Similarly not a bear expert, but ... It also seems to depend on whether
they are truly wild or some moron has been feeding them. There were big
problems on Mount Lemmon, north of Tucson, because of a combination of
campers being careless with food and residents intentionally feeding the
bears. One woman had ... believe it or not ... been putting out gallons of
ice cream for them for a long time. Under those circumstances they get
much harder to deal with, in this case one actually going into a tent and
very severely mauling a teenaged girl. The ice cream lady finally really
got into big trouble. I don't know whether she did jail time, but she
should have.

Mary Ann Chapman
Seattle

At 07:37 PM 6/8/2005, Roger wrote:

>Hi All
>
>Not a bear expert here but I have had three encounters with bears while
>birding were the closest I actually came was within 15' of a bear that just
>did not know I was there. This was in an area that is routinely posted for
>bears and there is usually very little contact. In two of the three cases
>(same bear) I had a choice, either walk 2 1/2 miles back to my car or make
>a request for the bear to move instead of the 1/4 mile that was what I had
>left.
>
>Requests can be made by backing up a reasonable distance then finding a
>dead branch and smacking it against a tree trunk or something else where it
>will create a loud cracking sound. It's a strange feeling to see a big
>black head all of a sudden loom over the top of bushes along side a trail
>were you were just about to pass when you saw those bushes moving in a
>manner that did not suggest the wind. In both of these cases the bear
>obligingly moved off the trail and after a suitable wait I made my way by.
>Bears are actually quite noisey if the underbrush is thick so you can hear
>them move off.
>
>The close encounter was very much like Joy's were I was standing at the
>side of a rural road and could bearly (pun intended) hear some movement
>through the brush. It took a few seconds to click in as to the fact that I
>was probably listening to a bear so I backed up to my vehicle which was
>about 100' away. As I reached it a very large bear crossed the road exactly
>where I had been standing and went merrily on it's way. I don't think it
>even knew I was there. The wind was blowing from behind it.
>
>I don't know what I would have done if either of these bears had charged
>but running was not an option as there was really not too may places to go
>plus the fact that if you run you automatically lose any authority that you
>may have had to run a bluff.
>
>Bears, for the most part, are predictable but there is always the chance
>you will stumble on to a cranky one. Within a couple of miles of where I
>had my bear encounter there was a young female with a cub that took to
>chasing down women bike riders that passed close to where she was holed up.
>Fortunately they were not seriously hurt and the bear was dicovered to have
>a tooth abscess when she was finally shot.
>
>Roger Craik
>Maple Ridge BC
>
>
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