Re: [Paddlewise] My first encounter with a black bear

The reason everyone was so nonchalant is that black bears are normally not
predatory to humans. 99.9% of the time they really are just after your
food, not you. The man who was killed by bears was killed by grizzlies,
which is another story.

Your biggest danger from a black bear is from getting between it and a
food source. If you get too close, the bear might swat you as it would
another bear going after the same food. Though this could cause injury, it
is not a predatory attack. If you retreat, the bear will most likely
resume what it was doing before.

Even getting between a mother black bear and its cubs is not terribly
dangerous; bear researchers safely do it all the time. Because black bear
cubs can quickly scurry up a tree when threatened, mother black bears do
not have strong protective instincts.

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness has hundreds if not thousands of
encounters between black bears and humans every year. Yet, in the last 60
years there have been only one or two black bear attacks that might be
called predatory. In the case I recall, the bear was beaten off after
injuring one of two campers. Later, after it was killed, plastic was found
in its stomach, which apparently was causing it to slowly starve. The
attack on the humans appears to have been more an act of desparation than
anything.

So be cautious around black bears, but don't be terrified. I worry more
about crazy drivers on the highway to the wilderness than I do about the
black bears in it.

Chuck Holst
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