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- Mar 22, 2006
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I posted this on another forum but thought some of you guys might be interested
I've seen a few bears in my travels over the years.. in the areas I most frequent I usually see them running away from me.. But yesterday I set out for a minimal gear overnight with my nephew and his friend. and we had about a 10 minute confrontation with an adolescent black bear. Which was like nothing I've ever experienced.
It was a hot day About 90 deg Fahrenheit. and about 14:00 hours. we where in the process of setting up camp. I had just laid down my poncho as a ground cloth when my nephew shouts "bear"
i turn around and see a small lack bear down in the gully maybe about 20 yards away.. my nephew took a few pictures as I began to raise my voice just to let him know we where there. Once I let out the first "hey Bear" he stood up on his hind legs sniffed the air, let out a puff . than dropped to his feet and made a b-line directly for us. I got in front of the kids and began to blow my whistle. which stopped him at about the 15 foot mark. By this point all 3 of us where blowing whistles and yelling. but he showed no signs of backing off and took another step forward. I reached down and began to flap my poncho in the air to make myself look more intimidating.. To this again he stood up for a second, Than dropped down curled back his lips, snorted and took another step forward. I freed the trail hawk from my belt now.. Thinking "well.. I guess this is gonna happen" I was able to use the hawk to lift my zebra pot by the bail and broing it up to me without taking my eyes off the bear. and I began banging furiously. FInally he began to back off... SLowly but he did, I Pursued him alternating between banging, blowing the whistle and yelling for about 100 yards before he disappeared into the bush..
He was by no means a large bear, Probably an adolescent and lean bout 150 lbs, and about 5 foot standing up, maybe waist High on me on all 4's. I think he was probably fairly new to being independent from his mother and is trying to figure out the rules still. There where also several factors that could have contribute to his behavior. THe main one being the topography of the area creats a strange echo which might have been disorienting for him to discern where the sound was coming from.. Also I thin probably people have been feeding him or leaving food at the site. We on the other hand where not engaged in food prep and had only dried and canned food with us.
I did notice a tag in his ear, and called the ranger station to let them know. They said they had no reports of problem bears and that tagging was part of a research project.
We retreated a few 100 yards away and decided to utilize a park shelter for the night but after about 2 Hours our friend made another appearance, this time from a distance but kept a dead gaze on us as he ambled through.
After that I figured enough is enough Time to go home. So we called it a day and hiked out. I had 2 young'ens with me and didn't want to take any chances after dark.
All in all it was a wild experience. i am glad it happened and I feel like I learned a good deal from it. Need less to say I'll be carrying bearspray from now on.
Here's a vid of the very end of the encounter after he already starts to leave, and had retreated a good bit. As he proceeds through the gully away from me, he looks smaller than he was.. lol sort of like we're chasing a teddy bear. but if you look at the blueberry bushes for scale when I reach them later you can see he's about waist height.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly5P4KE5Eo8&list=UU2iCCZKFf40H9iw4wbcczvQ&index=1&feature=plcp
Some additional details:
the kids are 16 and 17, and are seasoned fisherman, hunters, and campers, with first aid and navigation training.
Firearms are prohibited in the area
Bear sightings hear are very rare, and encounters like this are un -heard of.
there bear as I mentioned was small, but when he snorting at you from 10 feet away he seems like a kodiak LOL
I've seen a few bears in my travels over the years.. in the areas I most frequent I usually see them running away from me.. But yesterday I set out for a minimal gear overnight with my nephew and his friend. and we had about a 10 minute confrontation with an adolescent black bear. Which was like nothing I've ever experienced.
It was a hot day About 90 deg Fahrenheit. and about 14:00 hours. we where in the process of setting up camp. I had just laid down my poncho as a ground cloth when my nephew shouts "bear"
i turn around and see a small lack bear down in the gully maybe about 20 yards away.. my nephew took a few pictures as I began to raise my voice just to let him know we where there. Once I let out the first "hey Bear" he stood up on his hind legs sniffed the air, let out a puff . than dropped to his feet and made a b-line directly for us. I got in front of the kids and began to blow my whistle. which stopped him at about the 15 foot mark. By this point all 3 of us where blowing whistles and yelling. but he showed no signs of backing off and took another step forward. I reached down and began to flap my poncho in the air to make myself look more intimidating.. To this again he stood up for a second, Than dropped down curled back his lips, snorted and took another step forward. I freed the trail hawk from my belt now.. Thinking "well.. I guess this is gonna happen" I was able to use the hawk to lift my zebra pot by the bail and broing it up to me without taking my eyes off the bear. and I began banging furiously. FInally he began to back off... SLowly but he did, I Pursued him alternating between banging, blowing the whistle and yelling for about 100 yards before he disappeared into the bush..
He was by no means a large bear, Probably an adolescent and lean bout 150 lbs, and about 5 foot standing up, maybe waist High on me on all 4's. I think he was probably fairly new to being independent from his mother and is trying to figure out the rules still. There where also several factors that could have contribute to his behavior. THe main one being the topography of the area creats a strange echo which might have been disorienting for him to discern where the sound was coming from.. Also I thin probably people have been feeding him or leaving food at the site. We on the other hand where not engaged in food prep and had only dried and canned food with us.
I did notice a tag in his ear, and called the ranger station to let them know. They said they had no reports of problem bears and that tagging was part of a research project.
We retreated a few 100 yards away and decided to utilize a park shelter for the night but after about 2 Hours our friend made another appearance, this time from a distance but kept a dead gaze on us as he ambled through.
After that I figured enough is enough Time to go home. So we called it a day and hiked out. I had 2 young'ens with me and didn't want to take any chances after dark.
All in all it was a wild experience. i am glad it happened and I feel like I learned a good deal from it. Need less to say I'll be carrying bearspray from now on.
Here's a vid of the very end of the encounter after he already starts to leave, and had retreated a good bit. As he proceeds through the gully away from me, he looks smaller than he was.. lol sort of like we're chasing a teddy bear. but if you look at the blueberry bushes for scale when I reach them later you can see he's about waist height.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly5P4KE5Eo8&list=UU2iCCZKFf40H9iw4wbcczvQ&index=1&feature=plcp
Some additional details:
the kids are 16 and 17, and are seasoned fisherman, hunters, and campers, with first aid and navigation training.
Firearms are prohibited in the area
Bear sightings hear are very rare, and encounters like this are un -heard of.
there bear as I mentioned was small, but when he snorting at you from 10 feet away he seems like a kodiak LOL
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