Bear encounter on Kinsman Ridge Trail

[Scott3]

On Friday, May 25th, I set out to hike Cannon Mountain via the Kinsman Ridge Trail from the Tramway parking lot. About 1/4 of a mile up the trail, I surprised, and was surprised by, a bear coming down the trail. It was about 30 yds away. Having never seen a bear in the woods before, I stopped and watched it for a couple minutes and enjoyed the experience. After I had my fill, I decided it was time to move on. I yelled "Go Bear!" 3 or 4 times with no effect. Instead, it actually advanced down the trail towards me about 10 feet and then stopped. I raised my hiking poles, waved them around, and clanked them together while still yelling. Nothing. I walked backwards a few yards in an attempt to give it some space, hoping that it would continue on through the woods. Instead, the bear continued down the trail and easily made up the difference. I began blowing on a whistle I keep on my pack, hoping this would work. It did not. We continued this for 10-15 minutes of my backwards walking and stopping and yelling until I finally found myself in a streambed. The bear was now at most 20 feet from me. The first five rocks I threw at it missed, which I will blame on adrenaline. Though these rocks landed and hit trees around it, the bear never gave up an inch. Finally, I hit it on the shoulder with one, and sent it running away from me through the woods.

The bear, probably 150-175 lbs, never showed any overt signs of aggression. My impression at the time was that it was either curious, or didn't want to relinquish the ease of trail-walking versus the thick forest. I believe it was a young male, and either way never saw or heard cubs nearby. I have section hiked the AT from Katahdin to Front Royal. In addition, I have hiked 42 (Cannon included) of NH's 4000 footers and 67 of the NEHH. I am not a newbie in the woods, and this is not an embellishment of what happend.

The reason I post this is that this particular bear did the exact opposite of what I expected a bear to do in the woods. It exhibited absolutely no fear of me as a human. As I learned yesterday, sometimes they AREN'T more scared of you as you are of them. For what it's worth, I hope someone can take something from this.

And yes, I have notified the NH Dept. of Parks and Recreation of the incident.

[Wil]

this particular bear did the exact opposite of what I expected a bear to do in the woods. It exhibited absolutely no fear of me as a human. As I learned yesterday, sometimes they AREN'T more scared of you as you are of them.I've had no luck at all meeting up with bears in the Whites. Their rear ends crashing away from me in the brush is all I've ever seen, over many, many decades.

Congratulations!

In many OTHER locations, I have occasionally seen exactly this behavior in young male black bears. My guess (and some rangers I've talked with agree) is that the neural pathways are not fully formed and the bear, although kinda afraid of humans, is having a specific reaction of confusion and becomes dominated by the motivation to continue doing what he was doing and ignore the confusing event. The reaction has been compared to the reaction of a severely autistic human. In one case very similar to yours I was eventually able to "scare" the bear away by "looking big" with the poles extended up. A minute later, after apparently arcing around me, he appeared out of the woods and continued ambling along the trail exactly as he was when I first saw him.

I'm guessing his mental process was something along the lines of "I'm not sure what the hell THAT was, but I've got business down the trail."

[Scott3]

Interesting Wil. Based on what I saw, that makes a ton of sense. I hesitated in even posting about this because if I read it from an outsider's point of view, I know I would be skeptical. Thank you for lending some credibility.

[Kerosene]

I had a similar experience with a younger black bear in the Smokies last October. I had heard something in the woods while I was at the spring, but wrote it off to a squirrel or something. Upon returning to the shelter to treat the water, I happened to glance up and found a small (150-175 lb) male(?) bear on the trail I had just used from the spring, standing about 20 yards away staring a hole in me. I started barking and howling like a dog (my shuttler said that should scare them), but beyond glancing over his shoulder he didn't budge. Fortunately, most of my stuff was already packed, so I skirted around him while we both watched each other and walked a very quick half mile up the trail carrying my pack with one arm.

[rocketsocks]

I had a similar experience with a younger black bear in the Smokies last October. I had heard something in the woods while I was at the spring, but wrote it off to a squirrel or something. Upon returning to the shelter to treat the water, I happened to glance up and found a small (150-175 lb) male(?) bear on the trail I had just used from the spring, standing about 20 yards away staring a hole in me. I started barking and howling like a dog (my shuttler said that should scare them), but beyond glancing over his shoulder he didn't budge. Fortunately, most of my stuff was already packed, so I skirted around him while we both watched each other and walked a very quick half mile up the trail carrying my pack with one arm.Was the one arm pack carry for a possible quick get away,or defecsive move,cause I've wondered before what i'd do in a similar situation and unfastening my belt is one of the things I'd do,yey or ney?just asking here.

[hikerboy57]

A few years ago i was dayhiking in harriman had come up a narrow trail and stopped to eat lunch atkp an 8ft booulder overlooking the trail when i spotted what i had thought was a large dog while i sat eating my tuma hero.as it got closer i could see it was a250 lb female.i stood atop the rock raised my arms and souted at her but she wasnt interested paid me no nevermind and walked right by me by just a few feet. I siled to myself and finished my sandwich.

[hikerboy57]

I need zppellcheck

[grok120]

I ran into a mother and cub on the AT in Smoky's a couple weeks ago right by the trail. I back tracked out of sight and waited ten minutes making noise. When I headed back up the trail, they had had laid down beside it and were napping in the sun and completely ignored me. I wound up going off trail to get by. I do carry a can of bear spray for peace of mind.

[Snowleopard]

Scott3, I've seen video of this behavior by young male grizzlies. The bear expert described this as aggressive probing to decide if the person was potential prey. It would worry me with black bears also.

The other behaviors in this thread seem to be bears that were not scared of people but were not being aggressive