Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yes, females with cubs are more apt to attack defensively (and usually not fatally) when surprised and threatened while male bears are more likely to stalk and attack for food -- including for a human meal. There are of course many "variables" and attractants, but just wanting to eat you can be one of them.
One in a million, apparently.
I see blackies every day when I'm at my place in Alaska.
My point is is that if I sprayed you with foo foo and air-dropped you into the woods near my house, you'd probably be more likely to be hunted by a black bear than if I hadn't sprayed you with foo foo.
Please post a source for these documented instances where black bears actively hunted humans.
If a bear is following a person or people for miles, the bear has most likely learned that people often leave behind food scraps.
There would be far more predatory black bear attacks on humans if we were such easy prey for them.
I think I remember reading a book about this happening. The couple was hunted while in their kayak, bear on shore. I can't remember the name. Couple died at campsite.
There is a movie called Back Country which is a true story about a couple hiking in Canada which were stalked and eaten by a male black bear. The details are sketchy since the couple didn't survive of course, but the end result was they ended up as prey.
I realize such things are extremely rare but they have happened. These seem to almost always be male black bears in Canada.
"“The records and experts may state otherwise, but I found myself investigating more complaints of black bears tracking humans as prey, then killing and feeding on them,” Bates added. https://cowboystatedaily.com/2022/12...not-concerned/
Whatever the cause is whether it's the smell of food or dogs or something else, it does happen.
Last edited by marino760; 10-21-2023 at 06:31 AM..
Whatever the cause is whether it's the smell of food or dogs or something else, it does happen.
I know it happenes; I'm just wondering how many times humans themselves are the actual attractant rather than the food they carry, the dogs they take hiking/camping with them (which are more likely to be considered prey by black bears than anything on two legs) or other secondary variables.
I have never been afraid of a black bear. Startled a few times, but never afraid. Usually when encountered I go one way, they go another. I'm more concerned about older mountain lions when I hike around where I live. Black bears? No.
I know it happenes; I'm just wondering how many times humans themselves are the actual attractant rather than the food they carry, the dogs they take hiking/camping with them (which are more likely to be considered prey by black bears than anything on two legs) or other secondary variables.
Does it matter? The point is: black bears DO hunt and kill humans to eat them (predation) just as grizzlies do. Obviously something has to initially attract BOTH to the prey but, once alerted, they stalk humans to consume them. You seem to want to argue this - and every - point, for whatever reason!
Does it matter? The point is: black bears DO hunt and kill humans to eat them (predation) just as grizzlies do. Obviously something has to initially attract BOTH to the prey but, once alerted, they stalk humans to consume them. You seem to want to argue this - and every - point, for whatever reason!
Of course it matters, especially to those who want to reduce their chances of being stalked and consumed by a black bear. And "attractants" or not, the bears most likely know you're there; the slightest crack of a twig alerts them to your presence but doesn't cause them to stalk and hunt you. Some people seem to think that if a bear so much as sees or hears them, they're going to be attacked, but that's not the case.
If you're wearing a shirt that you wore to cook bacon over the campfire; the bear is stalking the bacon smell and not the human.
Of course it matters, especially to those who want to reduce their chances of being stalked and consumed by a black bear. And "attractants" or not, the bears most likely know you're there; the slightest crack of a twig alerts them to your presence but doesn't cause them to stalk and hunt you. Some people seem to think that if a bear so much as sees or hears them, they're going to be attacked, but that's not the case.
If you're wearing a shirt that you wore to cook bacon over the campfire; the bear is stalking the bacon smell and not the human.
And few to none of the attacks that have been reported (by legit sources) as stalking humans as prey involved bacon-soaked shirts or dogs or the like. Those are different.
If you want to know how to avoid it, you can't, just like you can't prevent every murder. They are "rogue" bears who behave differently from other bears for mostly unknown reasons. There may be potential reasons that can be discovered after the fact (injury illness starvation) but you can't plan for it. You can only plan for the 99.999% of "attacks" that happen for the usual, well-known reasons.
If the 1 in a million wild ass guess is even close to correct, and there are only 600,000 bears currently living in North America, you can see that planning to avoid that 1 is futile.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
