Post by Admin on Oct 24, 2023 3:13:37 GMT
I came eye to eye with a large Black Bear this evening - only 15 yards separated us.
Naturalists like me live for these experiences. We see Deer, Turkey, & Squirrels frequently in the woods. But it's rare to see species like a Fox, a Bobcat, or a Black Bear in the forest.
I've seen a fox in the wild twice, only seen a Bobcat once, and seen Black Bears only a handful of times.
The first time I seen a Black Bear in the wild, I was riding the Amtrak Cardinal train through the New River Gorge, which is arguably one of the most scenic routes any Amtrak train takes nationwide. The railroad tracks crevice the entire New River Gorge - where for most of the journey there are no roads that any automobiles can even attempt to access. This first time, I seen a Black Bear from the train window drinking out of the New River.
The second time I seen a black bear is when my ex wife and I use to do a lot of rails to trails bicycle riding - that's where they take up old rail road tracks and turn it into bicycle trails - it's usually a slow down hill grade for many many miles. We saw a Black Bear on the Greenbrier New River rails to trails. As soon as we cycled up on the Bear, it seen us, and it quickly darted away.
A few years ago, I was riding a backwoods trail through the woods on my street & trail Yamaha. I seen a completely filled in black circle, about 2 feet, perhaps 2.5 feet, in diameter straight ahead of me on the trail. I was puzzled, what could this be? I road closer and closer to the black circle, then the black circle revealed itself. It was a juvenile Black Bear. It quickly ran off to the right and up the Mountain. I considered stopping and looking for it, but I thought to myself, what if it's Momma Bear was to the left of me. I didn't want to get in between even a juvenile Black Bear and it's Momma. So I road on down the trail and packed the memory away as a positive experience.
It's been my experience that Black Bears will quickly exit and leave when they see or come in contact with a human. This summer, I road up on a Momma Black Bear and her Cub around Steven's Lake - our local lake in Raleigh county which has a trail one can ride on an ATV all the way around the Lake. I've road around the Lake more times than I can count. It wasn't until this summer I motorcycled up on that Momma Black Bear and her Cub. In a split second, as soon as I seen them, they both darted away to the left and into the wilderness - up the mountain to the left of me.
That's four times I've seen Black Bears. Today makes the fifth time. This was my closest encounter - this is my eye to eye experience of a life time, thus far. I was sitting in my fathers Deer Blind an hour before sunset, hoping to see some Deer, preferably a Buck, nibbling on the Mineral block and Salt block he had placed about 30 to 40 yards from his Deer blind. I must admit, I began texting some people on my phone for about 20 minutes straight - mostly women from the pof.com dating site I had met. I got preoccupied with texting them. Suddenly, I heard a large crunching noise to my left, like something stepping on and breaking a Tree Branch on the ground. My attention immediately left the phone and I looked straight out of the small left window of the Deer Blind.
Within approximately 15 yards away, a large Black Bear was looking straight at me. I was looking straight at the Bear. Eye to Eye. I must admit that i was immediately startled and afraid for a second or two. Racing thoughts flew threw my mind that the Bear would approach and come straight at me, and perhaps attack/try to eat me.
My fears almost immediately vanished as the Bear turned away and slowly walked down the hill - to my left. I had been texting so long that I believe the Bear had actually been eating on the Mineral and/or Salt blocks right in front of me and decided to leave. It may have smelt me, as I do smoke a pipe - which I know is not conducive to promoting animals like Deer (or Bears for that matter) to come close to me so I can observe them, as a Naturalist.
My thought processes was reassured that Black Bears prefer to leave an area when they detect a human. This is not the case of all bears; for example, a Polar Bear will not even contemplate on whether or not to eat a Human - a Polar Bear will go right after a Human immediately to make a meal of the person.
So, that is my closest experience, and my observation of coming eye to eye with a large Black Bear. Even though it startled me at first, as a Naturalist, I wouldn't trade the momentary fear for the world/for anything. I will never forget todays experience, and not many people can say they've experienced coming eye to eye at a very short distance with any Bear in the Wild.
Michael Piziak, B.S., M.A.