beware in the out of doors in montana

My husband and I were out on a day hike/walk in the mountains not far from where we live. It was a gorgeous sunshiny day, clear, and we were on our way home, walking alongside a narrow ledge that weaved it's way across the shear rock face.

My husband was leading and suddenly stopped. A black cub bear had peaked over a ridge just above us, possibly hearing the crunching sound of our boots on the rocks, and although the little guy was in no danger, he/she let out a squeal, turned, and ran away, but momma heard his fuss and a couple seconds later we were staring death square in the face.

She meant business, her eyes were glassy and cold, there was froth dripping from her mouth, and she was gnashing her teeth, using one paw to swipe and try and reach out at us as if to extend a warning.

Had a shear rock face not separated us from momma bear, my husband said she surely would have attacked.

We remained vigilant for quite some time after, concerned that momma may have not been satisfied with the level of warning she doled out to us and had chosen to backtrack and come at us on the ledge.
 
An 86-year-old man was having his annual checkup. He bragged to the doctor: "Hey, doc. I've got an 18-year-old bride who's pregnant with my child. How 'bout that?"
The doctor thought for a moment & said, "Let me tell you a story. I knew a guy who was a skilled hunter but one day he left home in a hurry & accidentally picked up his umbrella instead of his rifle. Later that day, he came face-to-face with a huge Grizzly Bear. He raised his umbrella, pointed it at the bear & squeezed the handle. And the bear immediately fell to the ground & died."
"That's impossible," said the old man. "Someone else must have shot that bear."
"That's kind of what I'm getting at," said the doctor.
 
When I lived in Florida it was in a very rural area in the north and we had lots of bears. Got into our yard all the time, and did a lot of damage, to things like our bird feeders, garbage cans, and garden. However I never had any fear of them for my self or my person. One did try to follow the dogs into the house through the dog door, fortunately he didn't fit, but we needed to get a new dog door. Black bears very rarely attack people.
Grizzlies are a little different, but still so long as you are careful they are rarely dangerous.

Here is a link to an article about an interesting bear encounter that took place just a couple of hundred yards from our house: https://www.buzznicked.com/manliest-man-ever/ . I knew most of the people in the story, but was not home that day, so I missed the excitement.
 
20+ years ago, bears were almost unheard of in our area. Now, perhaps as a result of the changing climate, they are becoming so commonplace that our State has opened a bear hunting season. I've never seen one on our property, but one of the neighbors, a mile away, said he saw one last Fall. When I'm out in our forest, I'm usually on my tractor, or making a bunch of noise with the chainsaw, so that noise would probably keep them away. However, If I ever saw one wandering near our place, I would probably fire off a couple of rounds from the shotgun to scare it off.
 
Aunt Marg said:
My husband and I were out on a day hike/walk in the mountains not far from where we live. It was a gorgeous sunshiny day, clear, and we were on our way home, walking alongside a narrow ledge that weaved it's way across the shear rock face.

My husband was leading and suddenly stopped. A black cub bear had peaked over a ridge just above us, possibly hearing the crunching sound of our boots on the rocks, and although the little guy was in no danger, he/she let out a squeal, turned, and ran away, but momma heard his fuss and a couple seconds later we were staring death square in the face.

She meant business, her eyes were glassy and cold, there was froth dripping from her mouth, and she was gnashing her teeth, using one paw to swipe and try and reach out at us as if to extend a warning.

Had a shear rock face not separated us from momma bear, my husband said she surely would have attacked.

We remained vigilant for quite some time after, concerned that momma may have not been satisfied with the level of warning she doled out to us and had chosen to backtrack and come at us on the ledge.
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I think Aunt Marg just explained the REAL toilet paper shortage awhile back. I would have needed several rolls if that happened to me... o_O
 
Don M. said:
20+ years ago, bears were almost unheard of in our area.
Click to expand...
Same was true in Florida, but maybe going back 30 or 40 years.

I think the rebound in Florida was just the cessation of hunting, without it the population grew, particularly in remote areas like ours. Florida has also restarted a bear hunt, but so far it is too restrictive to have a lot of effect. It is quite controversial, lots of people oppose the hunts, mostly people who don't have regular visitations... I like having few bears around, but favor the hunts so long as they are well managed. Its the best solution to the problem.
 
Wasn't funny at the time, but, now I can chuckle about it. Was motorcycling in the Pocono mountains back in the 70's. Swept around a curve and the were 3 baby bears crossing the road. Skid to a halt to miss them and stalled the bike. They made it across the road and one of them squealed a bit and turning, I saw momma bear on the other side of the road. That put me between a very angry, growling bear and her babies. I prayed the old BSA would start on the first kick and not leave me there to be bear food. It started, I'm here, and not bear food. :)
 
The blackies up at the cabin weren't all that skittish, and not aggressive

They were mainly interested in the garbage cans and bird feeders
I had to build a garbage can bin with a latch
It worked
Guess they weren't all that hungry

xThZOHb.jpg


The last one loved cracked corn
Tipped over the 5 gal bucket and gobbled it all up while laying in his stomach

Pretty big fella
a yearling at 400 lbs

mr bear.jpg
 
I've encountered a few bears in my life too, but only black bears.

I DID come upon some fresh Grizzley poop in Alaska, when I was stupidly walking around the brush. A man up there pointed it out and suggested I take it home to the lower 48 as a remembrance. "Not on your life! It stunk to high Heaven!"

There were some HUGE brownish bears on our ranch in Colorado, but they wern't grizzlies!
Haha! I was going in and out of the house. My late husband said, "You walked right in front of that huge bear! Didn't you see him?"
"No." He said, " you were less than a foot away from him, TWICE!"
"Oh!" Guess I wasn't paying attention."
I was kind of "Get out of my way! I have important s--- to do!" hahaha!

The grizzlies in Alaska were pretty vicious and incredibly fast! Grizzlies seem so cute and cuddly but they are DEADLY! You can be 50 feet away and they can be on you, devouring you in a second! I won't tell of the horror stories I heard while living in Alaska.

CDestroyer: I grew up in Montana. I would guess you are from up near Great Falls, or Missoula. Am I right?
 
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A group of tourists were about to go on a hike. The Park Ranger was warning them about the dangers posed by Grizzly Bears.
He said, "Problems can occur when people unexpectedly stumble across bears. We advise hikers to wear bells on their clothing to warn bears of their presence. And always be alert when you know bears are in the area, especially if you see bear droppings."
One tourist asked, "How do you identify bear droppings?"
"Easy," replied the ranger. "They're the ones with the bells in them."
 
everything about missoula is for the university..I dont live there anymore, a little more to the east
 


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