saw a bear last night!

[frank_zappa]

i was at my gf's place out in western massachusetts...we headed out the door to hop in her vehicle and she let her dog out. the dog ran right over to some pine trees maybe 15 yards away and was growling. it was pitch dark out and we figured, raccoon...we called the dog over to the car, put it in the car with us cause we could hear something up in the tree and we put the headlights on and saw the black bear back on the ground running off. we had probably been less than 20 yards from it when we walked out the door with it on the ground when her little 50 lb dog ran it up a tree! ha...it was pretty cool

[KingFisher]

Bears are col. We see them occasionally at our camp. It's always exciting to see them. One of these times, I hope to get pictures of one.

[Northernguy]

It is a thrill to see them.
I have seen hundreds around here and I still find them to be a fascinating animal.Same as when I see elk moose or whatever it is.

[Brookfish]

We have nothing exciting like bears in these parts, how dangerous
are black bears? I know grizzly's are not to be messed with.

[lobsternoob]

Cool, I've seen a good few (probably nowhere near as many as NG) up close in my life. Last time I saw one I was out camping, and my first reflex was to pop a shot off at it because it scared the heck outta me. Don't worry I didnt... I watched it for about an hour from a decent distance, they're pretty awesome animals.

Black bears are honestly about as dangerous as grizzlies, when you really get down to the basics. If you invade their space, or piss them off you're in a world of hurt. It's a bear, the dang thing could tear a human apart if it wanted too, keyword, wanted. The difference is the grizzly will just rip you apart faster and more efficiently, and they're much more cranky from what I know. They're really not much to worry about though, keep your distance and they won't bother you unless you leave loose food out, they have an amazing sense of smell.

[Ryuu]

Thats cool! I never saw a bear lol, but hope to

[wlepse]

We see them all the time by me, the only time they are really a problem is with animals. The majority of the time they try to get away but they certainly won't back down either. Most of the problems around me are from missing livestock and one guy that got beat up by a momma bear that wanted his sandwich.

But I did see something really cool this weekend. I knew they could climb trees but didn't realize how good they were at it until I saw a (guessing) about 70 pounder in a tree about 50 feet up and the tree was only like 60feet. From a distance I just thought it was a squirrel nest, then I saw it move. I wouldn't have thought the branches were strong enough up there but pretty cool to see.

[frank_zappa]

everything i know about black bears is that they are typically very skittish and dont really want to be around you too much at all, unless of course you have something they want to eat. take extra care if there is a mother bear and cubs. oh and dont ever climb a tree to get away, the first thing the mother bear will do is send her cubs up a tree and if they go up the tree that you climbed up youre in trouble. that goes for grizzly bears too. i was surprised to learn that they can climb trees as well if they feel like it.

one other thing...if a grizzly attacks you youre supposed to play dead and it may leave you alone. if a black bear attacks you, although rare, it intends to kill you and you are supposed to fight like hell. ive spent lots of time where there are bears but this is my first actual sighting. i was thankful when i didnt see them camping in alaska...

oh yeah, brookfish....absolutely no bear is to be messed with. not even the cute panda bears!

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[BirdOfPray]

I went to Baylor University, and our mascot is a bear. They keep a couple of black bears on campus -- I think the facility is actually licensed as a small zoo. Their names are Lady and Joy. I had a student-worker job doing photography for the PR department, so I got my fair share of photo shoots with the bears. It was pretty safe to be around them, but the bear handlers also took a lot of precautions and made sure people respected the bears and their space. They took them for walks on campus, with the bears on a chain leash and an escort of several handlers to keep a perimeter around the bears and keep curious students from getting too close. The bears also went to home football games.

They didn't look as intimidating as a grizzly would be, but I sure wouldn't want to mess with them, either. And I'm sure the fact that these bears were domesticated and somewhat trained makes a big difference, but I did still get to see their size and strength.