whats your thoughts on this situation
#1
Super Moderator
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: texas
Posts: 1,201
whats your thoughts on this situation
now Id assume this guy archery hunting in the tree stand shouted at the bear and does not have a handgun
and was not hunting bear at the time
and yeah, I generally carry a handgun concealed,
but certainly would not use a handgun for other than obviously justified,
personal defensive use during archery hunts
that obvious potential threat to your physical health is nothing a steady shot,
from a hard cast bullet handload, and a knowledge of bear anatomy
from a 357 mag- 10mm, 41 mag, 44 mag , or 500 mag pistol can,t instantly resolve!
and if your close enough to leave very distinctive powder burns on that bears forehead ..
as you would be firing with the muzzle at less than a foot or two distance..as the bear climbed into your stand,
I doubt any game warden would even consider arguing the point of self defense..
or the bear not being a serious threat!
https://petpedia.co/bear-attack-statistics/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._North_America
and was not hunting bear at the time
and yeah, I generally carry a handgun concealed,
but certainly would not use a handgun for other than obviously justified,
personal defensive use during archery hunts
that obvious potential threat to your physical health is nothing a steady shot,
from a hard cast bullet handload, and a knowledge of bear anatomy
from a 357 mag- 10mm, 41 mag, 44 mag , or 500 mag pistol can,t instantly resolve!
and if your close enough to leave very distinctive powder burns on that bears forehead ..
as you would be firing with the muzzle at less than a foot or two distance..as the bear climbed into your stand,
I doubt any game warden would even consider arguing the point of self defense..
or the bear not being a serious threat!
https://petpedia.co/bear-attack-statistics/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._North_America
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 2,743
well MY take, and have been in this situation several times over the yrs
I have had MANY bears climb tree's I was up in and even lick and smell me?
NEVER once felt a need to SHOOT the bear, never once felt in danger(and YES I have had female bears with cubs about hundreds of times, )
Bears are naturally curious animals, and in the pic;'s you have with this tread shoe me NOTHING that says other wise!
other than a curious very YOUNG and small bear checking out a THING up a tree its noticed and wanted a closer look!
hunters try and be scent free, sit quietly and well, that all leads to a bear NOT knowing what YOU are
and again there curious animals by nature!
that bear in your picture is SMALL, and YOUNG most likely barely a 100 lbs(not that it couldn;t do damage to ab human if it wanted to)
I am just saying its young and NEW to the world and what's out there, thus WHY it was more curious, and don't forget that bears and in more and more contact with humans now than ever, many have LOST that GREAT fear of us , more wilderness like bears have of humans
bears have adapted due to need to, to co exist with humans more now than ever in history, so many people and human expansion into there home ranges, bears have adapted better to us than many humans have to them!
and in countless places , there are TONS of folks that FEED them, making them even less wary of humans! sad but true!
but being curious doesn't justify killing one IMO!
as for will a game warden question you shooting it
IMO, YES they will
and you better have the correct answers to there questions
and have some good details on bears behavior, things its done and sounds it made prior to you feeling and PROVING it was a threat and NOT just being curious!
there are tons of video's on youtube of bears climbing tree's with hunters in and have NOT yet seen one the bear attacked the hunter, nor have any of the ONE"S I seen, had a hunter SHOOT the bear, fort the same reasons, they were NOT being attacked, they were being checked out, two totally different things
if your SCARED of bears, that doesn't justify killing one that isn;t being aggressive to attacking you! IMO!
over reacting doesn't make things justifiable IMO either!
if one is scared of bears, I might recommend carrying bear spray when hunting where they are, a lot less legal issue's to worry about and its very effective and proven to be so!
most game depts, protect bears pretty strongly!
I have had MANY bears climb tree's I was up in and even lick and smell me?
NEVER once felt a need to SHOOT the bear, never once felt in danger(and YES I have had female bears with cubs about hundreds of times, )
Bears are naturally curious animals, and in the pic;'s you have with this tread shoe me NOTHING that says other wise!
other than a curious very YOUNG and small bear checking out a THING up a tree its noticed and wanted a closer look!
hunters try and be scent free, sit quietly and well, that all leads to a bear NOT knowing what YOU are
and again there curious animals by nature!
that bear in your picture is SMALL, and YOUNG most likely barely a 100 lbs(not that it couldn;t do damage to ab human if it wanted to)
I am just saying its young and NEW to the world and what's out there, thus WHY it was more curious, and don't forget that bears and in more and more contact with humans now than ever, many have LOST that GREAT fear of us , more wilderness like bears have of humans
bears have adapted due to need to, to co exist with humans more now than ever in history, so many people and human expansion into there home ranges, bears have adapted better to us than many humans have to them!
and in countless places , there are TONS of folks that FEED them, making them even less wary of humans! sad but true!
but being curious doesn't justify killing one IMO!
as for will a game warden question you shooting it
IMO, YES they will
and you better have the correct answers to there questions
and have some good details on bears behavior, things its done and sounds it made prior to you feeling and PROVING it was a threat and NOT just being curious!
there are tons of video's on youtube of bears climbing tree's with hunters in and have NOT yet seen one the bear attacked the hunter, nor have any of the ONE"S I seen, had a hunter SHOOT the bear, fort the same reasons, they were NOT being attacked, they were being checked out, two totally different things
if your SCARED of bears, that doesn't justify killing one that isn;t being aggressive to attacking you! IMO!
over reacting doesn't make things justifiable IMO either!
if one is scared of bears, I might recommend carrying bear spray when hunting where they are, a lot less legal issue's to worry about and its very effective and proven to be so!
most game depts, protect bears pretty strongly!
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location:
Posts: 1,693
Offhand, I'd say tell him to carry some bear spray if he can't legally pack a gun while bowhunting. Sometimes game wardens get pretty crotchety about stuff like that. The bad side is if he scares the bear off to where it runs away, he might scare off deer as well.
#4
Super Moderator
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: texas
Posts: 1,201
I saw the pictures someone posted,
and could not believe the bear was not reluctant to climb into an occupied tree stand
every bear Ive encountered, in the everglades or colorado,
headed for the next county once it recognized me as human
and Ive had a couple come into preditor calls
your making a good point for carrying bear spray
I would be reluctant to share space on my tree stand with a bear.
and could not believe the bear was not reluctant to climb into an occupied tree stand
every bear Ive encountered, in the everglades or colorado,
headed for the next county once it recognized me as human
and Ive had a couple come into preditor calls
your making a good point for carrying bear spray
I would be reluctant to share space on my tree stand with a bear.
#5
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 2,743
like I stated there is a HUGE difference in bear behavior, from being aggressive to being curious, and anyone that hunts in area's with bears should take the time to LEARN the difference
as they say, knowledge is power!
and its rather foolish to hunt where bears are and NOT know much about them
this bear in pic's is again SHOWING ZERO aggression, no pinned back ears, hair standing up
and its 100% JUST being curious
and I will be willing to bet the person in the tree realized this as well, and why they were taking pictures and NOT in FEAR of there life trying tio KILL it!!
over reaction is not something the game wardens tend to stand up for!
think of it this way, you come home find something NEW up a tree in your yard, and you DON"T know what it is
do you run away or go look to see what it is??
all the more so when your more or less the dominant animal in the area?(bears tend to be top of food chain in most places, minus humans)
LONG before a bear is up a tree , most folks have TIME to let the bear know there HUMAN
when hunting over bait many DON"T do so, as don;t went to warn other bears near by of there presence,
but if one was hunting other game, and seen a bear, the SMART thing to do, IMIO< if your SCARED OF BEARS, is let the bear know your there, give them TIME to move off on there own,a s honestly 99% of bears when they see, smell or know a human is close,m will LEAVE
its when they don;t know what you are , or you get too close without them knowing your there, that things can get tricky with them and even then most ALL times they run off over fighting or standing there ground and even more so, MOST all bear charges are BLUFF"S as well, further showing most all bears are NOT looking to KILL a human or even get in a fight
as even in most bear on bar charges they end without a fight, just BLUFF"S and acting tuff! with growls, jaws clicking and such
also keep in mind, when humans get TOO CLOSE< to a bear without it knowing and THEN discover a human close by
they typically get SCARED, and a ANY scared animal is unpredictable, but again, most ALL tend to take the route of fleeing over fighting!, its a natural instinct most all things have , and YES< bears DO get scared of humans, even HUGE one's, and being honest here, US human's all STINK to pretty much ALL wildlife, we just smell BAD to them it seems LOL
I have bears about my place almost daily several months out of the yr and have so for decades(have also helped tag, trap tag, study relocate and more things with bears over the yrs)
never a single issue with any of them, and SOME have been close enough for me to touch them countless times, as SOME get over curious at times
some see me almost daily when there are apples in abundance and some get rather used to me being about leaving them alone as they do me!!
most people just fear them due to size and that alone is no real LEGAL reason to kill one, you better have details and facts of WHY you shoot one , or might be facing legal issue's real soon!
as they say, knowledge is power!
and its rather foolish to hunt where bears are and NOT know much about them
this bear in pic's is again SHOWING ZERO aggression, no pinned back ears, hair standing up
and its 100% JUST being curious
and I will be willing to bet the person in the tree realized this as well, and why they were taking pictures and NOT in FEAR of there life trying tio KILL it!!
over reaction is not something the game wardens tend to stand up for!
think of it this way, you come home find something NEW up a tree in your yard, and you DON"T know what it is
do you run away or go look to see what it is??
all the more so when your more or less the dominant animal in the area?(bears tend to be top of food chain in most places, minus humans)
LONG before a bear is up a tree , most folks have TIME to let the bear know there HUMAN
when hunting over bait many DON"T do so, as don;t went to warn other bears near by of there presence,
but if one was hunting other game, and seen a bear, the SMART thing to do, IMIO< if your SCARED OF BEARS, is let the bear know your there, give them TIME to move off on there own,a s honestly 99% of bears when they see, smell or know a human is close,m will LEAVE
its when they don;t know what you are , or you get too close without them knowing your there, that things can get tricky with them and even then most ALL times they run off over fighting or standing there ground and even more so, MOST all bear charges are BLUFF"S as well, further showing most all bears are NOT looking to KILL a human or even get in a fight
as even in most bear on bar charges they end without a fight, just BLUFF"S and acting tuff! with growls, jaws clicking and such
also keep in mind, when humans get TOO CLOSE< to a bear without it knowing and THEN discover a human close by
they typically get SCARED, and a ANY scared animal is unpredictable, but again, most ALL tend to take the route of fleeing over fighting!, its a natural instinct most all things have , and YES< bears DO get scared of humans, even HUGE one's, and being honest here, US human's all STINK to pretty much ALL wildlife, we just smell BAD to them it seems LOL
I have bears about my place almost daily several months out of the yr and have so for decades(have also helped tag, trap tag, study relocate and more things with bears over the yrs)
never a single issue with any of them, and SOME have been close enough for me to touch them countless times, as SOME get over curious at times
some see me almost daily when there are apples in abundance and some get rather used to me being about leaving them alone as they do me!!
most people just fear them due to size and that alone is no real LEGAL reason to kill one, you better have details and facts of WHY you shoot one , or might be facing legal issue's real soon!
#7
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: west central wi USA
Posts: 2,242
Same thing happened to a friend of mine...and he had a handgun, a .44 mag. He was on stand, watching a bait pile. The bear came up the tree, got within about 8 inches of the platform, sniffed a couple times and went back down to eat the bait. My friend had the gun pointed at him the whole time. He told me that if the bear's nose had cleared the platform, he'd have pulled the trigger. As it turns out, nobody got hurt. He said it wasn't a big bear, so he wasn't interested in shooting it. It was his practice to put a sweaty T-shirt up in the stand every time he refreshed the bait. I suspect the bear, was trying to confirm the scent that he'd smelled every time he came to the bait.
#8
My basic philosophy is most wild animals are afraid of humans and when they aren't afraid of me I'm afraid of them.
Only had one encounter with a bear (Pacific Black Bear) and everything would have likely been OK but my brother provoked it, he bounced a rock off its skull while it was tearing apart his backpack. It lost interest after a while when we all climbed nearby trees.
I've had confrontations with wildlife before, Deer, Red Deer, and Hogs. The Deer and the Red Deer came after me. The Deer because I got way to close (by accident) and It's fight or flight response just happened to land on fight. The Red Deer (I think) thought I was something to play with. I once had a sounder move into an area I was stalking for Roe Deer. I climbed a gate post. The sounder was conservatively 60 Hogs and they basically ignored me which really unnerved me.
My thought is don't preconceive, wild animals are notional and there is really no telling what they are going to do. Two of my mentors told me the same thing decades apart, wild animals are sometimes notional, and no telling what they are going to do on some occasions. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.
Side note, I once had a Rattler come right after me, I zig-zagged so it was no accident, it decided not coiling and chasing me was the best choice at the moment. Logic says they are going to coil and rattle, that preconception isn't always a rule.
Only had one encounter with a bear (Pacific Black Bear) and everything would have likely been OK but my brother provoked it, he bounced a rock off its skull while it was tearing apart his backpack. It lost interest after a while when we all climbed nearby trees.
I've had confrontations with wildlife before, Deer, Red Deer, and Hogs. The Deer and the Red Deer came after me. The Deer because I got way to close (by accident) and It's fight or flight response just happened to land on fight. The Red Deer (I think) thought I was something to play with. I once had a sounder move into an area I was stalking for Roe Deer. I climbed a gate post. The sounder was conservatively 60 Hogs and they basically ignored me which really unnerved me.
My thought is don't preconceive, wild animals are notional and there is really no telling what they are going to do. Two of my mentors told me the same thing decades apart, wild animals are sometimes notional, and no telling what they are going to do on some occasions. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.
Side note, I once had a Rattler come right after me, I zig-zagged so it was no accident, it decided not coiling and chasing me was the best choice at the moment. Logic says they are going to coil and rattle, that preconception isn't always a rule.
#9
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 2,743
again, many times the reasons wildlife isn;t scared of humans is they live in close contact with humans
there are countless area house developments that have deer and other wildlife that is down right friendly and NOT scared of humans anymore, due to there is NO hunting of them in these private housing communities, and in countless residents FEED them on purpose further furthering the loss of fear in them, thru many generations of deer that have learned humans in places like these are NOT to be feared but many see humans in places like this as easy meals, and even feel SAFE when people are about!
have to face things , that bears are just large animals and true wilderness area's are getting farther and fewer and as such, more and more bears have interactions with humans and , don;t always run off every time they see one, some times they just cannot do this, as they would be running away all the time.
and if you look into things, bear attacks are actually extremely RARE, and that sort of proves the fact bears don't typically have BAD intentions to humans, all the more so, since more and more humans now live closer to where bears are than ever!
Moose are far more aggressive animals and are known to attack people more often than bears do, and they live in even LESS places in north america!
they I gather just have less tolerance for us humans than bears do!
there are countless area house developments that have deer and other wildlife that is down right friendly and NOT scared of humans anymore, due to there is NO hunting of them in these private housing communities, and in countless residents FEED them on purpose further furthering the loss of fear in them, thru many generations of deer that have learned humans in places like these are NOT to be feared but many see humans in places like this as easy meals, and even feel SAFE when people are about!
have to face things , that bears are just large animals and true wilderness area's are getting farther and fewer and as such, more and more bears have interactions with humans and , don;t always run off every time they see one, some times they just cannot do this, as they would be running away all the time.
and if you look into things, bear attacks are actually extremely RARE, and that sort of proves the fact bears don't typically have BAD intentions to humans, all the more so, since more and more humans now live closer to where bears are than ever!
Moose are far more aggressive animals and are known to attack people more often than bears do, and they live in even LESS places in north america!
they I gather just have less tolerance for us humans than bears do!
#10
IMO that is a young bear and doing nothing more than what bears do. Being curious. It may have never even seen a human before or as mrbb said it may be totally use to them - or at least their scent. I sure as heck would not shoot it. I may slap it on the nose with my broadhead if it tried to get into the stand with me though. If it grabbed hold of my foot with its teeth then I may have to send some lead. But in this situation - NAH. He's just a baby maybe 2or 3 years old or so. (long pointy snout and big ears pointing almost straight up)
Last edited by bronko22000; 11-09-2020 at 03:40 PM.