OT Bear stories

keh

Well-known Member

BIL and SIL have a second home in Gatlinburg, TN. Rent it sometimes to weekenders, no rental horror stories for that class of renters, usually pay up front. Anyway, when the relative have been there they have been seeing a bear with 4 cubs. Must be the most photographed bears in the Southeast. Anyway, the cubs were a few months old and the wildlife decided they were getting too friendly to people and killed them. Couldn't find a place to relocate them to. Probably people were feeding them and more probably they didn't have garbage cans properly secured.

100+ miles away at Lake Lure, NC, SIL and her sister went to visit someone over night. They parked their cars with the front wheels turned all the way to one side. Steep driveway in that mountain town. The next morning a front tire on both cars were flat and too damaged to repair. After checking it turned out a bear had bitten into the tire.

BIL said somewhere he saw a little convertible similar to a Mazda Miata with 3 strands of electric fence around it. He guessed someone did not like having to pay to replace a convertible top that had been destroyed by a bear. Cheaper than building a garage.

KEH
 
I hate to see bears killed. If there's a bear hunt on an outdoor show,I change the channel.
My wife's sister and brother in law go to Gatlinburg and rent a cabin once a year or so and from the stories they tell,it's a wonder you don't hear stories of bears killing kids though. Sonny said there'll be people who'll take their kids outside when they see a bear,and try to see just how close they can get to it.
There was a finalist for the Darwin Award in northern Michigan a year or two ago who was lucky to have survived. He took KFC up in his tree stand. The cubs went up after it and he tried to kick them down. Mama went up and settled the scrap. He was pretty beaten up when she got done with him.
 
I had a bear trying to crawl trough the open window of our bedroom one night in early spring after me and the wife had just go into bed. The wife was already sound asleep, i was just dozing off when i heard something tearing the bug screen.
I was just in time to slam the window shut in its face.

Took a while before i fell asleep.
 
I think killing them annoys me. We have deer everywhere here . There are deer in towns with no woods left . But for some reason the state thinks we need a bear hunt to kill the bears.That time would be best spent hunting deer.
 
(quoted from post at 13:18:51 11/27/15) I think killing them annoys me. We have deer everywhere here . There are deer in towns with no woods left . But for some reason the state thinks we need a bear hunt to kill the bears.That time would be best spent hunting deer.
I am an avid hunter.
If a bear is causing problems i would have no problem shooting it.
Otherwise I have no desire to go shoot an animal that;
1-I am not inclined to want to eat and
2-I would then have to pay a taxidermist a bunch of money to turn it into a rug or mount that I don't have the room to display.
We have quite a few on our property and other than beating me to picking berries some years we have gotten along fine so far.
 

Where I grew up bears were not much more than a big pest. Where I used to live they were more of the same. Basically a giant sized dog that would get into everything and anything from garbage to your camp to your deep freeze to your garden. I've never eaten dog (that I know of), but I've eaten a lot of bear. They are moving into our present area and a lot of people get freaked out over them. My earliest memory is of my grandmother chasing a bear off our porch with a broom. IMO they are still just a big pest.
 
Agreed. They are a 400# racoon. One big boar here locally that the game commission has relocated at least twice. Causes all sorts of trouble, destructive, aggressive towards people, destroys crops, hives etc... I could have killed it for crop damage this summer, but my daughter wanted a rug, so I waited(GC doesn't let you keep the hide on crop damage animals). I didn't see hide nor hair of it during the bear hunting season.
 

No bears to speak of in my area of upstate SC, but they are heading this way. For many years I have heard bear sighting stories in the area, but the official story was that they were passing through from the mountains to the low country swamps. Sort of like the mountain lions that we don't officially have but I have seen. Some record class bear was killed not too far north and west of me last hunting season. Someone found a dead bear on the side of the road a few miles southeast of me last week and posted it on facebook. Last year someone else near me killed a bear and someone posted it on facebook. The gamewardens found the pic, caught the guys, and fined them heavily.

Of more concern are the wild hogs which are nearby. I wonder if bears will hunt wild hogs??

KEH
 
We have a big ole boy that has been raiding my bird feeder for past several years. I never actually saw him until last spring. Feeder is about 15 ft. from living room window. He was intent getting the last morsel when I went out the basement door and suggested that he may find better pickings across the road at my neighbors. He reluctantly agreed and ambled slowly off. He returns semi-occasionally to wreck havoc with my feeder, but I have accepted the challenge of constructing a squirrel-proof and bear-proof bird feeder. Bears have been repopulating this area of the Virginia Piedmont at remarkable speed in past 15 years, migrating either from the swamps of Tidewater or Blue Ridge Mountains. What amazes me is there have been no reports of calf, pet or goat molestations. I sometimes sense my horses are really freaked out and I surmise that Ol' Blackie has been in the pasture the past evening. My philosophy is live and let live. If all he costs me is a little bird seed and some carpentry skills to repair a feeder, I am thrilled to have him as a guest on my farm.
 
(quoted from post at 09:54:04 11/28/15) We have a big ole boy that has been raiding my bird feeder for past several years. I never actually saw him until last spring. Feeder is about 15 ft. from living room window. He was intent getting the last morsel when I went out the basement door and suggested that he may find better pickings across the road at my neighbors. He reluctantly agreed and ambled slowly off. He returns semi-occasionally to wreck havoc with my feeder, but I have accepted the challenge of constructing a squirrel-proof and bear-proof bird feeder. Bears have been repopulating this area of the Virginia Piedmont at remarkable speed in past 15 years, migrating either from the swamps of Tidewater or Blue Ridge Mountains. What amazes me is there have been no reports of calf, pet or goat molestations. I sometimes sense my horses are really freaked out and I surmise that Ol' Blackie has been in the pasture the past evening. My philosophy is live and let live. If all he costs me is a little bird seed and some carpentry skills to repair a feeder, I am thrilled to have him as a guest on my farm.

In my experience black bears are more like pigs as far as diet than wolves. While you may not see calves and goats missing, you might be surprised at the number of car struck animals they clean up or find them where dead livestock is dumped. A hungry black bear can certainly take a calf, colt or pig if they get ahold of them. But they tend to be more scavenger in the meat line from what I've seen.

Now coyotes, they are meat eaters and a much bigger problem around livestock than a bear.
 
Growing up in Indiana the poems and stories of James Whitcomb Riley were taught as part of our state history lessons. When I saw 'Bear Story" in the thread title this is the first thing that came to mind.

THE BEAR STORY

BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY


W'y, wunst they wuz a Little Boy went out
In the woods to shoot a Bear. So, he went out
'Way in the grea'-big woods--he did.--An' he
Wuz goin' along--an' goin' along, you know,
An' purty soon he heerd somepin' go "Wooh!"--
Ist thataway--"Woo-ooh!" An' he wuz skeered,
He wuz. An' so he runned an' clumbed a tree--
A grea'-big tree, he did,--a sicka-more tree.
An' nen he heerd it ag'in: an' he looked round,
An' 't'uz a Bear!--a grea'-big shore-'nuff Bear!--
No: 't'uz two Bears, it wuz--two grea'-big Bears--
One of 'em wuz--ist one's a grea'-big Bear.--
But they ist boff went "Wooh!"--An' here they come
To climb the tree an' git the Little Boy
An' eat him up!

An' nen the Little Boy
He 'uz skeered worse'n ever! An' here come
The grea'-big Bear a-climbin' th' tree to git
The Little Boy an' eat him up--Oh, no!--
It 'uzn't the Big Bear 'at clumb the tree--
It 'uz the Little Bear. So here he come
Climbin' the tree--an' climbin' the tree! Nen when
He git wite clos't to the Little Boy, w'y, nen
The Little Boy he ist pulled up his gun
An' shot the Bear, he did, an' killed him dead!
An' nen the Bear he falled clean on down out
The tree--away clean to the ground, he did--
Spling-splung! he falled plum down, an' killed him, too!
An' lit wite side o' where the Big Bear's at.

An' nen the Big Bear's awful mad, you bet!--
'Cause--'cause the Little Boy he shot his gun
An' killed the Little Bear.--'Cause the Big Bear
He--he 'uz the Little Bear's Papa.--An' so here
He come to climb the big old tree an' git
The Little Boy an' eat him up! An' when
The Little Boy he saw the grea'-big Bear
A-comin', he 'uz badder skeered, he wuz,
Than any time! An' so he think he'll climb
Up higher--'way up higher in the tree
Than the old Bear kin climb, you know.--But he--
He can't climb higher 'an old Bears kin climb,--
'Cause Bears kin climb up higher in the trees
Than any little Boys in all the Wo-r-r-ld!

An' so here come the grea'-big-Bear, he did,--
A-climbin' up--an' up the tree, to git
The Little Boy an' eat him up! An' so
The Little Boy he clumbed on higher, an' higher,
An' higher up the tree--an' higher--an' higher--
An' higher'n iss-here house is!--An' here come
Th' old Bear--clos'ter to him all the time!--
An' nen--first thing you know,--when th' old Big Bear
Wuz wite clos't to him--nen the Little Boy
Ist jabbed his gun wite in the old Bear's mouf
An' shot an' killed him dead!--No; I fergot,--
He didn't shoot the grea'-big Bear at all--
'Cause they 'uz no load in the gun, you know--
'Cause when he shot the Little Bear, w'y, nen
No load 'uz anymore nen in the gun!

But th' Little Boy clumbed higher up, he did--
He clumbed lots higher--an' on up higher--an' higher
An' higher--tel he ist can't climb no higher,
'Cause nen the limbs 'uz all so little, 'way
Up in the teeny-weeny tiptop of
The tree, they'd break down wiv him ef he don't
Be keerful! So he stop an' think: An' nen
He look around--An' here come th' old Bear!
An' so the Little Boy make up his mind
He's got to ist git out o' there someway!--
'Cause here come the old Bear!--so clos't, his bref's
Purt'-nigh so's he kin feel how hot it is
Ag'inst his bare feet--ist like old "Ring's" bref
When he's be'n out a-huntin' an' 's all tired.
So when th' old Bear's so clos't--the Little Boy
Ist gives a grea'-big jump fer 'nother tree--
No!--no he don't do that!--I tell you what
The Little Boy does:--W'y, nen--w'y, he--Oh, yes!--
The Little Boy he finds a hole up there
'At's in the tree--an' climbs in there an' hides--
An' nen th' old Bear can't find the Little Boy
At all!--But purty soon the old Bear finds
The Little Boy's gun 'at's up there--'cause the gun
It's too tall to tooked wiv him in the hole.
So, when the old Bear find' the gun, he knows
The Little Boy's ist hid 'round somers there,--
An' th' old Bear 'gins to snuff an' sniff around,
An' sniff an' snuff around--so's he kin find
Out where the Little Boy's hid at.--An' nen--nen--
Oh, yes!--W'y, purty soon the old Bear climbs
'Way out on a big limb--a grea'-long limb,--
An' nen the Little Boy climbs out the hole
An' takes his axe an' chops the limb off! . . . Nen
The old Bear falls k-splunge! clean to the ground,
An' bust an' kill hisse'f plum dead, he did!

An' nen the Little Boy he git his gun
An' 'menced a-climbin' down the tree ag'in--
No!--no, he didn't git his gun--'cause when
The Bear falled, nen the gun falled, too--An' broked
It all to pieces, too!--An' nicest gun!--
His Pa ist buyed it!--An' the Little Boy
Ist cried, he did; an' went on climbin' down
The tree--an' climbin' down--an' climbin' down!--
An'-sir! when he 'uz purt'-nigh down,--w'y, nen
The old Bear he jumped up ag'in--an' he
Ain't dead at all--ist 'tendin' thataway,
So he kin git the Little Boy an' eat
Him up! But the Little Boy he 'uz too smart
To climb clean down the tree.--An' the old Bear
He can't climb up the tree no more--'cause when
He fell, he broke one of his--he broke all
His legs!--an' nen he couldn't climb! But he
Ist won't go 'way an' let the Little Boy
Come down out of the tree. An' the old Bear
Ist growls 'round there, he does--ist growls an' goes
"Wooh!--woo-ooh!" all the time! An' Little Boy
He haf to stay up in the tree--all night--
An' 'thout no supper neever!--Only they
Wuz apples on the tree!--An' Little Boy
Et apples--ist all night--an' cried--an' cried!
Nen when 't'uz morning the old Bear went "Wooh!"
Ag'in, an' try to climb up in the tree
An' git the Little Boy.--But he can't
Climb t'save his soul, he can't!--An' oh! he's mad!--
He ist tear up the ground! an' go "Woo-ooh!"
An'--Oh, yes!--purty soon, when morning's come
All light--so's you kin see, you know,--w'y, nen
The old Bear finds the Little Boy's gun, you know,
'At's on the ground.--(An' it ain't broke at all--
I ist said that!) An' so the old Bear think
He'll take the gun an' shoot the Little Boy:--
But Bears they don't know much 'bout shootin' guns:
So when he go to shoot the Little Boy,
The old Bear got the other end the gun
Ag'in' his shoulder, 'stid o' th' other end--
So when he try to shoot the Little Boy,
It shot the Bear, it did--an' killed him dead!
An' nen the Little Boy clumb down the tree
An' chopped his old woolly head off.--Yes, an' killed
The other Bear ag'in, he did--an' killed
All boff the bears, he did--an' tuk 'em home
An' cooked 'em, too, an' et 'em!
--An' that's all.
 

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