When Black Bears Attack

I have a friend that camps in that area of Kentucky frequently. It is fairly common that Black Bears pass through the area on the way to and from the Smokies. According to him this is the time of year that bears are on the move looking for mates. Normally there is not a resident bear population in the area of the attack. That being said he feels that there is more to the story than has been released or maybe told to the authorities. That being said he is now carrying bear spray, (liberal Lawyer type). I suggested that the bear might prefer tabasco sauce. :)
 
I interact with bears constantly, oftentimes in my back yard - as Dave points out you learn to "read" them, much as someone like a delivery man learns to read a dog's intentions. Respect them and don't provoke or tempt them...few or no problems. Poke an iphone in their face, then run like a crazed ostrich....well, good luck. When you're in bear country, it is YOUR obligation to understand them. If I cut loose a volley of lead everytime a bear and I were checking each other out I could carpet the entire house in bearskin rugs. I have given ground in berry patches and once even given up a stringer of fish, but I don't begrudge them their place in the grand scheme of things.
 
Jst1mr said:
I have given ground in berry patches and once even given up a stringer of fish, but I don't begrudge them their place in the grand scheme of things.
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Jst,

I might have give him the right of way and two fish...

But, the whole darn string?


I once gave one a whole darn Caribou, hocks and all,

Su Amigo,
Dave
 
Jst1mr said:
I interact with bears constantly, oftentimes in my back yard - as Dave points out you learn to "read" them, much as someone like a delivery man learns to read a dog's intentions. Respect them and don't provoke or tempt them...few or no problems. Poke an iphone in their face, then run like a crazed ostrich....well, good luck. When you're in bear country, it is YOUR obligation to understand them. If I cut loose a volley of lead everytime a bear and I were checking each other out I could carpet the entire house in bearskin rugs. I have given ground in berry patches and once even given up a stringer of fish, but I don't begrudge them their place in the grand scheme of things.
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This.

I think you have to work at getting attacked by a black bear. At least here in the east. Children alone may be a different thing.
 
Red River Gorge is an awesome place to hike and camp. Went there several times in my college days. Never saw a bear, tho...
 
Here's a fact to absorb into your head:animals in the forest may try to chew on you,granted that is a rare thing but it can happen.

Carry something with you,bear spray or better spray AND a gun and you'll be fine,if they get funny and want to try a sample of your body let them know you can,and will,bite back in your own way.

I talk to animals of all kinds,usually something on the lines of "Hey furball! watch'a doin? I'm just passing through,don't worry" I do have a gun in my hand when I do this,but they know I'm not a snack-so far.
 
Forester said:
This.

I think you have to work at getting attacked by a black bear. At least here in the east. Children alone may be a different thing.
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Depends on what time of the year you encounter them. As a young man I worked a survey crew in some pretty rugged hill country where the dozer roads wound in and out of the points and hollows sharply and there were known bears in the area. Although it was against company policy I was carrying concealed as I did not want to round a turn with an armload of equipment and come face to face with a sow that felt an intruder was threatening her cubs - that will get you attacked anytime.
 
Jst1mr said:
I interact with bears constantly, oftentimes in my back yard - as Dave points out you learn to "read" them, much as someone like a delivery man learns to read a dog's intentions. Respect them and don't provoke or tempt them...few or no problems. Poke an iphone in their face, then run like a crazed ostrich....well, good luck. When you're in bear country, it is YOUR obligation to understand them. If I cut loose a volley of lead everytime a bear and I were checking each other out I could carpet the entire house in bearskin rugs. I have given ground in berry patches and once even given up a stringer of fish, but I don't begrudge them their place in the grand scheme of things.
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Very well said.. Thanks for a voice of reason.
 
Texas Star said:
Well, you certainly have a point about Bear Grylls! He's more into making dramatic TV shows than he is into teaching real survival techniques. And guys like Steve Irwin and a South African whose name escapes me at the moment (Austin Stevens?) got far too casual with reptiles. Stevens actually got bitten by a cobra that he was harrassing for the camera.

I think that many snakes hounded on TV have just been released from a cold box and aren't themselves yet. And Irwin reportedly worked with selected docile examples from his zoo much of the time. When he went to Africa, the snakes there were much less tolerant of him, and he kept exclaiming about it! :rolleyes: He took very foolish chances witrh a big Egyptian cobra (Naja haje) and caught a black mamba by the tail. It nearly tagged him, which would have been a disaster. Without very prompt access to antivenin and proper medical care (which was distant), victims of mamba bite have almost a 100% death rate. And a red spitting cobra almost got some venom into his eyes, despite his wearing glasses. The guy actually went up trees to approach a green mamba and a boomslang! The lethal dose for a boomslang bite is about 1.5 mg. Most cobra and mamba bites take about 15-20 mg. to kill an average 150 pound man in good shape. However, they often deliver more than that in a bite, and angry mambas and cobras often deliver multple bites.

Even Irwin admitted that he was "sweating bullets" by the time he'd bagged that mamba, and that he was in grave danger in those trees. His anxiety was evident.

I think some of these daring TV hosts are adrenaline junkies.
Anyone who photographs bears from a close distance has got rocks in the head.

T-Star
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To be polite on a family forum, I must temper my commentary on Bear Grylls. I will suffice it to say only that he is a phony and I wouldn't even attempt to emulate his "techniques" in an actual survival situation.

Steve Irwin was a typical Austrailian (at least from the ones I have met); devil-may-care, take chances and give danger the big middle finger salute high in the air with a cocky attitude. I consider this an admirable trait. I attributed a lot of his stunts (which I found questionable to say the least) to sheer luck and divine intervention. In the end, his luck ran out and it was very sad. But in his passing, we are all reminded to give nature and her creatures the respect they are due. Enjoy them from a distance but be properly prepared in the event things go wrong. I'd rather explain to a Gane Warden or a jury why I shot a charging bear instead of being bear scat on a seldom used hiking trail.
 
NFrameFred said:
Depends on what time of the year you encounter them. As a young man I worked a survey crew in some pretty rugged hill country where the dozer roads wound in and out of the points and hollows sharply and there were known bears in the area. Although it was against company policy I was carrying concealed as I did not want to round a turn with an armload of equipment and come face to face with a sow that felt an intruder was threatening her cubs - that will get you attacked anytime.
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Oh I agree. I posted my bear story on another forum a while back. For your enjoyment:

I was walking through a pine forest on an old, moss covered skid trail. Moss coverings make for very quiet walking. I was contemplating how to lay out new skid trails and access the stand for a planned timber harvest. It was mid summer, or so and I was totally engrossed in what I was doing. So much that I blundered right in to a real bad situation.

I heard a noise and turned my head to see what it was. First thing I saw was a bear cub scurrying up a tree. Next, another cub stood on it's hind legs, sniffed the air in my direction, and proceeded to start walking toward me at a brisk pace. Not quite a run. Much as I would have liked to pet that little guy, I new this was bad. Without looking around, I raised my arms over my head, waiving them frantically and yelled at that cub. It skidded to a halt about 20 feet from me and found another tree worthy of his best impression of his sibling.

It was at this very moment I heard a noise to my right. Wanna guess what that was?
icon_e_surprised.gif
Yep. Mama bear and she was none too pleased. She was about 50 feet away or so and started running toward me. I immediately (I panicked) turned to run. Two steps in to my flight the voice in my head said "Don't run!" So as I turned around, I was greeted with the sight of that bear 10 feet from me. When I turned, she also stopped. She backed off a bit but was stomping the ground with her paws, in a very stiff like manner. She was also showing me what great teeth she had, snapping her jaw at me.

She did several of these "false" charges at me, all the while I was yelling and screaming and waving my arms around. I wasn't regularly carrying back in those days. Once, I even looked down to see a good sized tree branch on the ground. Thinking I had something I could use as a club, I reached down to grab it, only to have it fall apart in my hands when I raised it up. Rotten.

Well, after some time of this, which was probably only a minute but felt like much more, she finally retreated back to about 50 feet but was still snapping her jaw and stomping the ground. By this time I had stopped yelling and told her, more calmly than I felt, that it was alright and that she could just calm down.
icon_e_confused.gif


I figured it was safe then to try to get out of there. I backed away from her for a bit, then took a deep breath and turned my back on her, walking briskly away. I looked back over my shoulder after going about 50 feet and she and the cubs were gone. They knew when the getting was good too.

I left the woodlot for another day. Figured it was time to catch up on some paperwork.
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Great story, Forester! I've had a bear climb up the tree I had a portable stand in, apparently to understand what that strange blob in the tree was (all right, I'm not a small guy - a "friend" once advised that me in a tree stand must bear a striking resemblance to a water tower..), Anyway, once the bear got close to the floor of the stand and got a snoot full of understanding, he beat a very comical retreat. Does heighten the senses when you walk out after dark, though.....
 
Evening, All,

We live in a mountainous area, and you never really know what's going to be waiting for you when you go outside. Most of the time, when I go out in the forest around our home, I have a pistol with me, but early this morning, I broke that rule, and went out to investigate a noise at our trash cans! (Can you say, "BAD Doc"!!!?? Sure, I knew that you could! ;):rolleyes: )

In any case, I padded down the front deck stairs in my PJ's and slippers, and saw one of our trash cans, which had been setout last night for pickup today, in the middle of the street on it's side, top off. Still too sleepy to be thinking properly, I went down the driveway, and out to retrieve our can and it's lid. After putting it back where it belonged, and noting a few new tooth holes in the lid, I realized that "something" had gotten into our trash! And, about 30 seconds after that, I saw that "something"!! There, sitting right across the street, pretty as you please, was a young male black bear, and he was a big one, slowly pawing through the bag he'd just lifted from our trash can!! I estimate his weight at between 275 and 350lbs, and his paws were very wide, indeed!! He paid me no heed, at all, thankfully, so I very slowly backed up our driveway, all 75 feet of it, and went back into the house. After a bit of thought, I retrieved a proper pistol, and my camera, and very quietly crept back downstairs, to take a few photos of Mr. Bruin. He was still happily munching on a chicken carcass, which I'd enjoyed for the last few nights, and was eating it, Reynolds Wrap, and all!! (He'll be poopin' tinsel for a week, or so, me thinks! )

I got a few photos, and then, not wanting to press my luck, went back upstairs, thankful that our breakfast guest was busy feeding himself, and not interested in me. Note, for the entire time that I watched him, from beginning to end, he was calm, ears normal, and quite content to feed from the trash. Had he been "interested" in me, or laid back his ears, snapped his jaws, or any other of the signs bears offer when pissed, or not happy about you being there, I'd have never gone back down in the first place!! One other thing is that I will NEVER again go out there without a proper pistol on my person, for any reason!! We've had bears on our roof before, as well as mountain lions. So, I know better, actually, than to do what I did today. Next time, I might not be so lucky. So, I'll not make that mistake again...

Please check out the photos, and see what you think. Thanks, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Doc
 

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Yep - the Ubiquitous Semi-Suburban Trash Bear. We've got 'em here too. The one below in the trash was across the street at the neighbor's last year. The bear couple have no shame at all. The last bear photo is the one that came through this week on the way to other neighbors that had left their trash out the whole weekend. Yesterday evening, a baby bear came cantering across our drive. They all know the trash pickup schedule.

The rule of thumb is never put your garbage out until the morning of pickup. We also stash our food scraps in a freezer bag until trash day so that the garage doesn't smell like bear snacks.

Sadie was on the deck the evening this week's bear came through our yard. Since she had already treed two of them, she ran down the steps with her little growl, thinking he was as big as he seemed from the second story deck. Of course, when she got there, he was much larger. He swung his head at her and she said, "I hear my daddy calling!" and ran back up the steps.

Don't challenge them for what they want and there won't be any problems.
 

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Sometimes a bear is mistaken for one of these........
bigfoot.jpg

Definitely nothing to sneeze at either!!!!!!!!!
Steve
 
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