If there are baby bears around, he's right.  If it's not a mother protecting her cubs, black bears usually turn around and leave.  Make yourself big and make lots of noise, yelling, banging pots together...whatever.

Brown bears, Grizzly bears etc, do not follow these rules.

 

All I know is what I have read in magazines and books so don't trust your life to what I say!

All the aggressive black bears were hunted out 100 years ago, that is why black bears have the reputation of being shy and reclusive.

Come forward 100 years of not hunting black bears and they have regenerated into an aggressive pest that raids garbage cans and bird feeders and do not apparently show any fear of man.

A bear is a wild animal with big teeth and big claws and will eat anything that they can get into their mouth.

If I was in my yard and one ambled through I would do as Seahawk advises, make lots of noise and start to retreat to somewhere safe.

Never turn and run, prey animals run and you don't want the bear to think you are prey.

Um, I think that is all that I have for now.

Bill who has never seen a bear in the wild

 

I know that northeastern black bears are a lot different than the ones out west.  I'm familiar with northeastern ones.

The are unpredictable, but usually scared of humans.  Sows will be extremely aggressive when they have cubs around.  The problem is like Bill mentioned....in more populated areas, they are backyard pests who have lost their natural fear of man.

In 30+ years of running the woods of northern Maine, I have only seen a bear a half dozen times at most.  However, I have seen plenty of them in dumps and at backyard bird feeders.

I was talking to an old timer a few years back who had massive scars from a bear attack back in the 60s.  He said the bear moved faster than he ever thought one could move and was on him before he even realized what was going on....and this is a man who spent his whole life in the woods.  He told me if I was ever in the woods and heard a sound like a pig grunting to expect to be attacked by a bear.

Honestly, if a bear came in my backyard here where I live (in southern Maine), my actions would depend on the situation.  If it wasn't acting threateningly, I'd go inside and call the local game warden.  If I felt threatened, I'd drop it.

 

Michigan has bears, wolves and most think cougars. I've never seen a bear in the wild. I do know from hearing others talk on a Michigan hunting forum, that sows are extremely aggressive.

I also heard black bears and brown bears are to different animals when you are in the same situation. Personally, if it wasn't startled when it saw you. I might go for a gun and stay in the house. Till the cops come. Other wise defend yourself. 

 

Everyone feeds the things out here and they've gotten some 1000 plus pound monsters - see the one on the first rest stop on 84 in eastern Pennsylvania.

I heard the thing in the woods and thought it was a deer. When I put a light on it and figured out what it was, probably less than 100 lbs, i yelled at it and it stared at me.  I set off some noise makers and it stared at me.  I let a couple of rounds go into a tree, and it stared at me.  I ran at it, it backed away a little and stared at me.  I don't want to have to shoot the thing, but i think even a three hundred fifty pound guy laying under a big old pick-up is going to look like food.

Seahawk, what type and size of pots do you recommend, and are pans a suitable substitute?

 

Everyone feeds the things out here and they've gotten some 1000 plus pound monsters - see the one on the first rest stop on 84 in eastern Pennsylvania.

I heard the thing in the woods and thought it was a deer. When I put a light on it and figured out what it was, probably less than 100 lbs, i yelled at it and it stared at me. I set off some noise makers and it stared at me. I let a couple of rounds go into a tree, and it stared at me. I ran at it, it backed away a little and stared at me. I don't want to have to shoot the thing, but i think even a three hundred fifty pound guy laying under a big old pick-up is going to look like food.

Seahawk, what type and size of pots do you recommend, and are pans a suitable substitute?

Lol, anything that's handy, I'm sure. I know one took the jerky out of my front seat, when I was camping some 15 years ago. My girlfriend screaming scared it away...I think. I'm honestly not sure what kind of bear it was, but supposedly only black bears live in Northeast WA. It definitely scared the crap out of me, and I can't vouch for what noise may or may not have come out of my mouth...but noise definitely did.

 

Hard to say... could have been you screaming like a little girl or maybe it was your girlfriend laughing at you for screaming like a little girl

 

Hard to say... could have been you screaming like a little girl or maybe it was your girlfriend laughing at you for screaming like a little girl

Maybe a girl, but definitely not a little girl... And she wasn't laughing. I couldn't detach her from me until I dropped her off at home. No more camping with her after that

 

The black bears in the Rockies are more aggressive than the ones in the NE.

I have never done anything special because of bears around here. Like I said, they are shy.  When we were in Alaska though, we had to vacate an area because there was a black bear around.

 

Everyone feeds the things out here and they've gotten some 1000 plus pound monsters - see the one on the first rest stop on 84 in eastern Pennsylvania.

I heard the thing in the woods and thought it was a deer. When I put a light on it and figured out what it was, probably less than 100 lbs, i yelled at it and it stared at me. I set off some noise makers and it stared at me. I let a couple of rounds go into a tree, and it stared at me. I ran at it, it backed away a little and stared at me. I don't want to have to shoot the thing, but i think even a three hundred fifty pound guy laying under a big old pick-up is going to look like food.

Seahawk, what type and size of pots do you recommend, and are pans a suitable substitute?

Can you pick up some of the rubber rounds for shotguns? I feel the same way. If it kept walking towards me after all of that...I would of dropped it I think and buried.

 

If you shoot, shoot to kill.

If the bear is a legitimate threat to humans, it needs to be dinner.

 

Well I saw something on National Geographic on neuroscience bears. They used those.

 

I thought about the rubber buckshot and slugs, but they'll just piss the bear off more.  They frequently don't dissuade people.  My only worry is getting dragged into the woods by my leg with only a grease gun or breaker bar in my hand.  Guess I'll have to start carrying when I work on the truck....44mag, two cast iron skillets, and a drop picnic basket.  maybe get a helper that doesn't run as fast as me.

If I can figure out how to post video I'll put up some game camera footage of the bears in the yard.

 

Or you might want to think about getting a few dogs, and a fence.  Dogs make a lot of noise with a bear nearby, and two or three dogs will normally keep a bear away.

As far as shooting with rubber bullets, I would think that's a bad idea.  Hurting a wild animal that weighs 600 pounds and has huge teeth and claws.  600 pounds of pissed off animal isn't going to stop at some noise.

 

Good Idea Seahawk...I'm trying to convince glockgal that we need a small dog like a german shepard - for her safety of course.

Interestingly, If you read Teddy Roosevelt's hunting and ranching books, they talk about hunting grizzly bears with dogs and tomahawks.

Guess the Men and dogs were a little tougher back then or the bears a little wimpier.

He also said bears used to go after people all the time - till they learned that the newcomers to the country carried thunder sticks.  Then the bears apparently became a little less bold.

 

Shepards are usually good dogs.  Any medium or large breed dog that will bark, should work fine.  And Roosevelt hunted with a number of dogs, if I remember correctly.  One dog is a distraction for a bear, two dogs will keep it occupied, or turn it away.

A fence would do well, to keep the dogs from chasing the bear...and to keep the bear out.

 

So you have bears in your yard all of the time?

 

Game camera was showing them once or twice a week, but it only hits one avenue of approach.  We're kind of in the middle of no where though.  We see them in the park semi frequently, and in the nearby developments they're always hanging around the dumpsters.  Three days of hunting season- they're nowhere to be found.  When Mrs. Glockguy cooks any type of meat, they visit my yard alot more.