Can you smell a bear?

[justaguy]

I was poking around the woods this weekend and caught a "wet dog" stink. There were no dogs around, but it made me wonder if bears had a signature odor. I've smelled rattlesnakes before I've seen them, and I think I smelled elk for the first time last fall during bow season. I didn't see anything that struck me as bear sign, but I'm very new to this game.

[KFhunter]

yup

I've smelled em,  and mountain lion

[dreamunelk]

Yes, bear have a smell.  You will know it when you smell one.  Nothing like a wet dog.  I think you may have smelt a deer.  They have a musky smell that could be called a wet dog stink.  Just guessing.

[KFhunter]

I've also been close enough to smack em with a baseball bat and didn't smell it.

I wouldn't rely on the sniffer,  but if your trying to use your sniffer then your hunting in the wind which is good 

[Mudman]

Heck ya, they can stink.  If you smell em they are too darn close.

[skagitsteel]

Or if you walk through a berry patch that's just been worked over you can sometimes smell em

[justaguy]

Thanks for the feedback. My wife always gives me a hard time when we're "hiking" ( I learned to call it that so I can get out to scout more) and I stop to smell when I catch a scent. I haven't seen a bear up close since I lived in WY about a decade ago. Now that I'm looking for them, they're a little harder to find, but sure fun trying!

[lokidog]

Never winded a bear, but I've winded turkeys 40 yards away, love that turkey smell.   

[h20hunter]

Never smelled them up close when they were there....just when I've been in an area that they had recently bedded down in. I would think that if you can smell them and hear them you better be on your toes.

[boneaddict]

Yes they smell.  I use my nose quite a bit while hunting.   Kinda thought everyone did.

[buckfvr]

Yep.......hunting same as being hunted...........eyes, ears, and nose........movement, sound, and smell.

[Bucks2Ducks]

Yeah they definitly have unique a musk to them, not like an elk though; a lot of times in the thick wet side I smell elk before I ever see or hear them. A bear seems to always be moving and you I usally hear them before I get close enough to smell them.

[Kc_Kracker]

i just assumed if i smell peanut butter & jelly, its yogi 

[hoytem]

Yes they smell, and yes in my opinion "wet dog" would be the best way to describe it.

[Jonathan_S]

Yes you can smell a bear.  Kill it and stick your nose up next to it's mouth and you might pick up an odor.   

[DOUBLELUNG]

While hunting, I have smelled bear, cougar (once), elk, rutting whitetail and mule deer, snowshoe hare, Canada geese, turkeys, and sage and sharp-tailed grouse.  The only one I can reliably smell consistently though are elk.

[RadSav]

While hunting, I have smelled bear, cougar (once), elk, rutting whitetail and mule deer, snowshoe hare, Canada geese, turkeys, and sage and sharp-tailed grouse.  The only one I can reliably smell consistently though are elk.

   If only there was a way to NOT smell elk while field dressing   Stinky bass turds!  Only thing worse is field dressing a turkey

[Jellymon]

While hunting, I have smelled bear, cougar (once), elk, rutting whitetail and mule deer, snowshoe hare, Canada geese, turkeys, and sage and sharp-tailed grouse.  The only one I can reliably smell consistently though are elk.

   If only there was a way to NOT smell elk while field dressing   Stinky bass turds!  Only thing worse is field dressing a turkey

Cleaned my first turkeys last year, boy did I get a suprise!

[boneaddict]

Javelina are the worst in my opinion.   

Now Doublelung, I know you have smelled moose.

[johnr060]

They smell kinda like mold and wet dog. Some smell stronger than others.

[RadSav]

Javelina are the worst in my opinion.   

Most of my Javalina have come from the areas around Carefree, AZ and Wilcox, AZ.  Never had a bad one and never had one offensive smelling to field dress.  Although you catch a little squealer and get the group of adults all worked up   Smells like the sewage treatment plant on a hot day!  What fun little critters they are.  Everyone should shoot one at least once!  Best table fare you will ever have too

[Jonathan_S]

Javelina are the worst in my opinion.   

Now Doublelung, I know you have smelled moose.

You must not have ever skinned mink.   

[boneaddict]

I was mostly thinking along the lines of big game.   There was something about the sweetness of the smell that just struck me wrong with that Javelina.  It was like the animal smelled like the *censored* that was inside it, and the meat tasted the same. The sweetness reminded me of bone sour.   I work in the medical field so I am used to alls sorts of stank, but that smell, yikes.

[DOUBLELUNG]

I should clarify that I meant live animals, in the field
Worst live wild animal smell ever - and I write this with skunk in mind - was a BIG boar badger under a compact car in a one car garage in Casper, WY.  By the time I finally snagged that bugger with a ketch pole, dragged him out from under that car, shoved him into a kennel, tipped it on end, released the ketch wire and slammed that kennel door shut, that guy had released the nastiest, most pungent scent you can imagine.  Unreal. 
The stinkiest calm animals I've experienced are arctic fox.  I always get a giggle whenever some animal lover - who has only seen them in pictures or tv - says "Awwww - so cute!  I want one", and I imagine their wish being granted and the look on their face when the meet one in person.

[boneaddict]

    I WOULD HAVE LOVED to have videotaped that.   Especially if the noose came loose. 

I'd imagine a pissed off Wolverine would stink or any critter of that sort.   

[DOUBLELUNG]

   I WOULD HAVE LOVED to have videotaped that.   Especially if the noose came loose. 

I'd imagine a pissed off Wolverine would stink or any critter of that sort.   

Me too.  A badger on a ketch pole is insane fury defined.  I've done it a few times, but that one took the prize.  I can only imagine a wolverine.

[Jonathan_S]

I doubt any animal, under pressure, could be more intimidating pound for pound than a badger or wolverine. 

I was once cutting scotch thistles in a cattle pasture when three baby badgers ran out from under my feet.  The most ungodly growl and huff came from beside me and all I remember is being chased about fifty yards by a noisy, snapping badger.  Then jumping on the ATV and batting at her with the hoe.

It was no less scary than being bluff charged by a sow black bear.  Been there, done that, got a t-shirt. 

Badgers and wolverines   

[acnewman55]

i encountered a grizzly on a trail while hiking through the yellowstone backcountry. 

smelled him before i encountered him.

i've had close encounters with black bears but can't say i smelled them first. 

[KFhunter]

I guess I was cheating,  the Mt Lion I smelled had just got done spraying a tree and the slight breeze wafted down to me.

It coated my tongue and nostrel - horrid stuff cat urine on the breeze is.