Hi LIL E,
I' ve worked in black bear country as a logger in the Catskills most of my life, and have seen hundreds of bears up close when working, hunting with bow and rifle, and just hiking/camping.
Black bears are very shy and afraid of people. When they hear you coming they prefer to melt away into the woods and you usually never get a chance to even know they were there.
The two instances when black bears can potentially become a threat are:
1. When you encounter a mother with cubs. (I' ve seen plenty and they just take off, but if you weren' t making noise and surprised/cornered them maybe then, but just walking in the woods you make enough noise. And I' ve been very close to mothers with cubs (100 feet or less) many many times. They ignore you or run.
2. If you walked up on a sleeping or distracted bear and surprised it (Again, slim chance. I' ve surprised many bears sleeping in downed tree tops and against fallen logs and the first time you know they are there is when you turn to see what the ruckus is and it' s a bear running away).
My uncle shot the biggest bear ever taken in the Catskills a year or two ago (970 lbs.) and the bear just wanted to get away. My brother was walking along under a ledge and noticed some leaves raked out from a hole onto the snow. He looked in and didn' t see anything so kept walking, and the bear sprang out of the hole less than 10 feet to his right and barreled away down the mountain to get away, where he was shot by my uncle. True Story!
Pepper spray is more effective against grizzlies, but works on black bears to a certain extent. They issue pepper spray to the forest rangers up there to keep the bears away from the state campgrounds. My friend is a ranger and I' ve witnessed black bears who were used to this treatment getting sprayed in the face from 10 feet away and just standing there or ambling off, no aggression whatsoever.
Don' t worry about it, I see them all the time before first light. If he gets too close stuff him behind the front shoulder with an arrow, many are taken with bows. But don' t shoot him if he is facing towards you unless you have no choice, bears tend to run in the direction they were originallt facing when they get shot!
Hope this helps and Good Luck this season!
Mark
http://www.buckhuntersecrets.com