Everybody should get a game camera, boy do they fill ya in on what really is going on. I have a bushnell trophy cam and we were getting 200-300 picts a day. We had over 20 bear coming in, never realized there were so many bear so close to the house.
I have one buddy who has been mauled twice in his life and he hates bear with a passion, like they're rats. He shoots every bear he sees too, ha.
Bear are viewed as dangerous pests in rural Ak, people just shoot them and forget about it and there has never been any kind of shortage of bears around.
Every May-JUne, the grizz come down off the summit to pick off all the moose calves, you'll often catch them walking down the dirt road, looking to cause trouble. School's still going on then and boy you should see how quick bear are shot when they start looking kids over at the school bus stop in the mornings. That is pretty normal all over rural Alaska though. Bear learn pretty quick to stay away from humans. Probably fish in that creek. Kids were probably wondering why all the dead salmon were laying 10 yards from the creek on the game trail through the Alders. Oh My yu Easterners?
I know exactly what you mean, hunted Browns last year on the Nushagak River about 150 miles north of Dillingham.
Those trails are spooky things, made triply so when those damned alders are involved.
Even the guides acted verrrry carefully when on them.