Hi all - I wanted to share an encounter I had in Bedford county Pa this past Saturday and see if anyone has ever had a similar experience.
So, I hiked into my stand right about daybreak opening morning. I waited until I could see so I could still hunt my way in. I have a small piece of property that runs from the road to the top of the mountain and I'm bordered by my buddies land who basically owns the rest of the mountain. On top I have two OLD apple trees, some oaks (without acorns this year....) and I've planted a couple feed patches for the game.
I have a ladder stand in an old oak tree near the apple trees that I normally hunt from but in clearing the food plots I pushed brush together and cleared out an area in which to ground hunt, right in the middle of the pile. Prior to Saturday I had cut some shooting lanes and placed a swivel stool in the brush pile so it would be there when I arrived.
So I arrive at the blind uneventfully, sit down on the stool and man did it squeak. I messed with it a few minutes then figured I'd better head to the ladder stand and start carrying my Niff-T-Seat for any future blind hunts.
I walked over to the ladder and without a glove on my non-shooting hand, I grabbed the rungs and ascended the stand. I hung my backpack, sat down and nocked an arrow.
The breeze was behind me and the apple trees are about 3:00 from me as are the fields where the deer would be coming from - perfect setup.
As soon as I settled, I glanced over my shoulder toward the trail that I had walked in on and here comes a black bear. Now we have feeders and trail cameras out from the end of hunting season until August and the bears have been just tearing them apart. So this sighting, although rare, wasn't completely unexpected.
However the fact he was following the exact trail I had just traveled in on was. I kept thinking he has to smell me, I just walked there....
Anyway he proceeded to come toward me and would cross about 10 steps in front of me - exactly the direction the air currents were blowing. As he hit my scent line, I expected him to bolt out of there as only a bear can do.
But to my surprise as soon as he hits my scent line - what does he he do, but throw his nose in the air, sniff a few times and then start walking right toward me!
I'm thinking to myself - you have to be kidding me. So he comes RIGHT to my ladder stand and sniffs the rungs that I just used to climb up (gloveless)! I'm positive he'll run now.
Then he looks up and we make eye contact. As we all know that's a big hunting no/no. So he'll definitely run now right? Nope...instead he walks over to the tree my ladder is leaning against and stands up. Now I'm thinking - nfw, he's not really going to do this is he????
As quick as the thought hits my head - he wraps his arms around the base of the tree and starts coming up to join me!!!
So I quickly stand up and do what every stealth like hunter would do ---- I say "I don't think so - get out of here!!!"....pretty thought provoking huh - Fred would have been proud!
So naturally he runs off -- about 3 steps -- then turns around and looks up at me again. He then starts coming back to the stand and being cool like I am....I ask him if he's deaf?
So he looks up at me turns a bit and walks over to the apple tree and starts eating. Now he stays there for approximately 30 minutes taking apples in his mouth and walking over to a fallen tree, walking on the log like in a video and eats them. A couple of times he looks like he's dancing as he's rubbing his rear-end against the tree. This is all happening at 10-15 yards.
So now I'm thinking - I'll never see a deer while he's hanging out here, so I politely ask him if he's going to eat all the apples or if he plans to leave any for the deer. He looks up and keeps eating (so I guess I have my answer).
About another 15 minutes go by so I politely ask him to leave. He doesn't even look up! So I say "Hey - I'm talking to you!!!" - loud enough that if anyone else was in the woods they'd think I lost my mind.
His only reaction was to glance up at me, then lean over and grab another apple. That's when he glanced back one more time (almost in defiance...) and saunters down the back side of the mountain.
Now my question is - has this bear become so acclimated to people that he's not afraid of us at all? Is that normal? I'm wondering if he associates people with a free meal (no not eating us but all that we leave behind --- at least I hope).
Now he wasn't real old but he wasn't a cub either. He was actually fair sized for that area - I'd guess around 200 lbs, so I'd think he'd been exposed to people enough to be somewhat alarmed by us.
I know it sounds odd but I really feel like he was trailing or looking for me. Came down the path, caught my scent line, sniffed my ladder rung, made eye contact, didn't run when I spoke. I don't have a lot of experiences with bears to draw from but it seemed real odd to me. Has anyone else ever had something similar happen?
Now the cool thing is - this season is the first time I've decided to keep a journal. My first entry is definitely a keeper!!!
I'm very interested in the others opinions. Thx.
Topic: Bear Encounter - do I have an new friend? (Read 839 times)
