Anyone have any experience with bears on the trails? Any good stories?
I saw one once here in southern California, but it just ran across the trail, and didn't even look at me. It was only a black bear, and pretty small too.
Four years ago in late May I was out running in Emigrant, Montana, while staying at the Mountain Sky Guest Ranch. About a mile and a half in, on a trail bordered by two pretty steep hills, I noticed a black bear cub up one of the hills and about 300 yards away. I turned back from whence I came and ran much faster than I had in a very long time. I was pretty frightened.
I'd rather see a bear than a mountain lion.
In Yellowstone, before you are allowed to camp in the backcountry they make you watch a video.
One of the parts is what to do when you encounter a bear. If it's a black bear they tell you to straight up fight it if it comes at you. If it's a grizzly, you play dead.
Keep that in mind next time you encounter a bear on your run. Here's hoping it's a black bear.
neither one's going to do sh!t. Stop being pansies.
Is playing dead really that effective? What if you could run and get a tree between you and it.
how does anybody know for sure if a bear will attack you or not? if it has a cub nearby it could easily attack you, and bear's can run as fast as human's can, not to mention they can climb.
Between a mountain lion and a bear, I would rather encounter a bear...bust neither sound like nice option.
Before you all start claiming you'd rather encounter a bear than a mountain lion, maybe you should look at the statistics. There have been over a hundred fatal bear attacks North America in the last hundred years (About half by black bears and half by brown bears). In that same time period, there have been about 20 fatal mountain lion attacks (almost all of them on children).A full grown brown bears can weigh almost eight to ten times as much as a mountain lion.
I've never come across a bear while running, but I did nearly run into a Sasquatch once.
This one time, I was running on a trail in Virginia and this black bear was behind me. I was doing intervals and once he noticed, he joined me. We both had a very good workout and bathed in the river afterwards. So some bears are friendly.
From the article:
What to do if you encounter a Black Bear
- Never run away -- Running from a predator triggers an attack response.
- Always face the bear -- Most are reluctant to attack an opponent head on.
- Talk to the bear quietly -- Let it know you are there. Try yelling if it approaches, but talking quietly usually works better.
- Back up slowly, but always keep your eyes on the bear.
- Play dead only after a bear attacks -- Playing dead is only of value if the bear views you as a threat, as would a mother with cubs. Playing dead without being attacked can actually invite an attack by a curious bear.
Source: Black Bears, A Natural History by Dave Taylor
mullinsm wrote:
- Back up slowly, but always keep your eyes on the bear.
I did this, didn't watch where I was going, and ended up stepping on a cub.
This event really changed my life. Change that f*cked me up. Kind of like Obama's BS slogan "Change we can believe in", his change will f*ck us up.
ultra fan wrote:
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/story.html?id=d9a4c307-468c-4d40-a897-a5164de9a519Anyone have any experience with bears on the trails? Any good stories?
I saw one once here in southern California, but it just ran across the trail, and didn't even look at me. It was only a black bear, and pretty small too.
Everybody knows that story is bulls h i t. The only bears they have in Canada are polar bears. That's why Canadians stay in their igloos; so they don't get eaten by the polar bears.
I would just say skip all that garbage and pack some heat on your person. 9mm at the least, with a full magazine. Of course then you will have PETA all over your hands, but its better than being dead or "playing dead."
i live in northwestern montana, aka the largest population of grizzly bears in the lower 48. So I've had a bunch of experience running in bear territory.
For the most part, bears want absolutely nothing to do with humans. They're terrified of us and the irrationality we runners present to them as we're running up the trail. Behind my house, I've run into bears about a dozen times. Every single time that I have seen them, including twice with cubs, the bears have taken off in the other direction as hard as they possibly could.
It still shook me up and I don't take these experiences lightly. However, it's a great experience to not feel like the top dog in the world. It's a feeling that causes immense respect, amazement, and fear.
So i carry bear spray, run away from the smells of dead carcasses, and make noise when i see a large scat. Otherwise, the other bear tips someone gave are great. However, don't stare the bear in the eyes. Yes, face them, but look down away from them so that they know that you know the bear is present but don't want to fight.
mullinsm wrote:
- Play dead only after a bear attacks -- Playing dead is only of value if the bear views you as a threat, as would a mother with cubs.
Source: Black Bears, A Natural History by Dave Taylor
Ha ha ha... good luck. Word of advice - don't play dead if a black bear actually takes you on (very unlikely). Oh, and black bears almost never attack in defense of their cubs, crazy as that sounds.
Why is bear shit called "scat"?
How is scat different from say,dung or crap or shit or turds?
If a human shits in the woods, could it be called scat?
I have seen a dozen of bears on the trail, and all have run away or ignored me. I have seen one cougar, and it came after me, and only relented by extensive close-range confrontation. If a mt. lion actually allows you to see it, it likely up to no good. So in a devil's bargain I would go with seeing the bear.
OTOH I know a guy personally who lost an eye and a lot of scalp to a Grizzly. I imagine he has some unpleasant dreams about that one.
BTW Wikipedia lists 22 NA fatalities by cougars, however I know of at least two that are not listed (male runner,CO, 18, mid-90's and female runner, late 30's CA, early 2000's)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_cougar_attacks_in_North_America_by_decade
Fact: Bears eat beets. Bears, beets, Battlestar Gallactica.