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Bear Encounters

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chicken
Posts: 6843 - Karma: 2,123
So if you spend enough time in the outdoors, you are bound to eventually come across a bear. I know from experience it can be a pretty scary experience.

If you have come across a bear how did you/it react. What did you do?

Personally this summer I came across 5 grizzly bears and one black bear. The largest one was huge, we scoped him out from a helicopter later and estimated over 1000pounds. This was by far the scariest encounter as well because he followed me for quite some distance and had little fear. I ended up walking about 500m uphill while talking to him in an attempt to make distance. I ended up at a tree that I was ready to climb, but thankfully there was a helicopter in the area and it chased him off.

Most other bears I came across I either yelled at/shot bangers or retreated and found they did not follow me with as much interest.

I have a few pics I took. These are both different bears I came across. Neither are the big one though, I took pics of him but can't find them. Still they were pretty sizable the one was probably over 700 pounds

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Oct 5 2011 2:28AM
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Inbred_Redneck
Posts: 2776 - Karma: 28
When i was at philmont we came across two black bears. One of them was on an opposite hillside about 400-500 yards away and didnt show much interest, we were able to pass through just fine.

Second bear was when we were in the Valle Vidal north of Philmont. We had some shitty add water and boil peanut brownie mix that was for dessert. The guys made it and it literally looked and tasted like runny shit. Noone wanted to eat it so i told the boys to go take it about 500 yards outside of camp and bury it.

Low and behold the next day a fucking black bear was loping around the campsite. He got within about 100 yards from camp so we all banged pots together and fake rushed him several times. After that he left. We did inspect the hole where the shit brownies were buried and that damn bear at all of it.
Oct 5 2011 1:14PM
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yuck
Posts: 8384 - Karma: 2,090
Came across a Black bear this summer while out for a trail ride with my dad. He just stared at us from ~10 metres down the trail so we stopped and yelled at it. It just ran away, but it was fucking fast. If that thing had chased us we woulda been fucked. Even on bikes... Later in the ride we saw it again off in the trees and he ran off again as soon as we looked at him.
Oct 24 2011 1:09PM
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chicken
Posts: 6843 - Karma: 2,123
Here's a black bear from last weekend. They are a lot less scary than the grizzly that's for sure! Still gotta respect them though.
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Oct 24 2011 3:22PM
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orangecrush23
Posts: 279 - Karma: 65
I was in Denali national park in alasa last summer and was attempting to get through the thick brush to get to the river bed ( the best place to backpack on). The brush was so big we couldnt get through until we found a small trail about 4 feet high going through the brush to the river bead. Bad idead. This trail we came to learn was a trail bears made and we came face to face with a two bears. My dad and i hit the ground instantly and curled up into a ball and didnt move an inch. Both bears nudged me in the back with there noses and luckly continued on down the trail. Scarest moment of my life. Luckly i knew what to do or i would be dead.
Nov 15 2011 11:22AM
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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
we don't have bears in the alps and in europe in general they are quite rare....

did have some encounters with alpine ibexes this year, including while scrambling up a steep rockface i peeked over a ledge and like 5m lower than me was this huge male ibex casually strolling by, luckily he didn't see me, but damn, that thing was huge, definitely one of the most humbling mountain experiences i've had so far :)
Nov 15 2011 11:35AM
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84west
Posts: 646 - Karma: 1,254
a friend of mine found himself 50 yards from a black bear cub while taking a dump, apparently it scared the shit out of him
Nov 16 2011 7:42PM
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chicken
Posts: 6843 - Karma: 2,123
I thought about that all the time when i was shitting in the woods. I mean the bear could probably smell that from a mile away and would be curious.
Nov 27 2011 2:23PM
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CheddarJack
Posts: 5203 - Karma: 7,380
I saw a black bear swimming across the river at my hunting camp last year while I was goin upstream to fish. Thought it was pretty cool cuz they're rarely seen in water let alone on land.
Nov 28 2011 1:56PM
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Radio
Posts: 946 - Karma: 12
we see bears all the time in idaho, but once when me and a friend were hunting ground squirrels at a golf course(we were geting payed to do this), we were on a hill and we saw some movment in a bush, thinking it could be a squirrel my friend shot at the bush to scare it out, turns out he hit a bear or a moose and it freaked out and started to run up the hill. needless to say i didnt spend enough time to see what it was and we booked it to the golf cart 
Dec 11 2011 10:29PM
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caliskigirl
Posts: 393 - Karma: 67
I see bears a lot in Tahoe in the summer-they are pretty much everywhere. I find I will turn a corner trail running with my pups and they'll just be right there hanging out-I'll usually just turn around then so the dogs don't do anything stupid (they know that they can growl and puff up all they want but they aren't allowed to chase them). They tend to not bug you unless there are cubs around, or if you are the idiot who didn't lock up the garbage at your house.

There was a bear one night when I was camping by Watson Peak in Tahoe with my ex, just coming around to investigate in the middle of the night. My dog started growling which woke me up, and as soon as we got out of the tent with our head lamps the bear took off...but the funny part was then my dog-a 35lb border collie-decided that he had to show that bear that he was the boss and this was his spot...by making a perfect 10m circle of pee spots all around our tent. My dog thinks that he's a badass haha.
Dec 12 2011 8:33PM
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chicken
Posts: 6843 - Karma: 2,123
Haha I have a border collie as well and he does the exact same thing
Dec 12 2011 10:15PM
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MothaHucker
Posts: 4678 - Karma: 2,591

I see more than 5 bears a weekend when I am up in whistler biking for the weekend.

but the only time i have actually stumbled across a bear out in the wilderness was when my brother, my dad and I were backpacking a portion of the wonderland trail in rainier national park. She was just standing on the trail about 45 feet ahead of us and scurried off when we made some noise. Later on in the trip we heard some loud rustling in a nearby bush but nothing was there. when we turned the corner, there was some fresh bear droppings on the trail right next to the bush. That trip was a blast

Feb 9 2012 1:26AM
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POWDER.RANGER
Posts: 1698 - Karma: -24
i see black bears all the time fishing for salmon in the rivers in the fall, seeing as they're doing the same thing were doing we never have any problems. its actually pretty cool to fish alongside a 300 lb teddy bear.
May 7 2012 10:12PM
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MothaHucker
Posts: 4678 - Karma: 2,591
I would be really cautious man, especially if you pull up a juicy lookin fish and the bears haven't had much luck that day.
May 7 2012 10:36PM
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TNORTS
Posts: 2076 - Karma: 2,754
I've had black bears come within a hundred yards of backcountry campsites before, which is still pretty scary. Never any encounters with grizzlies other than seeing them from a pretty good distance. Best story I have though doesn't involve a bear. One of my buddies went to take shit behind a tree and ended up running back with his pants around his knees with a bull moose on his tail. He did some mock charges at our campsite and it was pretty scary, but he never touched us.
Aug 16 2012 10:50PM
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Errl
Posts: 2082 - Karma: 451
when i was there, we saw no bears. but your post reminded me of how disgusting the black beans and rice was on trail there. it was the only meal that could not be saved with hot sauce
Aug 16 2012 11:59PM
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EmperorKuzco
Posts: 6660 - Karma: 254
When I was at Yosemite National Park climbing Half Dome I saw a grizzly cub from a distance. I couldnt get a pic caus my phone was out of battery.
Aug 17 2012 12:04AM
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gnarschralped
Posts: 178 - Karma: 123
Last month, my dog was killed my by one

Also, a couple weeks ago, my dad and I were hiking in assinnnaboin provincial park, i looked around and 10 meters away, a grizzly was standing on its hind legs and watching, so we stayed calm and stopped.  5 mins later, we started walking and looked ans it was digging for marmots in the middle of the train, it looked at us  and walked off
Aug 17 2012 12:18AM
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iFlip
Posts: 4543 - Karma: 19,132
Just a quick note - the only grizzly in California is on the state flag. The last grizzly in California was shot in 1922. What you saw was a color-phase black bear. They are beautiful, and come in a wide array of different colors. Check out "glacier bears" when you get a chance - stunning!
Aug 18 2012 11:52PM
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EmperorKuzco
Posts: 6660 - Karma: 254
Wow I did not know this. Thanks I'll definitely check it out!
Aug 19 2012 12:04AM
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MothaHucker
Posts: 4678 - Karma: 2,591
Spirit bears
Aug 19 2012 4:44PM
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vailsux.com
Posts: 1769 - Karma: 440
I've come across 3 grizzlies in the wild. One on the side of the road, one out in a meadow, and one outside my tent. The one on the road wasn't a big deal, i was in a car. The one in the meadow didn't give half a damn about us and continued his digging like nothing happened. The third was right outside my tent at night digging through some logs, my friend and I clapped and yelled and it took off into the forest. I haven't had any problems with griz.

Black bears on the other hand. I have had black bears stalk me, roam into my camp without regard, and actually try and get food. Grizzlies are much more intimidating, but from my experience I have had more problems with black bears.
Aug 28 2012 3:03PM
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Aithline
Posts: 131 - Karma: 204
Went exploring down a creek with some buddies, when we turned around and started walking out, we jumped over a log, and a black bear was making his way up the creek (probably 50 yards away) so I just looked at him, and yelled "Woah Bear!" he stopped, looked at me, and then ran into the forest, we tried to follow him, but he was too quick.
Jun 18 2013 8:48PM
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_DUSTY_
Posts: 1097 - Karma: 686
I just returned from treeplanting, I had my first encounter face to face with a bear while working. I was planting in trenched land, following the trenches back and forth when I looked up and saw a teenage blackbear staring at me around fifteen feet away in the same trench I was in.

At first I followed the bear training I had learned (it was required by my employer), I slowly backed away and moved out of the bears way however it started following me. After probably two minutes of me moving and the bear following I found a high piece of land (a stump ripped in half by the scarifier) and started yelling at the bear and waving my hands. The damn bastard started to move away but then decided he wanted to continue to investigate me. My supervisor heard the commotion and came over and we both approached the bear yelling trying to get it to go back into the woods, unfortunately the bear wouldn't budge. We finally had to call in the helicopter that was flying in planters and trees to get the bear to leave the area. He did appear three more times throughout the day but never left the treeline after the helicopter came in.

It was a pretty incredible experience, I felt surprisingly calm throughout the whole situation, it almost felt like if I showed fear that would give the bear confidence to keep approaching. We also weren't allowed to carry bear spray due to numerous instances last year in which people punctured the canister planting and injured themselves.
Aug 8 2013 12:19AM
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