Pesky Bear

[tippit]

We've had a few aggressive bears in Quebec over the years but no one has ever been touched by a black bear in eighteen years.  Quite the contrary, Allen was the one who touched a cub climbing his tree this year  :eek:  

With false charges or a bear just acting too interested in you, You certainly did the right thing...make yourself big, noise, and throw things at him.  Their eye sight isn't their best sense so you need to make him very aware of you.  Also pepper spray is illeagal in Canada...Doc

[bentpole]

Larry , I just thought of something.... What if we stopped at the Crossroads Diner BEFORE we went into he woods Saturday. Do you think Mr. Bear would have smelled the bacon, eggs, frenchtoast, syrup, homefries, and coffee on you?

[joe skipp]

I also hunt Jersey with Brian (BJK) and Southpaw and Bamboo and Fedrizzi....bears are a problem. Bamboo and I encountered one very large bear that prevented us from bowhunting a certain area.He just wouldn't leave.....Bamboo has had a few run ins with sows and cubs...thank God he's light on his feet...    

Jersey needs to re-evaluate the bear problem. Lack of fear and too many black bear in the woods will soon lead to bear/hunter confrontation and if the bear is killed in self defense, I'm sure a citation will still be written by the Fish and Game....

Maybe someone should take Gov Corzine hunting with them in prime bear area and let him know what its like being stalked by a large boar or worse yet....a sow with 3 scared cubs!!! I guarantee the laws would be changed real fast.

[BigRonHuntAlot]

HHHMMMM  I sure have alot I would like to say but will refrain on a public forum at this time. LOL  Bears don't have rights when it comes to personal protection.  

[Charlie Cole]

you know, I was walking to my spot on saturday here in NC and walked up on a BIG black bear eating peanuts from the field. Got somewhere within 35-40 yards, on foot. We sorta surprised each other- thank  God he decided he'd rather take off than whup me and go back to eating peanuts!  

I spent the rest of my afternoon reading my regs to see what'd happen if I had to shoot him. I'm guessing it wouldn't have been pretty.

Sure am glad it's not just me that this stuff happens to. And no, I didn't see any deer that day, either- unusual at that spot.

[Carbon Caster]

Originally posted by tippit:
Also pepper spray is illeagal in Canada...Doc

It is illegal to bring it accross the border, but it is legal to buy, posess, and use here in Alberta.  I don't know about Qubec.

BTW- I got some moose blood on that Bird and Trout knife you sent me!!!!

[Matty]

OK I read everyones post cause I'm OHHH so curious.  All kidding aside I cant sleep at night when I hunt cause I'm thinking theres a bear in my camp...I mean NOT A WINK!!  Here in Colorado I dont think theres been a person attacked in decades, Lions are the Big prey here, EITHER WAY I CARY my .357 at ALL TIMES, I lay there all night knowing exactly where it is and am on EDGE ready to bust out Blasting, Call me crazy, maybe it's cause i'm sicilian....LOL. But if it goes between me and a bear I can tell you I'll be sleeping on a fluffy Black rug when the dust clears....  Am I a coward..I guess so... Not something I would ever want to do , BUT.....

[Recurve50LBS]

Hey Tom, I'm sure if we had stopped for that great breakfast before we hunted you just might have heard a very loud belch from my bear after making a meal out of me.   :D  

On the other hand this experiance did rattle my cage a bit. The part that makes my blood boil is that I know that as a NJ hunter I have no right to defend myself against an aggressive bear. So if I needed to shoot the bear the other morning I sure as heck woulden't tell a soul about it for fear of being dragged into court by our tree hugging ruling state government. I'd sure have no soft rug to lay on inside my cozy jail cell either. I bet the govenor would wind up with the bear rug for his office in Trenton.

Shooting the bear was the last thing that I wanted to do that morning. I'm glad it ended the way it did with no holes in my hide and no holes in the bear's. I just walked away with an awesome story to share with my trad hunting friends.

[bentpole]

"Very Loud Belch from my bear" That's funny Larry.

[Gator1]

I'd carry a Rib Eye, and the next time, give it a toss and run like H_ _ _ _ _...

[Curveman]

Doc, pepper spray is not illegal in Canada, you just can't bring it from the States across the border. They sell it at the place we pick up our licenses. Didn't buy any myself.

[Billy]

you Jersey guys should tell the story about the 'wounded bear rescue team'....
 I've listened to the news reports on NRA's radio show and ya'll got it BAD out there.
 From destroying Fish and Game 'nuisance bear' traps; to getting in a hunters face - in the field mind you....
 Hope you guys can find a way to protect yourselves.

[Luckyned]

Never trust a bear! (prolly quoted by the guy who got bit feeding one while attempting to teach it a new trick)

 I'm in PA and we sat out the 1st couple archery seasons because of bears hanging outside the cabin door. Now a days, I treat them on an escaliting scale of respect.

 Young, dumb, and large..same as I would a human.. I hand it a cookie as I apologize for my behavoir..while I cock the pepper spray. Young, dumb, and shorter than me.. I offer the cookie and lay on my elderly advice. Big, fat bore..that is atleast half my age and smart enuff to get that old..that has a problem with me and we can't explain ourselves with a few moments..no cookie, no pepper..cock the 45 and promise I won't use it til I feel teeth!

 I know we all like a good monster..these aren't it in my view...or maybe I've been lucky~  :p

[BamBooBender]

A couple of years ago I had a large bear coming straight towards me. I was in a tree stand so I wasn't really concerned at first.Plus, I am from north Tx so seeing a bear in the wild was kinda cool (for a while).I thought for a moment about letting him come right in to get a good look at him, but it was gonna get dark soon and I figured I should run him off.  So I tried rapping a few arrows together, he didn't seem to pay any attention to that. Then I tried talking to him, he stopped for moment staring in my direction, but then just kept on coming towards me. I remember thinking how his eyes reminded me of a pigs eyes. Anyway, this was starting to get less "cool" by the moment. He,or she (don't really know for sure), stops about twenty yards out staring right up at me. About the only thing I was sure of right then was that I was feeling a lot less secure in my position up in that tree.It was only a small pine about 10" in diameter, and I was about 12' up. After a few long moments of wondering what to do I remembered reading something about how making metallic sounds was an almost guaranteed way to alarm wild animals. So I reached into my fanny pack and pulled out a redi edge type knife shrapener and whacked it hard against the stand a couple of times. That did the trick. The bear got a nervous look on it's face for a second, then bolted away. I listened to it run for what seemed  like at least two hundred yards, and then I still waited a good ten minutes before I climbed down.
 I 'll tell you what, I walked the rest of the way out the woods on full alert with a nocked arrow. lol      

Now I know you "ain't sposed to do that" but at that point I figured it was the least of my concerns.

[Robhood23]

Curveman,
   Your pic looks like the add for my clothing wash. It realy stands out!!! just an fyi

[Rich LaBombard]

I don't have bear experience, but there is a cool story in the "American Bowyers" book (profiles of about 30 bow builders) where M.R. Hamilton talks about having a large male black bear come up the tree after him, shaking the tree, etc.  
Hamilton lost his arrows in all the action, etc.
Pretty good story.  the bear was later shot with a rifle.
Be careful out there.

[Caddo]

Tough situation, You're danged if you do and danged if you don't. Glad it all worked out for you.

Whom ever said "Never trust a Black Bear" was exactly right. After 11yrs in Alaska I learned that lesson all to well.

Sometimes we're forced into makeing some tough decisions. Being the self-preservationist that I am, I always remember, as a last resort, the SSS option. Shoot, Shovel, Shut-up. JMHO

LD

[bentpole]

Yep Bamboobender it does work. Afew years back I had a couple of does around me for a while.Always stayed outof range. Any way they drifted off into a thicket. A few minutes later I hear a ruckess I say oh boy they're coming back. Closer and closer noisier and nosier . That's when I said to myself not deer too noisey. Then out pops two little cubs. With Mama back about twenty yards they nosed around for about a half hour. Now daylight is dwindling. Here comes the one cub right to the base of my tree to smell the glove I had dropped. Then his/her brother/sister comes over and puts a paw on the tree and starts climbing. With that Mama comes over . I yelled ,the cubs take off Mama doesn't. Mama looks at me and starts popping her teeth. Well I said enough already I took my tree set from around the tree and start banging it around my tree stand metal to metal she finally walked off. I came down that tree pretty quick and took the long way out... . One of many tales.Metal to metal does work at least that time.

[longbow111]

I hunted in northern WI. last Sat.and while on stands for about 7hrs. I saw 8 bears all in bow range.Really gets the old ticker pumping walking out at dark.

[Curveman]

Robhood23,

I know what you are saying and generally I would agree. Nice bear I got from that stand though this year and my friend arrowed one from it a few days later, and two BIG honkin' bears came out RIGHT beside me last year! Killed one last year as well that was from a stand just as low and exposed. (If you have seen the video from "Quebec Quest" the one where my friend Allen touches the cub, you'll see what I mean). The stands were set up by our "advance team" and have been successful for years. I like the low shot angle for the smallish kill zone on a bear but it wouldn't be my deer set-up obviously. I wear a head mask and stay very still. Seems to work with these critters.