Cobalt, I think you hit it on the head when you said that animals can have very different behaviors in different areas. I've had friends stalked by Alberta rocky cougars, and used to camp as a kid around manitoba black bears. So to me blackbears are nothing to worry about as long as you think about it, and cougars might think I'm food. A cougar did wander into an ER in I think Kamloops. Everything I've read about cougars targeting hunters was from the Alberta BC region, so maybe its a size thing? the bigger ones need more food, so they figure its worth the risk for the easy meal? I also think that they are not hunted with dogs (not 100% on that though) which might mean that there is lower overall hunting pressure, since its more difficult, and they never see it coming, where as for example two weeks into deer season the deer get really skittish because of the shear volume of lead in the air, they know even if that one wasn't for them, bad news is coming. I dunno, not a wildlife psychologist, just trying to suggest that the easy answer isn't always thus. I recall an uncle/great uncle trying different things to cover the smell of honey on his processing equipment to keep the black bears away, dunno if it ever worked though. Maybe they just thought he had diesel powered bees?
