of the ring was a sign "DON'T HIT THE BEAR" !
Tony decided he would wrestle the bear took off his shirt, flexed his muscles for the crowd and he paid his $10.00, the owner told him specifically - "no matter what don't hit the bear - do you understand? - Don't hit the bear!" Tony said yea and entered the ring. Flexed his muscles again for the crowd and engaged the bear. They went around for some time, like I said there was no winning with the bear. Tony got frustrated and was on his knees. He was aggravated beyond reason and in spite of the rules - hit the bear! Slugging him hard in the face. The bear let out a squall and proceeded to bring up a long swat connecting with the side of Tony's head. Tony was out immediately, one eye hanging outside of his face, his body ark-ed into the air and he hit on the canvas.
Some months later Tony returned to town from his visit at the hospital. He walked a little side wise and was blind in one eye. As soon as folks figured he was not capable of 'Tony the tough guy' they started to razz him. "Hey Tony!" Tony would slowly turn at the sound of his name and say "what"? The response was always "Don't hit the bear!". Tony would shrug, now knowing what they meant and shuffle on his way.
If you get in a hassle with a bear - please remember - don't hit the bear!
I understand some readers may have never wrestled a bear, but it is kind of like wrestling a pig. Nothing to get a hold of and no where to go. Kind of like monkeys wrestling a football.
I was just a little kid the last time he brought his bear to town (animal cruelty folks got aggravated with the practice) but I got to witness one of the great events in our local town's history.
We had - as all small town have - a tough guy - I will call him Tony. Tony loved to fight and was very good at it!
Tony watched as others paid their money and got wore out trying to win where no win was possible. Bears are strong, much more so than you would expect.
The bear wore a muzzle and boxing gloves on his paws and home made boots on his hind feet (bears will also use their hind feet wrestling and claws can hurt). On each side of the ring was a sign "DON'T HIT THE BEAR" !
Tony decided he would wrestle the bear took off his shirt, flexed his muscles for the crowd and he paid his $10.00, the owner told him specifically - "no matter what don't hit the bear - do you understand? - Don't hit the bear!" Tony said yea and entered the ring. Flexed his muscles again for the crowd and engaged the bear. They went around for some time, like I said there was no winning with the bear. Tony got frustrated and was on his knees. He was aggravated beyond reason and in spite of the rules - hit the bear! Slugging him hard in the face. The bear let out a squall and proceeded to bring up a long swat connecting with the side of Tony's head. Tony was out immediately, one eye hanging outside of his face, his body ark-ed into the air and he hit on the canvas.
Some months later Tony returned to town from his visit at the hospital. He walked a little side wise and was blind in one eye. As soon as folks figured he was not capable of 'Tony the tough guy' they started to razz him. "Hey Tony!" Tony would slowly turn at the sound of his name and say "what"? The response was always "Don't hit the bear!". Tony would shrug, now knowing what they meant and shuffle on his way.
If you get in a hassle with a bear - please remember - don't hit the bear!
Blue Sky
Gold Member
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- Jun 16, 2002
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- 3,534
My one and only bear story. About 10 years ago or so I used to ride my motorcycle through the PA portion of the Allegheny National Forest. There are a lot of dirt trails off the the paved road that lead into the forest. Some interconnect, some dead end. When it was time to take a break, I'd turn onto one of them, go up a ways, stop and hang out for a while. I did it often, and there was never anyone else around. One day I did this on a narrow trail that ran up and along a steep hill, with few places to turn around. Finally I came to an open area where I could see far down into the valley, and the hill behind me had these huge flat top rocks half jutting out of the hillside, maybe 30' in diameter and 10-12' high on the downhill side. It was a great place to stop and I was about a mile in and didn't really want to go any further. So I got turned around, parked, and went up on top of one the rocks, sitting with my feet dangling over the front edge. It was a beautiful day, a great spot, and I got lost in reverie.
After a while, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I glanced over my shoulder and thought, huh, that's a big black dog, what's he doing out here. Um, that's a really big dog, isn't it, what the heck? Finally, way too late, it dawned on me that I was looking at a bear, and he was looking back at me as he walked away up the hill. After he disappeared into a brushy area, I decided to go see if I could find any tracks, just to learn what they look like, right?. So there I go, and when I get to the edge of the brush I stop and start thinking, this probably isn't a good idea after all. I went back down to the rock but with my back to the hill it started creeping me out a bit so I got up and left. In hindsight, the area I blundered into was probably a great place for caves and dens under the rocks. It was a good thing the bear was pretty tolerant of a bonehead human that day, or else this story might have wound up a little less boring.
After a while, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I glanced over my shoulder and thought, huh, that's a big black dog, what's he doing out here. Um, that's a really big dog, isn't it, what the heck? Finally, way too late, it dawned on me that I was looking at a bear, and he was looking back at me as he walked away up the hill. After he disappeared into a brushy area, I decided to go see if I could find any tracks, just to learn what they look like, right?. So there I go, and when I get to the edge of the brush I stop and start thinking, this probably isn't a good idea after all. I went back down to the rock but with my back to the hill it started creeping me out a bit so I got up and left. In hindsight, the area I blundered into was probably a great place for caves and dens under the rocks. It was a good thing the bear was pretty tolerant of a bonehead human that day, or else this story might have wound up a little less boring.
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Ed-
That reminds me of a similar story I got to hear from one of my grandmother's neighbors in Pennsylvania. This was related to me probably over 15 years ago so I may have some details wrong, but I remember the gist of it.
As I recall, it happened that this gentleman had just got out of basic training and was with some buddies before being shipped off to WWII. A similar traveling circus type deal came to town where you could wrestle a bear. This guy was also pretty big and strong, and his buddies convinced him to get into the ring with the bear. After a fair amount of struggling, the man finally managed to climb onto the bear's back and get his arms around its neck, in the classic "bear hug" fashion.
He was doing all he could to hold on, trying to keep his legs around the bear's back too. And finally the bear started bawling, and its tongue was hanging out. (I seem to recall him saying its tongue was blue. ?) The owner finally made him get off, saying, "You're killing my bear!" So, he actually wrestled a bear, and won.
This man was later captured in the Pacific theater, and was on the Bataan death march. On two separate occasions he fell down from exhaustion, and was bayonetted by the Japanese troops, and left to die. He showed us the long jagged purple scar on his neck, and lifted his shirt to show us the one on his belly- about 8 inches to a foot long as I remember it. He said his guts started to fall out, so he tucked them back in, and found a piece of plastic to stick over the wound. One of his best friends also fell down, and was about to be killed, so he picked the other guy up, and carried him over his shoulder the rest of the way. It was several more miles- I forget how many he carried this guy despite his own wounds. After the war, he was to be awarded some highly prestigious medals for his efforts, but refused them.
That reminds me of a similar story I got to hear from one of my grandmother's neighbors in Pennsylvania. This was related to me probably over 15 years ago so I may have some details wrong, but I remember the gist of it.
As I recall, it happened that this gentleman had just got out of basic training and was with some buddies before being shipped off to WWII. A similar traveling circus type deal came to town where you could wrestle a bear. This guy was also pretty big and strong, and his buddies convinced him to get into the ring with the bear. After a fair amount of struggling, the man finally managed to climb onto the bear's back and get his arms around its neck, in the classic "bear hug" fashion.
He was doing all he could to hold on, trying to keep his legs around the bear's back too. And finally the bear started bawling, and its tongue was hanging out. (I seem to recall him saying its tongue was blue. ?) The owner finally made him get off, saying, "You're killing my bear!" So, he actually wrestled a bear, and won. This man was later captured in the Pacific theater, and was on the Bataan death march. On two separate occasions he fell down from exhaustion, and was bayonetted by the Japanese troops, and left to die. He showed us the long jagged purple scar on his neck, and lifted his shirt to show us the one on his belly- about 8 inches to a foot long as I remember it. He said his guts started to fall out, so he tucked them back in, and found a piece of plastic to stick over the wound. One of his best friends also fell down, and was about to be killed, so he picked the other guy up, and carried him over his shoulder the rest of the way. It was several more miles- I forget how many he carried this guy despite his own wounds. After the war, he was to be awarded some highly prestigious medals for his efforts, but refused them.
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I never thought about choking a bear from behind - good thinking!
These stories are great - too many folks are scared of bears - to the point of panic - fear is our worst enemy.
A recent bear story: two men were fishing in Grizzly country, they had not caught any fish and were headed back up stream to where their pickup was parked. One of them decided to try one great pool one more time, his partner declined, state he would wait in the pickup.
The man who stayed to fish hit the jack pot, caught enough fish for both of them in about an hour. He started back to the pickup with his stringer filled with fish and noticed a Griz following him. He started running and the bear naturally chased him. He ran to the pickup hollering for his friend to help.
His friend just woke up from a nap and panicked - started the pickup and tried to drive out (leaving his friend) but drove into heavy brush and the pickup could not push its way through. He put the pickup in reverse and backed up, burning rubber, as his partner was approaching the pickup from behind, the bear right on his heels. He jumped into the pickup and made in over the tail gate, the pickup was in rapid motion in reverse and he did receive some bruises. The bear took a swat at him as he went over the tail gate and left great scratches on his boot.
His 'partner' backed the pickup up with the bear trying to get at the man in the back, got clear of the brush and left rapidly leaving the bear behind.
I got into the story when the first man was purchasing a Colt Commander 45 acp from the local sporting goods store. He told me he was getting ready in case of another bear attack. I told him the 45 acp might be a little underpowered - he said "One worked for me in Vietnam and is plenty good enough". He then related the story to me and showed me the scratches on his boot. He was still more than moderately excited about the incident three days after it happened.
I asked him why he did not just give the bear the fish?
His statement was emphatic "they were my fish"!!!
I believe that had he simply gave the bear the fish and slowly walked away he would not have been chased!
You have just gotta love human nature!
These stories are great - too many folks are scared of bears - to the point of panic - fear is our worst enemy.
A recent bear story: two men were fishing in Grizzly country, they had not caught any fish and were headed back up stream to where their pickup was parked. One of them decided to try one great pool one more time, his partner declined, state he would wait in the pickup.
The man who stayed to fish hit the jack pot, caught enough fish for both of them in about an hour. He started back to the pickup with his stringer filled with fish and noticed a Griz following him. He started running and the bear naturally chased him. He ran to the pickup hollering for his friend to help.
His friend just woke up from a nap and panicked - started the pickup and tried to drive out (leaving his friend) but drove into heavy brush and the pickup could not push its way through. He put the pickup in reverse and backed up, burning rubber, as his partner was approaching the pickup from behind, the bear right on his heels. He jumped into the pickup and made in over the tail gate, the pickup was in rapid motion in reverse and he did receive some bruises. The bear took a swat at him as he went over the tail gate and left great scratches on his boot.
His 'partner' backed the pickup up with the bear trying to get at the man in the back, got clear of the brush and left rapidly leaving the bear behind.
I got into the story when the first man was purchasing a Colt Commander 45 acp from the local sporting goods store. He told me he was getting ready in case of another bear attack. I told him the 45 acp might be a little underpowered - he said "One worked for me in Vietnam and is plenty good enough". He then related the story to me and showed me the scratches on his boot. He was still more than moderately excited about the incident three days after it happened.
I asked him why he did not just give the bear the fish?
His statement was emphatic "they were my fish"!!!
I believe that had he simply gave the bear the fish and slowly walked away he would not have been chased!
You have just gotta love human nature!
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- Feb 3, 2001
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- 32,359
I spent a lot of time wanderin' in the weeds of NYS up around Big Moose and Stillwater on an 11,000 acre private hunting camp that belonged to a friend of the families, so I have a few bear stories I'd like to share so I'll start with my first back from when I was a little kid just learnin' they ways of the forest.
I did post this a while ago in another thread but I thought it fit well in this thread, enjoy.
When I was a kid spendin' my summers up wild in weeds of Upstate NY, my old man used to tell me, "if ya ever get attacked by a bear the best way to survive was.......wait until the bear was inches from yer face and at the last second while his mouth was open spit in it".
"That's right hang a big ol' loogey right in his mouth", he told me that bears bein' very scent oriented animals would be startled by the intense new and unusual scent and taste from a human and this would confuse the bear givin' ya ample time to make yer escape.
Now before ya'll start sayin' ain't true can't work let me tell ya a little story:
I was about 14 and my brother was 12, we were always at each other like brothers that age often are, anyway one day my brother was in a foul an irritable mood and I couldn't resist pushin' his buttons all day long.
Anyway it was just before dinner time and my mom told us to go wash up fer supper and seein' as how we only had one bathroom I took advantage of another opportunity to irritate my brother even more.
I start poundin' on the bathroom door and tryin' to pick the lock to get 'em out, well he unlocks the door and comes chargin' at me like a wild bear.
That's when it hits me, all the stuff my old man told me about stoppin' a bear, so I suck up and hurl the biggest loogey I could in my brothers mouth....
That's when I see the magic work, my brother stumbles back and stutters, "Son of a bit... you moth..you spit in my mouth" add spittin' and coughin' sounds where needed, this went on for at least 2 minutes, givin' me enough time to beat a hasty retreat before he could get his hands on me.
I won't tell how he got even, I'll save that for another day, anyway I started thinkin' as a last ditch method of escape I wonder if it could really work, I mean think about it, bears bein' sensory animals it might overload their senses and give ya the time ya need to escape.
I did post this a while ago in another thread but I thought it fit well in this thread, enjoy.
When I was a kid spendin' my summers up wild in weeds of Upstate NY, my old man used to tell me, "if ya ever get attacked by a bear the best way to survive was.......wait until the bear was inches from yer face and at the last second while his mouth was open spit in it".
"That's right hang a big ol' loogey right in his mouth", he told me that bears bein' very scent oriented animals would be startled by the intense new and unusual scent and taste from a human and this would confuse the bear givin' ya ample time to make yer escape.
Now before ya'll start sayin' ain't true can't work let me tell ya a little story:
I was about 14 and my brother was 12, we were always at each other like brothers that age often are, anyway one day my brother was in a foul an irritable mood and I couldn't resist pushin' his buttons all day long.
Anyway it was just before dinner time and my mom told us to go wash up fer supper and seein' as how we only had one bathroom I took advantage of another opportunity to irritate my brother even more.
I start poundin' on the bathroom door and tryin' to pick the lock to get 'em out, well he unlocks the door and comes chargin' at me like a wild bear.
That's when it hits me, all the stuff my old man told me about stoppin' a bear, so I suck up and hurl the biggest loogey I could in my brothers mouth....
That's when I see the magic work, my brother stumbles back and stutters, "Son of a bit... you moth..you spit in my mouth" add spittin' and coughin' sounds where needed, this went on for at least 2 minutes, givin' me enough time to beat a hasty retreat before he could get his hands on me.
I won't tell how he got even, I'll save that for another day, anyway I started thinkin' as a last ditch method of escape I wonder if it could really work, I mean think about it, bears bein' sensory animals it might overload their senses and give ya the time ya need to escape.
I worked three seasons as a backcountry ranger in the Bob Marshall and Great Bear Wildernesses and had almost weekly encounters with grizzlies. Fortunately all were of of rather short duration and most ended with bear running quickly away.
I only had one bad incident over those three seasons and it was w/ a black bear. I was unloading my pack setting up camp at high alpine lake when I noticed on the other side of the lake a large black bear. He was standing on his hind legs getting a wiff. I took out a couple of cook pots and gave them a good clanging waiting for the bear to run off. Instead of running off he moved a little closer to me coming around the lake. This time I gave the pots a little better clanging and added some loud shouting. Again the bear continued to close the distance. Well I thought this isn't going to well, so I started to pack up and figured I'd just leave the lake to the bear. In the meantime he's closed the distance more, he doesn't appear to be agitated, but he certainly has no fear. By the time I get everything packed up he's uncomfortably close, close enough I start pitching rocks and close enough I actually come close to hitting him.
I started off at a good gait (but knew better to run). Looking over my shoulder I was very disappointed (under statement) to see that instead of staying behind at the lake he's following me. I'd stop every once in awhile when I thought he was getting too close and would turn around and shout at him, waving my arms about and throwing a rock on occasion. This went on for almost a mile, maybe a little longer (seemed like forever). The bear was watching me very intently, basically sizing me up- again not agitated.
Finally I looked behind me and he wasn't there. I put on several more miles (into the dark) before setting up camp- needless to say it wasn't the most comfortable night out I've experienced.
After my ten day hitch was up, my first stop was at the local sporting good store where I made acquaintance with a 3" S&W 629 .44 mag. I worked up some nice hot handloads and felt much more comfy going back in for my next hitch In addition, I started to religiously carry bear spray that I had scoffed at carrying prior.
Years later I was watching a National Geographic show that was about predatory black bear encounters. A rare, but still well documented phenomena. They highlighted several different encounters that were eerily similar to what I experienced. It made a lot more sense after watching this show, but knowing that he was sizing me up for a meal wasn't overly comforting.
I only had one bad incident over those three seasons and it was w/ a black bear. I was unloading my pack setting up camp at high alpine lake when I noticed on the other side of the lake a large black bear. He was standing on his hind legs getting a wiff. I took out a couple of cook pots and gave them a good clanging waiting for the bear to run off. Instead of running off he moved a little closer to me coming around the lake. This time I gave the pots a little better clanging and added some loud shouting. Again the bear continued to close the distance. Well I thought this isn't going to well, so I started to pack up and figured I'd just leave the lake to the bear. In the meantime he's closed the distance more, he doesn't appear to be agitated, but he certainly has no fear. By the time I get everything packed up he's uncomfortably close, close enough I start pitching rocks and close enough I actually come close to hitting him.
I started off at a good gait (but knew better to run). Looking over my shoulder I was very disappointed (under statement) to see that instead of staying behind at the lake he's following me. I'd stop every once in awhile when I thought he was getting too close and would turn around and shout at him, waving my arms about and throwing a rock on occasion. This went on for almost a mile, maybe a little longer (seemed like forever). The bear was watching me very intently, basically sizing me up- again not agitated.
Finally I looked behind me and he wasn't there. I put on several more miles (into the dark) before setting up camp- needless to say it wasn't the most comfortable night out I've experienced.
After my ten day hitch was up, my first stop was at the local sporting good store where I made acquaintance with a 3" S&W 629 .44 mag. I worked up some nice hot handloads and felt much more comfy going back in for my next hitch
In addition, I started to religiously carry bear spray that I had scoffed at carrying prior.Years later I was watching a National Geographic show that was about predatory black bear encounters. A rare, but still well documented phenomena. They highlighted several different encounters that were eerily similar to what I experienced. It made a lot more sense after watching this show, but knowing that he was sizing me up for a meal wasn't overly comforting.
