Polaris OBark

Article in Guardian (no paywall, but you might have to click away pop-up).

Bald Paul

I get scared when the local Jack Russell comes after my ankles. The little bugger is fast!

CrimsonEclipse

If he was on a fat bike, he could have just rolled over the bear

rsbob 

Nightmare scenario.

When running with my black lab a few years ago on a rail-trail conversion out in the woods, a black bear walked out in front of us and wouldn’t move. It just stared but didn’t rear up or fortunately charge. I grabbed the dog and we slowly backed up while s/he just stayed there staring at us. They usually are not aggressive but you never know when they get up on the wrong side of the den. Had another about 20 feet away when bombing down a single track and luckily it was busy doing bear stuff.

Juan Foote

My only experience seeing a bear in the wild was while fishing. I thought it was a big fluffy dog. There was a point during the trip where I was beside a big growth of honeysuckle vine pretty nearby where we had seen the bear. Something started shaking the vine, I reached over to pull the vine aside and 'scream at' whatever it was....no idea what I would really have done otherwise, and here is a deer staring at me. Scared me good enough to get about halfway across the creek before I got wet. My dad about peed on himself.

freeranger

Thankfully I've never had a bear encounter. On a mtn.biking trip to W.Va. we did see some bear tracks on a dirt road and after dinner one evening, on the way back to the rented cabin, saw a momma and 2 cubs crossing the road. They were crossing from a trail we had ridden earlier in the day. A good friend sent a pic to me on a bear standing on a rail trail he was riding, in CT. I'm satisfied to see tracks or pics without encountering an actual beast!

jadmt

I have had more black bear encounters than I care to count but never met one that I would not have shared a beer with...







these are the ones that make you nervous. I would not have a beer with one of these guys.

RCMoeur 

Several years ago, we were on a mountain bike campout in the White Mountains of northeast Arizona with a youth group.


A drenching monsoon storm had washed out my son's tent, so he was sleeping in the back of the pickup truck (truck has a camper shell) and I was conked out in the cab. About 3 AM, he starts saying something was out there - I look out the window and there's a very happy bear politely opening all the coolers and containers that hadn't been stowed because of the unexpected flood and hasty diving for cover. The bear would carefully open each cooler and help itself to the contents, being sure to not damage anything or leave claw marks (that would be impolite, you see). The cell service there was very poor, but I managed to get state Game & Fish, who then transferred me to tribal authorities, where a weary dispatcher said she phoned the one tribal animal control guy, who was 50 miles away and might be there in a while - maybe. I tried to take a photo, but a black bear on a moonless night in an unlit campsite isn't exactly a high-contrast object.



Eventually, the need to use restroom facilities overcame the base urge for self-preservation, and so I carefully opened the truck door on the non-ursine side - which caused our chubby four-legged food critic to bolt out of the area at remarkable speed. But after our needs were resolved we heard our bearly new friend again rummaging for a short while.

We never got any more sleep that night for obvious reasons, and the animal control guy never showed up. About 5 AM, the sky started getting lighter, and we were accosted by the twittering and chattering of dozens of birds, squirrels, and other critters who apparently had been notified by their bear buddy that the buffet was open and they'd better get some while it lasts.



We cleaned up the area thoroughly to the loud objections of the wildlife, noted the lack of damage to the coolers, containers, and other possessions (thank you, bear), and made our tired way home.

For the next x campouts, everyone took their food storage protocols far more seriously, and no more encounters were noted.

And no, it was far too dark to see if he was wearing a hat, collar, and necktie.

jadmt

Not sure if you can see the bear but I assure about 2 seconds after taking this photo I about **** my pants as it came out to greet me. stupid phone camera missed the best part..we were in griz country but was only a black bear. you can see the choke cherries on the tree. I literally told my wife and buddy and his wife, this would be a good spot to get a bear photo and walked up to the brush and got the crap scared out of me.

mtbikerjohn 

I'd rather deal with the bears..

OldTryGuy

Hit by Wild Hog in April 2020 and crashed also had a cracked scapula + 2 cracked ribs and punctured lung was hit (T-boned) by another Wild Hog in July 2022 with a fractured tibia when it hit my leg.

indyfabz

A few years ago a Forest Service policeman was killed while mountain biking near W. Glacier, MT. It’s believed he came around a corner at high speed, hit a grizzly, did a header and was then mauled by the bear.

https://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outd...y-bear-attack/

I try to keep my distance.

indyfabz

This is what can happen when people don’t take food storage seriously. 67 year old cyclist pulled from her tent and killed in Ovando, MT in 2021. She had kept food in her tent before moving it after the grizzly was first discovered, but it came back.

https://www.krtv.com/news/montana-and-regional-news/new-details-about-grizzly-bear-attack-that-killed-a-woman?_amp=true

You shouldn’t do that.

Polaris OBark

My kid lives in Montana now, and does a lot of mountain biking. He says he caries bear spray.

jadmt

I live fairly close to Ovando and they have had griz problems for years. lots of game cams with griz strolling down the center of town. My really good fried had breakfast last year in Ovando with one of the woman's traveling companions she came back to memorialize her friend and my buddy was staying in the same campground on his cross country trip. A few years ago a buddy and I were camped outside of Cooke city in the same campground that there was a camper that was killed by a griz a few years prior. We literally were the only ones in the campground until a guy on a motorcycle showed up and set up camp maybe 50 yards from us. I literally could not believe it when we watched him sitting in his tent with his cook stove cooking food. I went over and told him that was a really bad idea and told him we were in griz country and told him to read the signs and that camper was killed a few years earlier by a griz. He literally said he thought it would be safer cooking and eating in his tent. I was like dude thank you at least I can sleep sound tonight...true story. oh I carry a glock 10mm in bear country along with spray. problem with bear spray is it is fairly expensive and nobody practices with it because they don't want to waste a can of it. I have emptied several cans so I know what it does. I know two people that have sprayed themselves when they jumped a bear in their haste.

indyfabz

Stupid is as stupid does.

The closest I’ve gotten to Ovando is the junction of MT 200 & MT 83. Only used the head and got water there on the way to Missoula after spending nights indoors at Seeley Lake (2017 and 2019) or Lake Alva (2000).

The photo I posted above was taken near Yaak in 2019. Took a day ride up a FS road. The campground host drove a connecting road that morning and saw a lion.

indyfabz

When I spent a week backpacking in Glacier NP with a guide he had a large can tethered to his belt. Whenever we were not above the tree line I made him walk ahead. Didn’t see any bears, but saw five moose.

I have actually seen two bears in New Jersey while riding. The black bears there are almost always skittish and run away from humans. Almost always.

Polaris OBark

I'm just worried that he doesn't.

jadmt

I have a former co-worker who was stomped on by a moose and survived but was in bad shape. I have seen many many many moose and some up close and personal and they are nothing to take lightly.

jadmt

I guess one just has to keep in mind more people are killed in the US by chickens than by black bears.. salmonella from raw chicken kill like 30 people a year. freaking chickens....

Polaris OBark

I had no idea. I will never eat chicken sushi again.

jadmt

Bozeman MT just had 2 people die eating sushi at a restaurant in Bozeman...Heard there was a line waiting from them to re-open. I told my daughter and her fiancee to stay the hell out that place lol. Told them when they want to seek adventure go slap a bison in the ass in Yellowstone Park instead...
https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2023/...nt-in-montana/

XxHaimBondxX

Just stay away from morel mushrooms, whatever they are.

Polaris OBark

He almost went there that week for a birthday sushi dinner.

jadmt

they are a mushroom often found in Montana especially after a forest fire has passed through. they are delicious and lots of people come to Montana to hunt them and they sell them at farmers markets and to restaurants. Me loves some morel mushrooms but freaking china ones apparently are not so good.....