Not scared of black bears as normally they are much more frightened of me. Even with a cub, they will shy away if possible. Saw a cub and bear once fishing - they quietly left the area. This particular bear felt threat to the cubs from all the activity. That said, I wish we could kill about half of them around us - they destroyed my deer hunting behind my house this year. Saw only bear sign until mid-November. And saw bears many times myself, and I was not looking very hard. Next year I am bringing in a guy that guides hunts to get rid of one or two - should have done that this year.