Ornery Bear

[Wea300mag]

I was out hiking last weekend and ran into this bear. Instead of running away, it decided to come to me at a fast walk. After the first picture, I fired one round just to the right of the bear which turned it slightly but also seemed to make it angry. It took three more warning shots to finally convince it to turn away but not until it was about 25 yards away. I think it was a young male, probably about 125 lbs, that had limited human interaction before. I had just cooked a nice big camp breakfast a couple hours earlier which I think the bear smelled since the wind was blowing directly from me to him. Hopefully it is now "educated".

[bearpaw]

Now be truthful, were you wearing provocative clothing, either that or the breakfast could be considered baiting.... 

[Wea300mag]

My t-shirt smelled of bacon, sausage, eggs, and hashbrowns so I guess it could be considered baiting.

[carpsniperg2]

  He doesnt look happy in those pic's Good thing you didn't turn into breakfast.

[Machias]

Young male bears have been known to act this way and see if they can intimidate or if they can see if the object is something they can be predatory with.  This bear's body language is very serious, had you been unarmed you would have had some issues with this bear.  This does not appear to me as a case of mistaken identity.  Young grizzley boars have been know to do this and once they walk up to the individuals, who have laid down, they begin to eat.  When young males act this way and escpecially black bears it can turn dangerous very quickly.

[Ripper]

I'm glad things turned out well for you. As has been said, it could have been ugly. Nice pics though.

[Kain]

The WDFW needs to get some dogs on that bear at make sure he is educated.  great pictures though.

[steelhead13]

To close for me, unless i am hunting bear of course.

[DOUBLELUNG]

That dude needs a snoot full of pepper spray.

[Tman]

Thats why I always carry when in the woods.  Glad it turned out ok for you.

[Jake T]

that brings up a good point...at what point does it become time to take more severe action than a warning shot?  i mean, 4 warning shots and it still came to within 25 yards.  to me that's doing your part to solve the problem peacfully, but it seems like any closer and he could have been on you almost faster than you could have done anything about it. 

what do you guys think?

[mulehunter]

The WDFW needs to get some dogs on that bear at make sure he is educated.

   X2

Mulehunter

[turnloose]

The WDFW needs to get some dogs on that bear at make sure he is educated.

Ha Ha Ha yeah right, good one

[Kain]

The WDFW needs to get some dogs on that bear at make sure he is educated.

Ha Ha Ha yeah right, good one

Actually they love using there Karelian bear dogs for that kind of thing.  They love waisting money on things that hunters would pay to do. 

http://wdfw.wa.gov/enforcement/kbd/

[turnloose]

If those dogs caught bears than hound guys would have them, yes waste of tax payer money.

[JackOfAllTrades]

I know I won't ever give four warning shots from one of my six guns for any wild animal posturing agressively. I'll get large, make noise, first. I will walk sideways, slightly away, and get an obsticle between us if possible. I'm torn with the idea of throwing something at an already posturing/agressive animal. That might make matters worse, but I might try it if I've got something heavy and am confident that I could hit it in the head/nose. If none of that phases a wild animal, then it is certainly not afraid of me. Wild animals of Washington should be afraid.  -OK, if a big ole boar thinks he's king of the woods, or a young one is stupid enough to think so.. Or if a predatory/hungry wolf or kitty, thinks the same, he's gettin some lead when he crosses the 15yd line!  Those of you that have been bluff charged at 10yds, have more patients than I do. (Bigger Cohonay's too!)  I've never been that close to a moose in the woods, Don't plan on it either.

-Steve

[3nails]

 I've been wondering if these types of encounters were going to escalate this year. With the massive snowpack and super late spring-summer the usual food sources are awfully skinny. The blue/huckleberries may not have time to produce this year being they are still under 15+ feet of snow above 4,000'. Might be alot of bear encounters this year.

[Guy]

Heck of an encounter. Was someone else snapping photos or you?

Tell  ya, I'd hate to give up four of the six rounds in the .44 I usually carry in the hills - as warning shots. Critters like that one are why I carry in the hills.

Never have used pepper spray on a bear. Looks like it could be effective in a situation like this.

[h20hunter]

Thanks for posting. I have yet to have a close encounter like that with a bear. It is great to see pics (since the outcome was good for you both) of a bear in an aggressive mood. He looked like he wanted to mix it up a bit. Did you have any extra clean short back in camp?

[saylean]

Was he missing an ear or was it just pinned down? Cool shots Weamag. Glad the both of you are ok.

[50CalJim]

I really don't think that Bear wanted to harm you he just wanted to give you a Bear hug.

[Hornseeker]

Cool pics. I'd say ditto to what Machias said... If my kids were around, that bear may have gotten more than a warning shot. Kind of a touchy situation... by letting him get away with it... will some unarmed guy get beat up in the future?? Tough call... Been nice to have your bow with some blunts! Thwap him good.... or an M80 or two under his feet!   

[Wea300mag]

that brings up a good point...at what point does it become time to take more severe action than a warning shot?  i mean, 4 warning shots and it still came to within 25 yards.  to me that's doing your part to solve the problem peacfully, but it seems like any closer and he could have been on you almost faster than you could have done anything about it. 

what do you guys think?

I had a .40Cal with 4 more rounds left. I wasn't going to waste anymore on warning shots so I would say 25 yards is my limit. Most of the time in the woods it's a sow with cubs that gets testy. They are a much more predictable though, as long a you don't get between her and her cubs then you can just slowly back out of the area.