Bears are unpredictable. Don't let anyone
tell you that a black bear is not dangerous -- they are actually considered more
dangerous than grizzlies. Probably because they are more acclimated
to humans.
I have had a couple of bear encounters, with black
bears, and I fear them. A black bear can kill you with just a little
"swat," and can disembowel you in a second.
This happened not too long ago to a man in Pagosa Springs, CO, who ran
a "wild" animal zoo of sorts. They had wolves, coyotes, bears,
and did tours for the local schools and tourists. He had a couple of
so-called tame bears, and was filming a live TV show a few years ago.
He had this tame bear (ha) on camera with him, the bear did something that
annoyed the man, and the man slapped the bear. The bear "slapped
back." Tore a big hole in the mans' belly. The man lived, and
was wiser. I don't know what happened to the bear. (This is a
true story, I don't know if you can find it anywhere on-line
though.)
I had a nightmare of a night with a black bear,
near Pagosa Springs, a few years ago. I could not
drive it off with anything -- my dogs barked, I was pounding pots and
pans and screaming, and finally was firing my 44 mag. revolver (into the ground
-- heaven help me if I were to have killed a USFS "pet" bear in defending my
life and property -- you can go to jail and have huge fines if you
kill a bear, even defending your property). The bear came back several
times during the night and ended up killing and carrying off all but two of
my penned chickens that night. Nothing I did stopped it. It was
horrible, to be so helpless.
I do love wildlife, and respect wildlife and
nature. That's why I fear bears. Bears are unpredictable -
period. I don't hunt, but I am glad that there are hunters out there,
because without that, the bears and mountain lions will lose their fear of
humans.
