Black Bear wanted my trout!

atlantisboy911

atlantisboy911

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Jun 10, 2009
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I just bought some Bear spray yesterday and this is why...I wasn't going to post this story as I thought I was probably over reacting but thought some of you would find it amusing :)

I was fishing Pine Creek a week ago , I often rent the same cabin above the bridge before slate run right next to the studebaker property and it is a lovely peice of water , a great riffle then a nice run and then a really deep pool where I know there are monster browns ( I haven't caught any but have met locals that have shown me pics of 26 inch plus browns from that pool ) .

I had been fishing on and off all day and had caught several nice rainbows, my family really wanted to eat trout for dinner so I went back out about an hour before dusk. I eventually caught a rainbow which I was going to keep, as I was unhooking it and putting it on a stringer I heard a noise on the opposite bank and I looked up and saw a black bear starring at me . It was the first bear I had seen that close and felt slightly nervous as he was grunting and standing up. I slowly waded downstream and the bear followed me on the other bank and then swam across, I lost sight of it in the bushes and I decided to go back to the cabin. As I left the creek and walked up to the cabin I could see It was ahead of me right next to my cabin. It saw me and started to come towards me , then I had a funny moment where I faked it out and it went round the other side of my cabin which gave me a chance to run in soaking wet in my waders and shout to my wife "take this F****** fish there is a bear outside!" She took the fish and my two kids got out of bed and looked out of the window as this bear went round and round our cabin before eventually crossing the road and sitting in a field on the other side. I've got to admit I was a bit freaked out , I have been to Alaska and seen bears not interested in you , its very different when they are!

I spoke to Tom at the Slate Run Fly Shop and he says the bears have been bad this year because the acorn crop has been bad they are hungry, he said he saw a bear eat a fawn in his back yard a few nights before.

So I now have a bear spray cannister as part of my fishing gear , over reacting , maybe! I just know that was quite intimidating.

Anyone else have any bear stories?
 
Saw a black on Penns once-first bear I ever saw in the wild-big thrill.
 
Well at least if you shoot yourself with that it'll just really suck for a little while. I don't think it's overreacting to be prepared.

I had one follow me back to my car in college near Clarion. It was on Mill Creek. I had two stocker brookies on a stringer and he wouldn't stop following until had dropped the second one as well. Didn't he know I was a starving college kid?

In Idaho I had a nice rainbow I had put on ice (buried in the snow) and returned to find an eagle having lunch.
 
Was it interested in you, or did it walk by?
 
Funny, I had a dream last night that I was being harrased by two bears in a parking lot somewhere. They were just milling around me and I kept trying to shooo them away with a newspaper. They eventually turned more aggressive and I dashed quickly into the car, but before I could bring my leg in and close the door, one of them stuck his nose in and prevented it from closing as he nipped at my leg, which was still outside the car.

Did I mention I woke up in the middle of the night and ate a PBJ sandwich?
 
A couple years ago I was fishing Mud Run in Hickory Run SP. I had driven back the primitive camping area and parked at the gate. While I was fishing my wife had a sow with two cubs come right up to the car. She looked in the window at my wife! When she decided my wife was no threat to the cubs they wandered off into the woods. I did notice the PAGC had a bear trap in the camping area, I don't think I'd want to be camping there anytime soon.

At our cabin in Potter we routinely see bear. One evening this spring we came back from supper and one was standing in the lane. Later that evening a sow and three cubs wandered through. Earlier in the spring one came right up to the porch one evening. That is about as up close and personal as I want to get, certainly not that close out in the woods.
 
When I lived on the outskirts of Coudersport, I had an amusing bear story.

I had been having issues with raccoons and skunks getting into my garbage, which I kept just outside the side door. I went through the whole cycle of getting more sturdy, raccoon proof cans and such, and had alleviated the problem for a few weeks.

Then 1 night at about 3 a.m. I heard this banging noise coming from the garbage can. Still half asleep I wondered downstairs saying something along the lines of "f'in raccoons" or somethign below my breath. I got to the door, opened it, and looked out through the storm door window. Didn't see anything, tried pressing my face up against the window. Jet black, the door was shakin too, I thought, "boy is it dark and windy out" (logic doesn't work when half asleep). So I reached over and flipped on the outside light.

At that moment, I realized I was looking at the rear end of a bear pressed up against the window, about a quarter inch from my face, separated by a piece of glass. He noticed he was a quarter inch away from a human right around the same time. We both ran directly away from one another. He stopped out in the yard, I stopped in the kitchen, and we looked at each other again from a more reasonable distance of 30 yards or so, both kinda laughing I think at being surprised like that. The garbage was already strewn about the yard, I decided to wait till morning to clean it up. I had trouble getting back to sleep, my heart was racing.

My "raccoon proof" garbage cans were no match for a bear, they were torn to shreds.
 
Did I mention I woke up in the middle of the night and ate a PBJ sandwich?Quote
no-but I have a pbj every day for lunch-
the jams come from Ohio-Farmer Dave?
 
I have two bear stories. A few years back I made a trip to Hickory Run Park to fish Mud Run off organized camp area road. I parked all the way at end of the area next to the gate, suited up and began walking down the trail to the stream. There are dense laurels along the trail, and I heard rustling in the bushes not too far in. I peered into the bush the to see if I could spot anything as I continued walking. When the brush thinned a bit I spotted a good sized bear about 20 yards away walking parallel to the trail. I stopped and he stopped. We studied each other for about a minute. I’ve seen quite a few bear in the woods and found them to be extremely wary. My experience has been that they run the other way with your slightest movement or when they catch just a hint of your scent. This bear had no fear at all. We walked “together” for quite a distance. Just to see what would happen, I yelled to see if the bear would react, he just stood there peering at me. I picked up a stick and hit it against a tree; again he had no reaction. I thought to myself that bear is going to be trouble for the campers in the area. Eventually I lost sight of the bear when I arrived at the stream, and my thoughts shifted to trout. A few weeks later I read of a bear mauling a camper in that very spot in the park. I wasn’t surprised. That bear completely lost his fear of people and I would bet it was the same bear that attacked a camper in his tent.

Another time I was bow hunting at my cabin in Wyoming County on Forkston Mountain. It was a real windy night. I woke up early, as usual, and the wind was still howling. I geared up, and began walking on the trail behind my cabin to my treestand. It was a moonlit night, and I decided not to use my flashlight because it ruins your night vision and I’ve found you can actually see better in the semidarkness without one. Up ahead in the middle of my trail I spotted what I thought was a root ball from a blowdown resulting from the high winds. As I walked up to the blowdown it absolutely exploded in the darkness. The blowdown was actually a bear, feeding or lying in the middle of the trail with his back to me. My first reaction was to raise my bow and put in between me and the creature. I was so close I could actually feel the bear hit the stabilizer on my bow as he bolted. I later surmised that the wind masked my sound and scent, and the bear had no idea I had come up on him. I’m not sure which of us was more scared. “My heart was in my throat” doesn’t even come close to describe literally walking right into a bear in the darkness.

Oh, and if I recollect correctly, I think I had a PBJ sandwich in my pack that morning for lunch. Actually, I think I'll make one right now for lunch........
 
I've only seen 1 bear while fishing and I just happened to look up at it bolted from a few hundred yards in front of me.

However, the weirdest bear story I have is when I was fishing a small stream and came upon a clearing that was circular with a diameter of about 50 feet. It was full of bear droppings. so full it was hard to walk through without stepping on any. No bear though. However, it answered the question of where a bear does it's business and yes, it's in the woods.
 
Hey Boo-Boo, I thought bears only went after pic-a-nic baskets.
 
tomgamber wrote:

I had one follow me back to my car in college near Clarion. It was on Mill Creek. I had two stocker brookies on a stringer and he wouldn't stop following until had dropped the second one as well. Didn't he know I was a starving college kid?
Click to expand...

Was that you? I got more fish that way growing up near Clarion...
 
pcray1231 wrote:
When I lived on the outskirts of Coudersport, I had an amusing bear story.

I had been having issues with raccoons and skunks getting into my garbage, which I kept just outside the side door. I went through the whole cycle of getting more sturdy, raccoon proof cans and such, and had alleviated the problem for a few weeks.

Then 1 night at about 3 a.m. I heard this banging noise coming from the garbage can. Still half asleep I wondered downstairs saying something along the lines of "f'in raccoons" or somethign below my breath. I got to the door, opened it, and looked out through the storm door window. Didn't see anything, tried pressing my face up against the window. Jet black, the door was shakin too, I thought, "boy is it dark and windy out" (logic doesn't work when half asleep). So I reached over and flipped on the outside light.

At that moment, I realized I was looking at the rear end of a bear pressed up against the window, about a quarter inch from my face, separated by a piece of glass. He noticed he was a quarter inch away from a human right around the same time. We both ran directly away from one another. He stopped out in the yard, I stopped in the kitchen, and we looked at each other again from a more reasonable distance of 30 yards or so, both kinda laughing I think at being surprised like that. The garbage was already strewn about the yard, I decided to wait till morning to clean it up. I had trouble getting back to sleep, my heart was racing.

My "raccoon proof" garbage cans were no match for a bear, they were torn to shreds.
Click to expand...

Great story. Would have been even better if it was a screen door, and that you had thrown the leftover beans in the trash that night, and power was out, so you had to light a candle...
 
I've had a few bear encounters on pine creek.
I almost hit one driving up route 414 one night - just about in that same area below slate run.
I also had one swim across the pool I was fishing in, just 30 yards below me, one evening in the canyon

My most worrisome encounter, however, happened on the Delaware River.
I was walking along the dirt road in the game land, when I heard some commotion over the hillside below me. I went over to the edge of the road to see what was going on, and saw a sow with 2 cubs in the swampy area below, maybe 50 yards away.
Then for some odd reason, one of the cubs darted up the hillside, and crossed the road about 10 yards in front of me, and continued up the hill on the other side of the road.
So, suddenly, I'm between a cub and it's mother, who was still standing down there giving me the evil eye.
Since the cub was still out in front of me a little ways, I started to backstep very slowly, keeping my eyes on the mama the whole time. Although I'm not sure what I would have down if she had charged.
Luckily, a truck came down the road just then. I waved for it to stop, and just hopped in the passenger side door, and told the driver what was up. He promptly got me out of there.
I've met several other fisherman along the Delaware who have seen enough bears there, that they carry pepper spray
 
Those bear might not have been interested in eating the fish...

http://www.mysmokymountainvacation.com/news/bear-attack.html
 
I have aunt and uncle who had to put electric fence around their hot tub because they kept finding a bear in it.
 
Jack--this is the truth. Last night I had a black bear dream--don't remember much except I was waving my hands, shouting and banging pots. Don't anyone get ideas--Jack and I were not sharing a tent.

I got some bear stories for sure--from Glacier Park and Alaska. Saw plenty of blackbears when I lived upstate but they were not the close encounters of the former.
 
Two Bear stories,one kinda funny,the other not so funny.
Years ago while walking down a old jeep trail near Francis walter Res in Carbon county we got into heavy Laurel on either side of us.We came to a stop when we heard a "woof" in the thicket,just then we saw two cubs scamper up a tree not 10 yds away.I looked at my friend just as he yelled "RUN" and off we went down the trail as fast as we could run.I looked over my shoulder and saw mamma bear emerge from the thicket but she just stood up and watched us run as fast as we could.Later we thanked our lucky stars that we ran FROM the bear and not to it as it came out of the thicket.
Just this Sunday my wife was on rt 80 traveling east and witnessed a bear hit by a large truck.All she saw was the bear rolling off the shoulder after it was hit and it did n't look like it survived.Hate to hear that,too much wildlife destroyed on the highways.
 
troutwilleatflies wrote:
Two Bear stories,one kinda funny,the other not so funny.
Years ago while walking down a old jeep trail near Francis walter Res in Carbon county we got into heavy Laurel on either side of us.We came to a stop when we heard a "woof" in the thicket,just then we saw two cubs scamper up a tree not 10 yds away.I looked at my friend just as he yelled "RUN" and off we went down the trail as fast as we could run.I looked over my shoulder and saw mamma bear emerge from the thicket but she just stood up and watched us run as fast as we could.Later we thanked our lucky stars that we ran FROM the bear and not to it as it came out of the thicket.
Just this Sunday my wife was on rt 80 traveling east and witnessed a bear hit by a large truck.All she saw was the bear rolling off the shoulder after it was hit and it did n't look like it survived.Hate to hear that,too much wildlife destroyed on the highways.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking running from a bear is a bad idea, unless of course you can run faster than your buddy. :lol:

Of course I'm just joking. Normally running from a large predator that can run much faster is not a good idea. But in your case, it probably was. Glad it worked out. She only wanted you away from the cubs.

Just guessing. I'm not an expert.
 
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