KWT Posted June 19, 2019 Posted June 19, 2019 My family recently went on vacation. Getting the whole bunch of us together in the same house is a chore, so a trip together is a really big deal. And it has been something we have been looking forward to for a while now. We stayed at a nice little cabin in the Great Smokey Mountains. Nice cabin, nice location, amazing scenery... love it up there. The wooded areas are not a lot different than my back yard, but getting there is a might bit steeper lol. In all the years we've been, we have only seen about 2 bears. These were off in the distance and hard to make out. Well... our luck changed. This year we saw bear daily.. multiple days, multiple bears, multiple times a day... on the side of the road. In the fields. Climbing trees.. even one morning I walked out on the back porch to drink my coffee only to discover a mama bear and 4 cubs... She looked at us a couple times, but really paid us no attention at all. She even stopped to nurse for a moment and kinda looked around as if she was showing off her babies. It was a nice memory for us all to share for years to come... On the last night there, we decided to grill out. I was cooking hamburgers while sitting on the front steps, drinking a Mt. Dew, and scrolling through some pictures on my phone. While looking at some of the pics, I got a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. As I turned there was a bear strolling around the front of my parents SUV... reactions and reflexes kicked in... I immediately jumped up and said "oh s...!" At this moment the bear saw me... stopped dead in his tracks,seemingly saying the same thing. The reason I say this is because at that very moment, we both took off... in a hard run... in opposites directions... I can only imagine him running off saying "shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot" as that is exactly what I was saying as I went across the porch into the house. Ofcourse curiosity got the better of us all, as we ended up on the back porch looking for him and he came strolling back and hung out around the deck for a while before heading out. It was a great trip, with lots of memories that we will enjoy, reminisce and laugh about for years... one being the day I found out, a growling dog doesn't bother me... but a bear looking for a burger is a whole different story.
Tom Geiger Posted June 20, 2019 Posted June 20, 2019 Good story! Especially the picture of mama and 4 cubs! Many years ago we used to rent a lake front house in the Pennyslvania Pocono Mountains. Within wading distance without getting your shorts wet was a rock sticking out of the water. So I'd go sit on it and watch the bats dip into the lake after dark. I'm sitting there one night with my favorite beverage and got the feeling I wasn't alone. It was really dark, but I could just make out a bear grazing along the shoreline with two cubs, larger than the ones in your photo. I don't think they saw me as they paid me no attention. I sat rock still and waited. As soon as they were out of sight I made a mad dash for the house. And of course I didn't tell my wife and daughters, or we would've had to leave that evening!
ewetwo Posted June 20, 2019 Posted June 20, 2019 14 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said: Good story! Especially the picture of mama and 4 cubs! Many years ago we used to rent a lake front house in the Pennyslvania Pocono Mountains. Within wading distance without getting your shorts wet was a rock sticking out of the water. So I'd go sit on it and watch the bats dip into the lake after dark. I'm sitting there one night with my favorite beverage and got the feeling I wasn't alone. It was really dark, but I could just make out a bear grazing along the shoreline with two cubs, larger than the ones in your photo. I don't think they saw me as they paid me no attention. I sat rock still and waited. As soon as they were out of sight I made a mad dash for the house. And of course I didn't tell my wife and daughters, or we would've had to leave that evening! Great stories.
KWT Posted June 20, 2019 Author Posted June 20, 2019 11 hours ago, Tom Geiger said: Good story! Especially the picture of mama and 4 cubs! Many years ago we used to rent a lake front house in the Pennyslvania Pocono Mountains. Within wading distance without getting your shorts wet was a rock sticking out of the water. So I'd go sit on it and watch the bats dip into the lake after dark. I'm sitting there one night with my favorite beverage and got the feeling I wasn't alone. It was really dark, but I could just make out a bear grazing along the shoreline with two cubs, larger than the ones in your photo. I don't think they saw me as they paid me no attention. I sat rock still and waited. As soon as they were out of sight I made a mad dash for the house. And of course I didn't tell my wife and daughters, or we would've had to leave that evening! Nice to see I'm not alone lol.. great story.
Jim N Posted June 20, 2019 Posted June 20, 2019 Great story. Obviously the bears have gotten used to being around people and vice versa and this could be a problem.
Tom Geiger Posted June 20, 2019 Posted June 20, 2019 1 hour ago, Jim N said: Great story. Obviously the bears have gotten used to being around people and vice versa and this could be a problem. On the show "Yukon Men" about the town of Tanana, Alaska there was a scene at the town dump where people were doing their dumping and a line of bears was sitting there peacefully watching. No doubt waiting for their opportunity at the garbage.
cobraman Posted June 20, 2019 Posted June 20, 2019 A friend of mine has a cabin in Pigeon Forge and has several visit his place from time to time. I like to see the cubs following mama.
Rodent Posted June 21, 2019 Posted June 21, 2019 Make sure that your car is locked in bear country. The ones in Tahoe, Colorado, (and probably other places) have figured out how to open car doors from the outside. What they HAVEN'T figured out is how to open the door from the inside to get themselves back out. The results aren't pretty.
Jantrix Posted June 21, 2019 Posted June 21, 2019 I live in a canyon about 40 miles east of Boise, Idaho. There's rumors of black bear in the neighborhood but no proof yet. My neighbor has tracked a mountain lion within 300 yards of my home though.
mchook Posted June 22, 2019 Posted June 22, 2019 This little guy was at my mother in law's last year. She puts out old bread to watch the deer. I told her if your doing this, your feeding more than the deer. Not the smartest thing to do... Momma bear was there too but she didn't like the sound of the drone we used to take the picture. They're neat to see but, STAY AWAY FROM THE BEARS!!!
Gramps46 Posted June 22, 2019 Posted June 22, 2019 This is a young male bear outside our kitchen window late one spring. He just finished emptying our bird feeder after pulling it down so he could reach it.
espo Posted June 23, 2019 Posted June 23, 2019 I find bears and most other creatures interesting to watch. Recently on the news they were covering a story on a bear that had become very friendly and even allowed people to take selfies with him. The problem seems to be the authorities feel this makes the bear dangers to humans as it may attack. So they captured the bear and then killed it. While I don't like what they did, I guess at some level I can see their side of the deal. I think as much as we like to see wild life we should minimize our impact on them for their own good.
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