Scary bears

[awoodsman]

Hello

If you have been travelling in bear country and met bears id like to hear, i have so far only
been hiking in non bear area of finland so i have never met any, but id like to go to northern finland next summer. Even though there are not as many bears as in america there still are some.

From what i have read on internet people say bears will try to avoid humans but its still kind of scary to me.

I know you dont have bears in UK but id like to hear bear stories if you have been in bear country and would you be nervous about bears?

 

[forrestdweller]

I saw an Asiatic black bear(ursus tibetanicus)last year in Japan which was pretty exiting..... .there was a dry riverbed between us and the bear did not know I was there; occasionally you see them but I never heard of any attacks of bears onto humans.
lots of hikers use those s*** f****** bear bells (which spook all wildlife....) instead of open eyes and common sense.....

 

[Palaeocory]

Bears are usually fine, they are only a danger if they are protecting their cubs, you surprise them, or they want your food (or they're a stupid juvenile that's too curious for their own good). Usually they're way more scared of you, and loud noises and throwing stuff at them will deter them if they get too close. It's important to not keep any food in your tent when camping in bear country - they have amazing noses! Use bear canisters and hang things from trees away from you. Don't be careless, if you forgo taking precautions it teaches bears to come close and snuff around for food and associate campers with rewards. Therefore more touristy areas with bears can actually be more dangerous!

My dad works in the bush as a logger, and they always tried to be loud trudging around, with things hanging off their packs and talking. Someone had to have a gun if it was grizzly country.

I grew up in a village with a lot of bears (just black bears) - they were a big nuisance and if you didn't keep your garbage locked up in an industrial bomb proof fortress, they'd somehow get in and make a huge mess, and carry off bin bags strewing them everywhere. They also sent the dogs mad, and made my mother bring us inside when she thought a bear was nearby (our dog was a good bear alarm). It was usually a juvenile, the adults knew better than to go poking around in people's yards.

 

[Hoodoo]

I've run into grizzly bears in the backcountry of Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and the foothills of the Mission Mountains Wilderness and black bears in the backcountry of the Porcupine Mountains State Park and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I've also come across black bears while doing field work in national forests in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Saw a baby bear up a tree there and I'm sure momma was not far away. About all I can say is that each encounter was exciting. The scariest situation was in the Porcupines when a bear came into camp at night. It's always a good idea in bear country to avoid high traffic "designated campsites" because you don't know who camped there previously and how they handled their food waste. This is also true of canoe country where certain shoreline camps are known for folks stopping for a "shore lunch." Bears tend to get to know these areas and frequent them looking for fish scraps.

 

[woof]

Never seen any, but when we were in Vail, Colorado, there was warning signs on the trails about what to do in case of encounters. My wife asked me if I was scared of an encounter, I told her no, as A, I had a mother in law, & B, I could run faster than she could .

Rob