Bear Tales

[Usmc5811]

On a lighter note, one of my best bear stories happened only a couple years ago. I was deer hunting a 100 acre property belonging to a good hunting buddies aunt.

Following the trail to my stand, I had to "go", and couldn't hold it. Walked to the edge of the path (the surrounding woods where all prickers), I did my business, then proceeded to my stand.

Later that morning my buddy showed up, all excited he had found bear sign. A big one. Walking back down the trail with him, we came to my morning deposit. He was all excited, poking it with a stick, and pointing out how the bear had been feeding in the nearby corn patch. I was kind of embarrassed - I didn't think it was that big.. He then stuck his finger in it and said it was fresh. I didn't say anything other than to agree with him, and to this day, he still thinks a big bear is roaming his aunts farm......

Larry

We were walking with the neighbors in the early 2000's and dad had put out a deer feed block. After the rain hit it a few times it looked like bear scat in the road and a big pile too. The neighbors saw this and inquired as to how long it had been there. Dad reaches down and grabs a pinch a gives it a taste, and tells them it's about a week old!!! If you could have seen the look on the neighbors face you be laughing like I am know. This was their summer home the other was on the beach somewhere near Naples Florida. They did not know what to think, I'm not sure if he ever did tell them what it really was.

 

[mtgianni]

Another story from my wife. She works at a State Park and was a little down as she had yet to see a bear that season. While driving to work she saw a small bear at the side of the road. She quickly stopped, grabbed her camera and sprinted for the RR tracks to see if she could get a picture. To her surprise as she was reaching the top of the tracks she saw a set of black bear ears cresting from the other side. No idea which one was more surprised but she didn't get any pictures.

 

[Skeet 028]

About 1972 I was driving the road between Clear AFS/Anderson and Nenana. Had been out hunting moose with no luck . Came around a bend and there in the middle of the road sat a bear. Nice sized blackie. Came to a stop about 10 ft away rolled down the window and said kinda loudly to get off of the road. He just looked at me and pretty much ignored me. Blew the horn and he just sat there liking on a hind foot. I had a license but that wouldn't have been any kind of a hunt so finally justkind of drove up and bumped him and he grunted and reluctantly got up and walked into the bush. Kind of a neat encounter. No there wasn't much traffic on that road back then. I landed aircraft on it frequently..

 

[LoboGunLeather]

My personal bear experiences:

1. About 1970, home from Vietnam the first time, assigned to Fort Benning, GA, with a young family to feed on Army pay. Did a lot of hunting, mostly whitetail deer which dressed out around 60 lbs or so with maybe 40 lbs of meat for the freezer. Convinced myself that a nice black bear should yield couple hundred pounds of meat for the freezer.

Laid my bait and sat to wait with a bolt-action 12-gauge loaded with rifled slugs. Along came Mr. Bear, about 300 lbs of himself. Let him have a slug behind the shoulder from about 30 yards or so. Gave him another behind the ear to put an end to it.

Then I found out just how nasty, filthy, and smelly bears can be. Just about gagged me to dress him out, load him in the trunk of the car, and get him home. Then I got him skinned out, which turned my stomach completely over a time or two. About 3 hours with a saw and knives left me with about 150 lbs of steaks, roasts, and stew meat all neatly wrapped in butcher paper ready for the freezer.

Nasty, greasy meat that left an after-taste in your throat not even Jack Daniels could kill. Gave away several packages of meat, but no one ever asked for seconds. Finally donated most of it to the local zoo.

2. About 1980, during Colorado's combined deer and elk season, I was sitting in a shielded depression high on a slope overlooking the confluence of two drainages leading down to the fields of sugar beets and alfalfa. One of my hunting buddies had made lunch for all of us, and I had a couple of liverwurst, cheddar cheese, and onion sandwiches on rye bread in my day pack. Kept hearing rustling noises and grunts all around me. Finally spotted a black bear downwind, sniffing the breeze and making appreciative grunts.

I have a .30-06 rifle, but I really don't want to shoot another smelly old bear. I yelled at him. I stood up and waved my arms. All he did was keep coming closer, sniffing noisily and grunting like he was serious about getting something to eat.

When the bear worked his way within about 10 yards I finally decided it was time to put an end to this nonsense. Fired the .30-06 once into the air, Mr. Bear jumped like he'd stuck his nose into an electric outlet, then took off downhill like a freight train through the aspens and scrub oak.

Pretty good sandwiches! Nice thermos of hot coffee to enjoy, out of the wind with the sun shining down on a cold day. About 4:00, as the sun was fading, I took a nice 3-point (western count) mule deer buck following some does down the drainage to the farm fields.

Nice day, and no smelly nasty old bear to deal with again.

3. Colorado Springs, Colorado. Every spring the police department received calls, usually early mornings, reporting bears raiding trash cans or tearing into back porches after dog food, etc, all over the west side of town (in the foothills). Learned to make creative use of the siren, throw M80's and cherry bombs, "cracker shells" in the 12-gauge riot gun (basically a fire cracker fired in a shotgun shell) to chase the bears out of residential areas back into the foothills where they belonged.

Some people enjoy bears. Some people even like to eat bears. To me most bears smell worse than any skunk I've ever dealt with. I'm not going to eat one anyway so why kill the damn thing?

 

[Mr.Harry]

Dude, god bless you, I just had a couple of those EXACT same sandwiches in my pocket, last weekend, icefishing.

No bears, but I probably smelled like one.

 

[Bill Bates]

Of got a couple of bear stories.

There was a time when I spent a lot of time photographing wildlife. That meant being in Yellowstone each Spring and Fall. One day in early June I was working at getting some photographs of a cow elk calving. I had one spotted out on a hillside across a sage brush covered flat. While hiking across the flat which had knee high sage a I had a grizzly come up out of the sage about 70 yards in front of me. How that bear could be hidden in that sage is hard to imagine but I had been watching that elk for over and hour and never saw the bear.

The bear did some jaw popping and posturing which was enough to get me to give him his space and grab my bear spray. Of course as any photographer I did get a few photos of the bear. Thank God for big 600mm lens and thank God that bear got up before I was closer. It could have turned out very bad

My other "oh sh**" bear moment happened two years ago on a Spring Turkey hunt in the canyon behind the house. Seven or 8 miles up the canyon there is a hill covered with pines(now completely burned) with some little open pockets near where the turkeys roost.

One afternoon I hiked up the hill into one of the little clearings. I setup my decoys, found a good pine tree trunk to sit against and started to call. After about an hour I heard a little noise coming up the trail I had come up across the opening from where I setup. I figured it was a deer or maybe an elk and didn't think much more about it. I gave a few more hen yelps and waited in vain. No Tom seemed interested in my calling.

After about 20 minutes later I heard a snap right behind me. Hey maybe old tom was sneaking in behind me. I slowly turned, with shotgun ready and leaned out to look around the tree trunk.

There six or seven feet away was a nice chocolate color phase 2 or 3 year old Black bear looking back at me. If a bear can roll his eyes, he did. He shrugged his shoulders, turned and walked up the hill. Any other reaction from that little bear and he would have got a 2 ounces of #6 heavy shot into his nose at point blank range. I guess because of my mediocre turkey calling he thought he was going dine on a dying turkey and he was disappointed seeing me.

You know, at the moment I saw the bear I wasn't scared or nervous. In fact it struck me as almost humorous that I called a bear in. It took 3 or 4 minutes for reality to set in. If I hadn't heard that twig snap; in couple of steps he would have been right beside me.

Honestly I should have known better. I had been hunting that hill off and on for a couple of weeks. I had seen plenty of bear sign along with turkey sign during my times on the hill but I hadn't given it much thought or concern. Completely stupid on my part. I didn't get that ones picture but I'll never forget the look of disappointment and discussed on that little bears face when he saw me.

 

[rags]

I've got lots of Beer tales. Why just the other day I stopped to grab a 12 pack and...…..What? Not Beer tales??? Bear tales? Sorry! Never mind then.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Just for you, Bob:

 

[Gregor]

Feeding black bears in PA

In the early 1970's, my Dad would load up my Mom, brother and I in our 1968 Ford Country Squire station wagon and head to the Tip Top bread bakery on Mahoning Ave in Youngstown, Ohio. We would get several loaves of white bread and drive over the State line to Pennsylvania.

Alongside a dirt road in a forested area, there would be several black bears milling around, taking food from the other cars on the road. Apparently, this was a common practice. My brother and I would roll down the back window a crack and shove the bread slices out to the bears that would be sniffing at the window, putting their front paws on the door and window. I am glad that Ford had very strongly tempered glass, and that we had the window down only slightly.

Times were certainly different back then.

 

[crazyphil]

It was 1958, 1959, or sometime around then, I was in college in
SW Montana. My Dad had a friend who had a small ranch and a
small herd of cattle. He had his cattle on summer range.

A bear had killed one of his cows and tore the bag off another one.
His wife wouldn't let him go after the bear, afraid he would get hurt.
He made an offer I couldn't refuse (a case of beer) to take care of
the problem.

The summer range was an old dilapidated homestead. The dead cow
carcass was, laying under an old cloths line, well covered with maggots.

I parked my 1952 Buick about 60 yards downwind in the trees and
settled down for the night wait. I had a friend with me because he
had a bear dog. Old Mable.

Very early I awoke and wiped the dew off the inside of the windshield.
I could see something big and dark hunched over the carcass.
He was scooping up maggots with both front paws.

I opened the door as quietly as I could and stepped out with my
model 70 Winchester 30:06, with a Weaver K4 scope, loaded with
180-Gr. Silver tips.

As I looked through the glass the bear stood up on his hind legs
and sniffed the air. Then he took off as fast as he could run in
the opposite direction.

As he reached the top of a little ridge I squeezed one off. I was
sure I had hit him. I was used to the WAP sound of a good hit.

Ran over the ridge and down the other side. He was dragging himself
along with his front claws. The rear was apparently paralyzed.
My shot was just about an inch from his rectum.

After a coup de grace shot to the neck. I poked my knife into his
stomach to start gutting him out. A stream of maggots shot up
into the air about 3 feet.

There is no way I would eat any of that. A local guy studying
taxidermy offered to make me a rug for the experience. It was
a bad experience. All the hair fell off.

The rendering plant estimated the live weight at 550 pounds.
It was quite a struggle getting him back to the car. I never could
get the stink out of the Buick, so I traded it for a 1955 Buick.

After all the commotion and getting the bear loaded in the trunk
the bear dog, old Mable, was still asleep in the back seat.

That was the first bear I had to kill. Unfortunately it wasn't
the last one.

The beer was sure good.

 

[41]

From time to time, I have black bears on my property in Loudoun County which is just off Watson Road. Here are some of the game camera videos.

It is a mountain environment with mountain laurel, rhododendrons, beech, quaking aspens, and all kinds of oaks. There are no rattlesnakes due to the black snakes.

These two are eating a black walnut off the tree:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOW3uEv6aKE&list=UU4MdxCjxnURC-o4zYKqEgiA&index=20[/ame]

I just missed this sow and luckily I didn't check the cameras in the field:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRj7Mg0q4VU&list=UU4MdxCjxnURC-o4zYKqEgiA&index=21[/ame]

These pasted through at night:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG9VdsrBXTc&list=UU4MdxCjxnURC-o4zYKqEgiA&index=11[/ame]

 

[Chukar60]

I was chukar hunting on the Boise river with a friend in 1980. I was 20 at the time. We split at the bottom of a draw, each of us on the ridge above the creek with intentions to meet at the top.
I was taking a breather and looked over at my buddy. He was gesturing frantically down into the creek. After moving a bit ad looking down, I saw a medium sized black bear sitting on it's backside watching both of us.
The bear decided to exit the creek bottom up my side of the creek.
I got to thinking that it was bear season and if I could guess which trail the bear was on I could shoot it with. My shotgun at close range.
A quick check of the wind and I was off the ridge top to find the right trail.
I sat 30 feet off the trail with my trusty 870 12 gauge intent on shooting that bear in the head.
A short while passed and I could hear it coming up the trail. Bravado turned to thought which turned to worry about how dumb this idea was. I decided that I had made a bad choice and lifted my head to see if I could see the bear. He was about 25 yards away and looking right at me. I backed away from the trail and made for the ridge top. Mr. Bear was last seen hightailing it for the brushy creek bottom.
15 years pass and I decided that I wanted to shoot a bear with my bow. Baiting is legal in Idaho and a friend and I set up a bait and stand. After about a week the bears were on the bait and we decided to start hunting the stand.
First evening 5 bears come in and one goes right to the bait. I drew, anchored, tensioned the back muscles and focused the pin on the target.
A clean release and the arrow was on it's way.
All of this happened with a case of bear fever that would make buck fever look like child's play.
The arrow passed just in front of the bear's nose, cutting his nose as it went. I had peeked around the sights when I released the shot and caused the miss. The distance of the miss was 13 yards!! My buddy shot the bear with our back up gun, a 12 gauge Ithaca 37 loaded with slugs.
I no longer have any desire to shoot a bear.

 

[Chukar60]

BTW, that was a spring bear my buddy shot. It was delicious. Rule for eating bears here is eat spring bears. Bears shot in the fall are not fit for eating.