There have been 67 fatal black bear attacks on humans in the U.S. since 1900.......Grizzlies have killed only a slightly higher number. About 25 years ago this same tragedy nearly happened to me. I came across a black bear, weighing probably 300 to 350 pounds, as he was foraging through the backpacks of a pair hikers who had fled from their camp. We ran into the two guys as they came running down the trail scared as hell, screaming for us to turn around because a bear was tearing up their camp. I quickly dumped my pack and asked them where was the bear was......They excitedly pointed up the hill. I grabbed my camera and headed in that direction. They said I was crazy......Fred, whom I was with, warned me to watch my ass......It went in one ear and out the other. I had never seen a bear in the wild before and I was damned determined to get up close and personal. What little I knew about bear safety just blew out the window. As I slowly approached Mr. Bear, he continued to search for goodies in the packs.....He was aware of my presence. I saw him watching me out of the corner of his eyes. I was about 15 feet away when he just froze. His muzzle was still in one of the packs......but he had stopped foraging. He was just staring at me out of the corner of his right eye (I was approaching him from his right side at 90 degrees). At this time I froze also. We just looked at each other. After about 30 seconds or so, he began moving a little by nudging the pack with his nose again...I took two small steps towards him while I kept him in the view finder of my camera as I held it to my face ( I only had a 50mm lens on my old Cannon AE-1 and I wanted to get as close as possible). Just as I started to take my third small step, he lifted his head, turning it towards me, and starred at me with both his eyes. He held the glare for about 10 seconds or so. Then he slowly turned his entire body so that he was now facing me. My small peanut brain finally activated the red abort warning light in my head. I took two more steps, this time in the opposite direction. As I was slowly walking backwards, he made a huffing noise as he scratched the ground with his left paw several times. He then made a weird clacking noise with his teeth.....I walked about another 10 feet backwards then I turned around, and like a dumbass, took off running like hell down the hill back to the trail. Luckily he did not pursue me. But the worst part of all this is that I never snapped a picture. Because I am an idiot, I was trying to get the closest shot possible.........but then the abort light went off. So what did I do wrong? 1. I let my excitement override my thought process. 2. I got too effing close (After this incident, I immediately purchased a 28mm - 200mm zoom lens) 3. I had not educated myself enough about the large omnivores of the forest with large teeth and claws. 4. I turned my back to him and ran (my investigation later revealed that these dudes can run 25 mph, uphill or downhill) Any one of the above blunders was enough to get me killed. I also learned that the huffing, clacking, and scratching is a defensive posture for black bears. In essence he was telling me: Boy, you better not F with me.......you best turn your skinny ass around and leave. However, almost all the documented (fatal) attacks by black bears have taught us that, in these types of attacks, black bears displayed predatory behavior before the attack. They were silent as they stalked their human prey, just walking slowly, lumbering towards their little snack. They are extremely intelligent, have incredible eyesite ( they can see colors also), and their sense of smell is greater than that of a canine......And, they climb trees. Also, contrary to popular belief, female black bears, unlike their grizzly cousins, do not aggressively protect their young when you get too close to their cubs ( now, if you try to snatch one of the little guys and run ........thats another story). Since that time many years ago, I have been blessed with the opportunity to see many, many bears in the wild. They are truly beautiful creatures. But nowadays, I am a little bit smarter about it .....Roscoe
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 22:43:11 +0000
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