The last few years my hunting partner and I have been packing into the Sierra Nevada Mtns for deer hunting. We hunt with pack frames on our backs so we can bone out our deer quickly and pack out the meat and cape on the way out back to camp. Last year I shot a nice black bear that had laid claim to the remaining boned out deer skeleton and gut pile. He had covered the remains with grass and seemed to be guarding it. Has anyone had similar experiences? We have spotted some good bears(400-500lb class) on scouting trips in this area. How dangerous can Mr Blackie be when retrieving and packing out downed deer?

In my opinion I trust Blackie the least of course our Griz population was not real high just medium.
In Dawson Creek the bad actors were always the blacks if they had been around people.
That being said we never worried about them that much just never left the rifle out of arms reach.
In Saskatchewan we have had some attacks from bears doing the territorial claiming of carrion.
I belive one of the human attacks in Sask. was a member of one of the city police forces fishing. As he was wading in the river fishing and came around a bend he was attacked by a bear coming off a dirt pile. It was quite a struggle and if memory serves he won with a belt knife and keeping his cool. When the DNR went in to track down the bear it was discovered that dirt pile was another partially eaten fisherman. Again if memory is correct the bear was found a short distance away bled out from knife wounds. To remain cool in face of what must have been a terrifying charge has my admiration.

Here in Alaska, the only bears I have had problems with are blacks. That is not to say that browns won't cause problems, but they are more leary of humans that the blacks in my experience.

Black bears are most agrressive just prior to and after hibernation. One experience I had near Strawberry on Highway 50 between Sac and Lake Tahoe was a small black 2 or 3 year old in April he was defending a trashcan to all comers, that included passing traffic and people going into a nearby resturaunt. Unfortunately he took on a passing truck and it killed him. He had been tagged as a nuisance bear before.

Where I live, is suppose to have one of the highest concetrations of black bear per square mile in the world. I don't trust them, but nobody has been hurt by a bear around here since I've moved here 5 years ago. Black bears are scavengers and will eat anything, during the spring they raid everybodies garbage cans and cause all kinds of mess. A friend of mine was out deer hunting a couple years ago and shot a deer but before he could get to it, a bear decided it wanted it first. A warning shot scared the bear away, but it didn't go far. The bear stayed within sight until the deer got packed out.Like I said I don't trust them!!!

One thing I can tell you is, Dont ever get in between a mother and her cubs. I was in Pennsylvania sleeping outside. My rhodesian ridgeback woke up in the middle of night and bolted. There was a terrific brawl, then the 120lb dog ran past me with a momma bear behind him. She skided 2 ft in front of me snarling and stomping the ground. I could not move at all I felt she was going to charge me, My dog came back and got in between me and the bear. He pushed her real hard and she finaly retreated. We had several dogs in the cabin which we cut loose and in a minute we had momma and three cubs treed.One of the cubs was missising some fur ( my guess was my dog shook the cub and then momma came to the rescue)All in all I have not slept outside in bear country scince

[This message has been edited by Frank (edited 04-23-2001).]

In Wis. WE have had serval black bear attacks a year for the past 4 or 5 years. The population has just been jumping up. Like any bear or other wild beast. They can attack will they sometimes most of the tmie no. Be alert and carefull.

The blacks can be a concern, especially since they are the smartest creature in the wild, besides the humans fishing, trapping, and hunting...

In Minnesota, we have plenty of blacks and enough attacks to know that in the spring especially, one is prudent shouldering a rifle when spring beaver trapping or scouting for fall hunts...

For me, I carry a 45 Colt Revolver and a Russian Mosin M59/31 carbine (short, easy to carry military surplus) in 7.62X54mm whenever I wander far from the cabin in NE Minnesota...after two mock charges from sows, I feel a bit more safe with the firearms ...

Dead

If memory serves, there was a fatal mauling in the Great Smokies National Park last year.
Some of the bears in resort/ski areas here in NC become very brazen and frequently kill or injure family pets when confronted. Can't be too careful.

I second Frank's opinion on black bears here in PA. One of the interesting stories locally a few years ago was of a black bear mauling an archery hunter. It attacked him from behind as he was walking down a logging road. Whether it was a sow with cubs nearby or whatever was never determined. The guy lived, but, he was lucky.
I think one of the problems with black bears is that they are commonly thought of as being 'cute and cuddly' instead of a wild, potentially dangerous, animal. The local newspaper's outdoors editor related a story of a neighbor of his who was trying to get a picture of his granddaughter next to a small black bear that had appeared in his back yard. He was trying to lure it toward her with honey on bread. About five minutes after the newspaper guy convinced grandpa of his stupidity and got the little girl out of there, momma bear showed up. That kid would have been kibble.
Black bears are wild and unpredictable and should be treated with respect. If you're in the outdoors in bear country, you should certainly be packing something.
R-WEST

Despite being bluff charged, woofed at, having my camp beat up, my chain oil and gas cans mauled, crashing my bike right into one and even my beer drunk right out of the cooler, I'm not afraid of black bears.

I do respect them and don't underestimate them. Just skin out a large black bear and look at it's massive upper body muscles, and you won't ever call them a wimp again.

Most problem bears I've been able to drive off with loud noises and well placed stones aimed at their butt. Sometimes I've shot at the dirt infront of them, and that makes them move.

I wouldn't be too worried about blacks when actually carrying meat, but to try to scare one off a claimed food source could be unhealthy. Tie your meat in a tree a bit away from camp.

Gentlemen, a black bear did indeed kill a woman in the Great Smoky Mountains park last year. The case was very unusual because the confrontatation was not the usual bear-looking-for-food-in-the-camp situation. This woman had hiked up a small stream. Her male companion split up with her to fish for a while.

The tracks clearly demnonstrated what happened next: the bear stalked and attacked the woman for food. I believe the bear was shot.

I read another account of an eastern NC bowhunter being bitten on the boot by a female black bear, who climbed the tree after the hunter when her cubs were startled. The man's treestand prevented the bear from getting her teeth into him, but his boots were torn. There are some huge bears in eastern NC, with one of 878 lbs. taken two or so years ago.

Talus