Bear Encounters Pt. 2

[bigbassin']

As some of y'all may have seen I posted last week, I ran into bears on my last outing.  Yesterday's trip I ran into another one only this time was much more terrifying.  This is also an extremely long post, so head's up on that.

 

For background I decided to try a creek in the Cohutta's (North Georgia) where 3 creeks merged at around 2600'.  Maybe I'd catch one of the unique bass species they have in the mountain range or I'd fins wild trout.  After driving to the location, spending quite a bit of time on dirt roads to get to the location, it is very clear based on the overgrown parking lot and lack of trash or other signs of humans that this was not a frequently used trail.  At the start of the trip, that's exactly what I was hoping for.

 

As I begin to head down the trail, it becomes pretty clear the descent is much steeper than I expected from Google maps.  After descending roughly 800' over the stretch of a half mile, I'm already nearing what I think is the end of trout water, but as I mentioned earlier they have black bass species that live only in this area to target as well.  The trail has completely flattened out and parallels the river which has several creeks feeding into from higher elevations, giving me hope the water will be cold enough.

 

For the first two miles the creek is too narrow and shallow for me to even consider trying to fish it.  As I make it further in, eventually enough creeks have merged that the water is consistently at least 6 inches deep, with little pools maybe a foot deep, stream is about 6-10' wide.  Once I reached this point I began to fish the creek anywhere I could feasibly bushwhack to the bank (there weren't many spots I was able to do this).

 

The whole time I'm hiking in/fishing I'm keeping in eye out for any tracks or signs of bear activity, still a little on edge from last week and knowing that the next person to come along won't just be 10 minutes away like last week.  Around the 5 mile mark, I see my first sign that anything else has ever been out there. It's a track, 3" long, 4 fingers, 2 pads on the heel, no claws. Another 50', another track. 50' past that I come up to a 2' tall game trail that appears to lead to a bedding area for something.  Walk another 50' and I hear my first first animal call, sounds like it's about 100' in front of me.

 

Now supposedly there are no mountain lions up here, but that track is about double the size of a bobcat, and on the big side for a coyote (plus neither track had claw marks like a dog/coyote would).  On the other hand, it is small for a lion.  The call sounded right for a cat of some kind, but without seeing it I can't be certain.  Regardless I decide I don't want to figure out which of the three it may be and make this the point I turn around.  

 

I head past the second track, nothing new.  I head past the first track, there is now a total of 3 instead of the 1 just a few minutes earlier.  I'm very much on edge at this point and for the whole walk back I have some kind of animal calling every few minutes at a distance that sounds like it's always 100' away and in the trees.

 

When I reach the bottom of the hill to climb back the last stretch, I see a bad sign.  The third set of tracks I see all day that are not mine or the ones I previously described belong to a bear.  Two tracks, each about 5"-6" and based on distancing they belong to the same one at least.  Several trees in the area have also had pieces of bark ripped off.

 

Now all of the missing bark was facing downhill, so I convince myself I just wasn't able to see it earlier and I must of missed the tracks.  This is about all I can come up with since that trail up is the only way out.

 

Not even 5 steps into my ascent, I found the bear.  As I was 90 degrees with a bush to my left, it roared and (at least in my head) the entire bush shook when he did.  I was close enough to touch the bush with my left arm.

 

Unlike last week, where I was able to calmly stand my ground and then back off when that didn't work, I completely panicked.  My first reaction was to turn my back to the bear and run before realizing what I was doing. As soon as I caught myself, I tuned back towards it, stood tall, arms out and trying to talk as normally as possible as I retreated back 100'.

 

As I'm standing here, I quickly realize I'm at a low spot on all 4 sides with zero visibility forward, backwards, or to my left (2 of the 3 directions the I'd assume the bear would come from if it were to advance on me).  Moving to my right by about 30' puts me on slightly higher ground, but also moves me towards the animal calls I've been hearing for 5 straight miles and most likely further reduces my visibility.  I decide standing right where I was while everything cooled down was not any better or worse than anything else I could do.

 

After waiting 30 minutes on my watch after the initial bear encounter, I'm still hearing calls to my right but I have not heard the bear in a while.  I decide to test with a rock throw in it's direction since I'm getting pretty tired of the calling.  The bear very loudly lets me know it is still there.

 

I'm thinking my best odds are a group of hikers or coming down the trail that would have the bear outnumbered and potentially scare it off.  I remember how remote the area is and that I did not see a single track or sign showing human life had ever been on the 5 miles I walked.

 

Another thirty minutes go by (both the fastest and slowest 30 minutes of my life). I repeat the process and it plays out exactly the same way, except 5 minutes later I hear the bear snort just a little to the left of where it had been.

 

I wait another 20 minutes or so and now something has changed.  I hear the first call from my left instead of my right. It sounds closer, maybe 50' horizontally. It also sounds more vertical like it's from up above me.  I try throwing a rock at the bear again, no reaction.  

 

I immediately decide that now is my window to get out of here.  I grab a pocket of rocks to throw at trees to create ruckus ahead of me to spook anything that may be there and throw one every 30 seconds until I'm out of rocks.  This puts me about 400' from the base where all of this occurred and the animal calls stopped.

 

Not totally out of the woods yet (literally) I put some pep in my step and got out of there at a pretty good clip.

 

With only 5 creek chubs to show for the whole ordeal I will never be back to that area again.

 

I also have to say with two encounters in 7 days, and especially with how this one played out, I think any form of adventurous mountain fishing is over for the moment.

[Muck.]

Glad you made it out of there, that was an intense situation I imagine. Can you not carry a pistol or at least one of those very loud horns when you go out there? 
 

Having one of those would make enough noise to scare anything away and give you some peace of mind while out there. 

[N Florida Mike]

That’s a real good story. Ive fished up aways on  jacks river several times in the cohutta wilderness, and the same up at Conosauga lake.Never seen a bear, but seen some hogs and  huge deer. There is definitely good food sources there for bear or cat . Glad you weren't on the menu.

[bigbassin']

7 hours ago, Muck. said:

Glad you made it out of there, that was an intense situation I imagine. Can you not carry a pistol or at least one of those very loud horns when you go out there? 
 

Having one of those would make enough noise to scare anything away and give you some peace of mind while out there. 

Next go around I will be carrying and/or with a buddy as well.

7 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

That’s a real good story. Ive fished up aways on  jacks river several times in the cohutta wilderness, and the same up at Conosauga lake.Never seen a bear, but seen some hogs and  huge deer. There is definitely good food sources there for bear or cat . Glad you weren't on the menu.

I didn’t see a single sign of deer out there which kind of surprised me.

[GaryH]

It would be a shame to give up something you really enjoy. I would definitely be carrying a side arm or bear spray. And be going with a friend.

[bigbassin']

36 minutes ago, GaryH said:

It would be a shame to give up something you really enjoy. I would definitely be carrying a side arm or bear spray. And be going with a friend.

I don’t plan to give it up permanently, just for the time being.

My thought is I’ve been doing this for 10 months without a single encounter, now that it’s mating season I’ve had 2 in a week. I think being mating season must have something to do with it, so in another month once it’s through I’ll get back to it.
 

Regardless all I caught were 2” creek chubs, so it won’t be at this spot.

[N Florida Mike]

6 hours ago, bigbassin' said:

Next go around I will be carrying and/or with a buddy as well.

I didn’t see a single sign of deer out there which kind of surprised me.

I didnt see many either, but the ones I did see were immense- almost thought one of them was a horse when I first saw it...

[Dogface]

18 hours ago, GaryH said:

It would be a shame to give up something you really enjoy. I would definitely be carrying a side arm or bear spray. And be going with a friend.

Great story and thanks for sharing. I agree get a handgun or some bear spray. It will give you peace of mind and hopefully you'll never have to use it.

 

There are big cats in FL and one could have migrated north. If you ever get in there again get photos of the tracks. A cat track is distinctive and maybe the game authorities in GA would like to know about it. 

 

BTW I'm happy catching chubs especially on flies.

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, Dogface said:

Great story and thanks for sharing. I agree get a handgun or some bear spray. It will give you peace of mind and hopefully you'll never have to use it.

 

There are big cats in FL and one could have migrated north. If you ever get in there again get photos of the tracks. A cat track is distinctive and maybe the game authorities in GA would like to know about it. 

 

BTW I'm happy catching chubs especially on flies.

We’ve got mountain lions in TN now too , several people have recorded them in the past 2-3 years. Biologists think they came down the Missouri River valley 

[bigbassin']

1 hour ago, Dogface said:

Great story and thanks for sharing. I agree get a handgun or some bear spray. It will give you peace of mind and hopefully you'll never have to use it.

 

There are big cats in FL and one could have migrated north. If you ever get in there again get photos of the tracks. A cat track is distinctive and maybe the game authorities in GA would like to know about it. 

 

BTW I'm happy catching chubs especially on flies.

I do have a picture of the track, it won’t allow me to upload it though.

[Manifestgtr]

On 6/29/2020 at 7:26 AM, Muck. said:

Can you not carry a pistol or at least one of those very loud horns when you go out there? 
 

Agreed...I always carry if I’m in an area with bears or cougars. It’s just better to be safe that way, honestly...

[NorcalBassin]

Wow, glad to hear everything worked out. My only bear encounter while on foot was while hiking with my wife and parents along the Russian River on the Kenai Peninsula on our way back from watching the salmon work their way up through some runs and small falls. We heard some brush move off to our left while hiking back and no more than 30 feet away there was a huge sow brown bear. When we made eye contact she stood up, turned her head and sniffed the air, and then gently plopped down and trotted off in the other direction. We had bear spray but I went from confident to feeling like a little ant in no time with her being no less than 8ft tall. Needless to say that's the closest I've ever come to actually fearing for my life and that of my family. Thank goodness she didn't have any cubs with her. We get some fairly large black bears where I live now, but that brown bear made our bears here look like a raccoon.

 

We've had prints from a large mountain lion on our back deck before, but fortunately we've never actually seen them or had them mess with our horses or pets. We love nature and living in the mountains and it's humbling to know we're not always at the top of the food chain.

[WRB]

Surprised you couldn't smell a bear that close. Very remote area if you go back take a friend that you can out run!

From your description you ran across a sow bear with cubs and lucky you didn't get between them.

Tom

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Surprised you couldn't smell a bear that close. Very remote area if you go back take a friend that you can out run!

From your description you ran across a sow bear with cubs and lucky you didn't get between them.

Tom

I’ve been close to a few that I never saw but certainly smelled. It is a foul aroma 

[bigbassin']

2 hours ago, WRB said:

Surprised you couldn't smell a bear that close. Very remote area if you go back take a friend that you can out run!

From your description you ran across a sow bear with cubs and lucky you didn't get between them.

Tom

 

11 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve been close to a few that I never saw but certainly smelled. It is a foul aroma 

I have zero sense of smell...don’t think I’d be able to smell anything besides a skunk before getting within sight or distance.

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, bigbassin' said:

 

I have zero sense of smell...don’t think I’d be able to smell anything besides a skunk before getting within sight or distance.

Ah. Well it smells like a football locker room, garbage, and rotten fruit all mixed together...........  

[Log Catcher]

They had stories on the news the news the last few days about a bear walking through the U.K. college campus here. That is really getting into the downtown area. Bear experts have been called in to try to catch it. Last report it was spotted along the railroad tracks in that area.  Hope it hops a ride on a freight train and gets out of town.

[WRB]

It's hard to imagine that we have both bear and mountain lions in our urban areas in SoCal. Bears like trash cans and swimming pools it's weekly news event. Mountain lions are more nuacturnal but occasionally visit neighbor hoods in day light casing a panic.

Leave them alone, trying to pepper spray a big fast strong wild animal isn't going to end well.

Tom

 

[Big Hands]

Glad you were able to get away from what could have been a bad situation. Bears are like many other wild animals in that they generally don't want to hang out with us, but we never know what compelling reason they may have at a particular time to stand their ground, or worse yet, become aggressive. It happens.