We saw a helluva big black bear as we were coming home last night. It was feeding on berries right in a cutline off the highway. Gorgeous color also, it was dark brown in the hind and lower and faded into a dark reddish up the sides, back and shoulders. Then the face turned back into the same dark brown as the belly.
It was big. The guys in our crew truck thought it was a grizzly (due to the large size) but there was no doubt it was a black bear as it displayed itself on about every angle you could want plus it walked slowly along. No hump, no big round head, etc... had an ass like a washing machine...
Goddamn I couldn't believe the ####ty luck! It is exactly the color and size of black bear that any bear hunter would want, but there was no way to get to town and then back out to where it was before darkness. But I wanted to!!