Bears: A brand new experience!

[snowshoe]

Here in NJ bears have attacked dogs. In most cases bears are afraid of dogs but when a dog starts going after a bear and it feels threatened, the bear may attack.
Here in NJ I run into bears on a regular basis. They either run away or just sit and watch me go by them. They dont even phase me anymore.

 

[boombloom]

It just happened AGAIN!

6 years ago I reported seeing a bear on the North Trail to Giant. I've been up to Owl's Head Lookout many times since then and never forgotten the experience. I am pleased to report that I saw a bear up there this morning! It was not far from the spur trail to the Lookout. There was a good deal of rustling in the woods to the east. My dogs (who were both wearing bells) went about 3 feet off the trail in the direction of the sound, and then returned to the trail and continued on. I kept an eye out and saw a bear walking away up the ridge. Very cool.

 

[Raymond]

I’ve only encountered a bear once while I was hiking and it was also on Giant; three years ago (three years ago tomorrow, come to think of it), on the Roaring Brook Trail, not far above the waterfall. I saw just its back right leg moving very quickly off the trail. My son was behind me and saw nothing, only heard it crashing away through the underbrush.

 

[Maddy]

I have seen momma and 3 cubs in VT, saw them daily in the Smokes, and one in NH at dusk at a Cog Railroad picnic table.
I was told by a "real" Vermonter how lucky I was to have seen them because you can live there all your life and never have that privilege.
Hiking solo so much, Mol has a bell, I have one on my pack, and I talk out loud to Mol frequently in the event that they are nearby. I don't ever want to surprise a mom with cubs. Mol is off leash a lot and she could really be a problem. She wants to play with anything on 4 legs.

Of course I sometimes have the opportunity to see one at work. This year two newborn cubs to date.
I love bears. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that I have dog that look like one. At least I can hug her!

This is a pic of the photo on my wall. This bear was approx 1 foot from my face and trying to break the car window. He did not succeed and eventually gave up.

 

[Chip]

I was told by a "real" Vermonter how lucky I was to have seen them because you can live there all your life and never have that privilege.

Twice in the past year we've seen them trying to cross 91 around Brattleboro. Don't know what that means, just saying be careful driving around there at least.

 

[tomcat32]

I grew up in PA and saw probably 2 dozen bears over the years all while hiking and a few mt biking. All but one ran and thats how I spotted them and that one just never saw me. I 've seen a few in other states, 2 hiking, one at NY/NJ border on AT and one on AT in Shenandoah NP. I've seen garbage bears in Ontario. The garbage bears didn't run but all the other ones hiking ran. I lived in Maine 6 years and only seen 5. A mother with 2 cubs and 2 individuals all while mt biking. I've seen probably close to 60 moose in those 6 years. Most from a car. about 8 mt biking and Maybe 6 hiking. Moose react totally different when on a Mt Bike. They don't quite get what you are and a few started coming towards me if I wasn't going too fast.

 

[BF]

This is a pic of the photo on my wall. This bear was approx 1 foot from my face and trying to break the car window. He did not succeed and eventually gave up.

Maddy,

It's rare enough to have the opportunity to see a bear, it's even rarer to have that photo. Awesome pic!

 

[peakbagger]

The abandoned road I use to access my AT section in Maine into Sawyer Notch between Hall and Moody mountain has plenty of bears. The first time I went there I spooked a male and then a female walking in and pretty sure I spooked one of them again on the way out. Tends to be a bit spooky when I realize that I am on an abanonded logging road a few miles from any civilization and no one knows where I am.

 

[Peakbagr]

My lab, Bookah, wears a bell from bear emergence in the spring through hunting season in autumn. It's a large bell, the size bird dogs wear, the ones that pheasant and grouse hunters put on their pointers in order to tell where their dogs are in dense cover.
It is loud enough so a mother bear can hear her running thru the woods from quite a ways away. When hiking with a group, there is enough gabbing going on that any self respecting bear can hear us from even farther off. When I'm hiking with just Bookah, I'm talking with her(I resemble the bald guy on horseback in the Jerimiah Johnson in more ways than one), or give a periodic whistle or louder voice commands than usual, and again, we never see bears so far in years of trail and bushwhack hiking in heavy ADK and Catskills bear country.

 

[DMOutdoors]

Boom, how awesome to be able to report back since your original post. I noticed the thread revival. This goes to show how it varies in one's chances of having wildlife experiences such as this.

I'm intrigued about the recent increase in bears and sightings of Bobcats and the like in the Whites, and anxiously await my first on-trail experience with something other than a startled trail-chicken (grouse), cool insect or frog.

I've been hiking about 2 years now and have only seen moose on the road several times and 3 bears about 200 feet from my car while driving on the way to a trail head one morning. Thanks for sharing.