Are You Prepared for a Bear Encounter?

[jedishrfu]

A good article on bear encounters and what to do when they occur:

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/bear-encounters-prevent-attacks-wellness/

 

[berkeman]

One of the scariest things I ever ran into when hiking in the woods was a bear cub. I looked all around trying to figure out where mom was so I knew which direction to retreat, but no joy. I took a chance and left the area via a dirt road so I could make better time. I think I added about a half mile to that hike to be sure to get around the area where I first saw the cub.

 

[DaveE]

One of the scariest things I ever ran into when hiking in the woods was a bear cub. I looked all around trying to figure out where mom was so I knew which direction to retreat, but no joy. I took a chance and left the area via a dirt road so I could make better time. I think I added about a half mile to that hike to be sure to get around the area where I first saw the cub.

Once hiking just west of Yosemite, my dog took off running down the trail towards some young black bear cubs. I called her back (best recall moment ever, BTW). Great, now I've got a dog on a leash that was chasing some cubs maybe 200 feet away with no idea where the mother was. That was really scary for about 30 seconds. Then, we walked a bit off the trail away from the cubs as they both scrambled up a tree. We sat down and decided to take a break and have lunch while the mom sorted it all out. After about 5-10 minutes we heard the mother call to the cubs who scrambled down the tree and ran off. About 10 minutes later we continued on down the trail.

Here's the thing: We were in California where the only bears are black bears. California black bears never attack people if you give them another option (nearly any other option). They WILL steal and eat your food; and no, you can't ever get it back. The park bears know they can scare people away, but it's really just a show. I'm much more scared of racoons, they are jerks. Of course the real risk is a car accident driving to/from the trail head. Seriously, more people are killed by toilets than bears. OTOH, don't be stupid.

 

[hutchphd]

I was bicycling the skyline drive (Shenandoah Park) many moons ago and we stopped for the night at some form of camping spot (maybe a campground I forget). My usual fair-weather sleeping on bicycle trips was a backpack hammock and my mummy bag under the stars. Once inserted into this sleeping arrangement, extrication was neither quick nor easy. I woke up from a sound sleep to weird labored breathing. The Black bear was about 20 feet from my perch. I was suddenly no longer asleep in any way.
I figured the status quo was OK and had existed for an unknowable period, so why make changes. I hunkered. The bear wandered off eventually as I stayed in my goose down cocoon. Nearly 45 yrs later I can still see that beautiful bear.

 

[JT Smith]

Not all bear species are equally aggressive. The black bears found in and around Yosemite are very rarely a problem to people, other causing damage to property when attempting to obtain food. Deer cause more human fatalities.

What do you do when you see a snake? It kind of depends on the type of snake, doesn't it?

 

[Vanadium 50]

I like the advice to "make human noises" Do they mean?

The other day...
I saw a bear...
A great big bear...
Away up there...

 

[JT Smith]

Here is what Yosemite National Park recommends for visitors:

"If they encounter a bear in developed areas, they should stand their ground and scare the bear away by raising their arms and making very loud noises."

 

[phinds]

Visitor to a National Park was planning to go off-trail and asked a Park Ranger for advice. Ranger said, go to the Ranger Office and they'll loan you some little bells to put on your clothes so the bears will hear you coming and some pepper spray in case the bells don't scare them off.

Also, learn your bear signs so you know if you are in their territory. Black bear poop will have little berries in it and possibly some squirrel fir as well. Grizzly bear <excrement> on the other hand will be full of little bells and smell like pepper spray.

 

[strangerep]

One of the scariest things I ever ran into when hiking in the woods was a bear cub. I looked all around trying to figure out where mom was [...]

That reminds me of the movie "Revenant", which has scene involving a similar situation but a far less pleasant outcome. I wish I'd never watched that movie.

 

[jbriggs444]

When I was young, my family canoed into the Boundary Waters canoe area (northern Minnesota, southern Canada). We would canoe in, tent and fish for a week or two at a time. My mother would frequently complain about heavy breathing outside the tent at night. We laughed off the notion that it was a bear.

One night while camping on the mainland (islands are better to avoid wildlife). My mother heard the breathing and it was actually a bear. He ambled through the camp, picked up a Duluth pack in his jaws and trotted off. My dad gave chase, shouting. The bear eventually dropped his ill-gotten booty. For years after we had a Duluth pack with a tear in it and a binocular case with a tooth mark.

We were a lot more diligent about hanging the food pack from ropes between trees and camping on islands after that.

 

[pinball1970]

One of the scariest things I ever ran into when hiking in the woods was a bear cub. I looked all around trying to figure out where mom was so I knew which direction to retreat, but no joy. I took a chance and left the area via a dirt road so I could make better time. I think I added about a half mile to that hike to be sure to get around the area where I first saw the cub.

I would not have the first clue, city boy from England and these stories give me nightmares.

Your story reminds me of a guy who bumped into a mountain lion whilst hiking.

He filmed the encounter, which involved him trying to get away and this lasted 6 long minutes.

There is a cuss, bleeped out version (he started cursing from the moment he saw it and continued throughout)

I can only find the news clip versions and this cuss version.

Personally I do not think it is in bad taste as he probably thinks there is fair to strong chance he was going to get mauled.

Cussing mostly describing his predicament and also requesting the cat go away.

I think he held together pretty well and was brave.

Hopefully the mentors will allow @Dale @bhoba @fresh_42 EDIT @russ_watters – If they remove not YT man encounters mountain lion whilst hiking

 

[BWV]

Was on a pack trip in Montana as a teenager, the boys were all sleeping on one side of the camp and the girls on another. Me and another guy thought it would be funny to sneak over to the girls’ side and make bear noises - so my buddy is making growling and snorting sounds and I am breaking branches. Don’t know what we were expecting, but there was no reaction from the girls, who were all sleeping out of their tents in a row, so we get bored after a while and go back to our side and go to sleep. Find out in the morning the girls did hear us and were all terrified and, as they had been instructed, were playing dead in their sleeping bags and were none too happy when they found out.

 

[Dale]

I was hiking/fishing once on the Salt River in the Arizona mountains. We saw a momma bear and two cubs. The momma and one cub were dark brown and the other cub was a pretty cinnamon color. They were probably less than 40 yards away but there was nothing scary because it was 40 yards straight across a steep ravine with a fast flowing river between us at the bottom! That is the way to see bears, close enough to see every detail, but no worries about safety.

 

[Bandersnatch]

Here's a bear fact of my own. Well, it's more of a story than a fact. So one day I was walking my dog inna woods, and I stumbled upon a boar. Ok, so maybe it's a bear story for dyslectics. Bear, boar, Satan, Santa - what's the difference anyway? But my dog's breed was the Karelian Bear Dog, so the story is at least bear-adjacent. Actually, he could have been a Siberian Laika. We were never clear on that. So let's chalk it up as maaaybe on-topic.

Where was I? The boar, right. I stumbled on a sow with her piglets. Maybe 5 metres between us. Scary. Yet, I had no fear, for by my side was a trusty and fierce defender. A defender who, after giving the situation a brief assessment, made a quiet yelp that sounded a bit like 'nope!', and scurried away post-haste.

As I was following in his footsteps with newfound rapidity in my pace, I remember thinking: 'I've a cowardly dog'. But I came around to appreciating him as a smart dog. A pragmatic dog. Perchance he read Shakespeare when nobody was looking, discretion being the better part of valour and all that.
There is probably a moral to this story. Maybe something along the lines of don't bring a bear dog to a boar fight, 'cause it's going to make like an elk and vamoose.

 

[George Jones]

There are regular bear encounters in my northern BC city. A couple of weeks ago I had three bears in my front and up my two apple trees. A few days later I took down my apples, some of which my wife has turned into apple crumble.

I have had bear encounters several time while walking along paths in the city. We sometimes get bears in the parking lots at work.

From my city:
https://ckpgtoday.ca/2021/08/18/loc...EZDBHNYBxWXVn6LCLWj-1mUo68Eibn_zI9MrA876iFz58

 

[gmax137]

Many years ago I was out hiking and camping with friends in the Virginia Blue Ridge (Ol' Rag mountain if I recall). One buddy and I slept in my orange nylon 2-man tent. I woke up seeing the blue sky and trees. That's weird, I thought. A large rent in the tent, a bear had slashed in the night and dragged my pal's backpack out. He and I slept through the whole thing. My friend finally admitted he had candy bars in his pack. There were other campers in the site. The story went around that the bear had also visited two teenage girls; one had half awakened and kicked the bear until it left their tent. She thought it was her tent-mate making noise in the night.

 

[hutchphd]

Remember if you are hiking in bear country, always travel in with a group. And be certain to include someone fatter and slower than yourself in your coterie...

 

[DaveE]

Remember if you are hiking in bear country, always travel in with a group. And be certain to include someone fatter and slower than yourself in your coterie...

LOL. In my day of backpacking near Yosemite, we had a similar rule about hanging up your food in the trees. You didn't have to hang it up well enough to keep the bears from getting it, in fact that was often impossible, but you did have to hang it up better than the other backpackers did. That wasn't as hard as it sounds, Yosemite had a lot of inexperienced backpackers and the smartest Black Bears on the planet, people-wise.

Outside of the parks, bring a dog. The bears were really scared of dogs because that's what the hunters used to find and tree them. Bear hunting here is a thing of the past, so I wonder if that still works.

 

[strangerep]

Your story reminds me of a guy who bumped into a mountain lion whilst hiking. [...]

Never having lived in mountain lion country... is there some reason why throwing many decent size rocks at the "kitty" (while still retreating) would have been a bad idea?

 

[pinball1970]

Never having lived in mountain lion country... is there some reason why throwing many decent size rocks at the "kitty" (while still retreating) would have been a bad idea?

Watching the video I kept thinking, “why doesn’t he just throw a load of rocks at it?”
That’s what I would have done.
Discussion after the event mentioned him getting down to pick something up could have been seen as act of submission.
I have never been in that sort of situation with a wild animal so I may have just blundered right into its path before I realized.

 

[Rive]

The bears were really scared of dogs because that's what the hunters used to find and tree them. Bear hunting here is a thing of the past, so I wonder if that still works.

Rather, bears feels the wolf in dogs. And while bears are individually stronger, they are loners. On the other hand, wolves hunts in packs - and sometimes they do hunt (smaller) bears.

 

[Vanadium 50]

is there some reason why throwing many decent size rocks at the "kitty" (while still retreating) would have been a bad idea?

Bending down to pick them up you look smaller and less dangerous.

In the video in question, the filmer was trying to get pictures of the cougar's cubs, thinking they were bobcats.

They weren't.

 

[Bandersnatch]

If Fast and Furious has taught us anything, it's that you don't mess with the family.

 

[Keith_McClary]

Black bear poop will have little berries in it

In my back yard (a cub, I think):

and Momma, next street:

 

[Mark44]

The black bears found in and around Yosemite are very rarely a problem to people, other causing damage to property when attempting to obtain food.

The last time I was in Yosemite, I was camped in my VW van at Tuolumne Meadows, near the east-side entrance. A group camped nearby had their food cooler perched on one of the camp tables, which I thought was a really bad idea. Sure enough, the next morning, that cooler was on the ground, all torn up, with remnants of their food wrappers strewn all around.

Deer cause more human fatalities.

No doubt from humans driving their cars into them, which can do great damage to the vehicle and driver, not to mention the deer. I've never heard of a deer attacking a human.

Here is what Yosemite National Park recommends for visitors:

"If they encounter a bear in developed areas, they should stand their ground and scare the bear away by raising their arms and making very loud noises."

I go on long backpack trips in the Washington Olympics and Cascades. I don't see bears much in the Cascades, but frequently see black bears in the Olympics. On one trip alone, we saw eight bears, although they were off in the distance. When I do see one, I make a lot of noise, and they invariably run away. I would not place myself between a mother bear and her cubs, though.

Visitor to a National Park was planning to go off-trail and asked a Park Ranger for advice. Ranger said, go to the Ranger Office and they'll loan you some little bells to put on your clothes so the bears will hear you coming and some pepper spray in case the bells don't scare them off.

I've said this before -- the way you can tell black bear scat from grizzly scat is that black bear scat has a peppery smell. Grizzly bear scat has those little bells in it.

 

[Dale]

I've never heard of a deer attacking a human.

It is not common, but it happens

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/24/us/arkansas-deer-death-trnd/index.html

 

[Keith_McClary]

I've never heard of a deer attacking a human.

Local guy was taking out his garbage and didn't notice a deer standing there (they are well camouflaged). Got kicked and broke some teeth (but they were just implant$).

 

[Mark44]

Local guy was taking out his garbage and didn't notice a deer standing there (they are well camouflaged). Got kicked and broke some teeth (but they were just implant$).

I wouldn't count this as an "attack" by a deer. If you startle a wild animal, it's liable to panic. I've heard of people being attacked by elk -- a well-known case out my way (but back in the 30s) involved a guy in the wilderness who had found an elk rack that had been shed, and was carrying it back to his camp. A bull elk saw him and may have thought it was a rival bull, and ran at him, causing the guy to incur a dislocated shoulder. The fellow's name was Herb Crisler, who later filmed a Disney documentary, "The Olympic Elk," which came out in the 50's.
I've also heard of attacks by mountain goats, of which there are many in the Olympics. Back in October, 2010, a man was gored by a mountain goat near Mt. Angeles, in Olympic National Park. The goat wouldn't let the man's friends come to his rescue, and he bled to death.

 

[Vanadium 50]

involved a guy in the wilderness who had found an elk rack that had been shed, and was carrying it back to his camp. A bull elk saw him and may have thought it was a rival bull

A similar story. In Wisconsin, dontcha know.

https://journaltimes.com/sports/rec...cle_bad35f56-d0a1-11de-91fd-001cc4c03286.html

 

[DaveE]

I've never heard of a deer attacking a human.

Also stupid hunters. They shoot the deer, then walk up to it thinking it's dead. The deer gets up and attacks.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50180755

 

[Aanta]

Unusually good advice in that text linked by the OP jedishrfu. To sum it up again: Retreat slowly if there's no threat. But if it is, stand your ground firmly. I meet bears several times a year, and consider them generally not dangerous. The image of bear crap by Keith McClary was a good example that berries can pass trough only partially digested - species identification from the crap is not possible as this also happen for the Brown bear, Ursus arctos which is identical to "Grizzly bear" same species - the Kodiak bear is however a little different and a subspecies Ursus arctos middendorffi.

 

[Jodo]

What to do when you encounter a black bear deep in the woods and you have probably 20 trout in your basket strung around your neck...

Happened to me the summer of 2003. It is a 5 hr expedition where I fish brook trout. I was half way down with a strong wind to my face. On a dog leg 90 degree corner of the brook I hugged a tree on the edge of the water to clear this corner ( very deep corner ). As I cleared the tree quite happy I did not fall in...I was face to face with Mr Bear. Literally.

Good news is the bear turned and ran away. Bad news is I threw my basket full of fish and ran the other way.

Note to self. Never go into deep woods alone.
I told this story to a game warden. He claims bears don't normally attack humans. He did have 1 warning for me. He claims bears have no facial expression. The bear may seem harmless and friendly but if it got close enough to you it might swat your head off without showing any aggression or rage.

I live in East coast Canada. Black bears are very common here but we have a golden rule about bears. If there is a bear anywhere close to humans you should shoot it. Bears dislike humans and if they get close to you ( not by accident ofc ) it means that bear is no longer afraid of humans. We call that a "problem bear" in these parts.

 

[Jarvis323]