My bear encounter

The Original OldCorps ^ | 4OCT2021 | OldCorps

[OldCorps]

Last week I went tent camping with my son at a GA state park. When we checked in, I had to sign an acknowledgement that I understood bears would be in the area. Yawn. I didn't give it further thought.

The second day, at 0500, the food cooler outside my tent was knocked over. I thought, oh man, this is it. The cooler was about 8 feet from the entrance to the tent. It took me a while to get on my glasses, jeans, find the flashlight and get personal protection.

I got everything together and unzipped the flap. I shined the flashlight on the bear and made the requisite "go away bear" noises. I then got a good look at my visitor. He was a black bear, about 150-200 lbs and looked back at me without any fear whatsoever. I continued to make noises and did not back away from him. He grabbed a package out of the cooler and walked up hill above me about 40 feet and ate the contents of the package.

Well, you can't just go back to sleep knowing there is a bear right around you, so I stayed up and shined my light. About 5 minutes later, a security patrol pulls up with an amber light rotating. I signaled him with my flashlight and walked over to his truck. He said the bears will not attack you, but that's easy to say when he's not 5 feet from you. He got out a powerful flashlight and looked around the campsite. He shined the light up the tree trunks looking for the bear and or cubs. There were no cubs which meant the bear had probably moved off. The security guy found the box of Hershey bars....with the wrappers removed and the candy bars consumed by the bear.

The bear ate the following from my cooler (in addition to the box of Hershey bars): 1/2 lb of uncooked bacon, 1/3 lb of a mix of turkey and ham lunch meat, swiss cheese slices and a half eaten sub sandwich. He also went through the trash and found about the remnants of a Wendy's hamburger and french fries which he also ate.

The security guy told me they get very hungry this time of year in preparation for hibernating.

[Little Ray]

Sounds like a happy bear.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Good thing you didn't leave the cooler in your vehicle.

[Bob434]

do not even take snacks into your tent for later in the evening binging- if you have a car nearby, or anywhere for that matter- don’t leave food in it either- unless you wanna test how good your insurance is-

Do not rub sardine oil all over you before you go to bed either- nor tie chunks of liver to you when you go on hikes- (seriously though, if you hike, even carrying food and sodas will attract bears to follow you-)

black bears ‘supposedly’ are intimidated by loud noises and having things thrown at them- i have fortunately never had to test this- but an aggressive bear that ‘crosses the line’ so to speak isn’t going to be intimidated by much-

i have been close to bears, and ‘usually’ they just go their own way- but there are circumstances that up the risk of attack- food, cubs, starving bears, sick bears, injured, etc- I’ve hiked many many miles, and have only seen a couple of bears- I’ve likely walked right past some and not even known it- though many many times you will come into an area, and the odor is quite strong- putrid smelling- but never see anything moving when i have come across such areas-

The chance of being attacked though is even less than dying from covid- so in other words- very very rare- near zero % chance-

[Spirit of Liberty]

When I started driving semis, I was warned to NEVER blow the horn at an elk!

[Magnum44]

Do not rub sardine oil all over you before you go to bed...

Hey, have you been talkin to my wife?

[dpetty121263]

Should have went out and wrestled him down...

[Fury]

Thanks for the info. Very interesting.

What will a bear NOT eat? Aunt Bee’s pickles? Moldy cake?

Make that available with the “legit” food stashed safely away from your location.

[Bob434]

bear climbs tree with hunter in it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLP8mpP0knA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVy5p6BxFyE

[Glennb51]

I was asked to take care of a bull elk an archer had shot. While I was in the process of skinning and quartering, two bears came to investigate. I estimate one was a yearling and the other about a two year old. They circled with 10 yards of me and the elk.

I left the guts and the blood shot meat for them. When I came back to the site the net day, they had consumed all the guts and some of the blood shot meat.

[T.B. Yoits]

Don’t a lot of people hang their coolers on lines well up into the air? Black bears can climb, but they can’t get into the coolers unless they knock the lines down.

The line goes over an outer branch of one tree and then tied to the second tree so the bears don't break it while climbing the tree trying to get to it. The pack or container needs to be far enough out on the limb where it won't hold the bear's weight.

It's also recommended to have the carnivores in the group urinate on the outer ring of trees, as high up on the trunks as they can.

[krogers58]

I live in NH, and we see all sizes of bears, many in the 500 - 600 lb range. I have to say we never have issues with them unless it's a food issue. They are normally shy, reclusive creatures, unless:
1) Neighbors feed the bears (they do this around here to "bait" the bears to harvest the bear.)
2) Food (and garbage) isn't properly secured. They are incredibly acrobatic and strong. Bears around here peel roofs off of garages to get at the garbage.

Once they've gotten food around your home, they'll come back, again and again. A fed bear ends up being a dead bear. Ons time I called the state game wardens, about a problem bear, and they asked me if I had a shotgun or a signifiicant rifle. Perplexed, I told them I did, to which they said they didn't see why I had a bear problem then.

[David Chase]

“ When I started driving semis, I was warned to NEVER blow the horn at an elk!”
————————————————————————-

Ha Ha! So true. Depending on how your horn sounds and how the Elk takes it, well, ya never know. LOL

[Bob434]

[[What will a bear NOT eat? Aunt Bee’s pickles? Moldy cake?]]

Food past it’s expiration date lol

We used to throw out food for bears, and they will eat anything- from the foulest to the moldiest- had a ton of chicken livers that went bad- and left them out in the sun a few days- went to haul them into woods, and wow- enough to gag a maggot- but some kind of animal gobbled them down- we spotted bear scat in the area after-

[TangoLimaSierra]

Even if you don’t’ fear for your safety, you really should be making it as difficult for them as possible.

Well, tell that to the rangers at Yosemite. Still haven't returned our Claymores.

[Fury]

I guess that leaves Aunt Bee’s pickles. No way a bear is eating those...

[gundog]

I think I’ve read 2 pounds of chocolate will kill a 40 pound dog. Never met a dog that cared.

[The_Media_never_lie]

You probably now know that all food and water bottles should have been locked in your car or truck. Bears have been known to open car/truck doors.

[proud American in Canada]

Sounds like a very pleasant dream... :)

Bet she had a lovely voice. :)

All the best, FRiend.

Julie

[Buttons12]

150-200 is not a large amount of bear, but next time assume there’s more nearby and she’s got an attitude.

[Buttons12]

You’re lucky. We have them in central PA, in towns with city water and mini marts and concrete all over the place, but tucked up between hills. A while back I was driving along the highway and saw what I thought was a huge dog until I was close enough to clip it. It was a bear probably going to make a withdrawal from the McD dumpster.