Bear Encounters?

T

TrailRunner

New Member
It was inevitable..I've seen them more than once at a distance while riding at Deer Park, but tonight mama and baby stepped right out into the trail while I was moving at a pretty good clip. Needless to say I slammed on the brakes which cause her to stand up and look right at me. Probably about 25 yds away. I slowly turned around and high tailed it out of there! I'm sure others have had this happen, has anyone actually been chased or does anyone take things with them as deterrents?
 
I ran across a mama and two cubs riding the American Standard at Jim Thorpe in PA years ago. Can around a corner and there they were. Not 25 yards. More like 10. The cubs immediately scattered while mama stood there looking at me. I just got off my bike and put it down so she would recognize me as a human and slowly backed away. She slowly trotted after the cubs while checking on me every few feet until they disappeared into the woods.

There was no turning around and running - a bear can run in a straight line through woods faster than any of us can ride a tight, rocky singletrack trail.

Black bears generally aren't aggressive towards humans and as long as you don't get between mama and the cubs, she won't have any reason to attack or chase you.
 
I agree that they are not interested in you. I run into them here in Ringwood a few times every year. They always move away when they hear / see / smell you. Just stay calm and give them a wide birth. This year there is a Momma and 3 cubs meandering around the trailhead near my house for the past few weeks. Many sightings and they are always moving away from people. I wish my neighbors would secure their garbage cans because leaving it accessible to bear just encourages them to forage through garbage cans for food.

I will admit that sometimes I would like to have a bear bell attached to my pack in tight twisty singletrack after hearing from others that the bears are around, probably out of paranoia, but I have never had a bad experience with the bears.
 
My brother and I had a mama bear false charge us last year - when we stopped and turned around she had two cubs - scared the life out of me, I have seen many since and make lots of noise to let them know Im coming
 
I have never had an issues either on the trail or at home. If you are worried strap some bear bells on your bike.
 
I'm not too worried about them when they're solo...but this was the first time the kids were around so I had no idea what to expect. I was thinking it might appear as if "I" was charging towards "her". After reading the posts and the fact that she seemed to walk away when I was turning around, I'm a little less concerned about it now.
 
I've seen them at JH, KVSP, and Stephens. They were not interested in me or my bell. None were with cubs so maybe that's why they were so mellow?
 
Two weeks ago at Deer Park we saw 4 on our ride , after taking a break on the pond access road we noticed a trail that was fresh so i took a walk back and came a cross 2 bear traps , Im assuming they are from the rangers . The traps were the type that would capture the leg so the bear can't get away . They also had cake and syrup all over the ground . maybe they are trying to re-locate them
 
I ran into 2 last week while riding....personally I think its great anytime I see them...they have got to be some of the coolest animals we live amongst and I hope they never go away....ive come across more aggressive squirrels out there than bears.. seriously!!..... I would really hope anyone who takes a bike into any of these parks or wooded areas realizes your in their and every other animal and plant out there's environment
 
Trailrunner..I have seen probably 100 bears in the woods in my 5 years of riding

Once at mahlon I was bombing a downhill and went right between a mother and her cubs inadvertently. I sent the cubs up a tree. I happen to see them out of the corner of my eye and I slammed the brakes and stopped to look. I stopped directly between the cubs and the mother. When I looked the other way the mother was staring at me 100' feet away. Soon as I looked at her, she took off running....Im not saying to try this...but you dont have to run away screaming when you see a bear, they harmless 99% of the time. I swear, I cant even get them to stay around long enough for me to get a picture. I have seached, but I have never found any case in recorded history where anyone in NJ has been killed by a black bear.
 
my trail run-in with a bear was at lewis morris a few years back. i was doing a ride-then-run loop after work. after my ride, i popped on my headlamp to run the boat loop (gilligan's island). as i was jogging down the trail my lamp lit up two eyes. i figured it was a deer so i kept running toward it. as i got closer the eyes didn't move. i got close enough to figure out it was a bear. when i stopped it made some kind of grunting sound. i had zero idea what to do, so i turned around and started running (not jogging) the way i came. no chase ensued.

i have had about two hand fulls of bear encounters camping. never had an issue except once one came through the side of the tent of one of the tents in our site (not mine). someone had some candy in their tent and the bear must have smelt it. i have never seen someone rip through the side of the tent with a knife until then. after banging some pots and pans together the bear took off. so don't ride with a snickers bar.

so don't ride with a snickers.
 
clarkenstein said:
my trail run-in with a bear was at lewis morris a few years back. i was doing a ride-then-run loop after work. after my ride, i popped on my headlamp to run the boat loop (gilligan's island). as i was jogging down the trail my lamp lit up two eyes. i figured it was a deer so i kept running toward it. as i got closer the eyes didn't move. i got close enough to figure out it was a bear. when i stopped it made some kind of grunting sound. i had zero idea what to do, so i turned around and started running (not jogging) the way i came. no chase ensued.

i have had about two hand fulls of bear encounters camping. never had an issue except once one came through the side of the tent of one of the tents in our site (not mine). someone had some candy in their tent and the bear must have smelt it. i have never seen someone rip through the side of the tent with a knife until then. after banging some pots and pans together the bear took off. so don't ride with a snickers bar.

so don't ride with a snickers.
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Maybe you should ride with a Snickers so that you can toss it and haul a$$ outta there. :D
 
Plenty of encounters, including with cubs and I've never had one do anything beyond look at me. Very nearly ran into the backside of one on a descent at Mahlon and it just gave a little glance back and continued on its way. I still think it's novel that we have them around in such a heavily populated state.
 
No personal encounters riding or running but I guess we are lucky that black bears are pretty benign. I saw a pic of a guy riding in Alaska in a mountain biking magazine and he had a very large caliber revolver strapped to his chest - now that must be scary
 
Nothing to worry about, I have ran into them every four rides or so at Plattekill over the fifteen years I have been riding there without issue.

While living in the Poconos for a few years, it was a weekly occurence to see them in the yard over night, once again, no issue, as previously said, it was hard to keep them around to get a pciture once they saw you.

My final example, while working in Rockaway, it was a monthly occurence to get them out of the dumpster when I got to the garage in the AM, as the cubs would get stuck eating the laborers lunch leftovers (trash) overnight when the dumperster was empty, I would have to tip it with a skid steer so they could run out.

Go out west, different story.
 
Have seen many over the years while running/biking at Mahlon and KVSP. They have no interest at all in me (must have been girl bears) - with or without cubs - and generally take off like they just robbed a bank. They seem to be very active right now. I've read on the internets that pepper spray may be an effective defense, if it ever came to that. I'm more worried about the Elmer Fud's walking around the same areas where the bears are usually roaming.
 
I see them all the times in my yard and I know they could care less about me no matter how much noise I make. This was my first run in with the cubs on my bike so I wasn't sure. Sounds like I have nothing to worry about...unless I have the snickers bar. Funny Sh**t They are amazing animals to see!!
 
chris_sparta said:
Have seen many over the years while running/biking at Mahlon and KVSP. They have no interest at all in me (must have been girl bears) - with or without cubs - and generally take off like they just robbed a bank. They seem to be very active right now. I've read on the internets that pepper spray may be an effective defense, if it ever came to that. I'm more worried about the Elmer Fud's walking around the same areas where the bears are usually roaming.
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Johnny Utah said:
Nothing to worry about, I have ran into them every four rides or so at Plattekill over the fifteen years I have been riding there without issue.

While living in the Poconos for a few years, it was a weekly occurence to see them in the yard over night, once again, no issue, as previously said, it was hard to keep them around to get a pciture once they saw you.

My final example, while working in Rockaway, it was a monthly occurence to get them out of the dumpster when I got to the garage in the AM, as the cubs would get stuck eating the laborers lunch leftovers (trash) overnight when the dumperster was empty, I would have to tip it with a skid steer so they could run out.

Go out west, different story.
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This reminds me of an interesting fact, while in alaska, we carried bells and pepper spray while hiking. it was important to tell which bears were in the area by the bear scat - Black & Brown Bears are vegetarians, where Grizzlies, not so much. By checking the scat, finding berries, and a a not so unpleasant smell would indicate a safe area. When Grizzlies are in the area, the scat smells like pepper spray, and has bells in it.
 
fidodie said:
This reminds me of an interesting fact, while in alaska, we carried bells and pepper spray while hiking. it was important to tell which bears were in the area by the bear scat - Black & Brown Bears are vegetarians, where Grizzlies, not so much. By checking the scat, finding berries, and a a not so unpleasant smell would indicate a safe area. When Grizzlies are in the area, the scat smells like pepper spray, and has bells in it.
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Funny!!! I think I'll leave the pepper spray and bells behind and take my chances
 
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