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bear encounters

2K views 26 replies 13 participants last post by  Matt 891 
#1 ·
Rode yesterday at at Carvins Cove, outside Roanoke, VA.

About 3 miles out from civilization, I came across a bear in the middle of the trail.

Having this be my first encounter with a bear in the wild, I freaked out, only to notice I also had a flat tire. Rode the flat downhill, walked uphill. Got back to the parking area as soon as I could.

I'm sure I over reacted, but I wanted to see what YOU guys do when you're out on the trails and happen to come across some WILD-life.
 
#3 ·
Here in WV I see as many or more bears in a season than other human trail users. Stay put and enjoy the sighting because they're usually hightailing it away. A little metal on metal sound will send them flying if they happen to be lingering. Never turn your back, you'll never out run a bear. Never. Only been charged once, by a sow with a cub, and she stopped short, as most will give a false charge to check you out. If you run in that situation, your done.
 
#4 ·
somebody had to post, so why not me...
The Department of Fish and Game recently issued the following bulletin: In light of the rising frequency of mountain biker/hiker/grizzly bear conflicts, The Department of Fish and Game is advising mountain bikers, as well as hikers, fishermen and hunters to take extra precautions and keep alert for bears while in the field. We advise bikers to wear noisy little bells on their clothing so as not to startle bears that are not expecting them. We also advise mountain bikers to carry pepper spray with them in the event of an encounter with a bear.

It is also a good idea to watch for fresh signs of bear activity. Mountain bikers should recognize the difference between Black Bear and Grizzly Bear droppings: Black Bear droppings are smaller and contain lots of berries and squirrel fur; Grizzly Bear droppings have little bells and smell like pepper.

Luckily, Carvins Cove doesn't have many Grizzlies hanging around. But i have a cow bell just in case. :D
 
#6 ·
Next time just do what I do: yell at it like Ranch Macho Man Savage and challenge the bear to a wrestling match. Usually the bear is so intimidated by by manly 5'10" 120lb physique that they run in terror, but occasionally I do have to suplex their ass.
 
#7 ·
What a time for a flat tire

Sciron - great timing on that flat tire. Pretty freaky running into those guys in the middle of the woods and realizing you are not quite at the top of the foodchain. I've had a number of bear encounters (total of 13 bear I think); most all have been in the national forest. All but one has run. That one was a Mama bear with 2 small crying cubs. She was not in a good mood. She stood her ground but did not chase after us. Luckily the trail was downhill in the other direction from her. I am thinking of getting some pepper spray just to have something.

Must be a lot of bear at the Cove now. Hang-um High said he has seen 2 out there this year.
 
#9 ·
sciron4x4 said:
Rode yesterday at at Carvins Cove, outside Roanoke, VA.

About 3 miles out from civilization, I came across a bear in the middle of the trail.

Having this be my first encounter with a bear in the wild, I freaked out, only to notice I also had a flat tire. Rode the flat downhill, walked uphill. Got back to the parking area as soon as I could.

I'm sure I over reacted, but I wanted to see what YOU guys do when you're out on the trails and happen to come across some WILD-life.
Have not seen any this year, but I have run into a few people who had minutes before. Years back I saw many (or the same one several times) at the cove, always up on the ridge. Unless I think it is a mama with cubs I really don't worry much about them. I sometimes wonder if I am too nonchalant about them, but I really think most people are way more concerned than is called for, at least in this part of the country. The folks I passed who saw the bear seemed a little surprised I was not turning around when they told me.
 
#11 ·
My g/f and I saw our first bear a few weekends ago biking in West Virginia near Morgantown. We came around a corner and he was right there, and huge. I hissed 'beeeaaaaar' and then started making a bunch of noise and he took off.

It was definitely a cool first experience, he was far enough away that it didn't scare the pants off of us, but he was big enough to make it interesting. I'd say he was a good 600 pounds, not a baby or a small bear.
 
#12 ·
Bear Report - Cranberry Backcountry

On Tuesday saw two fully grown bears.
One was on the Cow Pasture Trail fairly close to that bridge I broke through two weeks ago. The other one was sitting on the side of the forest road along the Cranberry River eating berries. Just upriver from where Dogway Road intersects and about six miles upriver from the Cranberry Campground.
Like always they took off running before I could get a good picture. Got one picture but it's so blurry it looks like an awful Bigfoot photograph (No Really, Can't you see it. It's right there!).
As big as they are it's amazing how fast they can go from zero to full gallop. I've never had one bluff charge me but it must be unnerving.

I was staying at the Cranberry Campground and that night I was talking to another camper who lives just 13 miles away in Cowen and is a frequent visitor. He told me last year there were nine bears who used to come into the campground every night. Even though they were warned, people would still leave their coolers and foodstuffs outside and the bears would have a nightly picnic. It got so bad that they allowed bear hunting for the first time last year. Thirty bears were taken. This left a bunch of orphaned cubs but a lot of these were finished off by hunters training their dogs. You can only legally hunt bears certain times of the year but you can train your dogs year round.

For those unfamiliar with bear hunting it works like this. You train dogs to, on their own, sniff out a bear and chase it, hopefully up a tree. The dogs all have radio transmitting collars. The hunters have tracking antennas. When the dog's radio signal stops moving it means they've treed, or cornered a bear. The hunter then uses the directional antenna to walk to where the dogs are and shoots the bear.

He hadn't seen any bears in the campground this year. A side effect was that it cut way down on traffic in the campground. There used to be 25-30 cars a night driving through the campground just to look at the bears. As he's tell me all this, right on cue, here comes a van driving through the campground. The van stops and a women calls out, "Ya' seen any bears?".
 
#13 ·
wiretapstudios said:
I'd say he was a good 600 pounds, not a baby or a small bear.
I admit, they always look big in person and judging a bear's weight is difficult, but there hasn't been a 600 pound bear in WV for a loooooong time. The policy of allowing bear "hunters" to "train" their dogs all summer prevents adults from putting on much weight since they are always running.

http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_106223622.html

A large bear around here is between 300-350 pounds. In Pennsylvania, which does not allow hunting with dogs, the species routinely produce adults in excess of 800 pounds.

Since it was Morgantown, perhaps he was a PA bear down for the day to buy some fireworks or pick up some booze since everyone knows they don't card you in Morgantown.
 
#14 ·
Not a bear story, but a bear hunting story......
Camped on the side of a road in NC with two friends and a dog, no tent just sleeping outside a little ways off from the car when the dog starts going crazy. I had just enough time to sit up, stick my head out of the bag, and see a bunch of dogs in hot pursuit of "something" go crashing through our camp. About 10 minutes later here comes a truckload of hunters who were making no attempt to stifle their laughter at the three scared college kids with no idea what was going on.
 
#15 ·
davis said:
I admit, they always look big in person and judging a bear's weight is difficult
Yes, but I'm 280, and he was about 3-4 times as big as I am. He was pretty big, not grizzly size or anything, but definitely a very large male. (From what I could tell anyhow)

davis said:
there hasn't been a 600 pound bear in WV for a loooooong time.
What, is there a bear weigh station? Maybe he was 500, who knows, but it was massive. It was right beside a campground, I know that dude was large off peoples hot dogs, marshmallows, and small children.
 
#17 ·
Love the Colbert shot! "Threat Down" is usually the first thing through my mind whenever I see one of these bear threads. I guess there may be less "hunting" pressure outside of the major bear counties and that should allow for larger bears. There's nothing like seeing a massive bear in his element.
 
#21 ·
Albuoy said:
I never carry a side arm when riding, but If I was going on a trail where there are bears. Yes I would carry a side arm, in the event of me being charged at and attacked. Other than that I would leave them alone. Id rather live then be mauled to death. IMO
You do realize that there are bears all over the Blue Ridge and this part of the Appalachian Mountains, right?

They are hardly worth carrying a gun over. You are FAR more likely to get attacked and/or killed by a human. According to Wiki, there have been 5 black bear fatalities on the East Coast (US and Canada) since 2000. One was an infant, one a 6-year old. Being an adult, that leaves three in your category. Two of those were all the way in Quebec. That leaves one adult fatality in the eastern US. There were none listed for the east coast for the 80's or 90's. 1 adult fatality in the eastern US in 28 years.

I think you are worried over nothing. Leave the gun at home unless the ******** frighten you.
 
#22 ·
kapusta said:
You do realize that there are bears all over the Blue Ridge and this part of the Appalachian Mountains, right?

They are hardly worth carrying a gun over. You are FAR more likely to get attacked and/or killed by a human. According to Wiki, there have been 5 black bear fatalities on the East Coast (US and Canada) since 2000. One was an infant, one a 6-year old. Being an adult, that leaves three in your category. Two of those were all the way in Quebec. That leaves one adult fatality in the eastern US. There were none listed for the east coast for the 80's or 90's. 1 adult fatality in the eastern US in 28 years.

I think you are worried over nothing. Leave the gun at home unless the ******** frighten you.
Yes I do realize that. I for one have never experienced a bear first hand, so in a way put yourself in my shoes. I live a good 3 hours away from the mountains. I understand your point, but still I would feel safer knowing that I could defend myself if need be.
 
#24 ·
LaLD said:
The Department of Fish and Game recently issued the following bulletin: In light of the rising frequency of mountain biker/hiker/gang conflicts, The Department of Fish and Game is advising mountain bikers, as well as hikers, fishermen and hunters to take extra precautions and keep alert for gangs while in the field. We advise bikers to wear noisy little bells on their clothing so as not to startle gang members that are not expecting them. We also advise mountain bikers to carry guns with them in the event of an encounter with a lone gang member marking his turf.

It is also a good idea to watch for fresh signs of gang activity. Mountain bikers should recognize the difference between Bloodz and Cripz: Bloodz wear red and lots of berries and squirrel fur; Cripz wear blue and have little bells and smell like pepper.

Luckily, Carvins Cove doesn't have many Gangs hanging around. But i have a cow bell just in case. :D
I just reread this and lots things jumed out at me I didnt see the first time. Very interesting indeed. I will definately keep my eyes peeled.
 
#25 ·
black bear is the least of my concerns

i have probably 'come across' numerous of them in my riding at the cove but they are usually gone before you even get a chance to see them. only once have i been able to share a few glances with one.

something people SHOULD be afraid of are rattlesnakes!! i saw the first rattlesnake of my life just a few weeks ago on the fire road.
 
#26 ·
Bear Spray Versus Guns

I don't look at is as a question of whether or not to carry protection but of having the best protection.
I carry pepper spray. According to this fact sheet from the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service ...

Since 1992, persons encountering grizzlies and defending themselves with firearms suffer injury about 50% of the time. During the same period, persons
defending themselves with pepper spray escaped injury most of the time, and those that were injured experienced shorter duration attacks and less severe injuries.
http://www.udap.com/bearnews.pdf

It also mentions that guns might make it worse, i.e. you're just going to piss the bear off!
 
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