bear close encounter

[CouesWhitetail]

Well, I was out doing some owl surveys in the Chiricahuas over the last few days. We were done with a predawn survey and hiking down a trail in the early morning, when I see a bear trotting down the trail away from us. it's a small rangy looking cinnamon bear, probably a yearling. So when we get to the spot where I first saw the bear, I stop take out my GPS and am trying to get a signal when I hear the lady who was with us sort of gasp and jump back and say something about a bear being right there! So I look over and there in a spindly pine tree maybe 10 yards from us is a larger black bear halfway up the tree with a small cub above it. The lady who was with us said something earlier about there being a bear with three cubs in the area and so I start looking around for more cubs wondering if we were possibly now between the sow and one of her other cubs. But I can't see anymore cubs, so I get out my camera and snap some pics of this pair in the tree. The sow was obviously nervous and was drooling and making that huffing noise bears do when cornered in a trap or in a tree. It grumbled occassionally too, but it didn't appear to want to charge us, so we were lucky. After a few mins of pics we moved on down the trail. I wanted to get closer for the pics, but it seemed if I did she might come right down the tree and charge me. Cute little cinnamon cub!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

and some deer we saw later in the morning:

[azslim]

Great pics Amanda, did your friend have to change anything?

[NRS]

Sooo... were you in the Chiricahua's or the Catalinas???

 

Title says one place and description say another. :lol:

[CouesWhitetail]

Sooo... were you in the Chiricahua's or the Catalinas???

 

Title says one place and description say another. :lol:

 

Chiricahuas..... guess my fingers typed faster than my brain

[CouesWhitetail]

Great pics Amanda, did your friend have to change anything?

 

 

Nah, she handled it fine, but it was shocking! I was glad she happened to hear a noise and look over there! We had been standing there for a minute or so before she said something!

[Shawn]

Thats cool! Great pics

[AntlerObsession]

I've never seen a cub before. So cute and cuddly looking! I'd be tempted to take it home!

[bonecollector]

Sweet pics. 2 years ago during an archery deer hunt I seen a little cub and the sow together. I didnt notice the momma at first until she was about 20 yds from me.

[Browning'sCustomMeat]

Great pics Amanda. I always get nervous when I see a cub.

 

-Jeremy-

[azslim]

When I walked up on a mama and her cub many years back I had to jump in the creek and swim across the hole or she was going to kick my butt. She stood on the bank and talked about my ancestors while she hopped and stomped about. Glad yours was a much more relaxed encounter.

[az4life]

Close call, and pretty neat in the same experience.

[DUG]

If the bear was going to do something Amanda would only have to outrun her friend.............

[kimstone]

Awhile back, in an official-looking USFS pamphlet, I read that black bears will always retreat-- even with cubs-- if the human charges the adult bear with waving arms and unrestrained screaming and yelling. I've always kept this technique in the back of my mind should the need arise, and have actually used it to help repel an aggressive, charging javelina. In the case of the javelina, the primordial screaming and arm waving wasn't enough and I had to resort to throwing rocks and running for my life until it was satisfied that it had made its point.

 

I would hope that your typical black bear, shown a similar defensive/offensive technique, would not have as much to prove.