So, what does a black bear smell like?

Well.. I can tell you for a fact, if Big foot was in Georgia, he would be in Rabun County! It has the most National Forest Land in Georgia(155,000 acres) and it's easy to get "turned around".
I've hunted North Georgia for gold and corundum(sapphire and ruby) for over 30 years, if you go to Rabun you better know more than a little about navigation!

I'll add a nice picture...

chattooga.jpg


Headwaters of the Chattooga River.
The Chattooga begins in southern Jackson County, North Carolina, then flows southwestward between northwestern Oconee County, South Carolina, and eastern Rabun County, Georgia.
The river was used as a setting for the fictional Cahulawassee River in the book and film Deliverance.
 
it dawned on me last night that I could "GOOGLE" animal sounds so I did. This was driving my wife crazy...until I got the correct sound. About the ninth bear growl sound was exactly what she had heard. Her face looked about the same as it did on Monday, LOL!!
 
Agreed on the snakes smelling like cucumbers, 1st heard it from my grandfather years ago, he spent a lifetime hunting/fishing/working in the woods. Of course at the time I just though it was "old timer" BS, but after encountering the smell and the snakes in the woods, I decided the old gentleman knew what he was talking about, and later came to realize that was true on several subjects. I now wish I had paid more attention..
 
ColbyBruce said:
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.
Click to expand...

I'm in. Its a relatively short drive from here in NC.
 
I've always carried a revolver in the mountains on every trip,
even before it was legal to do so in the NF. I've had run-ins with many bears both on the trail and at camp. I've never had to shoot an animal, but have drawn a few times just in case.
You never really know when a shot will have to be fired?
The only hogs I've seen has been in the Cherokee National Forest in the Tellico Plains area and east in the Nantahala NF before you get to Robbinsville, NC... and many have an attitude!
Always carry when you're there. I know you know the story about the crazy man killing that girl on Blood Mountain... so be safe.

The mountains of North Georgia, East Tennessee, and Western North Carolina all have large cats. Some a brownish black and some solid black. The "College Guys" will tell you that the cats are not there, but they received their education inside buildings.
I got my education here and still going to "school" after 64 years...

nantahala.gif
 
I can't believe, out of all the posts, no one realizes the obvious.
Chupacabra.
Maybe a whole lair of them.
 
Lots of Hogs in N. Ga used to hunt Cooper River and Cohutta quit a bit. Hogs will tend to smell a bit and will let you know if your to close. Just a thought.
 
This thread is the first time that I have heard or read that rattlesnakes emit an odor like cucumbers. I have always heard that copperheads emit such an odor, but not other snakes.
I have never encountered either, so I'll have to take other peoples word for it. I know that I'll be on the alert if I ever smell that in the woods.

Myron
 
What does a black bear smell like?

They have a extremely strong smell of fear & urine..

5bears2.jpg


Oh... Wait,, maybe that wasn't them I would be smelling..... :-)
 
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Black bears smell quite well as you can see by the length of their nose in the epic above. That holds a lot of olfactory nerves.
 
getting close to the rut for whitetail, you sure it wasnt a buck that had just laid a scrape or horned some bushes and left some love stink around. they grunt, wheeze and blow, everything you mentioned and have some pretty danged stout musk
 
I know this thread is 3 years old and I am a new poster, but I am ressurecting this. Background on me is prior Marine Corps, prior deputy sheriff, and firefighter in Georgia now.

So my wife and I just got back from a hike up Rabun Bald and had the exact experience the original.poster had. Almost at the top, somethng to the left made a dramatic movement real fast and made a grunt/snort/growl noise. My wife screamed and I quickly drew my Sig .357. We slowly backed down the trail and quickly made it to the bottom. Prior to the encounter, we smelled what I would describe as a dirty men's bathroom with urinals. On the way down we spotted several piles of orange looking **** which was definitely black bear poop. I found this post searching for what black bear urine smells like.

If I hadn't seen the poop and identified it online, I would have wondered if it was a mountain lion or something. Interesting we both had the same encounter three years apart, same time of year.
 
My only olfactory experience with a black bear was about 45 years ago when I shot one in West Virginia. It was pretty gamey. That was one shot I'm sorry I took. I wouldn't shoot a black bear again.
 
Everyone is assuming the smell and noise go together which may not be true. Or, a bear may have a carcass stashed.

I've handled a lot of wild hogs in my time as a guide and a few "tranked" bears (disclaimer: My bears were "urban" trash bears for the most part) and I would say they smelled pretty similar==kinda a "wet dog" smell or an old trash dumpster smell. It varied somewhat.
 
I was once at a gas station where a Game and Fish truck was getting gas. They had a black bear in a trap cage to be released somewhere away from people. I can assure you that that bear STANK bad! The wardens told me that they all stink like that.
Scott
 
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