[Cooper]

My wife and I were hiking today on the mountain above our neighborhood. Mostly open woods, with some trails. Mountains of NC.

A few minutes in, she saw a "creature" from a distance. Black and fairly small. I immediately thought about bears, but didn't want to sound paranoid or spook her. We kept moving, and in another couple of hundred yards we found a large pile of poop.

Kept following the trail, crossed a creek, went up a steep incline with a switchback. Probably 500-700 yards from the spot where she saw the "creature" we found more poop. The trail wound around a ridge, and we found yet another pile of poop. All the poop seemed to be of the same vintage (very fresh).

About twenty yards after that, we found the bear. It was running away from us by the time I spotted it. About the size of a large dog, but very stocky. I'd estimate 200 pounds. We immediately turned around and headed home, talking in loud voices.

So my question is . . . did we see the same bear twice? Did we spook it at the first spot, and then inadvertently follow it up the mountain. Seems pretty unlikely. On the other hand, two bears in a small area at the same time sounds unlikely, too. That would double the number of bears I've seen in my life.

Anybody have ideas? Did we scare the poor guy so bad he pooped three times in 20 minutes? Or are those woods crawling with bears?

[Peter_72]

You probably saw more than one, mothers and cubs stay together for a long time.

[Detectorist]

I had an interesting encounter with a Black Bear when I first moved to Florida

I was marketing security systems and had an appointment way back in the 'country'. As I approached the house, I spotted what initially appeared to be a very large dog. Now, 99% of loose dogs don't bite, so I wasn't very concerned. Besides, I've learned to always keep doggie treats in my pocket, just in case.

As I got to the porch, the animal, which was maybe 15' away, raised its head and started sniffing the air. I recognized it as a Black Bear, maybe 150lbs. It sort of looked at me with not much interest as I approached. I kept repeating "good bear" just as I saw on TV. After a few moments, he got bored and went back to sleep. I decided that discretion is the better part of valor so I walked back to my car and called the home owner on my cell phone. I asked him if he knew that a bear was sleeping in his front yard.

He said he did and the bear does that very often. I then asked him to escort me to the house. The thought occurred to me that he was much older so I was much faster than him. lol

The bear didn't wake up again, I was able to sell a system, and at the end of the day, I had to change my underwear.

I got back home and researched Florida bears. It appears that they are vegetarians. Thank GAWD.

[Peter_72]

Originally Posted by Detectorist

I got back home and researched Florida bears. It appears that they are vegetarians. Thank GAWD.

Not entirely true, they mostly eat fruits and vegetation but they do eat meat!

[Detectorist]

Originally Posted by Peter_72

Not entirely true, they mostly eat fruits and vegetation but they do eat meat!

From what I understand, only 5% of their diet are mammals. Additionally, there has never been an unprovoked bear attack in Florida.

[ricka10]

Black and grizzly bears are omnivorous, polar bears are carnivorous.

[Kozel]

You think your black bear was scary? Here is mine:

I was driving around in the mountains in my Jeep all by myself. At some point I wanted to take a leak. I stopped at totally random spot since I knew there are no people around for miles. As I am draining off I noticed some movement to the left. I looked and saw good size black bear at the most 10 feet away from me looking at me.

And all I have in my hands is…. You know what!

Pissing on my left hand and trying to reach my 45 handgun on passenger seat I was trying to not take my eyes off the bear.
Just about the time I got the gun bear turned around and walked away.

This time of the year bears are all happy and fat on all the berries. They dump every few feet and not much to worry about. Hungry bears in the spring maybe different story.

[Detectorist]

Originally Posted by Kozel

You think your black bear was scary? Here is mine:

I was driving around in the mountains in my Jeep all by myself. At some point I wanted to take a leak. I stopped at totally random spot since I knew there are no people around for miles. As I am draining off I noticed some movement to the left. I looked and saw good size black bear at the most 10 feet away from me looking at me.

And all I have in my hands is…. You know what!

Pissing on my left hand and trying to reach my 45 handgun on passenger seat I was trying to not take my eyes off the bear.
Just about the time I got the gun bear turned around and walked away.

This time of the year bears are all happy and fat on all the berries. They dump every few feet and not much to worry about. Hungry bears in the spring maybe different story.

Now that is a scary limp-wristing moment!

[certifiedfunds]

My alaskan uncle told me to consider black bears as big raccoons.

We have them on hunting property. They play hell with the feeders and have kept a few hunters in the stand longer than planned.

[NeverMore1701]

Originally Posted by Kozel

You think your black bear was scary? Here is mine:

I was driving around in the mountains in my Jeep all by myself. At some point I wanted to take a leak. I stopped at totally random spot since I knew there are no people around for miles. As I am draining off I noticed some movement to the left. I looked and saw good size black bear at the most 10 feet away from me looking at me.

And all I have in my hands is…. You know what!

Pissing on my left hand and trying to reach my 45 handgun on passenger seat I was trying to not take my eyes off the bear.
Just about the time I got the gun bear turned around and walked away.

This time of the year bears are all happy and fat on all the berries. They dump every few feet and not much to worry about. Hungry bears in the spring maybe different story.

Thank god you didn't need both hands for your, uh, business....

[MasterShake]

Originally Posted by Kozel

You think your black bear was scary? Here is mine:

I was driving around in the mountains in my Jeep all by myself. At some point I wanted to take a leak. I stopped at totally random spot since I knew there are no people around for miles. As I am draining off I noticed some movement to the left. I looked and saw good size black bear at the most 10 feet away from me looking at me.

And all I have in my hands is…. You know what!

Pissing on my left hand and trying to reach my 45 handgun on passenger seat I was trying to not take my eyes off the bear.
Just about the time I got the gun bear turned around and walked away.

This time of the year bears are all happy and fat on all the berries. They dump every few feet and not much to worry about. Hungry bears in the spring maybe different story.

Didn't get piss on your gun, did ya'?

[Lone_Wolfe]

Originally Posted by Kozel

You think your black bear was scary? Here is mine:

I was driving around in the mountains in my Jeep all by myself. At some point I wanted to take a leak. I stopped at totally random spot since I knew there are no people around for miles. As I am draining off I noticed some movement to the left. I looked and saw good size black bear at the most 10 feet away from me looking at me.

And all I have in my hands is…. You know what!

Pissing on my left hand and trying to reach my 45 handgun on passenger seat I was trying to not take my eyes off the bear.
Just about the time I got the gun bear turned around and walked away.

This time of the year bears are all happy and fat on all the berries. They dump every few feet and not much to worry about. Hungry bears in the spring maybe different story.

I'm sure it fit easily into one hand.........

[Lone_Wolfe]

[quote=Tinaphps;19496110]I'm awesome like that!
[,img]http://www.freecoupontoday.info/coupon/shopping/act.jpg[/img]
.[.../quote]

The pic don't work, but it's probably spam anyway.

[Blast]

[Bren]

Originally Posted by Peter_72

Not entirely true, they mostly eat fruits and vegetation but they do eat meat!

Welcome to Glock Talk. We are scared of everything.

[dango]

Yo , all you black bears out there , ain't liken your behavior , got it, rude , messy , ligthen up !

[GreenDrake]

I see black bears often, while fly fishing. Most of the time they are just coming down to the river for a drink. One time I was casting across a bank and one black bear didn't like me fishing in his fishin hole I take it. He was in the middle of the river about 40 yards from me and started a bluff charge, huffing at me and splashing. So I started talking trash and threw a rock at him. He must have been amazed that I had thumbs and could pick up a rock because he turned and ran into the woods. I am more scared of all the moose I run into than the black bears around here.

[M&P15T]

Originally Posted by GreenDrake

I see black bears often, while fly fishing. Most of the time they are just coming down to the river for a drink. One time I was casting across a bank and one black bear didn't like me fishing in his fishin hole I take it. He was in the middle of the river about 40 yards from me and started a bluff charge, huffing at me and splashing. So I started talking trash and threw a rock at him. He must have been amazed that I had thumbs and could pick up a rock because he turned and ran into the woods. I am more scared of all the moose I run into than the black bears around here.

That's ****ing awesome!!!

I wanna throw a rock at a bear to scare it and make it go away!!! Did you get the least bit scared at any point? I was just thinking a 150-200 lb bear is pretty small, but they have huge pointy teeth and all.

[Geko45]

If you are traveling in bear country it's always wise to carry a can of pepper spray for defense and wear a bell to alert the bears to your presence such that you don't alarm them. It's also a good idea to learn to recognize the difference between black bear scat and grizzly bear scat. Black bear scat will have small nuts in it and smell like berries. Grizzly bear scat will have bells in it and smell like pepper.

[ithaca_deerslayer]

While rare, it has happened that black bear have stalked and killed people.

http://www.mssltd.com/nwtbiathlon/citizen.htm

Coroner details reported on, regarding above story.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/...ear000705.html

List of fatal black bear attacks.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_..._North_America

[Bren]

Originally Posted by ithaca_deerslayer

While rare, it has happened that black bear have stalked and killed people.

http://www.mssltd.com/nwtbiathlon/citizen.htm

Coroner details reported on, regarding above story.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/...ear000705.html

List of fatal black bear attacks.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_..._North_America

So have coyotes, but it was a Canadian hippy they killed. I think all animals know Canadians are mostly helpless. Put some British tourists out in the woods and raccoons would be stalking them for food.

[NeverMore1701]

Originally Posted by Bren

So have coyotes, but it was a Canadian hippy they killed. I think all animals know Canadians are mostly helpless. Put some British tourists out in the woods and raccoons would be stalking them for food.

Ain't that the truth

[ithaca_deerslayer]

Originally Posted by Bren

So have coyotes, but it was a Canadian hippy they killed. I think all animals know Canadians are mostly helpless. Put some British tourists out in the woods and raccoons would be stalking them for food.

That's why they should all be killed on sight.

Love how the article says "totally isolated incident". As if that coyote was somehow unique.

[8-Ball]

Originally Posted by Bren

So have coyotes, but it was a Canadian hippy they killed. I think all animals know Canadians are mostly helpless. Put some British tourists out in the woods and raccoons would be stalking them for food.

[Detectorist]

Originally Posted by Lone_Wolfe

I'm sure it fit easily into one hand.........

Ouch...