I have to travel to my area. We were just there for six days and we didnt notice any BF activity. The bears are acting strange though. They have been coming right up on the porch at our uncles house. Sows and cubs. At our place, my friends daughter was riding a go-cart and a bear crossed in front of her. We found the tracks and a few of us tracked it through the woods with the dogs. My brother and I stayed at the fire, listening to the radio. The others ended up pushing the bear back to us. I looked up and it was approximately 20 yards away, just foraging around. We walked to within 15 yards of it when it finally took notice and looked at us. It did not run right away. I felt safe because I had my "bear-dog" with me and a vehicle was easily accessible. I hollered to the others that the bear was over here and thats when it took off running. Straight down the trail that the others were coming up. So I again hollered that the bear was coming their way. It ended up veering off the trail before it reached them. This all happened before dark and then at about 11:00 p.m., we were sitting around the fire, listening to the radio. We didnt know it but our "bear-dog" snuck off and then we heard all hell break loose as my dog treed the bear. We got our spotlight and video camera. It was the same bear as earlier. It was eating some sunflower seeds out of a bird feeder that was 25 yards away from the fire. Once we got the dogs out from under the tree, it came down and took off once again. I thought it was kind of weird for that bear to be so persistent about hanging around for so many hours and not letting our presence deter it. What do you all think? This is a remote area where the bears do not come in contact with humans often. It wouldnt be like the bears from, say, yellowstone. We are going back again for ten days, leaving the 6th of July. I'll let you all know if anything worth telling happens.
Posted on Jun 26, 2002, 12:03 PM from IP address 205.188.197.27