Bear encounters

[Gramps]

Keep in mind the odds of running into bears goes up by exposer to them. I'll be in the back country of the Rockies everyday from spring to fall. Thinking i'm not going to run into bears would be stupid on my part. Where do you find bears? Along streams. Where am I going to be? A gun is not an option for me, so spray is going to be my only protection. If it doesn't work i'm going to have a short retirement.

[Thin Air]

Hey Wild One--
You've seen ground hogs -- marmots look and live about the same and can give a warning whistle you can hear for a half mile or so.

The marmots fancy name is something like marmota marmota

The ground hogs is like marmota something

[danbob]

I highly recommend the book "Living with Bears" by Linda Masterson, Pixyjack Press. And not just because she's one of my neighbors up here! It's a great book, though focused on black bears with only a couple chapters on Grizz.

My best bear story is from right after the Bobcat Fire, June 2000. It didn't reach us, but all the displaced wildlife came striaght up to our very remote area. I awoke at 3AM to very loud sounds from my mud room, and my dog going absolutely nuts barking. I flipped on the porch light, and there was a very large black bear (cinnimon brown) at the door ---- laying on his back, with one arm stuck thru the dog door into the mud room. He had hooked a bag of dog food with his claws on one paw, and was dragging it to the dog door while laying on his back. I hollered, no effect. I popped him with a CO2 pellet gun about 5 times at point blank range, and he finally stood up, then ran away. Then I noticed my digital camera sitting on the kitchen table, unused. DOH!

DANBOB

[maodiver]

do a google search for "automatic (not semi-auto) shotgun video". it is on You Tube.and it is AWESOME!!! That would be my bear gun, If I was gonna have one. 25 rounds in under 5 secs.

[Coach]

I just spent the last 10 minutes enjoying myself reading responses to the bear encounters. If I remember, the original message came from a Pennsylvanian and seemed to be asking about our black bear population. Living in the northern tier of PA. for the past 38 years I have come in contact with many black bears while hiking, walking, hunting, and fishing. They all had one thing in common - they ran like crazy when they found out a person was in the area. If they didn't know I was there (tree stand or wind was right) they just wondered away (maybe laid down and relaxed awhile and ate some berries or nuts). The fact is, there has never been a bear fatality in PA in modern times. A few run-ins (or should I saw run-overs when there was only one way out and the person was between the bear and that route) but the bear was as eager to get out of there with little or no trouble.

Saturday my wife and I went for out daily walk with the dog. While walking I looked down at the muddy logging road and commented, "Look, bear tracks."

She said, "Not very big."

I said, "Possibly a yearling. Good to see they are out an around. Must be winter is over."

Wish I was right, here I sit looking out at the snow. The snow upset us both more than the fact that we were sharing our walk with a bruin. No pepper spray, no gun, just us. The best part about bears in PA, they keep those from downstate coming up and fishing. Heck, the rattlers in the summer are more concern. Maybe the tourist should stay off the streams with the exception of winter when bears are sleeping (of course you would be surprised at the number of Black Bears around in the winter months) and the rattlers are deep in the rocks.

I am being funny. Enjoy Pennsylvania year round. We have more to fear from the humans than the animals that walk aroung our state.

Enjoyed the post and was entertained by all the ideas and suggestions. Quite interesting.

[Gramps]

Wonder how pepper spray works on rattlers? Not that i'd waste it for that. Just curious.

[perch]

Short story
....used shotgun that I had'nt tried out yet,great deal though.
Duck hunting in Alaska with some buddies and I decide to go to the other side of the slough.
Walking through the rushes I find myself standing over a steaming pile of bear poo !!!!!!Now understand that there is nothing in this gun except #6 1/2 shot( before magnums were in vouge). Me being the smart fellow I get the h..l outta there PDQ.Tell my buddies and we decide that the bear owns the slough. Later that day I get a shot at a duck. Point ,swing, click.Darn, miss fire .Shuck, recover,click. Yup. Great deal has a broken firring pin. At that moment, I felt "very naked".
Moral of the story:Bring a good gun.Carry buckshot

[DaleW]

Black bears can be a very formidable wild animal, rather that's here in the east, up in Canada or even out west in grizz country. The point being that when in an area where they habitate it just might be a good idea of being aware and having some kind of plan as just what to do in case of a close encounter. Obviously, here's some folks that had a close encounter with a black bear and I bet (those that survivied) would have a little different story than some of these posts I've been reading on this thread that just dismiss the presence of a black bear

http://www.maineguides.org/referendum/b ... acks.shtml

This site has not been updated to include the fatal black bear attack we had a short while back here in the Smoky Mountains. These attacks may very well be far and few between considering all the people activity. But the possibility of a black bear attack still exist, however remote that may be.



Dale

[Wild One]

Hey Wild One--
You've seen ground hogs -- marmots look and live about the same and can give a warning whistle you can hear for a half mile or so.

The marmots fancy name is something like marmota marmota

The ground hogs is like marmota something

Oh, maybe I didn't make myself totally clear. I've seen plenty of marmots, I just wanted to make the point not to whistle. You're right though, they do look similar to groundhogs. I never really thought about that.

[PA Dave]

So what's the setup??? Do the bow hunters have a partner with a gun in case the bear doesn't like a arrow in it's butt?? Does Montana have strict Bow seasons and Gun seasons????
Thanks,
Doug

I think you're confused on where to shoot the bear... A well placed shot will dispatch a black bear fairly quickly. My buddy has been archery hunting for black bears for several years and the reaction to the arrow has been the same on both successful hunts...the arrow hits and the bear runs like a scalded dog for about 50-75 yards and piles up.

That said, there is a world of difference between hunting bears and self defense from bear attacks. In hunting, you get to decide on the shot and the bear is ideally not even aware of your presence until the shot hits. There is time for shot placement, and the luxury of passing on the shot. Caliber can be fairly light and still easily do the job. When 500 lbs of black bear is running straight at you, you have no luxury of time or choice, and that one shot counts for everything and you want some serious stopping power.