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My bear encounter
The Original OldCorps ^ | 4OCT2021 | OldCorps

Posted on 10/04/2021 1:46:11 PM PDT by 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.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: bear; camping; chat; notnews; vanity; wildlife
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To: OldCorps

I live in Central Fla. and the bears are all over the place here. I had one knock over my garbage can and come on my porch looking for cat food. My nephew suggested pouring Pinesol around the porch and putting it on the garbage can. It worked! Mr. Bear goes out every garbage night and avoids my home now.


61 posted on 10/04/2021 7:24:47 PM PDT by sheikdetailfeather
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To: Rebelbase

wow- that’s pretty close encounter for sure- most bears will back off- even mother bears with cubs ‘sometimes’ if they feel they aren’t gonna be attacked if the do back off- but i still would be wary with cubs around-

They say hanging food doesn’t deter the bears too much if it’s hung from tree limbs- but i don’t camp i nbear country so ill never know lol

We used ot have bears come through our property underneath our deck, heading towards apple trees- I woudl sit still, and the bear woudl get right under the deck, then I’d let out a whoop call- and they’d take off like a rocket- it’s scary how fast they can run- there stones flying everywhere as it kicked them up running for the woods-


62 posted on 10/04/2021 10:28:01 PM PDT by Bob434
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To: Fury

hmm, never had those pickles- they that bad?


63 posted on 10/04/2021 10:28:33 PM PDT by Bob434
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To: sheikdetailfeather

I just finished watching an Alaska video about a young couple who have a 2nd home cabin in a remote area. When they leave it they wipe down inside anywhere there has been food with pine oil including the wall and cabinets at the stove area.

The also spray the outside using spray bottles.


64 posted on 10/04/2021 10:45:17 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: Bob434; Fury

Aunt Bea’s pickles, skip to 1:30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vztt_lW-BGw&ab_channel=AMSOMmp


65 posted on 10/04/2021 10:50:24 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: Rebelbase

ah, ok. lol- you meant that aunt bee lol


66 posted on 10/04/2021 11:01:27 PM PDT by Bob434
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To: OldCorps; All

A few bear stories for you all.

I used to stay at a friend’s cottage on the French River in Ontario a few times each summer. There was an unimproved spot on the river that was the garbage dump for the locals, both humans and bears. The standard procedure was to start slapping the side of the boat while 5 or 10 yards away from the dock and yell “Yo Bear” or something like it. A lot of times there would be 3 or 4 bear wandering around the site but even if you couldn’t see them you knew that they were watching us.

My job was to get up on the dock, take the trash bags as far as the mounds of garbage would allow and throw them as far as I could into the pit. My friend’s job was to be ready to throw the motor in reverse in case I had to dive into the boat and skedaddle. Fortunately we never had to.

I also had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Victor Rasputin, the Wrasslin Bear at our local sportsman show many years ago. Victor weighed in the neighborhood of 650 lbs. When the match started, Victor hit me across the chest with his forearm. I’m a big guy myself, not quite half Victor’s weight. With all Victor’s fur padding bone and muscle, what I felt was a gentle breeze, an almost inconsequential zephyr to me, that picked me up off my feat and threw me across the ring. I was able to regain my footing and the last half of the match consisted of the two of us locked in a bear hug, (pardon the pun, but true) and the match ended in a draw. Victor was happy as he got to chug a bottle of Pepsi he got as his reward.

While I don’t have time to look them up, there are a number of Russian youtube videos with bear encounters, as well as a number of Russians who keep them as pets. While bears can be friendly and intelligent I defiantly would NOT want to be around one who was having a bad day. To paraphrase El Rusbo,”Never forget that a bear is a bear”.


67 posted on 10/04/2021 11:09:22 PM PDT by ADemocratNoMore (The Fourth Estate is now the Fifth Column)
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To: OldCorps

Georgia is lousy with bears. They are everywhere. Never put your food 8ft from your tent.

In the several years I had a cabin up in Rabun county I left some food in a pot on the grill one time. One time! And sure enough in the middle of the night the dog started barking and the whole grill crashed over. I flipped on the lights and looked outside but didn’t see anything. Next morning huge paw prints by the side of the deck. My neighbor said that bear ripped the door off her storage shed and ate a 40 lb bag of bird seed.


68 posted on 10/05/2021 7:26:16 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: nuconvert

👍🏼


69 posted on 10/09/2021 8:34:08 PM PDT by kanawa ((Securing the 2022/2024 elections is of paramount importance.))
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