Black Bear in the Whites

We were down to the new section of the Gale River Trail this wekeend and met a young man on his way up. He said he had been blowing his whistle to let the bear in the woods know he was there. (This is where hearing loss comes in handy - I hadn't heard it at all.) He described the bear as being near the trailhead and some other hikers had scared it away.

I thought back to an article from an old Appalachia (June '91) I had been reading recently with a story titled "Walking With the Bears" by Jeff fair which starts out with a quote by Dr. Lynn Rogers, "Most fear of bears comes from reading too much scare literature, talking to too many people who are afraid of them (it's catching) and spending too little time with actual bears." I guess he should know. He's a US Forest Service wildlife biologist with 24 years black bear study at the time the article was written. Here are some other interesting points from the story:

• "If we don't know what to believe, we embrace both extremes."
• They really are "not terrifying creatures, but neither are we perfectly safe among them."
• Fifteen years prior to '91, had been the "last attack." It was in the Lakes Region and a bear ran a surveyor up a tree...if the bear had wanted [him], it would [have] climbed the tree."
• Most bear "attacks" were found by researcher Barrie Gilbert to be "bluffs or false charges" and are "intended to carry a message but make no physical contact."
• "Wounded, threatened, or cornered bears are the ones most likely to attack." (Rogers)
• "Bears attack and kill other bears...why should humans expect greater consideration?" (Dale McCullough, behaviorist)
• "Some bears bluff charge people simply to separate the people from their food." (Rogers)
• Or cubs, which is "way overblown" (Rogers)

Since bears are out with cubs now, I thought this worth sharing and would scan the article for anyone who wants to read the whole thing.

What to do if you see a bear on the trail?
* Stand your ground, assert dominance, speak with calm confidence, back away slowly, remove yourself as a threat.
* In camp, make noise, don't have food available.
* "I'm much more impressed by the black bear's restraint than by its ferocity." (Rogers)

erugs said:

* Stand your ground, assert dominance, speak with calm confidence, back away slowly, remove yourself as a threat.

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I just want to emphasize that this is appropriate for black bears, but not grizzlies. (Only blacks are found in the NE.)

Doug

A dog was just injured by a bear down here, no witnesses but I'd guess the dog was messing with cubs or had cornered the bear. I think of black bear as 300lb racoons; don't try to attract them, don't mess with their kids, don't corner them and keep your pets away and we'll all be fine.

I was speaking to a VFTT member on Jackson summit the weekend before last and he told me of an encounter he had this year. He was fifteen feet from a good-sized black bear and the same distance from his car at a trailhead (I don't recall which one). The bear reared up and landed hard on his/her forepaws. He didn't see a cub but thought there was probably one nearby to explain the bear's unusually brazen behavior. He was a bit shaken by the experience. No doubt, my heart would be racing a bit. He backed to his car and stayed put for about fifteen minutes. The bear finally left. After the wait he got back out and tried to do his hike again. This time he succeeded; the bear was gone. To help ensure the bear stayed away the hiker whistled and made lots of noise at the start.

I heard from another hiker that a medium-sized bear was seen in Franconia Notch. It was the same day I, too, saw a bear in the Notch. In my case the bear was trotting across I-93. I was in my truck. ETA: This was four weeks ago.

erugs said:

What to do if you see a bear on the trail?

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I generally watch them run away as soon as they notice me.

At least that's how it has worked in all my encounters with black bears. It does pay to remember that every bear is an individual and it's impossible to know what it's thinking and how it may act.

I once was walking through some very tall, 4-5 ft, grass after passing some bear poop on the trail. I whistled and sang, my singing is usually enough to scare anything away, until I was in open woods again. Wasn't particullary nervous, never saw the bear. It was a hot day so I proabably didn't smell tasty.

I've never seen a bear while hiking/camping. Heard them but never saw them. If I think I hear a bear at night I just make some noise and roll over.

The 2010 season seemed to be a banner year for Black Bear in the Northern Presis. There were multiple sows with multiple cubs in close quarters in the Pinkham area. 3 sows ( 2 with 3 cubs, 1 w 2) were pretty much daily entertainment on the Auto Road, all below treeline.

So much so that some of us at the AR wondered when Clark's Trading Post would come by and draft the new crop of cubs who were already well trained in rifling motorcycle panniers for food in June of their first year.

2011 was pretty quiet, as one would expect... remains to be seen what this year will bring.

Cubs learn very early that presence of people= presence of food. Doesn't mean your specific PBJ or Fluffernutter or GU, it might just mean the scent that you brought with you. And, of course, what may have been left behind.

Fed Bear have a very short life span.

Breeze

I would be curious to see what we hear about the bear that was in the Whiteface/Passaconaway vicinity last year. Some folks I met above the Diceymill Trail had been followed quite a distance despite making noise and said it was fairly obvious it was lame. They had made noise with pots and pans from their mess kit and it still did not turn off right away. I had hiked Blueberry Ledge Trail in the evening with my daughter the year before and there were two cubs in a tree close to the trail. We were on the way up and it was about dusk. The family that had caused them to tree was still looking to see them without knowing where momma bear was. Did not think that this was wise so I told my daughter to just carry on a normal conversation with me and we just hiked our hike. They are usually better about sharing the woods without intruding on anothers space than we are!

Below is a picture of a bear print taken about four weeks ago in the Zealand falls area. Sorry, I didn’t think to place a piece of gear for scale, but I’d guess that the size was about 6 x 6.



In 35 years of hiking I’ve seen 3 bears in the wild (one was with a cub) and all three were skittish and ran away. I wasn’t afraid. I was more in awe that I had a rare encounter with a bear.

BTW, I don’t believe someone should be blowing a whistle to frighten a bear. Especially if they don’t even know if one is in the area. Shouldn’t blowing a whistle be reserved for an emergency?

We saw our first black bear about a month ago near the beginning of the trail to Slide Mt. We heard some rustling in the woods and Peter said "it's a bear" which usually means it's a squirrel and he's trying to freak me out, but this time it really was a bear. We were the first hikers on the trail that day and it was about 15-20 feet away. Initially it ran away, but turned around to check us out. So we just watched it. It was pretty cool after over 30 years of hiking to finally see a bear. It stood watching us long enough for Peter to get the camera out of my pack, but we weren't able to take a good picture and it took off into the woods.
I had a brief moment of wondering if I should be scared, but I wasn't and it was just like those moments when a deer decides to stop and watch you instead of running away. It was a gift really.

nietzschescat said:

[...] We heard some rustling in the woods and Peter said "it's a bear" which usually means it's a squirrel and he's trying to freak me out, but this time it really was a bear. [...]

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That's funny.

Remember the Gale river trail is in close proximity of the Bethlehem dump on Trudeau Road (a haven for wildlife). If you want to see some wildlife, I suggest walking the snowmobile trails that run parallel to Trudeau Road. We have seen moose, bear, dear, coy dogs, turkeys, fisher cats, porcupines, fox, beavers and skunks.


We have come across a mother and cubs 3 times in the past. 2 of the times were short lived. On our first occasion, Marley (my dog) started jumping up and down but never left the trail. I heard the bear climb up the tree as I walked toward Marley. Before I could get to where Marley stopped on the trail, I heard the bear come down the tree. The bear stood about 50' off the trail and as I reached for my camera I heard a noise in a tree about 30' to my right. I looked up to and saw a bear cub in the tree. I yelled at Marley "Lets get the @@@@ outa here" and did my impression of Carl Lewis!


Another encounter was a little different. We were walking the trail and Marley started doing his dance (he dances when animals are near), this time I looked up to see 2 bear cubs in a tree. The cubs were in a tree right on the edge of the trail. I saw the cubs looking down toward momma, I never saw momma and I wasn't hanging around to see momma! We back tracked out of there.


On all our bear encounters only 1 time did I not have a bear go up a tree. That was the biggest and probably oldest bear we have encountered. I took a video of him. I narrated in the video that he was to big to climb a tree and we were in his territory and we better turn around. That bear stood on a knoll and watched us retreat.

Bears can be observed from a distance, I have not found 1 to be aggresive but the 1 I do find to be aggresive will probably be the last thing I do in life.

I often hike the ski trails at Loon. both downhill and x-country. Saw a cub by itself once which was the most terrifying as not knowing where the mother was, was very unnerving. Quickly got the heck out of there. That was on one of the x-country trails. On one of the downhill trails a few years ago I ran into a mother and 2 cubs. Only one visible in photo which was taken from about 100 yards. Right after I took the shot she stood up with her nose in air. she smelled me for sure and I was out of there.

bandana4me said:

If you want to see some wildlife, I suggest walking the snowmobile trails that run parallel to Trudeau Road. We have seen moose, bear, dear, coy dogs, turkeys, fisher cats, porcupines, fox, beavers and skunks.

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That's a great idea, we haven't been down there yet. It's the Profile Recreational Trail you're referring to.

Good advice, Ellen. Most bears I've seen in the Whites, probably about a dozen, were a short glimpse of their hindside. (A mother suckling two cubs carefully viewed from about 50 feet above on Webster Cliffs was a most notable exception.)

With growing bear populations, expanding need for new "territories" and acclimatization to humans and human food sources, confrontations will likely increase. As a sidebar to this post, here is an article on a sighting on Cape Cod: http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120530/NEWS/205300320

If my experience is relevant: We've seen at least 4 bear (black obviously) in the last 2 weeks in the Bethlehem/Twin Mountain areas. Not looking for them, it wasn't dawn or dusk or remote.
They were basically around, in the same areas we were during the day. I hadn't seen bear (except for prints, scat and Clark's) here before.

IMHO: The Whites are going the way of the Adirondacks in terms of back country rules. No biggy.

More important is our heightened awareness of their proximity. Please assume there are 300 lb "raccoons" just out of sight when you cook and clean and dispose of garbage.

A smaller concern is a 3 or 4 year old study of fatal black bear attacks (admittedly there aren't may, BUT): Something like 85% were determined to be predatory, not protective, attacks.
So you should not run or play dead, but fight back if attacked by a black bear.

Oh and BTW : I don't consider observations and advice from 10 or 20 or 50 years ago relevant now in the NorthEast. There are more of us and more of them out there today.

http://www.nepr.net/news/bear-population-grows-more-states-look-hunts