Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[leaping steely]

Came across a bear cub in the upper area of the river yesterday. Did not see the mother but I am sure it was nearby.

Was fishing the mid-river with another forum member today and saw a black bear as well.

[Zanna]

After yelling and trying to make my little self look big it backed out of the water and off it went .

I wouldn't reccomend yelling at bears they may get pissed. I'd rather back away quietly avoiding eye contact.

The technique you are mentioning, of making youself look big and yel, works better with cougars.

[chris gadsden]

I wouldn't reccomend yelling at bears they may get pissed. I'd rather back away quietly avoiding eye contact.

The technique you are mentioning, of making youself look big and yel, works better with cougars.

Did it looked like his one that I filmed last week from about 50 feet away, from the comfort of the Leaf Mobile?

More interested in eating than bothering me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFRigNvqjDY&feature=share&list=UU_4LtEFjHj-ulBHuoq6COmQ

Also please donot ask for rain as once it starts it never stops and the fish as I have said many times before just race through the system. If you follow what Rod has posted you can catch them in the conditions you have now. First light and at day's end the best if you are fishing in a manner to make fish bite.

[armytruck]

I wouldn't reccomend yelling at bears they may get pissed. I'd rather back away quietly avoiding eye contact.

The technique you are mentioning, of making youself look big and yel, works better with cougars.

I understand what you are saying ,but  once I stopped yelling , the bear would start moving closer . I believe the bear was pissed and thought I was just a hindrance and left .  . Looked quite a bit closer than that one on the vid Chris . All and all , it was a beautiful stretch of water on the fly .

[fishforthought]

its always a good idea to have a can of bear mace on you at all times, especially when fishing alone (which i do frequently)

[CohoJake]

its always a good idea to have a can of bear mace on you at all times, especially when fishing alone (which i do frequently)

I had to read this three times, as the first time I read "beer mice", which didn't quite make sense (although the beer part did), and the second time I read "beer mace" which still didn't make sense, but shows just where my mind is.  My mind had subconsciously connected this post to Chris's post about picking up cans. 

But seriously now, can I legally bring bear mace across the border?  I remember years ago my wife had to throw away the pepper spray on her keychain as we came up to BC for some concert or other.  Anyone know?  Is this a policy to make sure the bears only eat Americans like myself?   

[azafai]

useful video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTKmKPlXJug

[Zanna]

I had to read this three times, as the first time I read "beer mice", which didn't quite make sense (although the beer part did), and the second time I read "beer mace" which still didn't make sense, but shows just where my mind is.  My mind had subconsciously connected this post to Chris's post about picking up cans. 

But seriously now, can I legally bring bear mace across the border?  I remember years ago my wife had to throw away the pepper spray on her keychain as we came up to BC for some concert or other.  Anyone know?  Is this a policy to make sure the bears only eat Americans like myself?   

I'm not sure about the border but you can definitely buy it locally if you come over for a few days.

Hard to sell pepper spray on keychain while heading to a concert as protection from bears remember that pepper spray for self defense is illegal in Canada.

[LP89CG]

I'm sure a quick call to the CBSA would clear things up for you

[Every Day]

I wouldn't reccomend yelling at bears they may get pissed. I'd rather back away quietly avoiding eye contact.

The technique you are mentioning, of making youself look big and yel, works better with cougars.

You're joking right?
Definitely yell at bears and make yourself look big. Black bears such as interior BC blacks bears are predatory, and will stalk/eat you.

A startled bear is also never a good thing so you're suppose to make noise moving through the bush. Most people don't know, but the best noise to make is actually breaking as many sticks, etc as you can. A study watching black bear response actually found that the most effective way to get a black bear to check out it's surroundings/respond/inform that you are coming is the sound of branches breaking (they set up recorders with various noises (people talking, branches breaking, etc).
 
Best thing to do if you see one (especially up there) is keep your eye on it and try to move it away (make yourself not look like an easy meal) especially if it's moving towards you or standing in plain sight "ignoring you" and slowly moving closer. As said before, bear spray is a very good defence once the bear is close as well, but it's always good to carry a sturdy walking stick, etc in bear country because there are a fraction of bears that are not effected. If you do get attacked (very rare), fight back and don't let it knock you down (black bears only).

To be honest, no black bear on the Vedder though will come after you, there is enough fish and the like to go around...
But saying to not make noise is just silly.

You did hit the cougar point though, same thing. Cats are very smart and will weigh the benefits of an attack vs the risk. The bigger and more aggressive you look, the more the cat with think twice about going after you because of the greater chance of injury to the cat (and a hurt cat in the bush is a dead cat or severely inhibited cat in the way of catching prey).

[LP89CG]

I think you're lucky if you notice a cougar that is going to attack you. Usually they stalk and wait for opportunity. You'll know you're being stalked after you've been attacked. Same goes for the ones in bars.

[armytruck]

I think you're lucky if you notice a cougar that is going to attack you. Usually they stalk and wait for opportunity. You'll know you're being stalked after you've been attacked. Same goes for the ones in bars.

that depends on which watering hole ur fishin  

[Noahs Arc]

An old saying for bears:
If it's black fight back
If it's brown lay down
If it's white say good night

Have to agree with everyday on this one. Any kind of noise will do but animals in the wild don't stumble around snapping twigs and branches
(rutting ungulates a diff story) and that would be enough to alert a blackie. I wear a necklace with tweezers and a nail knot tool dangling and clanging away plus the twigs when Im feeling sketchy.

[Fillibert]

If a bear attacks go for a swim
But bears can swim you say?...
Yes but does it want to?
If a cougar attacks go for the eyes. Like EVERY DAY said they are smart and prey usually tries to escape and rarely will fight back making the cougar reassess the risk/benefit situation.
What do I know... never got attacked

[searun17]

The problem with bears like the ones around the vedder is they are so close to humans allot of the time they become habituated by the humans presence and are not afraid ,and these bears are the more dangerous because they don't scare as easy making close encounters     more frequent.