Black Bears can be Dangerous!!

Demonical

Demonical

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Location
Whitecourt, Alberta
I will be the first person to admit that I don't take black bears too serious. A couple weeks ago we had that run-in with Yellow Face, when he was bluff charging and threat displaying. That bear never concerned me.


But I had an experience tonight that did.

I'll post the sequence of pictures that I took, the story can sorta be seen, just from them.



I was on my ATV mooching along slowly, just north of my moose hunting camp. On the loggin trail I spotted some smoking fresh bear tracks. I knew the bear had just travelled through and there could be a chance of running into him.
Well I maybe went 100 yards and there he was. I stopped and glassed him. The bear moved away. At first I thought he had spooked and run, but I peeked around the corner and there he was.
So I stopped the quad, grabbed my camera and then I thought, "What the heck, take the .338WM just in case..."

Hunting036.jpg

The bear moving casually along.

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I'm including every pic, even though these 4 look pretty much identical. The thing is the bear was already throwing up warning signals here. He was aware of me, but just stood and looked, while I took these 4 pics.

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Then he goes back to feeding like I am not even there...

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It's actually not black but a dark, dark chocolate brown with a tan muzzle. Nice looking bear; he's 6' and maybe just a bit over. A very solid bear.

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I whistled at him here.

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He is again aware and looking at me but is not afraid. Hmmm...

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Now he stands up to look at me.

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As soon as he dropped down to all-fours I could see something about his body language that was not right. Plus he hopped stiff-legged and did a bluff charge after this pic...

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And now he starts to come.

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When he hit this log and hit that pose I knew things were not good.

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And he keeps coming...

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And coming...



After that last picture, which was like 35 yards, the bear was not stopping and was advancing steadily. All his body language said that he was going to f**k me up!
At that point I put the camera away and I yelled at the bear. It did not pause.

I knew things were at the point where I would shoot him or he was going to come big-time, right away. So I took the only option left, right after he came off that log, I fired into the mud about 6" in front of and dead-center of the f**kers feet, with my .338WM. That stopped him and made him dance backwards 10'.
But you know, that goddamn bear did not run. He just walked away.

As I walked back to my ATV I kept glancing back because "he was not your average bear". He definitely had my attention.

After I got on the quad and drove up around the corner, goddamn if that son-of-a-##### was not still right there on the logging trail. And then he went into the display s**t, where he started biting every tree he came to!
Then he started jaw popping! And finally he made an exaggerated display of aggressively feeding right in front of me; really ripping out big clots of grass.

So at that point I just wanted to be rid of the prick and I suddenly hammered the throttle of the quad and accelerated right at him. That finally made him break and run, and I was some glad to see him run off.


I have one major problem though, we might have trouble with him come fall hunting season. The fact that a .338WM right at his feet, did not make him run is bad, very bad. I probably should have shot the bastard.


So he has earned the nick-name Bad News, and altered my opinion of black bears. :mad:
 
Might be tame from feeding??
looks like hes expecting something, a handout maybe??

Any possibility hes a bear caught around a city and re released in the wilderness??

Either /or
good post and food for thought, Going camping then Bring a gun...period.


I wonder how fast a 69 cal patched round ball atop 70 grains of ffg would drop him?

Cheers
 
More info. Why were you f'n with him?
Were you hunting? Was he on your land etc etc?
Details. Without details it just sounds like you were out pestering wildlife for no reason. (which I did not say you were:) )
 
You have more patients than I do!
I had one pop his jaw at me before in a close incounter not to far from the house. Until you experience a big black bear that is not afraid of humans you have no idea how much danger your in. I shot the one i had a problem with because it was not in the deep woods and he was a looker as well, he came to our home I did not go to his and teh biggest reason was this ws not the first encounter but the most aggressive.

I do think Black bears adapt better to hummans from what i read about the big brown fellows. This is scarry in a way because Ontarios Bear population is scarry high in rural parts. I am sure its only a matter of time.
 
Anytime that a bear, approaches you is cause for concern. There are no hard and fast rules that identify when a bear's actions might become dangerous, but one element can be that a predatory bear will lock his eyes on his target, and will not be distracted. That did not seem to be the case with the bear in your pics, but neither does it mean that a disinterested bear cannot suddenly become dangerous once the range has closed. If you cannot drive a bear away after a several attempts, it might be time to consider other options.
 
I knew things were at the point where I would shoot him or he was going to come big-time, right away. So I took the only option left, right after he came off that log, I fired into the mud about 6" in front of and dead-center of the f**kers feet, with my .338WM. That stopped him and made him dance backwards 10'.
But you know, that goddamn bear did not run. He just walked away.




I have said this in other threads, about the effectiveness of using live fire to deter or drive bears away. This is the typical response I have experienced, yet the same bear might run like his tail was on fire from the flash-bang of a cracker shell.
 
I do not think its fair to say Demonical was screwing with the bear at all.

If you spend enough time in the woods, you will come accross an ignorant bear.

I would have liekly done the same thing if I came accross it
 
I havent been charged or approached like that by a black bear but I can imagine the pucker factor was pretty high. I get the hibigeebies just from the buggers that dont leave the bait pile even when your climbing out of your stand (20yrds away) to go home.
 
If you had not fired that rifle what would that bear have done?
Very dangerous situation!
One can only hope some nice hiker doesn't come into his territory or there might be another tragedy :(
I have NO love for bears (orchard destroyers), especially if they are as overpopulated as here in Ont, I know what I would have done had I been in your position & no it wasn't sh*t my pants, that might have come later ;)
 
Nice bear pics Demonical. Thanks for sharing them. You shouldn't have called (whistled) him if you didn't want him to come & visit you :p. Were you in a wilderness area? or were there farms/homes nearby? Like someone else mentioned, I pity the hiker that comes across that bear.

George
 
FYI, I was hunting black bears, but this bear was not big enough for me to want to shoot; I was prepared to shoot him in self defense.

I think the bear was about 60 yards away, the first time I whistled to attract his attention. I just wanted him to turn so I could get good pics, and that worked. Then he went ahead further up the trail and in behind that tree and I whistled again (several times).
When he came out from behind there, I thought he would just come forward a bit, but it became obvious very quickly that he was dangerous. His attitude was pure belligerence. He approached very deliberately. A couple of times it was almost like he was gauging me (when to attack).

An important fact; the wind was in my face, so he never had identified what I was.

The area where I met this bear is deep wilderness; far, far from any human settlements. I doubt he has had any contact with people.

I think he is just a belligerent bear, a bear with an attitude... a BAD ATTITUDE. He's BAD NEWS .

After I caught up to him the second time and he went into the tree biting and jaw popping, I thought seriously about shooting the bastard, but decided not to. I may regret the decision later, since as I said, my moose hunting camp is only 1/2 a mile from where this ####### was.

Also that bear has been patrolling that trail steady. I've been through there a lot of times this spring and his tracks are everywhere; lot's of trips he has walked right up my fresh quad tracks. Maybe he is staking territory.

I would really like to meet the son-of-a-##### in about 8 years, with a spring bear tag in my pocket, and then I'll make a rug out of him.
 
Wow Demonical! Sounds like you came up against one tough bear! There are not too many that don't head for the hills with a warning shot... Hopefully a less experienced person/persons don't run into this meany... Maybe the 3 S's could apply to this bear, if not just to protect others that may run into the sob...

Cheers
Jay
 
I spend a lot of time at camp alone clearing our ATV trails before each moose season.and I don't play well with black ones. I see a bear I back away and I expect him to do the same.
 
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