# Woman killed and eaten by bears in NC?



## NCHillbilly (Jan 29, 2015)

http://www.statesville.com/news/state/ap/nc-sheriff-says-it-appears-bear-killed-woman/article_5db8269b-b237-56b5-9f6b-0cec58744268.html


----------



## oops1 (Jan 29, 2015)

Oh my.. All the bear wise people on here say black bears won't attack people. She probably shouldn't have been feeding them. Still.. Horrible way to go


----------



## NCHillbilly (Jan 29, 2015)

oops1 said:


> Oh my.. All the bear wise people on here say black bears won't attack people. She probably shouldn't have been feeding them. Still.. Horrible way to go



Actually, black bears are statistically much more likely to kill you and eat you than grizzlies are. Almost all predatory bear deaths are black bears. The have been two people killed by black bears near here in the last decade or so. 

And yeah, kind of reminds you of those two different Alaska bear guys. I was reading some more about this lady. She was a apparently a former "professional dancer" who hung out with a rich guy on his yacht. He left her several hundred acres of land, and she lived in the middle of it in an old trailer with no running water, phone, or electricity, and called the place "Bearsong."


----------



## NC Scout (Jan 29, 2015)

*Bear Learning Curve*



oops1 said:


> Oh my.. All the bear wise people on here say black bears won't attack people. She probably shouldn't have been feeding them. Still.. Horrible way to go



Most black bears that attack people have been habituated to humans through feeding. With all the feeding of black bear off porches in the mountains its a testament to the tolerant, reclusive nature of black bears that more people aren't attacked and/or eaten.  Some transplants to the mountains have to go thru a bear learning curve. They see a bear robbing the bird feeder in their yard and its exciting to see a bear so they start putting out a little corn. Eventually they get a lot of bears and cool videos to post on their FB page.  After awhile they know every bear by sight and even have them named.  Then one day they have a bad encounter with one of "their" bears, usually its the shy, little, scary one they've named "Spooky" or "Scrappy". Scrappy scares the living daylights out of them and it finally dawns on them why everyone has been telling them not to feed bear.  Unfortunately, it looks like this lady didn't learn until it was already too late.


----------



## ambush80 (Jan 29, 2015)

NCHillbilly said:


> Actually, black bears are statistically much more likely to kill you and eat you than grizzlies are. Almost all predatory bear deaths are black bears. The have been three people killed by black bears near here in the last decade or so.
> 
> And yeah, kind of reminds you of those two different Alaska bear guys. I was reading some more about this lady. She was a apparently a former "professional dancer" who hung out with a rich guy on his yacht. He left her several hundred acres of land, and she lived in the middle of it in an old trailer with no running water, phone, or electricity, and called the place "Bearsong."



"Bearsong".........BUUUUUUURP!!!


----------



## BornToHuntAndFish (Jan 29, 2015)

Saw the sad unfortunate story on Outdoor Pressroom yesterday. Appears she had a well known reputation as the "Bear Lady". Sounds like she was very fond of bears. 



http://www.beaufortobserver.net/Art...en-killed-by-the-animals-she-nutured.html#123

or

http://outerbanksvoice.com/2015/01/27/remains-of-tyrrell-county-bear-lady-found-on-logging-road/








OR


http://hamptonroads.com/2015/01/nc-womans-remains-left-behind-beloved-bears


----------



## Hammer Spank (Jan 29, 2015)

She may have had a stroke and been eaten later.  I doubt they will be able to determine the cause of death.  

A man was found eaten by a bear in PA this last year too but it appeared that he had been killed by a falling tree and then eaten.  

Either way, if you are feeding bears, you are asking for it.  In this day in age, there is no excuse for it.  

You can show me as many stories like this as you want but black bears will still not concern me in the least.  Do you know how many bear-human encounters there are every single year without incident?  I'm more worried about stepping on a yellow jacket nest than I am about walking up on a hungry bear.  

That's not aimed at you hillbilly.  You don't strike me as somebody too worried about blackies.


----------



## pstrahin (Jan 29, 2015)

There are many different accounts and a lot of speculation in NC papers.  Nobody knows for sure.  One report says she died and then was partially eaten.  Another says she was killed by the bear.  Truth is, you may never know.  

Black bears are scavengers and eat all kinds of dead and rotten stuff, but they are NOT killers.  If you study black bear attacks, you will see that the majority of the attacks are when somebody or something got in between the sow and the cubs.  Or when somebody has encroached upon a males territory.


----------



## 660griz (Jan 29, 2015)

pstrahin said:


> Black bears are scavengers and eat all kinds of dead and rotten stuff, but they are NOT killers.


 Statistics don't lie.


> If you study black bear attacks, you will see that the majority of the attacks are when somebody or something got in between the sow and the cubs.


 Not that I have read. Black bear cubs can climb trees. That is why they are not as defensive as Grizzlies. Usually, when a black bear attacks, it is predatory. Fight back! (Shoot them in head with large caliber firearm)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America#1990s


----------



## pstrahin (Jan 29, 2015)

660griz said:


> Statistics don't lie.
> Not that I have read. Black bear cubs can climb trees. That is why they are not as defensive as Grizzlies. Usually, when a black bear attacks, it is predatory. Fight back! (Shoot them in head with large caliber firearm)
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America#1990s



Negative.  And I am not a wiki guy.  I know from what I have experienced and do not rely on a google search.


----------



## 660griz (Jan 29, 2015)

pstrahin said:


> Negative.  And I am not a wiki guy.  I know from what I have experienced and do not rely on a google search.



Me neither. I rely on science and biology. Nothing to do with wiki. Those are actual reports of black bear attacks. 
Saying all black bears are killers is just as wrong as saying all black bears are not killers.


----------



## pstrahin (Jan 29, 2015)

660griz said:


> Me neither. I rely on science and biology. Nothing to do with wiki. Those are actual reports of black bear attacks.
> Saying all black bears are killers is just as wrong as saying all black bears are not killers.



Have you ever spent time in the woods with bear?  I do not know in my 50 years how many I have encountered.  For those folks that know black bear , they know that they are primarily bugs and vegetation eaters with the occasional mouse or chipmunk or squirrel.  They will eat dead animals they find but they are not hunters of meat or humans.  Then there are the nuisance bears that find their way into town and raid trash cans and dumpsters.  They are more afraid of you than you are of them.


----------



## NCHillbilly (Jan 29, 2015)

I have spent my whole life in the woods in the area of the country that has the highest concentration of black bears in the lower 48. I have encountered literally hundreds of them. I see them and am around them on a regular basis. I camp, hike, hunt, live and work in areas that are full of bears. I see bears in my yard sometimes. I have spent probably hundreds of hours following bear tracks to study them and learn what they were doing. I spent years bear hunting. I have chased I don't know how many bears out of campsites in themiddle of the night, and shooed them away from people at work. I don't normally fear bears at all, or think they're normally all that dangerous under most conditions, but I do have a healthy respect for them. They are an unbelievably powerful animal that can open a locked car like the jaws of life, or kill a grown cow with one paw swipe. They definitely have the potential to be very, very dangerous if they set their mind to it, which thankfully, they usually don't. 

They normally aren't man-killers, but at rare times, they can be. There have been over 70 documented human kills by black bears, and that isn't including ones like this incident where no one knows for sure what happened. But it's likely that in this case, the mistaken attitude that bears are always loveable, friendly, harmless animals got someone killed.

And pstrahin, when a black bear kills folks, it's NOT normally a case of somebody surprising them or getting between it and something. That is the normal grizzly or brown bear attack. Blacks are totally different. They will attack and maul you sometimes if you mess with their cubs or whatever, but that usually isn't a fatal attack. Most black bear KILLS of humans are purely predatory, and end with the bear EATING the victim. That's fact, not conjecture. And black bears are much more likely to do that than a brown/grizzly. It has happened twice right here near me in the last few years. 

Killing and eating humans isn't normal bear behavior, but hunting and killing animals for food definitely is normal behavior for them. If you don't believe that , then you sure haven't spent much time around bears or watching them. They are not normally scavengers, even though they will also eat dead stuff when they find it. They have a varied diet like us, which includes nuts, berries, fruits, and insects. But-they also eat meat quite a bit, and hunt a lot. Bears are the #1 predator of young deer and elk here in the mountains, even more than coyotes, They eat lots of them. They have been known to kill grown deer, too. When they were first trying to get elk established in the Smokies, they wound up having to temporarily relocate a bunch of bears out of Cataloochee Valley in the springtime, because they were killing almost all the young elk. They kill and eat wild hogs pretty frequently. They dig out groundhogs and other small mammals. They will also kill cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and other livestock. There have been several notorious cow-killing bears in my area, and my dad and uncle killed several of them. I have known folks about wiped out by livestock-killing bears. Bears are definitely meat eaters and hunters, and that didn't come from Wiki. That came from spending my whole life living around and with bears.

Bottom line, most bears will run from you as soon as they see or smell you. Bears that live in protected areas and learn to associate humans with food can get dangerous really quick. Those are the ones I don't trust. If I'm out in the woods where there are bears, I don't worry a bit. If I see a bear acting normally  it doesn't bother me. However, if a bear shows no fear of you and starts following you or stalking you-that's when you better do something to defend yourself quick, because you may wind up digested.


----------



## Bucky T (Jan 29, 2015)

Play with fire long enough and eventually you will get burned.


----------



## 660griz (Jan 29, 2015)

pstrahin said:


> Have you ever spent time in the woods with bear?


 I have. Both western U.S., Alaska,  and eastern. Including Canada.


> They will eat dead animals they find but they are not hunters of meat or humans.


 Good luck. 


> They are more afraid of you than you are of them.


 For the most part, I agree with you. Some, however, are REALLY hungry. 

This lady was, as someone already put it, playing with fire. Don't feed the bears! A sign that should be heeded.


----------



## NCHillbilly (Jan 29, 2015)

Bucky T said:


> Play with fire long enough and eventually you will get burned.



That sums it up pretty well. A fed bear is a bear I don't trust.


----------



## Resica (Jan 29, 2015)

A fed bear is a dead bear. I suspect that there are more conflicts with black bears than with grizzlies  because there are far more black  bears living amongst  people. Proportion wise the black bear attacks are far less frequent I would guess.


----------



## pstrahin (Jan 29, 2015)

NCHillbilly said:


> I have spent my whole life in the woods in the area of the country that has the highest concentration of black bears in the lower 48. I have encountered literally hundreds of them. I see them and am around them on a regular basis. I camp, hike, hunt, live and work in areas that are full of bears. I see bears in my yard sometimes. I have spent probably hundreds of hours following bear tracks to study them and learn what they were doing. I spent years bear hunting. I don't fear bears at all, or think they're normally all that dangerous, but I do have a healthy respect for them. They normally aren't man-killers, but at times, they can be. There have been over 70 documented human kills by black bears, and that isn't including ones like this incident where no one knows for sure what happened.
> 
> And pstrahin, when a black bear kills folks, it's not normally a case of somebody getting between it and something. That is the normal grizzly or brown bear attack. Blacks are totally different. Most black bear kills of humans are purely predatory, and end with the bear eating the victim. That's fact, not conjecture. It has happened twice right here near me in the last few years.
> 
> Killing and eating humans isn't normal bear behavior, but hunting and killing animals for food definitely is normal behavior for them. If you don't believe that , then you sure haven't spent much time around bears or watching them. They are not scavengers. They have a varied diet like us, which includes nuts, berries, fruits, and insects. But-they also eat meat quite a bit, and hunt a lot. Bears are the #1 predator of deer and elk fawns here in the mountains, even more than coyotes, They eat lots of them. They have been known to kill grown deer, too. They dig out groundhogs and other small mammals. They will also kill cattle, sheep, goats, and other livestock. There have been several notorious cow-killing bears in my area, and my dad and uncle killed several of them. Bears are definitely meat eaters and hunters, and that didn't come from Wiki. That came from spending my whole life living around and with bears.



Show me the scientific proof that black bear hunt and kill people.  It is pure speculation.  I have spent too much time in the woods with them to think that they are hunting me.  Most generally when they pick up my scent, they don't stop running for a week.  I can buy into the fawn theory, but not people.  Bear have a better sense of smell than deer and can smell the afterbirth of animals and livestock which brings them in.  They are not hunting them they are attracted by the smell.  Kind of like walking thru the fair and smelling something that makes you hungry.  Was  it your quest to go for that or did the smell entice you?


----------



## NCHillbilly (Jan 29, 2015)

pstrahin said:


> Show me the scientific proof that black bear hunt and kill people.  It is pure speculation.  I have spent too much time in the woods with them to think that they are hunting me.  Most generally when they pick up my scent, they don't stop running for a week.  I can buy into the fawn theory, but not people.  Bear have a better sense of smell than deer and can smell the afterbirth of animals and livestock which brings them in.  They are not hunting them they are attracted by the smell.  Kind of like walking thru the fair and smelling something that makes you hungry.  Was  it your quest to go for that or did the smell entice you?



Look it up. It's not something that happens on a regular basis, but it certainly does. A woman was stalked, killed, and eaten by a bear right near here in the Smokies a few years ago. A family was stalked, attacked, one killed and partially eaten, and two other family members seriously injured in eastern TN in the Cherokee National Forest near here, also not too long ago. If you look it up, you can find over 70 documented certain predatory black bear kills all over the country, where the victim was at least partially eaten. It's absolute fact. I agree with you totally that running from people is the way that most wild bears react, but not always. You probably haven't spent much time around park bears or suburban bears, either. I have. I don't trust the ones that have lost their fear of man at all.


----------



## pstrahin (Jan 29, 2015)

NCHillbilly said:


> Look it up. It's not something that happens on a regular basis, but it certainly does. A woman was stalked, killed, and eaten by a bear right near here in the Smokies a few years ago. A family was stalked, attacked, one killed and partially eaten, and two other family members seriously injured in eastern TN in the Cherokee National Forest near here, also not too long ago. If you look it up, you can find over 70 documented certain predatory black bear kills all over the country, where the victim was at least partially eaten. It's absolute fact. I agree with you totally that running from people is the way that most wild bears react, but not always. You probably haven't spent much time around park bears or suburban bears, either. I have. I don't trust the ones that have lost their fear of man at all.



I have never spent time around park bears or caged bears.  But I do not think animals that are meant to be wild should be caged in the first place, which is a whole different debate.  

I was scared by one, one time.  We were hunting our family farm in WV.  I was sitting in what we called the hickory and had deer feeding around the ridge coming toward me.  They bolted for no apparent reason and I knew it was not me that the smelled.  No much longer a big old bear came up the logging road.  he got within 30 yards of me and started grunting and swaying back and forth.  He raised up just a bit with his nose in the air still grunting.  I had the cross hairs on him, but eventually he turned and ran back the way he came.  

I also was just reading some of the documented cases of black bear attacks and one stuck out in particular.  3 young kids were playing in Job WV.  Their ages were 3, 5 and 7.  They were attacked and killed by a bear that was later killed.  I am sure that the bear looked at them as food.


----------



## pstrahin (Jan 29, 2015)

But one of all time favorite hunting trips was in Valley Bend WV on Joes Run at the base of Rich Mountain.  It was unseasonably warm and I was watching a big oak cove.  I heard what sounded like 50 men coming down the ridge.  Here came a sow and 2 cubs.  The old sow laid down in a root hole and the cubs played.  At one point there was a log across a deep ravine and one of the cubs was crossing it.  The other cub ran and tackled it and they both rolled down the creek bed.  I would have given anything to have had a camera to film that.


----------



## 660griz (Jan 29, 2015)

pstrahin said:


> I would have given anything to have had a camera to film that.



Bears are wonderful creatures. I prefer woods with bears than woods without.


----------



## PurplePinewoodDragon (Jan 29, 2015)

660griz said:


> Bears are wonderful creatures. I prefer woods with bears than woods without.



I second that. They are intelligent, majestic creatures. Probably my favorite beast of the GA forests.


----------



## pstrahin (Jan 29, 2015)

660griz said:


> Bears are wonderful creatures. I prefer woods with bears than woods without.





PurplePinewoodDragon said:


> I second that. They are intelligent, majestic creatures. Probably my favorite beast of the GA forests.



I third it.


----------



## Resica (Jan 29, 2015)

Aren't they awesome.


----------



## NCHillbilly (Jan 29, 2015)

Yes, bears are very interesting critters, and the thoughts of tame, sterile woods without some kind of large predator living in them doesn't appeal to me at all. Some of the most dangerous animals on earth are also the most fascinating and interesting ones.


----------



## Hammer Spank (Jan 29, 2015)

Bears are awesome. 

There has actually never been a documented fatality where a bear was protecting its cubs. Many black attacks are predator motivated but if you look at them case by case, you will notice a trend. Most if these bears were in unhunted areas and were totally used to humans. This is never good. 

Ive had three "agressive" encounters in ga in the last three seasons. Two were sows with cubs and one was a bear in the dark so i dont know what it was. I didnt feel threatened though because of their behavior. A bear that wants to eat you doesnt bluff charge, pop teeth, huff, and put on a huge show. If I ever see a bear avert its gaze from me and notice eye twitching though, I will know something bad may be about to go down. 

Nearly every bear at any time can be ran off by looking it straight in the middle of the forehead and walking deliberately toward it. 

For anybody interested in bears, you should really read both of ben kilham's books. He is definitely the most knowledgeable bear biologist in north america. These two books will teach you more about bear behavior and body language than you thought existed. Their social structures are fascinating. 

For anybody who spends time in bear woods regularly, these are must reads.


----------



## NCHillbilly (Jan 29, 2015)

Hammer Spank said:


> Bears are awesome.
> 
> There has actually never been a documented fatality where a bear was protecting its cubs. Many black attacks are predator motivated but if you look at them case by case, you will notice a trend. Most if these bears were in unhunted areas and were totally used to humans. This is never good.
> 
> ...



Yep. A bear that wants to kill you and eat you will stalk you like a cat. I've been bluff charged, woofed and teeth-popped-at, and all that stuff. It'll get your adrenaline going, for sure. All this advice about "playing dead" is the worst thing yu can do in a predatory bear attack, though. You gotta make the bear think you're meaner than it is.

Seems like every 2-3 years here in the GSMNP, we'll have a rash of bears dragging people out of tents by the leg in the middle of the night and such, and they'll shut backcountry campsites down.


----------



## Hammer Spank (Jan 29, 2015)

Yeah. Smokies bears are different animals. I have lots of buddies with stories from the AT shelters.  I dont think its ever good to completely protect bears and no matter what the "rules" are, those bears get fed by people all the time. 

Very bad situation. Yellowstone has the same issues.


----------



## Nannyman (Jan 29, 2015)

pstrahin said:


> Show me the scientific proof that black bear hunt and kill people.  It is pure speculation.  I have spent too much time in the woods with them to think that they are hunting me.  Most generally when they pick up my scent, they don't stop running for a week.  I can buy into the fawn theory, but not people.  Bear have a better sense of smell than deer and can smell the afterbirth of animals and livestock which brings them in.  They are not hunting them they are attracted by the smell.  Kind of like walking thru the fair and smelling something that makes you hungry.  Was  it your quest to go for that or did the smell entice you?



Recent research disagrees with you. They hunt and kill fawns. Fawns are a small part of their diet. +- 5% but they can take 10% or more of a fawn population in a given area.


----------



## Scrapy (Jan 29, 2015)

Around here bears could have 95% of fawns as their diet and it would not make a dent in the deer population.


----------



## Hammer Spank (Jan 30, 2015)

In walking with bears (Michigan), a sow and two cubs were witnessed killing up to three fawns per day.  They are bad during fawning season, especially in a place like North GA where cover is limited.


----------



## pstrahin (Jan 30, 2015)

Nannyman said:


> Recent research disagrees with you. They hunt and kill fawns. Fawns are a small part of their diet. +- 5% but they can take 10% or more of a fawn population in a given area.



I am ok with that.  I have been wrong before and more than likely will be again.


----------



## The mtn man (Jan 30, 2015)

Hammer Spank said:


> In walking with bears (Michigan), a sow and two cubs were witnessed killing up to three fawns per day.  They are bad during fawning season, especially in a place like North GA where cover is limited.



That's a fact!!!


----------



## lbzdually (Jan 30, 2015)

NCHillbilly said:


> Yep. A bear that wants to kill you and eat you will stalk you like a cat. I've been bluff charged, woofed and teeth-popped-at, and all that stuff. It'll get your adrenaline going, for sure. All this advice about "playing dead" is the worst thing yu can do in a predatory bear attack, though. You gotta make the bear think you're meaner than it is.
> 
> Seems like every 2-3 years here in the GSMNP, we'll have a rash of bears dragging people out of tents by the leg in the middle of the night and such, and they'll shut backcountry campsites down.



Several years ago in Twiggs county, my uncle was walking to his tower stand in the dark.  As he walked he heard footsteps walking parallel to him 30-40 yards away.  Every time he would stop, the walking would stop.  When he got to a clear strip, he flipped his light on and shouldered his rifle, thinking it might be a hog.  It was a large bear, over 300lbs for sure and it was stalking him.  He yelled at it and it did not budge, so he just kept his light on and the gun pointed towards the bear as he was only less than 50 yards away from his stand, and got t his tower and climbed up.  The bear followed and would not leave the area, so he fired a warning shot and the bear finally took off.  The bear never announced it's presence and if not for some dry leaves, he would not have known it was there.  Pecans were in that year and the bears had plenty of food, but I believe this bear saw an opportunity and was going to get some fresh meat.


----------



## Ohoopee Tusker (Jan 30, 2015)

NCHillbilly said:


> Yep. A bear that wants to kill you and eat you will stalk you like a cat. I've been bluff charged, woofed and teeth-popped-at, and all that stuff. It'll get your adrenaline going, for sure. All this advice about "playing dead" is the worst thing yu can do in a predatory bear attack, though. You gotta make the bear think you're meaner than it is.
> 
> Seems like every 2-3 years here in the GSMNP, we'll have a rash of bears dragging people out of tents by the leg in the middle of the night and such, and they'll shut backcountry campsites down.



Have you ever read the story of, Cynthia Dusel-Bacon? She worked for the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska back in the late 1970's. She made the mistake of playing dead after a black bear stalked her and attacked. She lived but I think lost both arms as a result. She laid there and listened as the bear fed on her.


----------



## NC Scout (Jan 30, 2015)

*Bear Experiences*

Bear ARE awesome.  They've always fascinated me like no other beast. Woods without bears would be very sick woods indeed.  I don't worry about bears when I'm in the woods.  Like one person said, I worry about yellow jackets.  A wild bear most likely will see or smell you and hi-tail it before you ever know he's there.  And in NC dogging them helps keep them afraid of humans. 

I've had one sow stand up at me when I dropped off bank onto an old logging road between her and her tiny cubs. They were the size of kittens, its was late April, and she looked fresh out of den. She stood up nervously popping her jaws. I just staid still and as soon as her cubs past the plane in line with me, she dropped down and went on her way.  I had a shotgun I could have drawn but I didn't want to make any fast movements.  

Another bear experience I had in GSMNP scared me much more even though I didn't know it was going down at the time.  I tied off my boat at the mouth of Hazel Creek to go exploring, walked about a mile up the creek, ran into some persimmons that were dropping and had bear tracks everywhere under them.  Those bear tracks, the amount and the freshness of them, made the hair on the back of my neck stand up so I turned back.  All I had with me for defense was a knife and a fishing rod.  I walked out along the shoreline and when I got back in my boat two fisherman in another boat pulled along side and told they had watched a large black bear paralleling me up at the wood line as I walked out.  They said they debated on whether to warn me and decided not to because they were concerned I might start running.  I've read that a bear paralleling its prey means attack is imminent, bear is sizing you up and waiting on his opportunity, so that bear was definitely targeting me, a human, but then I wouldn't classify park bears as truly wild bears.   There were a lot of closures in the park due to bear activity at the time.

Bear are predatory meat hunters and they don't just kill fawns.  A mature bear is more than willing and capable of killing mature deer.  When we approached the scene below there was a large boar raking dirt over this doe carcass and the carcass was still warm.  I don't believe the bear stole the carcass from coyotes because there's no evidence of coyote attack wounds on her back legs, flanks, or haunches. Could be coyotes played some part.  I had seen a nervous, pacing, tail twitching doe in with our horses just a couple hours earlier and our horses don't tolerate deer in their pastures for long so that doe had chosen the lesser of two evils.  At the time, I figured doe was seeking refuge from coyotes but after seeing bear with her carcass I believe it was the bear stalking her all along.  I don't know why she was alone perhaps that's why he targeted her or maybe the bear or possibly coyotes had managed to separate her from her herd.  Wish we had gotten the opportunity to get a picture of him, he was black as coal and his head was the size of one my F-250 wheels, but he ran off into the dog hobble just out of sight and remained there.  We could hear him deliberately breaking limbs in frustration.  







Bear are as individual as humans. They each learn different hunting techniques and food sources, mostly from their mothers.

I'm sure the Bear Lady was fond of bears.  But I wonder if her bears were destroyed?


----------



## Gaducker (Jan 30, 2015)

Nearly every bear at any time can be ran off by looking it straight in the middle of the forehead with your crosshairs and deliberately pulling the trigger.  Thats my answer for bear problems as an outdoorsman who has no bears to worry about anymore.


----------



## Browning Slayer (Jan 30, 2015)

NCHillbilly said:


> Seems like every 2-3 years here in the GSMNP, we'll have a rash of bears dragging people out of tents by the leg in the middle of the night and such, and they'll shut backcountry campsites down.



We had one last year in Utah that killed an 11 year old boy. Drug him out of the tent..

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/msnbc/19293076#19293076


----------



## Lindseys Grandpa (Jan 30, 2015)

Anytime a wild animal loses its natural fear of humans there is a good chance of bad things happening. Especially if the humans lose their respect of the wild animal.


----------



## fishingtiger (Jan 31, 2015)

There is a really good book written by Doug Peacock called Grizzly Years. He talks about his days spent as a fire watchman in MT and his interactions with both Grizzly and Black bears. I saw him speak at a seminar once and he said that he was much more afraid of a black bear coming after him than a Grizzly. He said that most Grizzly charges are false charges to defend their young or food but with Black bears you never know. He said that they will come after you to kill and consume you. That always stuck with me.


----------



## Hammer Spank (Jan 31, 2015)

fishingtiger said:


> There is a really good book written by Doug Peacock called Grizzly Years. He talks about his days spent as a fire watchman in MT and his interactions with both Grizzly and Black bears. I saw him speak at a seminar once and he said that he was much more afraid of a black bear coming after him than a Grizzly. He said that most Grizzly charges are false charges to defend their young or food but with Black bears you never know. He said that they will come after you to kill and consume you. That always stuck with me.



I've read all of Peacock's books and that's not the impression that I got from reading them.  They are fantastic reads.  "Grizzly Years" and "Walking it Off" are especially good.


----------



## bigelow (Feb 1, 2015)

It makes sense that black bears are responsible for more human attacks  black bear populations are 10x more than brown bears.


----------



## Hammer Spank (Feb 1, 2015)

bigelow said:


> It makes sense that black bears are responsible for more human attacks  black bear populations are 10x more than brown bears.



Probably 100 or more times that of the Grizz.  Even so, as was pointed out before, black bears can climb trees so they evolved to escape danger rather than box with it.


----------



## PARA1977 (Feb 2, 2015)

I understand that wild non habituated bears pose little if any 
threat to me when im in the woods hunting however I also have herd that Georgia had brought some so called park bears from other areas north of us probably in an effort to bring up density's
to target numbers in the 2000 range.


----------



## The mtn man (Feb 2, 2015)

PARA1977 said:


> I understand that wild non habituated bears pose little if any
> threat to me when im in the woods hunting however I also have herd that Georgia had brought some so called park bears from other areas north of us probably in an effort to bring up density's
> to target numbers in the 2000 range.



My first cousin shot one in Chatahoochee WMA that had a Tennessee tag in its ear.


----------



## NC Scout (Feb 3, 2015)

"Black bear attacks may occur more frequently than grizzly bear attacks, but this does not mean that black bears are more ferocious than their brown cousins.  Ninety percent of all known black bear attacks have only resulted in minor injuries, whereas over half of all grizzly bear attacks have caused major injuries.  Black bear attacks/encounters have been most common in national parks where the bears have been desensitized (also known as habituation) to the presence of humans, and have been conditioned to human food and garbage.These “food conditioned” bears have learned to associate humans as an easy and reliable food source, which brings some bears in closer contact with people than would normally be expected.  More times than not, bears that have become habituated and/or food conditioned are killed because managers fear that the learned behavior will result in injuries, and possibly death to humans." http://ext.nrs.wsu.edu/publications/Blackbears1.htm

Another good paper on recent trends in bear attacks;

http://www.bearbiology.com/fileadmin/tpl/Downloads/URSUS/Vol_8/Herrero_Fleck_8.pdf

It cites 3 major trends in bear attacks, grizzly, polar, and black bear; 

1. Bears habituated thru feeding or human garbage.
2. Mimicking sounds of ungulates or carrying ungulate carcasses.
3. Hiking in parks off trail where bear are not accustom to seeing humans. (Bear attacks on photographers tend to fall into this category.)

Black bear and grizzlies are totally different and this book is not about black bear but it is the most interesting bear attack book I've read;

Mark of The Grizzly by Scott McMillion 

It concentrates on analyzing events that led up to bear attacks and the 2011 edition has been updated with more recent attacks.  It may have 1 or 2 black bear attack accounts in it.  Highly recommend this book to anyone venturing into grizzly country.


----------



## Vance Ermstrong (Feb 10, 2015)

NC Scout, I had a bear experience at that same spot on Hazel.  Tied up the boat in July of '07 or so and was walking with my family and Newfoundland dog up the trail there that eventually leads to some old abandoned houses.  We noticed several cans of sardines on the trail and ran into a ranger who told us to get back to the boat.  Turns out they had baited the area with donuts and sardines to do a bear count and there were a bunch in the area.  The ranger was concerned that a bear would see our 165 lb furry black dog and run up on him or challenge him thinking he was a strange bear.  I didn't want to stick around to see how that fight would go down so we got back on the boat and headed back to Almond on the other end of Fontana Lake.  Had my kids, 5 and 7, with me at the time.  The boy is now 12 and a beginner bear hunter &#55357;&#56842;


----------



## CraigMo (Feb 10, 2015)

Black Bears - 16 Humans killed in the 2000's decade. 10 killed by Brown bears, same time frame. Attacks are defined as either defensive or predatory. You can count for yourself.

2000s[edit]

Black bear[edit]



Name, age, gender

Date

Type

Location

Description




Kelly Ann Walz, 37, female

October 4, 2009

Captive

Ross Township, Pennsylvania

Walz, whose husband had an expired license to keep exotic animals, was attacked while cleaning her pet bear's cage. She tried to distract the bear by throwing dog food to the opposite end of the cage. A neighbor shot and killed the bear.[37]



Donna Munson, 74, female

August 6, 2009

Wild

Ouray, Colorado

Munson had been feeding bears for a decade, and was repeatedly warned by wildlife officials. After a bear was injured in a fight with an older and bigger bear, Munson left food out to help the injured bear. The older bear came back to Munson's property, forced its way past a wire fence, and mauled Munson. Later, wildlife officials killed two bears on Munson's property. One of the bears had a necropsy which revealed evidence that it consumed Munson.[38][39]



Cecile Lavoie, 70, female

May 30, 2008

Wild

Near La Sarre, Quebec

After Lavoie didn't return to her cabin following a solo fishing outing, her husband went looking for her. He found a bear dragging her body into the woods.[40]



Robin Kochorek, 31, female

July 20, 2007

Wild

Panorama Mountain Resort, British Columbia

Kochorek was reported missing after mountain biking. A black bear was found near her corpse the morning after her disappearance. The bear was shot on sight by The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).[41]



Samuel Evan Ives, 11, male

June 17, 2007

Wild

Uinta National Forest, Utah

Ives was grabbed from a family tent in American Fork Canyon, and mauled. State wildlife officials killed the bear, which had entered the campsite the night before.[42] Ives' family sued the U.S. Forest Service because there was no warning about the bear's presence.[43][44] A judge awarded the family $1.95 million.[45] It was the first known fatal black bear attack in Utah.[44]



Elora Petrasek, 6, female

April 13, 2006

Wild

Cherokee National Forest, Tennessee

A bear attacked the family at a waterfall near a campground. Petrasek's mother and brother were also injured. The bear was trapped and killed, and an unrelated bear was mistakenly killed.[46][47][48]



Jacqueline Perry, 30, female

September 6, 2005

Wild

Missinaibi Lake Provincial Park, Ontario

Perry was killed in an attack at a remote campsite.[49] Her husband was seriously injured trying to protect her with a swiss army knife, and later was given a Star of Courage award from Governor General Michaëlle Jean.[50] Ministry of Natural Resources staff shot and killed the bear near the area where the fatal attack occurred.[51]



Harvey Robinson, 69, male

August 26, 2005

Wild

Selkirk, Manitoba

Robinson was fatally mauled while picking plums north of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Robinson's family were investigating the area with an RCMP officer later that day, and were also attacked. The officer shot and killed the bear.[52]



Merlyn Carter, 71, male

June 14, 2005

Wild

270 kilometres southeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Carter was found dead in the main cabin of his fishing camp. Carter's son came to the cabin the day after the attack, and shot and killed the bear.[53]



Maurice Malenfant, 77, male

September 29, 2002

Wild

Saint-Zénon-du-Lac-Humqui, Quebec

Malenfant was attacked in his campsite in the Gaspé region of Quebec.[54][55]



Christopher Bayduza, 31, male

September 1, 2002

Wild

near Fort Nelson, British Columbia

After going for a walk behind a trailer, Bayduza was attacked at a remote oil rigging site in northeastern British Columbia.[56][57]



Ester Schwimmer, 5 months, female

August 19, 2002

Wild

Fallsburg, New York

A bear knocked Schwimmer from her stroller, which was near the porch of her family's vacation home. The bear carried the infant in its mouth to the woods. Schwimmer died of neck and head injuries.[58]



Adelia Maestras Trujillo, 93, female

August 18, 2001

Wild

Mora, New Mexico

A bear broke through a glass pane to gain entry into Trujillo's house and killed her. Trujillo's body was found in her kitchen. The bear was shot at .5 miles (0.80 km) from the house.[59]



Kyle Harry, 18, male

June 3, 2001

Wild

25 km. east of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Harry was attacked while with a group at a rural campsite 25 kilometres (16 mi) east of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, Canada.[60]



Mary Beth Miller, 24, female

July 2, 2000

Wild

near Valcartier, Quebec

Miller was attacked while on a biathlon training run in a wooded area on a military base. The bear was trapped and killed four days later.[1][61]



Glenda Ann Bradley, 50, female

May 21, 2000

Wild

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

Bradley was attacked and partially consumed by a mother bear and a cub, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) upstream from Elkmont, Tennessee. It was the first fatal bear attack in a southeastern U.S. National Park. While hovering over Bradley's corpse, the bears were shot and killed by park rangers.[1][62]


----------



## CraigMo (Feb 10, 2015)

Hammer Spank said:


> Bears are awesome.
> 
> There has actually never been a documented fatality where a bear was protecting its cubs. Many black attacks are predator motivated but if you look at them case by case, you will notice a trend. Most if these bears were in unhunted areas and were totally used to humans. This is never good.
> 
> ...


----------



## 660griz (Feb 10, 2015)

You know what they say.


----------



## Hammer Spank (Feb 11, 2015)

CraigMo said:


> Hammer Spank said:
> 
> 
> > Bears are awesome.
> ...


----------



## 660griz (Feb 12, 2015)

Hammer Spank said:


> CraigMo said:
> 
> 
> > The truth is no matter how many statistics you can find, the odds of you being attacked by a bear are smaller than you dying from a bee sting, a lightning strike, or a falling limb.  There are millions of black bear/human encounters per year that end in nothing.  I'll take my chances.
> ...


----------



## NCHillbilly (Feb 12, 2015)

I totally agree that you stand a much better chance of getting injured or killed while driving to the woods than you do of getting mauled by a bear. Bear attacks are very rare, but that doesn't make it any more enjoyable if you're the one out of a hundred thousand that it actually happens to. Just like snakebites. Every time I go into the woods, I know that I could be bitten by a snake, stung by bees, fall and break my leg, get struck by lightning, crushed by a falling tree, mauled by a bear, gored by a crazy buck, hit by a meteorite, or any number of things that have happened to people before and will again. But I don't live in fear any of those things, just try to keep my eyes open and avoid all of the above. I wouldn't want to live in a perfectly safe, sanitized world. I like the idea of places wild enough to have things living in them that can mess you up if you don't respect them.


----------



## dawg2 (Feb 12, 2015)

BornToHuntAndFish said:


> Saw the sad unfortunate story on Outdoor Pressroom yesterday. Appears she had a well known reputation as the "Bear Lady". Sounds like she was very fond of bears.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




It is idiotic to hand feed wild bears.


----------



## dawg2 (Feb 12, 2015)

NCHillbilly said:


> I have spent my whole life in the woods in the area of the country that has the highest concentration of black bears in the lower 48. I have encountered literally hundreds of them. I see them and am around them on a regular basis. I camp, hike, hunt, live and work in areas that are full of bears. I see bears in my yard sometimes. I have spent probably hundreds of hours following bear tracks to study them and learn what they were doing. I spent years bear hunting. I have chased I don't know how many bears out of campsites in themiddle of the night, and shooed them away from people at work. I don't normally fear bears at all, or think they're normally all that dangerous under most conditions, but I do have a healthy respect for them. They are an unbelievably powerful animal that can open a locked car like the jaws of life, or kill a grown cow with one paw swipe. They definitely have the potential to be very, very dangerous if they set their mind to it, which thankfully, they usually don't.
> 
> They normally aren't man-killers, but at rare times, they can be. There have been over 70 documented human kills by black bears, and that isn't including ones like this incident where no one knows for sure what happened. But it's likely that in this case, the mistaken attitude that bears are always loveable, friendly, harmless animals got someone killed.
> 
> ...



Good comments and I agree.  If a Grizzly attacks you can play dead and maybe make it out alive.  If a Black attacks, you better fight for your life.  If they chase you it's a good idea to throw down a pack, your hat, shirt etc,  which can give a a litlle bit of a delay in them chasing you.

BUt hand feeding "cute loveable" bears is deadly to the bear and humans...case in point.


----------



## The mtn man (Feb 12, 2015)

We can talk statistics all day long, but if you feed bears, try to make them pets, you have just upped your odds of being attacked or eaten tremendously.


----------



## 660griz (Feb 12, 2015)

cklem said:


> We can talk statistics all day long, but if you feed bears, try to make them pets, you have just upped your odds of being attacked or eaten tremendously.



Or, try to live amongst them with your girlfriend.


----------



## Hammer Spank (Feb 12, 2015)

Im fine with whoever carrying what to feel safe.  My issue is that every year I meet a lot of bear hunters in the mountains in bow season.  Many of them openly admit to being scared of bears.  When I hear that I have to wonder, why are you here?  

If you hunt bears, you are going to get in situations while scouting or bowhunting that you feel like a bear is being aggressive and is a threat to you.  999,999 times out 1 million, this bear is just being a bear.  It is those people who will kill them in "self defense".  That's why I say that they don't belong there.  A bear deserves more respect than to get blasted by some yahoo because it was being curious or, more often than not, not even realizing that it was a person yet that they were dealing with.

Enjoy the woods everyone.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Feb 12, 2015)

While I'm not "scared" of bears, I do respect them. I know what they are capable of. Only bumped into 2 bears in the woods that didn't act like typical bears. I drew my pistol on one, and really thought I was going to have to shoot. I might had if I didn't back out. He was holding his ground. A man needs to keep in the back of his mind that they are wild animals. Just like dogs, most wouldn't bite a hot biscuit. But you usually can tell the ones that will.


----------



## ripplerider (Feb 13, 2015)

I respect them too. Ive also ran into a couple that "didnt act right." One in particular I ran into in an old grown up clearcut seemed to be circling in behind me deliberately to cut me off from my truck. It was an interesting walk back to the truck through super thick young white pines and hemlocks holding a single shot 22 mag. Got a really bad vibe from that bear. Cant say Im scared of bears in general, I seldom carry a gun when Im scouting. Never got around to getting a carry permit. I do like to have a stout walking stick in my hand and if I have my pants on you can bet theres a sharp knife in my pocket.


----------



## Tristan1687 (Feb 13, 2015)

Some people forget that wild animals are not pets and are in fact, wild. Ive heard of people trying to ride bison in Yellowstone because they just dont get it...

(insert Darwin joke)


----------

