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Pennsylvania Rose
05-06-2004, 15:08
When I was on the Trail in 1990 no one was concerned about bears until the Smokies, and once we got out of there we forgot about them until the Shenandoahs. Today, I was reading the GA shelter threads and was suprised to find out about bear cables, sightings, and food being taken at virtually every shelter. Was I just ignorant about bears then, or has the bear population gotten that much bigger in the last 14 years?

Kerosene
05-08-2004, 11:28
Bear sightings seem to have really increased beyond their historical prevalence in the Smokeys and SNP since the '80s. When I was doing sections from Maryland north into Vermont in the '70s no one ever talked of bears and we only hung food to keep the mice out. Now, you see a steady stream of references to bears in Georgia, NJ/NY, and New England. Up north they seem to be a little more shy of humans, typically running away on contact, but all they need is some food-related reinforcement to become a pest.

steve hiker
05-08-2004, 15:58
I hear the bears in Georgia are the worst and will walk right in the shelter and demand your food bag.

Kerosene
05-08-2004, 16:13
I hiked the Georgia section the week of April 4th this year. We strung up our food each night but never saw a bear or even any evidence of bear. Each of the shelters now have easy-to-use bear cables, although I've heard stories that some bears have figured out how to shake the cables so vigorously that loosely attached food bags sometimes fall off.

Brushy Sage
05-08-2004, 17:45
In a shelter in the Smoky Mts, someone had said that the bears had learned how to open the latches on the shelter doors (wire gates), so we wrapped the chain several times as a precaution. After we were all sound asleep, the door began to shake, and the chain was obviously being unwrapped. Startled out of my rest, I was sure a bear was coming in. Turned out it was a hiker who wanted to do big miles that day. He apologized for disturbing us, and we all went back to sleep.

bobgessner57
05-08-2004, 23:39
Don't know the numbers but had a Forest Service wildlife biologist tell me that bears are more common than they were in recent decades and that they are repopulating some of their former range. Same thing is true of other animals such as the big cats, wild turkeys (reintroduced in many areas), deer, and the invasive coyotes.

Tha Wookie
05-09-2004, 11:19
I feel so connected to black bears. They are truly beautiful animals! The Cold Mountain book have a neat section where Inman dreams about being a bear. Anyone else had this dream?

steve hiker
05-09-2004, 13:48
The Cold Mountain book has a neat section where Inman dreams about being a bear.
Did he bury his scat and practice LNT? :cool:

steve hiker
05-09-2004, 13:52
The Cold Mountain book have a neat section where Inman dreams about being a bear. Anyone else had this dream?
No but I had a vivid dream of being an Indian somewhere in the Southwest. I saw him fall to his death and felt his reaction as the cliff he was standing on gave way. I believe it was a past life memory.

Footslogger
05-09-2004, 13:53
Had more and more encounters with black bears as I worked my way north on my thru last year. Saw a few in GA and NC but didn't have any up front and personal dealings with them. I generally hiked alone during the day and perhaps that was why I had the opportunity to see them. It was generally my experience that if I was hiking with a group and noise was being made that I never saw them.

I can't say I ever felt threatened during my hike though. Sure, some of them are more bold than others, but generally that is in areas where careless food storage at night has taught them where the pickins are east.

Probably my most vivid memory (and most tense moment) was when an adult bear literaly dropped to the ground about 8 - 10 feet in front of me from a tree in the Shenandoas. It caught me off guard and between the loud thud and the comotion that followed my heart rate was sent off the chart. However, once the bear hit the ground and got its "bearings" (no play on words intended) it ran off into the woods.

'Slogger

eyahiker
05-09-2004, 15:42
Last year did some miles in the Adirondacks of NY, notorious for people 'friendly' black bears, near Mount Marcy ( where skads of overfed, under-appreciative young people hike and trash the camp at the base of the Mountain by the dam) was probably the worst. They will literally circle your camp while you are cooking food, and if you get up and run or back off, they'll eat anything you've got.

We remedied the situation with a bear can for that particular segment, and banged on whatever we could, they moved on to an easier target. The bears at that particular location had figured out the bear cables, trash was strewn throughout the woods everywhere....from the bears.

Rocks smacking each other is a scary thing to a bear, I heard but not have proof that it simulates a high frequency sound like lightning or gunshots ( which we can not hear). Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.:-?

snuffleupagus
05-09-2004, 16:17
It's a sad state of events, but I heard that parts of western Md, were considering an open season, once again, on the black bear population. They may have already made the decision to do so. I'm not sure, I could be wrong, but I believe the season had been closed for many years in that area. The local news said it would be necessary to thin the bear population so recreational adventurists arent injured while pursuing their outdoor activities. It really bothers me that there is a lottery for bear hunting, how many of these so called hunters are out there for food and not just a trophy to mount. Bears are such beautiful animals. I still don't think I would want one hanging on my wall. The way that I've seen hunters kill these unsuspecting creatures doesn't much seem like hunting, but rather target practice. Again I may be wrong, I havent looked up the statistics, but I imagine more people are injured mowing their lawns than by unforeseen bear attacks.

JLB
05-29-2004, 16:57
It's a sad state of events, but I heard that parts of western Md, were considering an open season, once again, on the black bear population. They may have already made the decision to do so. I'm not sure, I could be wrong, but I believe the season had been closed for many years in that area. The local news said it would be necessary to thin the bear population so recreational adventurists arent injured while pursuing their outdoor activities. It really bothers me that there is a lottery for bear hunting, how many of these so called hunters are out there for food and not just a trophy to mount. Bears are such beautiful animals. I still don't think I would want one hanging on my wall. The way that I've seen hunters kill these unsuspecting creatures doesn't much seem like hunting, but rather target practice. Again I may be wrong, I havent looked up the statistics, but I imagine more people are injured mowing their lawns than by unforeseen bear attacks.
You are correct.


The Daily Chief-Union of Upper Sandusky has published a story, informing readers about the dangers of lawn mower usage. According to the Insurance Information Institute, approximately 75,000 people per year require emergency room treatment for injuries caused by lawn mowers. The paper noted that most injuries are the result of human error, and was even kind enough to offer a few safety tips:

* Read the instruction manual before using a lawnmower.
* Be sober.
* Do not remove safety devices, shields or guards on switches and keep hands and feet away from moving parts.
* Add fuel before starting the engine, not when it is running or hot.
* Never let children operate lawnmowers. Keep kids 15 years of age and younger away when lawnmowers are in use.
* Do not leave a lawnmower unattended when it is running.
Still, lawn mowers can't attack you at night, nor eat you. :D

veteran
05-29-2004, 18:44
[QUOTE=snuffleupagus]It's a sad state of events, but I heard that parts of western Md, were considering an open season, once again, on the black bear population. They may have already made the decision to do so. I'm not sure, I could be wrong, but I believe the season had been closed for many years in that area.

They have passed the law for a Bear Hunt. Read the article
from the Baltimore Sun.

http://www.marylandbears.com/about/baltsun02052004.cfm