So, what does a black bear smell like?

Wow, so many comments.

1) While deer hunting, we had to cross a small creek. At least 3 bears had crossed recently. Smelled like a garbage can. Bears? Maybe trash from nearby campgrounds that the bears had dragged into the waterside veg?

2) I don't remember anything special about the dozen or so black ears I've handled. Never handled a griz.

3) Rattlesnakes supposedly do smell like cucumbers.

4) Garter snakes can smell downright vile!

5) Gray foxes can be worse than skunks during breeding time. I would expect most dogs would.

6) Cats do make scent pads/scrapes. They can be pretty gross.

7) I've smelled some pretty rank elk (and even more rank elk hunters!)

feralmerril said:

I have smelled rattelsnakes and to me they reminded me of cucumbers. Anyone else think that?

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I've alsao made that exact connection! Copperheads as well.

I agree with two of the posts above...I have been around several alive and several dead bears and none of them smelled what I would say was bad enough to leave a trail a human could pick up on. In fact, to me none of them really smelled that bad. I didn't touch any of the live ones but I have definatley been closer than 8 or 10 feet. As far as the dead ones, I have handled many and even mounted one of them for my brother-in-law{in a taxidermy sense.} My take on a black bear is that you are probably not going to be able to go out in the woods and smell where one was much less smell one that you can see unless you're close enough that he has a hold of you. I also agree that it is likely a plant. We have three rather pungent plants where I live that make lots of folks think they are some animal. The first is skunk cabbage, no further explaination is needed. The next one you can only smell in the late fall and it makes alot of hunters believe there is a big buck near. Dont know what it is called but I was told for years it was a rutting buck. This plant smells worse after a rain or foggy weather. last we have one that smells exactly like a billy goat and it is strong. Not very big of a plant either but I guaranty you there is no hiding or covering this one!!! Bad part is I dont know the names of either of the last two. Maybe Galax is the goat like one???

I wrestled a black bear in a carnival when I was a teenager. It was muzzled and declawed. The smell afterwards was so bad I had to go home and wash my clothes and shower. Besides learning that bears smell terrible I also learned that they are extremely strong. The bear trainer had the bear start standing on its hind legs and when wrestlers who were much bigger than I was ( 130# ) tried to wrestle the way they would a person the bear would toss them on the ground and then pile on them and beat them with its forearms. When I wrestled the bear I hit it in the chest with my shoulder and knocked it on its back and then jumped on top of it. The bear trainer got mad and threw me out of the ring.

I don't know about bears or rattlers. I know garter snakes will put a funk out if you mess with them, and I have smelled water moccasins before I ever saw them. I don't recall thinking of cucumbers, but I don't like the smell of them either.

Lions (Panthera leo, not pumas) have a pretty acrid odor. But they don't live where the OP was hiking. Never smelled a cougar in heat or when scent-marking.

Plants don't growl. He heard a distinct growl.

I think it was maybe a bear, maybe a cougar, maybe the skunk ape. If he'd found tracks later, that would help.

I'm glad he warned the other hikers. Even if plants emitted the odor, they may have done it because a bear was grazing them. Or the skunk ape, in which I about half believe.

I bet that 10mm goes on his next hike!

I've had a gray fox growl at me and look pretty hostile. I drew my M-66-3 and walked wide of him, trying to avoid eye contact, He finally walked off, too. About a week later, this same (?) fox stood on a high point and challenged me, snarling. Again, I drew the .357 and walked wide of him, and he seemed satisfied. But he came pretty close to being a field test of Federal's 158 grain .357 Hydra-Shok.

I called the Natural History Museum and asked if the mammalogist on the line thought the fox might be rabid or was just being territorial. He agreed that it was probably the latter.

Later, in that same area, a female fox gave me a wary eye as we both kept some distance and went opposite ways on that path. I saw her or another vixen much later, with kits. Cute little buggers. That mom didn't see or scent me, and it may be just as well. I don't know how she'd have reacted with the kids there.

None of these foxes emitted any special odor, but the male was a real growler. They may well have scent glands that emit a musky smell and just didn't use it.

If I heard a growl from the region where I smelled dead or rotting meat, I'd suspect a bear on a kill or scavenging on a dead animal it found.

You could call a museum or zoo and describe he circumstances and the smell, the nature of the growl, etc. They might have an idea. An ornithologist at the museum asked me where I'd heard an owl and how it sounded when it called and what the circumstances were. He used that info to tell me that it was screech owls that I was hearing. Later, a Great Horned Owl flew right at my face and veered off at the last split second as it realized that I was sitting behind the windsheld of my parked car. It twanged the antenna pretty badly as it swerved to avoid the glass. That was a very differen owl. I still wonder what it thought it was doing. Maybe it saw my face in the darkness and thought it was a small animal? Scared me pretty badly. By the time I saw it coming, it was right there!

"Plants don't growl. He heard a distinct growl."

They don't!!?? You want'a bet!?
All sounds in the mountains are NOT made by animals or people and may sound the same!

Like I said in my first post...
"I know the Chattahoochee National Forest very well, so don't discount what I have to say to much."


KISS AND TELL TREES AVI - YouTube

I don't know what a bear smells like, but I smelled rattle snakes once and I would definitely be careful...

I hear Banjos


Yes I know Tallulah Gorge, been there, done that, got the heart attack

Thank you for the replies. I agree snakes smell, been there, done that. I have smelled wild hogs several times and am familiar with their odor. There is a wild animal game ranch near Stone Mountain and I have been around cougars, bears, coyotes, buffalo, elk, etc.; and experienced their sounds and odors. Also, we have the stinky plants near our home there in Rabun county. This odor hung in the air like skunk odor does, and dissipated with time. It also seemed to move along the trail in the same direction we did, but off to the side. Visibilty to either side of the trail was less five to ten feet at most places. Whatever it was, it didn't like us being there and I believe trailed us off to the side for a short while.

My wife has often asked why I had more than one or two handguns. I always reply "A handgun is like a screwdriver, one will not work for every application". Yesterday, I told her I was carrying the wrong screwdriver. That will not happen again.

rburg said:

For that matter, human urine smell isn't very pleasant. For an example, sit next to a homeless person sometime.

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Or go to a gun show.

terry

Well Colby, with all the Bears up there why not just sneak up on one and give him a big bear style hug. Get a good whiff of him or her.
You could be like the guy in NY that wanted to be "One with the Tiger" I can't imagine they smell real good.

Next time I come up, we can go together and I'll cover ya. I know I can run faster than Mrs Rule

Surely we have hunters here that have shot some bear??

There is a stone fire tower with a wood deck on it at the top of Rabun Bald. You can see Lake Keowee, SC from there.

Now it could have been a Big Foot? One was found near where you were. Yeah.. they put him in a freezer and he turned to rubber!
You ever met Billy Redden? He was/is a part owner of the Cookie Jar Cafe in Clayton. Seemed like a OK guy.

Here's his best moment...
Oh.. in real life he can't play the banjo.

Deliverance - Banjo Duel - YouTube

"According to Native American legend, Rabun Bald is inhabited by fire-breathing demon people: some campers still report hearing strange sounds throughout the night."

Now.. you know the real truth!

Edmo said:

Bigfoot...

Edmo

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+1 for Bigfoot.

Bruce-

I don't like the way that animal seemed to follow you, off to the side of the trail. That does suggest a Bigfoot/Skunk Ape more than a bear.

Could have been a bear that was seeing you away from a food cache or its young. Still,very odd.

Skunk ape for sure.

I too was uncomfortable with the thing seemingly following us for a while.

I need to get you Sasquatch believers together for a hike back up to the top of Rabun Bald.

That smell could only come from one place: two long-lost Woodstock
concert fans, who have struggled on the trail for 40+ years, smoking dope and making things smelly everywhere they go.