View Full Version : Look what we saw....
My wife and I hiked up to No Business Knob shelter this afternoon and look what was walking around the shelter.....very recently.
This print was almost as big as a salad plate - I wish I had thought to put something down beside it for scale.
4eyedbuzzard
02-12-2011, 17:12
Salad plate? :confused: Oh, about the size of an old boy scout mess kit? ;) Had to put it in hiker perspective :D without reference to classy dinner settings.
That's a big 'un :eek:
Is No Business Knob shelter in TN?
Is No Business Knob shelter in TN?
Yes, about 6 miles south of Erwin.
Salad plate? :confused: Oh, about the size of an old boy scout mess kit? ;) Had to put it in hiker perspective :D without reference to classy dinner settings.
That's a big 'un :eek:
Wonder how many hikers know which fork to use. :)
Use the biggest shovel for the job.
mweinstone
02-12-2011, 19:47
in my humble opinion, knowing tracks as i do,..this was a 9 year old female bear wearing a green dress and blue earings walking on a bearing of 69 degrees south south east at aproximatly 4 .3 miles per hour carring a large pepperonie pizza and three beverages. due to the nature of the snow it is not possible to tell with 100% acuracy if one of the drinks is a diet but im guessing by the major axis of the breach, its a diet.
garlic08
02-13-2011, 08:42
Nice photo in the snow. Here's one I found in mud in Glacier NP. We saw the bear a few minutes later and it was a medium-sized black bear with a cub.
LoneRidgeRunner
02-13-2011, 09:14
Wonder how many hikers know which fork to use. :)
Fork? I just use a big spoon..
Cabin Fever
02-13-2011, 09:24
I have walked all of TEHCC's section (Spivey Gap to Damascus) at least once and most of it twice and never saw a bear - not even evidence of one. Except of course the wooden bear at Mountaineer!
LoneRidgeRunner
02-13-2011, 09:29
I have walked all of TEHCC's section (Spivey Gap to Damascus) at least once and most of it twice and never saw a bear - not even evidence of one. Except of course the wooden bear at Mountaineer!
I think we're all mostly looking for bears in all the wrong places....On the ground.. Somewhere I read that they spend 95% of their time up in trees. But the one that made that foot print in the snow was obviously on the ground. I have seen some bears in GSMNP and in Mt. Mitchell State Park in NC but no where else. All were on the ground. But I don't walk around with my nose pointed up into the trees either.
I have walked all of TEHCC's section (Spivey Gap to Damascus) at least once and most of it twice and never saw a bear - not even evidence of one. Except of course the wooden bear at Mountaineer!
Year before last there was a lot of entries in the NBK shelter log about a bear coming up to the shelter at night. Wonder if this is the same one - there were prints all over the place up there.
4eyedbuzzard
02-13-2011, 09:41
I think we're all mostly looking for bears in all the wrong places....On the ground.. Somewhere I read that they spend 95% of their time up in trees. But the one that made that foot print in the snow was obviously on the ground. I have seen some bears in GSMNP and in Mt. Mitchell State Park in NC but no where else. All were on the ground. But I don't walk around with my nose pointed up into the trees either.
I would doubt they spend 95% of their time in trees. During most of the year the food they want is on the ground - plants, berries, insects, vermin, etc. They will climb to eat nuts and fruit in trees, but this only occurs when they fruit has developed / ripened. They will sleep in trees as well, but climbing trees is mostly a defensive behavior - and one of the first skills mama teaches them.
Northern Lights
02-13-2011, 09:47
Don't your bears hibernate in the winter?
4eyedbuzzard
02-13-2011, 09:56
Don't your bears hibernate in the winter?
Black bears in the east will often get up a few times during the winter, especially on warm days or if disturbed or hungry and food is easily available, etc. They're usually still slow and sleepy and will go right back to their den and sleep some more - but I still wouldn't want to pet one.