I guess black bears ARE dangerous...

harrisjnet · #21 06/19/07, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EasyDay

Could you mean "Ouachita" Mountains? (Pronounced "wash-i-tah")

No, Two different mountain ranges. Witchita Mountains are where My. Scott is. It is right outside Ft. Sill or Lawton Oklahoma.

Ouachita Mountains are in the Eastern Part of Oklahoma and into Arkansas.

harrisjnet · #22 06/19/07, 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piney Woods

And what a beautiful area, ladycat. I was camping near Heavener one weekend and spent one LONG night with a bear and a wild plum tree between me and the restroom...

Wrong Mountains, but beautiful country.

northstarpermie · #23 06/19/07, 10:50 PM

In the US, a grizzly is more dangerous. I have lived around black bears my whole life. Check out this link: http://www.bear.org/

Quote:

It remains a fact that wild black bears have killed nearly three dozen people across North America this century, but this is no longer a personal worry. My chances of being killed by a domestic dog, bees, or lightning are vastly greater. Being murdered is 90,000 times more likely. I feel safer deep in the woods with black bears than almost anywhere I can think of.

Quote:

Offensive attacks include all the killings by black bears. These are generally unprovoked, predatory attacks. Most victims were eaten. Offensive, predatory attacks have almost always been in remote areas where the bears had little or no previous contact with people. Black bears that raid campgrounds or garbage cans are almost never involved. The rarity of the killings goes along with the non-confrontational, timid disposition that's been bred into black bears. But why approximately one black bear in 600,000 becomes a killer is a mystery. None of the killers had rabies. Some had common physical problems. There is no consistent explanation.

I have lived around black bears my whole life. I was charged once not knowing I got in between a mother & her cubs. She never attacked, just charged and scared the life outta me. Most animals get aggressive when that happens.

I have gone camping without a gun as well as walked in the woods without a gun 99% of the time without any worries. We have a bear living in a den 1 1/2 miles from our house & I am not worried.

Education is key.

Shadow · #24 06/19/07, 11:21 PM

Lets think this over, teeth one and a half inches long to Two and a quarter, claws up to three inches in length, can easly out run a man, can climb trees weighs up to 850 lbs. many times stronger than a man, eats both vegetation and meat. Me I am flesh and bone, to a wounded or hungry bear I could be thought ot as dinner. WILD ANIMALS THAT ARE THAT BIG ARE DANGEROUS.
We live in extreme north west Alabama and in the past 21 years there has been two with in a half mile of my house. The first was killed second eithr just passed through.

northstarpermie · #25 06/20/07, 07:50 AM

It should be changed to black bears CAN be dangerous.

Just like humans CAN be dangerous.

harrisjnet · #26 06/20/07, 08:00 AM

Black Bears ARE danderous. People don't take them seriousely enough and that is very dangerous. You can bring the bear out of the wild, but you can't get the wild out of a Bear. People have encrouched on their stomping grounds and Bears have grown accustumed to People. That is a very dangerous situation, created by man, not the bears.

pixelphotograph · #27 06/20/07, 01:55 PM

northstarpermies story about being charged by a black bear reminded me of a story i went fly fishing in and there were alot of grizzlys around and my guide said no matter what happens dont run they will chase you and the bear can run faster than you or I.
I told him the joke about i dont have to out run the bear I just have to out run you and he laughed. Then he said it again seriously dont run its the worst thing you can do.
Sure enough we waded around one corner of the river and a grizzly charged us. the guide grabbed me and said remember dont run. He came really close to us did his im a big bear growl stood up on his legs and luckily we were standing in water and were already wet cause I think I may have peed myself LOL

The bear got back down and walked away. The guide said that was a mock charge. I asked him how he knew. He said had it been a real charge we would be dead LOL

**highlands** · #28 06/20/07, 07:10 PM

Black bear? Utah? Seems more likely that would be grizzly. Grizzly bears do come in black and they are much more dangerous than black bears. That is not to say you want to mess with either. We have three black bears that live in our valley - we're in Vermont - one about 300 yards up and along the ridge from us. They leave us along and we leave them alone. The dogs enforce the truce. I would not suggest going out without dogs. As we say, don't be bear bait (or coyote, or cougar, or fisher bait, etc).

tinknal · #29 06/21/07, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by highlands

Black bear? Utah? Seems more likely that would be grizzly. Grizzly bears do come in black and they are much more dangerous than black bears. That is not to say you want to mess with either. We have three black bears that live in our valley - we're in Vermont - one about 300 yards up and along the ridge from us. They leave us along and we leave them alone. The dogs enforce the truce. I would not suggest going out without dogs. As we say, don't be bear bait (or coyote, or cougar, or fisher bait, etc).

Black bears live most everywhere grizzly bears do.

I actually crawled into a den with a hibernating bear a few years ago. I didn't think it was big enough for a den but there he was, sleeping like a log.