My first bear encounter

The wierd thing was, this was clearly a habituated bear accustomed to prowling campsites, but there were no signs posted, bear boxes, or secure trash cans like I've seen at other camping areas. I run a pretty clean camp, but there are always lingering smells even though I clean up promptly. The folks across the road at the next site seemed less tidy, so the bear lost interest in my site pretty quickly. I'm glad he didn't use my bike as a pinata!

He sure was quiet for such a big animal; his shoulder looked equal to my motorcycle's seat, which is about 32 inches! It was a totally cool experience.
 
The first time seeing a bear, and every time after that, is sorta magical isn't it? :) Spectacular and awesome creatures.
 
Black bears in a campground are more concerning than bears deeper in the woods. Never a good thing when large animals lose their fear of man and start associating his presence with food...

Sharks are known to following ships/boats looking for toss out scraps/bait !!!

2Door
 
one was looking in the trash in my friends house in NH, as soon as it saw us it walked away, my friend got his camera and followed him to the woods but the bear stop and gave him a look so he stopped the chase , it was a big one , we saw the marks he left in the woods on a tree and this fellow could play for the nba.:D
 
Foilist,
You were lucky to be able to see a wild creature close up. Congrats on your good luck and for keeping your cool.
I have seen bears in camp grounds a couple of times. Those bears were only interested in finding accessible food.
 
mete said:
Almost all a black bears thoughts are on food. ... They rarely attack.
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"They rarely attack."

Aye, and there's the rub. "Rarely."



But when they do attack, you're no longer part of the odds: you're now part of the statistics.

That's why I am always armed out in the boonies. :D

L.W.
 
PB Wilson said:
I've spent many, many nights deep in New York's Adirondack Park and have never run across a bear except in town as they try to break into dumpsters and garbage cans.

The rangers are requiring people to use bear canisters now because of the problems people have had in the past with food being stolen by these brilliant and often acrobatic bruins. It should cut down on human/bear encounters which is fine by me. I know that the black bears in NY aren't often aggressive, but I doubt I'd like to stand face to face with one.
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One of my very first bear encounters was at Marcy Dam in the late 70s. A ranger came by and told us to secure our food because of troublesome bears in the area, so we hung our food in a nearby tree. Some idiots camping near us got stoned and decided it would be a great idea to take the water they used for boiling a bunch of hot dogs and sprinkle it all around camp. In the middle of the night a bear came by, and quickly found the garbage bag that we had forgotten, which was right next to my sleeping bag in the lean-to. It reached in and grabbed the garbage, took it behind the lean-to, and very noisily cleaned it up. Then it walked back and forth in front of our lean-to sniffing for more, ignoring all the noise we were making. Finally it went away. In the morning we found that our food was safe, but there were a bunch of claw marks all up the tree.

The use of bear canisters is required in many parts of the sierras because the bears have learned how to get food that is hung.
 
It is cool to see bears in the wild. I think I'd have been a little spooked by the bear encounter described by the OP. As I grow older I have developed a healty respect for an animal that can fight better than me and certainly run faster.

I had a bear sneak up on my as I was intently photographing an orchid out in the woods. I was totally concealed due to tall ferns and that bear wandered right up to me and got within a few yards before I saw her. She had two cubs on the other side of me moving in the same direction. Makes ya a little nervous. In this case, I grabbed my camera on my tripod and was hoping to get a good bear shot. They skaddaled pretty quickly as soon as I was seen.
 
My first bear sighting was when deer hunting. I was glassing a large area using a rock as one edge. After an hour or so, the "rock" stood up and walked off. To say I was shocked is not an exaggeration.
 
lambertiana said:
One of my very first bear encounters was at Marcy Dam in the late 70s. A ranger came by and told us to secure our food because of troublesome bears in the area, so we hung our food in a nearby tree. Some idiots camping near us got stoned and decided it would be a great idea to take the water they used for boiling a bunch of hot dogs and sprinkle it all around camp. In the middle of the night a bear came by, and quickly found the garbage bag that we had forgotten, which was right next to my sleeping bag in the lean-to. It reached in and grabbed the garbage, took it behind the lean-to, and very noisily cleaned it up. Then it walked back and forth in front of our lean-to sniffing for more, ignoring all the noise we were making. Finally it went away. In the morning we found that our food was safe, but there were a bunch of claw marks all up the tree.

The use of bear canisters is required in many parts of the sierras because the bears have learned how to get food that is hung.
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Marcy Dam is the epicenter for bears stealing food. People being careless/negligent/stupid fed many a bear for many a year. Those guys with the hot dog water should be dipped in maple syrup and lashed to a tree. :rolleyes:
 
Last year I was complaining to a friend about having never seen a black bear down here in FL. Well it wasn't two weeks later I was trail riding in the Ocala National Forest, pulled over to the side of the Forest Road, and was taking a piss, when a mother and two babies silently began crossing the Forest Road about a car's length in front of me. All three looked at me for 2-3 seconds and continued crossing the road. They stopped to drink out of a pretty large puddle, then disappeared into the woods on the other side of the road.

I was shocked, I didn't think they would have even come out if they thought I was close by, and I didn't think the mother would have been so calm, given she had two cubs with her. She was pretty large I guess, around 200-250 lbs, and the cubs were probably around 30 lbs.
 
I took this pic on a walk in Yellowstone last year. I've been told it's a Grizzly though I'm no bear expert. It was certainly the highlight of my trip.

P1010973.jpg
 
stingray4540 said:
You probably could have taken a picture, if anything it would have run away if you startled it. But, better safe than sorry I guess. Now if it was a brown/grizzly, then I would say, definitely don't take a picture and risk scaring it.

Black bears - run when scared

Brown bears - charge when scared
(At least that's what I've been told)
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I think you should have added that black bears aren't always black and brown bears aren't always brown
Haha just thought everyone should be aware of that :p
 
Had a few black bear encounters in the bush back home. Currently, I work above the Arctic Circle about 40km south of the Arctic Ocean. When we do field work we always have bear bangers and spray. The funny thing is we had a young grizzly in camp yesterday morning. We walked out for brekkie at about 6 am and he was just behind the Pacto (outhouse) :eek: Took off running as soon as he saw us.
 

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