Bear trip

“Can anybody familiar with the Smoky Mtn area tell me when the best time of year is for seeing bear. I want to make a trip up there but I would like it to be when the odds of seeing one are the best.”

“Splatter yerself with honey,
Cook fish over an open campfire and whistle birdsongs while you work.

That ought to bring the bears to ya!”

“Learn to mimic wounded animal sounds.”

“well, someone doesn't read the bear threads on this site.”

“heh.. well a lot of it depends on where you hike.. and if the bears get bad enough, the rangers won't let you go in those areas.. but sep/oct is always a good time to see bears.. cos it coincides with when the 'picnikers' are covering up the park.. which of course tends to encourage the bears to be more active.

:)

Hope this helps!”

“This time of year there is plenty to eat in the woods, I would think the best time would be in the early spring. If you are talking about car camping sites Cades Cove is probably good anytime of year. For backpacking, Spence Field is well know for its frequent bear sightings.”

“Thanks Towndawg & BS. I would want to backpack in. Budder & Violin how about you guys come along and show me how to do those things....I would be more than happy to carry your packs out and notify your next of kin.”

“Rabbitman?.. I luv that area! If you want to let some of us know when you are going, we might show up and hang with yas.. :)”

“Sounds like maybe you are voluteering as a tour guide? I would like that. Odds are it would be in Oct. does that sound good?”

“would be fine by me.. do you know for SURE which week you are going?.. how many days?”

“Don't for sure yet. But I do know it will have to be a weekend. I'll have to check my calender as soon as I get the kids sports schedules, school starts next week. The daughter plays volleyball and the son plays football. Last year we had tournaments just about every weekend, hopfully it will not be like that this year.”

“oops
Don't KNOW for sure yet......la la la yadda yadda....”

“rabbitman -

The bears would never stand a chance against me! I'd just throw up a bunch of images and dazzle 'em with some fancy code. While they're scratching their noggins, I'd kick 'em where they least expect it and make my get away.

Wait... that doesn't work in the real world does it?”

“We all feel like you've already done that here. We are waiting for the get away.”

“LOL!!!!”

“Around here they start showing up in numbers around September when the blackberries are ripe.

I would say early fall when their trying to put on extra weight for winter.”

“Go to Cades Cove. You'll see bears feeding on tourist there.”

“Look for berry eating tourists.”