# Second Hammock Attack in Recent Years



## Joe Brandon (Jun 18, 2021)

I love sleeping in my hammock, don't think twice about it! Today marks second time in recent years a person has been attacked in a hammock in The Smokies. Can anyone answer why Georgia does not ever have bear attacks, with exception to the one? 
https://www.yahoo.com/news/teen-sleeping-hammock-12-30-182433031.html


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## Buck70 (Jun 18, 2021)

Probably because there is no bear hunting in the GSMNP.


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## whitetailfreak (Jun 18, 2021)

Joe Brandon said:


> I love sleeping in my hammock, don't think twice about it! Today marks second time in recent years a person has been attacked in a hammock in The Smokies. Can anyone answer why Georgia does not ever have bear attacks, with exception to the one?
> https://www.yahoo.com/news/teen-sleeping-hammock-12-30-182433031.html



Joe, a GSMNP bear is a different critter. They don't have the natural fear of humans that bears should have. I've been telling y'all for years, I use a tent. As NCHB says, I'm not gonna be a bear burrito. People will cook their meals and eat and then roll up in their hammock smelling like food. Those bears are already use to smelling food hanging from trees which is required in the back country. I'll just keep on using my Alps Mountaineering Lynx 1 person tent.


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## Sautee Ridgerunner (Jun 18, 2021)

GSMNP, new jersey, and soon to be florida and california.


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## jiminbogart (Jun 18, 2021)

https://www.gon.com/news/bear-attacks-16-year-old-girl-tennessee-park-campsite

From the GON article linked above:



> The Maddron Bald attack comes at a time when the nearby Appalachian Trail has closed multiple campsites in the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina due to aggressive bear activity, including bears stealing backpacks. Hiking is still allowed on the trail, but campsites are closed between mile markers 451 through 464 and between mile markers 245 and 253.
> Also, the U.S. Forest Service issued a warning last Friday, June 11, 2021, for North Carolina hikers to take precautions when visiting the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness about 110 miles southwest of Asheville. The forest service said it received “reports of increased bear encounters” at four spots: Haoe Lead Trail TR53, Stratton Bald Trail TR54, Hangover Lead Trail TR56 and Hangover Trail TR56A.



Sounds like they NEED some of y'all bear hunters to go up there and do your bear hunting thing. 

Teach those bears some fear.


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## Danuwoa (Jun 18, 2021)

Nature gone do what it do.  We are the only things dumb enough to think we’re immune to it.


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## Joe Brandon (Jun 18, 2021)

whitetailfreak said:


> Joe, a GSMNP bear is a different critter. They don't have the natural fear of humans that bears should have. I've been telling y'all for years, I use a tent. As NCHB says, I'm not gonna be a bear burrito. People will cook their meals and eat and then roll up in their hammock smelling like food. Those bears are already use to smelling food hanging from trees which is required in the back country. I'll just keep on using my Alps Mountaineering Lynx 1 person tent.


Hey your 100% right. Done it many times. Cooked and got up in the eno. I think I will start using the tent more. Less bugs as well!


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## strothershwacker (Jun 19, 2021)

I walked up on a hammock tied up across a trail one morning. I was turkey hunting. Sneaking up the trail in the pitch black dark. I was bout 3' from the thing before I realized it. A backpacker had settled right in the middle of the trail. I fumbled all around it, then went on. I'm sure he tells people a bear walked all around him on the pinhoti trail?


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## NCHillbilly (Jun 19, 2021)

I don't trust national park bears, or urban town bears. They have absolutely no fear of humans. And, I don't sleep wrapped up like a burrito in a hammock in a tree in the woods at bear-mouth level. I sleep in a tent. With a pistol. That I can get to, because I'm not wrapped up like a mummy in a piece of cloth.


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## ugajay (Jun 19, 2021)

NCHillbilly said:


> I don't trust national park bears, or urban town bears. They have absolutely no fear of humans. And, I don't sleep wrapped up like a burrito in a hammock in a tree in the woods at bear-mouth level. I sleep in a tent. With a pistol. That I can get to, because I'm not wrapped up like a mummy in a piece of cloth.


Bear mouth level about made me spew my coffee


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## jbogg (Jun 19, 2021)

strothershwacker said:


> I walked up on a hammock tied up across a trail one morning. I was turkey hunting. Sneaking up the trail in the pitch black dark. I was bout 3' from the thing before I realized it. A backpacker had settled right in the middle of the trail. I fumbled all around it, then went on. I'm sure he tells people a bear walked all around him on the pinhoti trail?



I was walking out one night well after dark and lost track of the faint game trail I had walked in on.  I knew the AT was above me so I wasn’t lost, but still ended up in a mountain laurel maze  for 10 - 15 mins.  When I finally busted out of the Laurel I literally popped out just a few feet away from a guy stealth camping in a hammock a few hundred yards off the trail.  I’m guessing he was relieved since I probably sounded like An angry Bigfoot coming through the thick stuff.


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## Sautee Ridgerunner (Jun 19, 2021)

jbogg said:


> I was walking out one night well after dark and lost track of the faint game trail I had walked in on.  I knew the AT was above me so I wasn’t lost, but still ended up in mountain laurel thick for 10 - 15 mins.  When I finally busted out of the Laurel I literally popped out just a few feet away from a guy stealth camping in a hammock a few hundred yards off the trail.  I’m guessing he was relieved since I probably sounded like An angry Bigfoot coming through the thick stuff.



you look like bigfoot anyway


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## Danuwoa (Jun 19, 2021)

strothershwacker said:


> I walked up on a hammock tied up across a trail one morning. I was turkey hunting. Sneaking up the trail in the pitch black dark. I was bout 3' from the thing before I realized it. A backpacker had settled right in the middle of the trail. I fumbled all around it, then went on. I'm sure he tells people a bear walked all around him on the pinhoti trail?


Naw he tells all his office buddies in Atlanta that he had a Bigfoot encounter.


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## Para Bellum (Jun 19, 2021)

ugajay said:


> Bear mouth level about made me spew my coffee



Tickled me too.


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## Ridge runner 82 (Jun 19, 2021)

Joe Brandon said:


> I love sleeping in my hammock, don't think twice about it! Today marks second time in recent years a person has been attacked in a hammock in The Smokies. Can anyone answer why Georgia does not ever have bear attacks, with exception to the one?
> https://www.yahoo.com/news/teen-sleeping-hammock-12-30-182433031.html


I'm really surprised that there's not attacks around helen because the town bears are not afraid of folks. If you want to see some bears just ride around town between 2 am and 5am. They walk the streets like people 
The cops have a few of the big ones named. There have been some dogs killed in town. One last fall on a leash.


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## Sautee Ridgerunner (Jun 19, 2021)

Ridge runner 82 said:


> I'm really surprised that there's not attacks around helen because the town bears are not afraid of folks. If you want to see some bears just ride around town between 2 am and 5am. They walk the streets like people
> The cops have a few of the big ones named. There have been some dogs killed in town. One last fall on a leash.



They act different when they get up in the hills. Because we hunt them.


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## Ridge runner 82 (Jun 19, 2021)

Sautee Ridgerunner said:


> They act different when they get up in the hills. Because we hunt them.


Oh I know they do 
I live few miles north of town and most act normal around here , but I think at some point it will happen in town. To many close encounters over the last few years by tourists.


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## NCHillbilly (Jun 19, 2021)

Danuwoa said:


> Naw he tells all his office buddies in Atlanta that he had a Bigfoot encounter.


He probably called BFRO and reported it, and they sent one of those teams out to 'vestigate. 

I was listening to a podcast awhile back where people call in their paranormal and cryptid encounters. There was one call where a guy, obviously an urban granola muncher, was describing an encounter he had last October while camping one night on the national forest in Pennsylvania. He described horrible echoing howls and strange lights in the treetops. It was 100% immediately obvious that he had inadvertently camped in the middle of a coon hunt.


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## NCHillbilly (Jun 19, 2021)

Ridge runner 82 said:


> I'm really surprised that there's not attacks around helen because the town bears are not afraid of folks. If you want to see some bears just ride around town between 2 am and 5am. They walk the streets like people
> The cops have a few of the big ones named. There have been some dogs killed in town. One last fall on a leash.


Asheville is slap full of tame bears wandering around. Gatlinburg too.


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## Sautee Ridgerunner (Jun 19, 2021)

NCHillbilly said:


> Asheville is slap full of tame bears wandering around. Gatlinburg too.


 
Gatlinburg is the worst place in the world


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## Sautee Ridgerunner (Jun 19, 2021)

Ridge runner 82 said:


> Oh I know they do
> I live few miles north of town and most act normal around here , but I think at some point it will happen in town. To many close encounters over the last few years by tourists.



I had one open my bait tank up and eat about 2 dozen live shiners out of it. Then he went up on my porch which is about 15 feet off the ground and opened up my garbage. Ironically I was bear scouting an hour drive and another hour hike away. Im off 356 between helen and burton


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## The Original Rooster (Jun 19, 2021)

Whether it's a tent or a hammock, I don't think that makes a difference to a hungry bear. A collapsed tent can make just as good a burrito as a hammock. The girl was camped in a group, food was stowed away, so it just shows you can do everything right but still have something happen to you. People just get too used to being the top of the food chain and we just aren't out in the wild.


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## Sautee Ridgerunner (Jun 19, 2021)

RoosterTodd said:


> Whether it's a tent or a hammock, I don't think that makes a difference to a hungry bear. A collapsed tent can make just as good a burrito as a hammock. The girl was camped in a group, food was stowed away, so it just shows you can do everything right but still have something happen to you. People just get too used to being the top of the food chain and we just aren't out in the wild.



Well, we arent when they dont allow hunting.


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## whitetailfreak (Jun 19, 2021)

RoosterTodd said:


> Whether it's a tent or a hammock, I don't think that makes a difference to a hungry bear. A collapsed tent can make just as good a burrito as a hammock. The girl was camped in a group, food was stowed away, so it just shows you can do everything right but still have something happen to you. People just get too used to being the top of the food chain and we just aren't out in the wild.



We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. I stretch a tarp versus a rainfly and keep 360 degree visibility. The tent will give me a moments notice before an attack may occur and the room to manuever and fight back if it does. I always have a Glock 27 by my side in the Backcountry and as for me and mine, we'll be in a tent. Since the hammock camping craze hit, they seem to be the common denominator in the Smokies Backcountry. I have had hundreds of bear encounters and killed several truckloads but like NCHB, I don't trust a Park bear.


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## KentuckyHeadhunter (Jun 19, 2021)

That's a nice camp setup.  I chose the Alps lynx 2 just for room.  And the G29 is my woods safety.  I don't trust those park and trail bears either and I would never end up there anyway.  I go remote CNF and the wild bears are skiddish.  Scariest thing in the woods is another human being.


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## Danuwoa (Jun 19, 2021)

NCHillbilly said:


> He probably called BFRO and reported it, and they sent one of those teams out to 'vestigate.
> 
> I was listening to a podcast awhile back where people call in their paranormal and cryptid encounters. There was one call where a guy, obviously an urban granola muncher, was describing an encounter he had last October while camping one night on the national forest in Pennsylvania. He described horrible echoing howls and strange lights in the treetops. It was 100% immediately obvious that he had inadvertently camped in the middle of a coon hunt.


??I listen to some of that stuff sometimes for fun.  You want to hear a really good one?  This one clown was a guest on one of those shows and told this long elaborate story about an encounter he had with multiple bigfoots one night in north Georgia.  It was one long line of lies.  How do I know?  Because I was there!  It was a fishing and camping trip that I was on.  These freaking people.?


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## Danuwoa (Jun 19, 2021)

KentuckyHeadhunter said:


> That's a nice camp setup.  I chose the Alps lynx 2 just for room.  And the G29 is my woods safety.  I don't trust those park and trail bears either and I would never end up there anyway.  I go remote CNF and the wild bears are skiddish.  Scariest thing in the woods is another human being.


No doubt that the most dangerous thing in the woods is people.  I’m good with all the critters.


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## Nicodemus (Jun 19, 2021)

Danuwoa said:


> ??I listen to some of that stuff sometimes for fun.  You want to hear a really good one?  This one clown was a guest on one of those shows and told this long elaborate story about an encounter he had with multiple bigfoots one night in north Georgia.  It was one long line of lies.  How do I know?  Because I was there!  It was a fishing and camping trip that I was on.  These freaking people.?




I have a name for those folks. I call em "booger hunters".

Sometimes I wish I had a better sense of humor.


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## Resica (Jun 19, 2021)

16 year old girl and June. Bear mating season. If it was that time of the month, my guess would be that was the cause. Estrous!


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## Danuwoa (Jun 19, 2021)

Nicodemus said:


> I have a name for those folks. I call em "booger hunters".
> 
> Sometimes I wish I had a better sense of humor.


Nic I would LOVE to see you get a hold of this guy.  I would pay money to watch it.


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## NCHillbilly (Jun 19, 2021)

RoosterTodd said:


> Whether it's a tent or a hammock, I don't think that makes a difference to a hungry bear. A collapsed tent can make just as good a burrito as a hammock. The girl was camped in a group, food was stowed away, so it just shows you can do everything right but still have something happen to you. People just get too used to being the top of the food chain and we just aren't out in the wild.


I'll disagree. I think it makes a big difference.


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## flyrod444 (Jun 19, 2021)

I agree with Resica about the cause of this attack being male bear attracted to sent of female. Didn't the first hammock attack occur to a guy that had put sweet smelling sun tan lotion on the day before the attack. He probably smelled like a lollypop to the bear if that was the case.


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## The Original Rooster (Jun 19, 2021)

Sautee Ridgerunner said:


> Well, we arent when they dont allow hunting.


We aren't when we're asleep in a hammock or tent either.



whitetailfreak said:


> We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. I stretch a tarp versus a rainfly and keep 360 degree visibility. The tent will give me a moments notice before an attack may occur and the room to manuever and fight back if it does. I always have a Glock 27 by my side in the Backcountry and as for me and mine, we'll be in a tent. Since the hammock camping craze hit, they seem to be the common denominator in the Smokies Backcountry. I have had hundreds of bear encounters and killed several truckloads but as NCHB said, I don't trust a Park bear.





NCHillbilly said:


> I'll disagree. I think it makes a big difference.



I hope none of us ever have to test the tent vs hammock theory to find out!


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## strothershwacker (Jun 19, 2021)

Ridge runner 82 said:


> I'm really surprised that there's not attacks around helen because the town bears are not afraid of folks. If you want to see some bears just ride around town between 2 am and 5am. They walk the streets like people
> The cops have a few of the big ones named. There have been some dogs killed in town. One last fall on a leash.


They must not like the taste of liberals.


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## Resica (Jun 19, 2021)

I saw the butt end of a big bear last Saturday morning as it rounded the back of the outhouse I just came out of. He was  huffing, I heard him for awhile. I suspect he was on the hunt for a mate. That same afternoon I saw a small one(1 1/2?) year old 20 miles away who looked lost. Momma booted him I'm sure, mating season. We've had several sightings down this way(Southeastern Pa.) in the last week. All young bears. More than likely booted and looking for new territory. We don't have a population of bears down here. They're looking for a new home.


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## Ridge runner 82 (Jun 19, 2021)

QUOTE="Sautee Ridgerunner, post: 12877480, member: 131901"]I had one open my bait tank up and eat about 2 dozen live shiners out of it. Then he went up on my porch which is about 15 feet off the ground and opened up my garbage. Ironically I was bear scouting an hour drive and another hour hike away. Im off 356 between helen and burton[/QUOTE]
Had one that would watch for my truck one year. If my truck was home he wouldn't do anything but I could leave for 15 minutes and he would get the garbage every time. Had a sow with 3 Cubs a few years ago that destroyed my chicken pen several times. She penned my dog down one night before I thought the situation through I ran up and hit her on the head with a 2x4. It could have ended badly but she didn't like it very much. Probably one of the dumbest things I've ever did.
I'm on the other side between chattahoochee and Smithgall woods


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## The Original Rooster (Jun 19, 2021)

[/QUOTE]
Had one that would watch for my truck one year. If my truck was home he wouldn't do anything but I could leave for 15 minutes and he would get the garbage every time. Had a sow with 3 Cubs a few years ago that destroyed my chicken pen several times. She penned my dog down one night before I thought the situation through I ran up and hit her on the head with a 2x4. It could have ended badly but she didn't like it very much. Probably one of the dumbest things I've ever did.
I'm on the other side between chattahoochee and Smithgall woods[/QUOTE]

Sir I admire your sense of fair play. Hand to hand with a bear is no small feat!


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## Ridge runner 82 (Jun 19, 2021)

I wouldn't do it again was pretty scary afterwards but me and the dog lived


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## Sautee Ridgerunner (Jun 19, 2021)

A bear isnt having trouble distinguishing the scent of a human female and the scent of a sow. Not for a half a second


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## ddd-shooter (Jun 19, 2021)

Sautee Ridgerunner said:


> A bear isnt having trouble distinguishing the scent of a human female and the scent of a sow. Not for a half a second


Literally the best nose in the world


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## Christian hughey (Jun 19, 2021)

Ridge runner 82 said:


> Oh I know they do
> I live few miles north of town and most act normal around here , but I think at some point it will happen in town. To many close encounters over the last few years by tourists.


We were fishing the main stretch of helen by Betty's grocery when a buddy of mine was fishing along the creek with a cooler of trout around his neck. A big one snuck in behind him within 20 yards before either of us noticed it. When I yelled across the creek there was a bear behind him he looked back telling me I was full of AHHHH! He screamed like a girl and fell in the creek trying to run away and messed his knee up pretty bad. The bear run away as soon as he screamed! I laugh about that all the time.


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## Resica (Jun 19, 2021)

Resica said:


> 16 year old girl and June. Bear mating season. If it was that time of the month, my guess would be that was the cause. Estrous!


Or not


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## splatek (Jun 20, 2021)

Sautee Ridgerunner said:


> A bear isnt having trouble distinguishing the scent of a human female and the scent of a sow. Not for a half a second



Yeah, I agree. And if “by that time of the month” you were talking about what I think we all were thinking about, that’s not estrous that’s menses and that wouldn’t have anything to do with mating. Maybe bloodthirst 
I’m fairly confident the steroids in bear estrous combined with the nose of a bear can distinguish human from ursine. I haven’t tested that theory, but I feel good about it. 
My best guess would be unhunted bears combined with unprepared hikers/campers. 
I had an incident that got hairy on chat wma week before season last year. Maybe it was the year before. Camping with little fella and two bears got stupid close. Now I had made some potentially dire mistakes like not putting the cooler covered in watermelon juice in the truck, inadvertently letting little man eat Oreos in the tent, and mistakenly leaving my sidearm in the glove box of my truck. However I learned later from a friend that drove up there more than I had that folks had been dumping down in the campsite for about a week prior. Those bears weren’t a wee bit scared of us. Got to about twelve yards several times. If only that could happen during the season. Ugh. But still, not nearly as scary as a couple encounters with two legged (human not squatch) encounters I’ve had in the forest. A human on drugs in the wilderness can be a force to reckon with.


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## Joe Brandon (Jun 20, 2021)

Ridge runner 82 said:


> QUOTE="Sautee Ridgerunner, post: 12877480, member: 131901"]I had one open my bait tank up and eat about 2 dozen live shiners out of it. Then he went up on my porch which is about 15 feet off the ground and opened up my garbage. Ironically I was bear scouting an hour drive and another hour hike away. Im off 356 between helen and burton


Had one that would watch for my truck one year. If my truck was home he wouldn't do anything but I could leave for 15 minutes and he would get the garbage every time. Had a sow with 3 Cubs a few years ago that destroyed my chicken pen several times. She penned my dog down one night before I thought the situation through I ran up and hit her on the head with a 2x4. It could have ended badly but she didn't like it very much. Probably one of the dumbest things I've ever did.
I'm on the other side between chattahoochee and Smithgall woods[/QUOTE]
Haha love it! The things a good man will do for a good dog. They would put their lives on the line for us, instinctively you returned the sentiment! Love my babies! Leave the door unlocked all day, enter if you wish!


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## Gbr5pb (Jun 20, 2021)

Y’all have fun! I decided a few years ago I’m not sleeping on the ground again by choice! Used to do it a good bit most of our critter problems was skunks.


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## NCHillbilly (Jun 20, 2021)

I was camping earlier this year in the Smokies. Buddy of mine was in a hammock with a rain fly over it. A bat got in there with him about 2 AM. He screamed like a girl and went and slept in his truck. No bats in my tent.


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## Sautee Ridgerunner (Jun 20, 2021)

There was one getting in the dumpster of that last restaurant on the right last summer. I saw him a bunch of times in broad daylight.


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## bany (Jun 20, 2021)

A few weeks ago in downtown gatlinburg. 
made the mistake of leaving my pack on the cabin porch just out of the city for two hours late afternoon. We went to dinner and so did the bear! Did you know they can unwrap beef jerky sticks just like you and I?


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## bany (Jun 20, 2021)

Pack snagger.


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## JustUs4All (Jun 20, 2021)

I would bet good money that food provided by people was involved, If not from the injured person then from past experience with other people.  The fact that the bear came back and was not retreating from the pros is the giveaway.  There could be underlying problems that caused that bear to rely more heavily on food brought into nature by people.


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## treemanjohn (Jun 20, 2021)

bany said:


> Did you know they can unwrap beef jerky sticks just like you and I?


Many years ago camping in Suches we had a bear come in camp one night and took a cast iron skillet and a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.  The next morning we found the skillet and doughnut box 100 yards from camp. The pan licked clean not a scratch and the box looked like a human opened it. Bear tracks all around.  They're good


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## Sautee Ridgerunner (Jun 20, 2021)

Buddy of mine is a biologist in S Ga. They trapped one that came up out of florida. Three strikes bear. Even when doing 70 mph in the culvert trap on the highway he was opening twinkies and eating happily.


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## NCHillbilly (Jun 20, 2021)

JustUs4All said:


> I would bet good money that food provided by people was involved, If not from the injured person then from past experience with other people.  The fact that the bear came back and was not retreating from the pros is the giveaway.  There could be underlying problems that caused that bear to rely more heavily on food brought into nature by people.


Those park bears are just trouble. There isn't a single year that they don't have to close a bunch of backcountry campsites because of aggressive bears. Bears have killed people in the GSMNP.


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## GAbullHunter (Jul 19, 2021)

Resica said:


> 16 year old girl and June. Bear mating season. If it was that time of the month, my guess would be that was the cause. Estrous!



Completely different in the way the estrous would play effect. Just because it was a girl. Plenty men urinate right next to the tent the sows sure don't come running in.


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## chrislibby88 (Jul 21, 2021)

treemanjohn said:


> Many years ago camping in Suches we had a bear come in camp one night and took a cast iron skillet and a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.  The next morning we found the skillet and doughnut box 100 yards from camp. The pan licked clean not a scratch and the box looked like a human opened it. Bear tracks all around.  They're good


Had one open my cooler at night camping at Vogel a few years ago, I woke up in the tent and heard something out there raking on the cooler, I got up, made some noise and looked around with my light and pistol but didn’t see anything, or hear anything else so we went back to sleep. The next morning there were pencil sized tooth holes in the cooler, and we were missing a half gallon of half and half. The carton was shredded 40 yards away. Wife was mad cause she can’t drink black coffee like I can. Haha


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## Meriwether Mike (Jul 21, 2021)

I had an encounter with a mom and two cubs while fly fishing at Smithgall Woods a couple of years ago. I looked up and we ere eye to eye at about twenty yards. I said "NO" very loudly several times and proceeded to give ground. She redirected her path and they crossed the creek about 50 yards upriver. I guess my size may have aided in the agreeable encounter. She was obviously experienced with humans and knew I was no threat to her babies.


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