Who has seen bear while in the woods

“It's funny, I have seen a bear once on the trail almost 10 years ago. I had thought I would never forget it, but I had. StoveStomper's story about surprising the young bear reminded me of it.

I was dayhiking on the Sheltowee Trace in Kentucky. I had stopped to eat some blackberries in a patch that ran along both sides of the trail. I took a step off the trail and looked down to see a baby black bear take off running from right below my foot. I had almost stepped on it! It headed downhill from me through the blackberry thicket. I froze solid for what seemed like an eternity, waiting for the mother bear to kill me. Then I started breathing again but still couldn't move. I just stood there frozen stiff as a board, listening. Then, when I realized there was no mother bear around and I wasn't going to die, I started shaking and was able to move again.

I left as quickly as I could and was really shaky and jumpy for the rest of the hike. And I didn't stop for any more berries!

At first I was just really relieved and figured that the mother bear had been somewhere downhill. Then, I got to thinking about how small it had been. It was much smaller than I would have expected it to be for that time of year. Maybe there just wasn't any mother bear and it was an orphan. Either way, I feel pretty lucky. And I hope I never see one on the trail ever again, as long as I live.”

“Yea skully, I almost needed to change pants after my encounter. ;-)
Mine happened to fast to really get scared. After it was over I saw the humor in it and had to laugh about it. Both of us running full out in opposite directions down the trail.”

“I’ve seen many more black bears walking down the street, walking through my yard or around the neighborhood then I’ve seen while hiking.”

“reading over all these bear encounters makes you think about how unusual black bear attacks really are. maybe the bear attacks book is designed to keep people out of the woods? plus sensationalism sells!”

“I've seen lots of Black bear in Colorado, Wyoming and Michigan. Some big mo-fos in Michigan.

I also saw a grizzly coming down the switchback from the Highland Trail in Glacier National Park. He/she was up on hind legs eating berries about 150-200 yards down the hill. We saw each other at about the same time. He/she went back to eating berries and I watched for a few (very few) minutes and then continued on my way. I had to cut back under the bear again because of the switchback, but I never saw it again.”

“In some ways, reading all of these, makes me envious. In some ways, reading this makes me grateful I don't have a bear sighting to report other than the one I saw crossing the road after a solo hike in Manistee. I was in my car and couldn't beleive the size of that thing! It was about 200 yards up the road and just crossed that road like it owned the place.

It's been great reading all of these. It's nice to reflect back to our experiences sometimes and get this place back to some relative hiking info at times.

Most important thing I have learned while reading all of these posts is that I can survive a bear sighting.”

“Remember Wolfeyes, the most dangerous creature in the forest walks on 2 legs.”

“On two separate occassions I saw a brown cubby crossing the road and later a black bear (must have been a 400 lbs.) running from my car down the road (it really halled butt) in Tiadaghtdon State Forest, PA.
When I was a kid in the Pocono Mtns. there was a group of us (about four kids) out exploring. It was a hot summer day and we started our trip into the forest by wading across a stream (I remember it soaking my pants about halfway up the calf). We hiked back through goofing off and taking our time playing as we went. We must have spent some time goofing off because it didn't take long for my pants and shoes to dry in the summer heat.
Anyway, after messing around for awhile we couldn't have made it more than fifty yards or so when we saw a black cubby and decided to follow her (bunch of dumb ten year olds). About fifty more yards back in after following the cubby we all suddenly got an awakening to what we had already known, but ignored- mommy is never far away.
Needless to say, mommy stood up and growled (probably no further than twenty-five yards from us) and then started to charge! You never saw four boys move so fast in all your life!
I don't remember much else about that encounter (my brain quite working for a little while), but I can tell you (and I am serious about this) that none of us had wet pants or shoes when we crossed that stream the second time to exit the woods. We litterly ran so fast we walked on water!!”

“ADK High peak bears (especially on the way to Mt. Marcy) are as shy as human beggers and much smarter!”

“"reading over all these bear encounters makes you think about how unusual black bear attacks really are. maybe the bear attacks book is designed to keep people out of the woods? plus sensationalism sells!"
helinka

Its like the shark attack news reports. Compared with the number of swimmers, shark attacks are extremely rare. Likewise with bears and hikers. Most bear attacks are a result of Darwin award candidates. Read once about a guy who got his hand chewed on while sleeping in a hammock. Turns out he'd just finished some fried chicken. Most black bears are exceedingly shy and will hide or skedaddle, excpetion is the Smokies where they have become habituated to humans and associate us with having food for them.”

“Except for the Smokies & ADK”

“Never seen one in the wild. Well I did see the rear end of a few as they ran away from the tourist tram in Mammoth Lakes.”

“Roam Around, that happened in GSMNP while G00SE and I were there for our honemoon. In the same campground we were in. They had to kill two bears because of that moron.”

“I have never seen a bear in the wild. Kinda am disapointed, but I hope if I see one, I'll see him when I don't hike solo.

I am wondering though how many bears did see me???”

“Last Memorial Day weekend I was heading up to Cedar River Flow for an annual fishing / canoeing trip. In the car with me was a guy who had never wilderness camped before. We were on the dirt section of Cedar River Road (about halfway between the end of the black top and Wakely Dam), when a 300 – 350 pound black bear came running up the hill and crossed the road about 20 yards in front of the car (I love that road I always see wildlife along it, I still can’t wait for the day a moose walks across it in front of me). It was amazing how fast and agile it was. It reminded me of a dog. I stopped the car and we watched it as it ran up the hill on the other side of the road where it disappeared into the forest. The look on the other guys face was priceless as he asked, “You guy’s brought guns with you right?”
I told him no, to which re responded, “well you have knives right?” I told him yes we had pocketknives, but they wouldn’t do much good if a bear attacked us. I then explained to him that bears typically don’t attack people and in the area of the Adirondacks we were in they were very afraid of people (not so at Marcy Dam, Lake Colden, and the Flow Lands). That seemed to take away his fear at the time, but it didn’t reassure him as much as I hoped it would, because I don’t think he slept at all at night the entire extended weekend.”

“Hell yes, I see black bears all the time in the forests. Never been closer than about 10 yards to one, though. I usually only notice them because I spot something huge moving away at a quick pace. Occasionally get to stare at each other for a while, but usually they're too skittish for that.”

“A thread of which we have stayed on topic. Go figure.”

“I think it has to do with the fact that it generated a slue of off topic threads.”

“I once came face to face with the Devil Bear, a notorious animal that attacked several people in Olympic National Park in 1999. I saw it on about July 12th or so, a large male with a white collar and a yellow ear tag. I didn't know about the Devil Bear thing yet, so I was just excited and somewhat scared to see such a large bear so close to me while on a solo bp trip. On July 31st, I think, I read a story in the local Seattle papers about a "Devil Bear" that was stalking and attacking people, chasing them out of their campsites and stealing their food, right where I was just two weeks or so before. The rangers in ONP hunted it with dogs and shotguns, intending to kill it, but it escaped to the high country and was never a problem after that, so it wasn't killed. Here's a story about the bear from the Seattle Times:Local News: Monday, September 20, 1999
Death Sentence Lifted For Daring Devil Bear

AP


PORT ANGELES - Devil Bear's death sentence has been commuted - for now.

Rangers at Olympic National Park had been ordered to shoot to kill the pesky 250-to-300 pound male black bear. The bear earned the death sentence because his persistent love for people food and scented items was posing a danger to park visitors.

After trying other methods to dissuade Devil Bear, park officials reluctantly decided last month to kill him. Suddenly, Devil Bear assumed a lower profile. He hasn't been officially sighted since.

If the bear stays away from campers, he can live, park officials say.

"He's not being hunted now," park Superintendent Dave Morris said. "The sentence has been lifted in the sense that if he behaves himself, the pressure's off."

Morris squelched conspiracy rumors that Devil Bear had been secretly shot.

A more likely explanation is that as the snow has melted, Devil Bear has gone to higher elevations to get berries, he said.

Also, Morris said, as summer draws to a close the park has had fewer visitors and thus fewer temptations for Devil Bear.

A park ranger named the animal Devil Bear for his willfulness and his ability to twice shed a radio collar that would have tracked his movements. His identifying characteristic, besides food cravings, is a yellow tag that park staff attached to his ear.




Devil Bear raided as many as 18 campsites in the park's popular Elkhorn area, 20 miles west of Port Angeles. No one was hurt. But the crime that put him on death row was invading an Elkhorn campsite July 31, scaring away an English couple and eating their food.

Park rangers armed with shotguns went looking for Devil Bear in mid-August, but he was nowhere to be found.

As the summer winds down, park officials hope Devil Bear will embrace his new lease on life and stay out of trouble.

"We are feeling fairly confident we will be able to get into winter, and hope he has a long sleep and wakes up a little more curious about natural food," Morris said.




Copyright (c) 1999 Seattle Times Company, All Rights Reserved.”

“I have seen brown bears here in Northern Arizona in the Mogollon Rim area. We don't have grizzlies in Az.”

“You mean black bears? "Brown bears" ARE grizzlies.”

“I have on.


The NCT

The Ice Age Trail

The SHT

Porkeys


8)”

“obviously, johny has been alterd, but that was only a motion blur and hue saturation. Johny, was the resident bear at my summer camp two years ago. he visited the dumpsters every day at the same time. This is teh tree he would climb when we tried to scare him away,.”

“I've seen my fair share of black bears here in Virginia mostly up in Shenandoah. Its a bit funny that I had the same reaction to the first one I saw - I was hiking along the AT maybe a mile or so north of the Simmons Gap Ranger station and I looked up to see an animal walking ahead of me - I commented to myself "damn that's a big f'ing dog" well the bear heard my cussing, turned, looked at me and I could almost hear the bear say "damn that's a big f'ing human" and then proceeded to haul ass down the trail and off into the brush. That's what they do mostly but I have had them just stand there and look at me too. I've never had one bluff charge me or even one that approached me in any manner. About the only time I have been concerned was when I accidently got between a sow and her cub - even then no problem as I eased away from both of them. I really like the way that they can climb trees especially the cubs - they look so cute up in a tree - of course then there is the sow standing at the base of the tree to think about also. The closest I ever got to a bear was by accident but it was about 15 feet from a cub sitting quietly on the ground close to the trail - I looked carefully for the sow, did not see her but there was a lot of laurel around - anyways I just keep on hiking while looking around - no problem. I have long since lost track of the number of bear that I have seen - its nothing special to me anymore - bobcats one the other hand are still exciting to see although I mostly only see tracks in the snow.”

“"You mean black bears? "Brown bears" ARE grizzlies."
Slugman
04:52:22 PM
01/26/04

Yeah--you are right but these black bears are medium brown and pretty small for bears.”

“had one outside my tent in Ricketts Glen State Park a few years ago. It sniffed around and went on its way. Made alot of noise in the process though.”

“Black Bears come in many different colors but they are still "Black Bears" even when they are blonde. Confusing isn't it?”

“About four years ago I was on a hike with my brother in the evening at a State Park in Minnesota. We were on a trail that paralleled a road, about 20 feet from the road. We were probably 1/4 mile from one of the park's campgrounds. We saw some bark and pine needles falling from a tree on the left side of the trail, and about 50 feet in front of us. I figured squirrels, and walked under the tree and looked up to see the squirrels. What I saw was black fur on the tree branch about 10 feet above me. A mama bear. She snorted at me, and I backed away slowly. We stood and watched as two small cubs approached the tree from the left and scampered up the tree. THEN two more cubs came out of the cover of tall grass on the right side of the trail, and also scampered up the tree. I had been standing on the trail between the tree and the grass when I first saw the mama. We turned around and walked back the way we came. I didn't have a camera with me! We checked with the park ranger, who confirmed that the sow indeed had four cubs. He said she lived near the campground and was used to people. Otherwise I might have been in trouble. That's the only time I've seen a bear close up in the woods. I've seen plenty of sign, but no more bears.”

“An almost bear story... My (now ex) husband and I were camping with my brother and some other family members in the backwoods in Wisconsin on my brother's land. Supposed to be lots of bears around. At the campfire that night my brother told a lot of bear stories, and everyone was a little bit spooked. We had a big black lab who slept outside our tent. In the middle of the night the lab groaned in his sleep. My husband leaped out of his sleeping bag and shouted "BEAR!!!!" The dog started barking, the kids started crying, and everyone got out of their tents and ran to my brother's camping trailer and piled in. We eventually all went back to bed. But I don't think many of us got much sleep the rest of the night!”

“My only bear encounter while BPing was in the Porkies in the early 80s. I had to leave a day early from a trip with friends and found myself hiking out alone at daybreak on the 4th of July, heading up the Escarpment Trail. It was pretty pleasant except for the elevation gain and a start from the mythical tree that falls in the forest that usually no one is there to hear.

After reaching the top of the Escarpment, it's a pretty nice ramble along the cliff edge. I had stopped for a breather in a small clearing that happened to be full of blueberry bushes loaded with ripening berries. A tasty breakfast snack for sure. I had just donned my pack and taken a couple steps down the trail when I heard and saw a minor commotion coming through the scrub growth that the trail entered about 20 feet away. I called out a tentative, "Hello!" in hopes it was another BPer, even though the bushes were only moving at waist level. At my call, the motion ascended, as in something had just stood up, though the growth was so thick I couldn't actually see the animal.

My mind asked the questions 1)What lives in the Porkies that walks on all fours, but stands up about 5 feet tall or so when it gets curious? 2)Which way should I go if I have to -- a. right, which would take me over the cliff in about 6 feet, b. left, which would take me up hill into the thick brush in about 6 feet, or c.) back down the trail, which would be a nice smooth path for the bear to accelerate on? and 3) If I blow my whistle, will it do any good?

The answers that flashed were, bear, #&%!$, and can't hurt. So I blasted my Acme Thunderer as loud as I could and the motion immediately switched from a swaying verticle to a crashing horizontal. The bear had no problem deciding which way to go -- uphill into the undergrowth, smashing through whatever got in its way.

My ears rang for quite a while after that. Plus I still had to walk into the bushes where the bear had been on the trail, which I did, tooting on my whistle for a fair distance down the trail.

Other than that, I have seen bears while driving U.P. and northern Wisconsin roads, including two last summer, and I have seen bear scat on trails in the woods. Shortly after I came to my present campus, we had a yearling bear come out of the woods and get treed by students outside the business ed./computer science classroom building.

The one bear story I have from Scouts was at Philmont back in 1967 (see "first BP trip thread"). We met another group of scouts at a shared camp area. The night before we had heard noises that turned out to be bears raiding the garbage cans.

We asked the other scouts if they had had any bear problems. They started laughing and looking at one kid. Seems he had woken up the night before after being awakened by what he thought was his tent mate's snorring and was suddenly aware of a big black shadow filling the pup tent entrance. He poked his tent mate, who sat up and screamed "Bear!" at which point the bruin backed out and took off.

The whole troop had gathered round them in disbelief until someone shined a flashlight on them and the first kid had a muddy pawprint lightly dabbed across his face from the probing bear.”

“LOL thats FUNNY Cindy Lu.

Hey skullcap, I was in the GSMNP the weekend that the lady was killed in the mauling in 2001, I heard about it on the radio while driving home. Then I was there two weekends later with the first of my bear sightings that I described on the first page. It made me a little more nervous than I might have been otherwise.”

“It is a real shame that most, if not all, problem bears that have to be destroyed are made into a "problem" through the actions of people that have no idea what they are doing.”

“I've encoutered dozen of black bears in the backcountry, and four grizzly bears in extremely remote areas. Black bears, no prob. Grizzly bears... AHHHHHH!!! I'd retell the stories now, but my shorts are nice and clean. I'm in the process of writing two bear attack books as we speak... one is called, "Going Fetal: Finding The Inner Baby Within", and "Help, I'm Being Mauled By A Grizzy But I'm Still Craving Pizza".”

“Since my last post, I've also encountered a dictionary. Thank you.”

“what part of the sheltowee did you see the bear?”

“Once I stopped because I saw a cub cross the road by peekamoose. I stopped to look where he went into the brush & a motorcycle stopped from the opposite direction to see if I needed help. Well "mama" stood up right behind him (huge) & I was speechless. He didn't see it & drove off. Mama dropped back down to all four's & shuffled back into the woods.”

“On the northern section near Morehead, Kentucky. Not too far from Ruffed Grouse which I think is the northern terminus now or at least not far from it.”

“Early American explorers first encountered bears in the east. They were black, hence the name "black bear". It wasn't until later, as explorers moved westward, that they discovered that this species, "ursa ebony" (hehehee), ranged in color to a light brown (cinnamon).

Grizzlies, Kodiaks, Russian browns, etc, are all the same species - "brown" bear.

My one and only backcountry encounter was with a griz in the Lemhi Range, ID, 1996.”

“There are bear in RRG??????


8o”

“I don't know Crazy Mike. I've heard there are but I've never seen any nor seen any sign of them at RRG. I always took bear precautions when I went there, though. You know, better smart than sorry.”