what to do when an angry bear approaches?

[PRDATR]

Great footage. I would have thought the cub would have been staying closer to momma. Made me think twice now about taking the first available shot. I did notice she was thinner than the bear in the first video which made me think the video was in late spring and the bear was just out of hibernation.

[Mr. Natural]

The dates in the names of the videos are correct, so the first video was actually earlier (May, during the unit 27 spring turkey hunt in case you couldn't tell ), and the second one with mother & cub was in July of another year in 5BS.

 

You may have noticed the mother poke the cub with her nose after it caught up. I think she was scolding it for lagging behind.

[Rando]

I have had two run ins with bears with cubs while bow hunting them in Ontario. Not being allowed to carry a pistol over there made it feel a little more sketchy.

 

The only one that was really close was when I was walking back from sitting on a stand over some bait as it was getting dark. As I was walking on the road I came around a bend and saw a big ol black bear with two cubs following about 40 yards away and heading right at me. My initial reaction I threw my hands up over head and yelled "Hey Bear!!" and waved my hands. The Momma stood for what felt like forever but was probably a split second, growled at me, then dove into the woods with her cubs in tow.

 

I stood there for second, this being one of my first encounters with bears, trying to decide if I should walk past where she dove into the thick Canadians woods in the dark to get back to my truck. Or if I should just go sit back in the stand until my buddies got worried and drove out there. Not wanting to be a wuss I chose to just walk forward to the truck and it may have been the most nervous I have ever been.

 

The bear was heading to the bait I was sitting and we had trail camera pictures when we went back the next morning. She was a good sized 300+lb bear.

 

I have been back bowhunting up there multiple times and love it. I think black bears are pretty harmless. There are lots of stories up there of people sitting all night in treestands because of a momma bear growling at them.