Black Bear Encounter - Sask., Can.

**Seniorman** · 03-23-2014, 06:43 PM

Here is a brief video in which a Black bear (species) stalked a man who was armed with a camera and hiking stick. The poster calls it a "Brown" bear but it is actually a cinnamon colored Black bear. No Brown bears in Saskatchewan. and it isn't a Griz.

I imagine that man might carry his rifle next time he is wandering around in bear country.

http://www.wideopenspaces.com/scariest-bear-encounter/

S.M.

**MamaBear** · 03-24-2014, 09:38 AM

That is scary!! Thankfully I've never had a bear encounter but from what I know you're supposed to stand your ground & act big/loud. Retreating from a hungry bear sounds like a bad idea.

**hunter63** · 03-24-2014, 10:18 AM

Is there something about a camera that make people think that they are "only there to take pic's?"

Guy was lucky.......

**1stimestar** · 03-24-2014, 01:02 PM

Yea scary, but he kept retreating... He needed to stop, probably around one of those stands of trees, maybe make a bluff charge himself. As has been said, that was a cinnamon colored black bear. I don't know about anywhere else but here we have black bears, grizzly bears, brown bears and polar bears. Color has nothing to do with it though. Brown bears are simply grizzlies that live within 100 miles of a coastal area. With all the protein they get, they are larger.

**Rick** · 03-24-2014, 07:27 PM

If any of you are with me and we run into a bear...any kind of bear....any size of bear...anything more vicious than a stuffed toy...I will NOT be taking pictures. I will NOT be recording for posterity. I WILL be grunting for all I'm worth in hopes I can sprout wings and fly. I've started a list for Saskatchewan too.

**Lradke** · 03-25-2014, 11:13 AM

I watched it at work, so I didn't have the sound on. Any word about him possibly provoking the bear before he started taking the footage? I've come across many black bears and been anywhere from 10-20 ft to 100 ft. I have never seen one act like that unless provoked. All black bears I come across may look at me and what I'm doing, then just walk away. Heck, my sisters even ran right into one (literally...they were running down a trail and rounded a corner and ran right into a mother and her cubs). All the bear did was kind of look around and gather her cubs and jog into the forest. Mind you I have never been panicked or moved quick whenever I came across a black bear, whereas this guy definitely looked stressed out.

**Wildthang** · 03-25-2014, 12:05 PM

Nothing stops a stalking bear like a big bore rifle or pistol. But I have heard that buckshot to the face works extrememely well also!

**1stimestar** · 03-25-2014, 01:36 PM

Not saying that he didn't do something to provoke him. The video didn't go into how it started. But I will say that black bears up here are b*tches. They don't need to be provoked to be a problem. Grizzlies are much more predictable, if you can call it that. Kind of like they are big and bad enough to not sweat the small stuff but blackies want to show off how bad they are...

**Williepete** · 03-29-2014, 08:44 AM

My son was in the Smokies camping with a church group when he was about 12- 14 years old. He had some GI belt and canteen and stuff, well one morning early they were out picking berries and he laid his pistol belt with canteen down, and wandered around the bushes picking, when he came back around and came face to face with an old black bear. It had his canteen in its mouth, tasting it lol. Well Gregg started yelling at the bear to drop it, and luckily he did and ran off into the woods. We still have that canteen, with the imprint of the bears tooth in it. I say it was an old bear because the tooth imprint is perfectly round and flat on the bottom.

**payne** · 03-31-2014, 02:07 AM

Would being the first to initiate physical harm, by doing so from a distance (such as throwing rocks), be a bad call whenever a bear stalks like that?

**1stimestar** · 03-31-2014, 03:47 AM

With a black bear that would be perfectly suitable Payne. Throw rocks, yell, jump up and down, wave stuff, appear big.

**Seniorman** · 03-31-2014, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by payne

Would being the first to initiate physical harm, by doing so from a distance (such as throwing rocks), be a bad call whenever a bear stalks like that?

Payne, here is a link to an Ontario, Canada, site where the owner is very learned in the "ways of bears." It is very informative as he's made a many years study of bears in Canada. You might find some interesting and enlightening information there.

http://www.ontarioblackbears.com/

Enjoy.

S.M.

**1stimestar** · 03-31-2014, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by 1stimestar

Not saying that he didn't do something to provoke him. The video didn't go into how it started. But I will say that black bears up here are b*tches. They don't need to be provoked to be a problem. Grizzlies are much more predictable, if you can call it that. Kind of like they are big and bad enough to not sweat the small stuff but blackies want to show off how bad they are...

Originally Posted by Seniorman

Payne, here is a link to an Ontario, Canada, site where the owner is very learned in the "ways of bears." It is very informative as he's made a many years study of bears in Canada. You might find some interesting and enlightening information there.

http://www.ontarioblackbears.com/

Enjoy.

S.M.

Another significant difference between Black Bears and Grizzly Bears is that Grizzly Bears are more of a carrion eater and Black Bears are more of a predator. This is why Grizzly Bear attacks generally happen when people have surprised them, while most Black Bear attacks are predatory. The Black Bears are hungry and they regard the people they attack, or what the people are carrying, as food. This is also why playing dead if actually attacked by a Grizzly Bear sometimes saves lives but is not a good idea with Black Bears. The Grizzly Bear may not have been hungry to begin with plus Grizzly Bears may let their food rot a bit. Black Bears are a more opportunistic predator even if they are relatively smaller.

This is what I was talking about.

**Seniorman** · 03-31-2014, 07:36 PM

1stimestar- " ... Black Bears are a more opportunistic predator [U]even if they are relatively smaller[/U].

Yep, "relatively smaller" but even a small Black bear, 150 lbs or so, can tear a person all to pieces. Many people do not realize just how powerful and strong a small Black bear is... not to mention the larger Black bears.

They're cute and cuddly and fuzzy wuzzy and clownish ... until one decides to have you for lunch.

S.M.