BrokenChicken
Active member
Went backpacking/camping/scouting this weekend in CO where i have 1st rifle Elk tag.
so about 1 mile into my 5-6 mile hike in, i'm walking a trail and all of sudden to my left (90* degrees) i hear some commotion and a squeal, and as i turn i see 2 cubs climb up a pine tree about 15' up and stop there clinging to a tree and looking at me. it was close enough that we made eye contact and i could see their face features super clear. Bear cubs are very cute/cool looking animals. **i guessed it was in the 20 meter range. *(next day on my hike out i ranged it and it was 32m exactly). this is around 8,000' elevation, so it's a mix of pines, aspens and in this particular area it opened up a bit as there was a small creek crossing. so trail at this time is overgrown with tall grass/vegetation about thigh high, and in this specific area, right around the tree where i saw the cubs, brush was about 6' high. so a Pine tree - 6' brush around it - thigh high grass/vegetation everywhere else - and then me on trail looking directly at the cubs.
as soon as i saw them, in my head i was like " o crap, here we go, where's the sow?, i'm about to get charged", i figured i was way too close to the cubs.
but with in 5 or 10 seconds i hear more wresting in the brush and then i see a 3rd bear climb up the tree and stop right underneath the cubs. it was the sow, although she did not look that big *relief. by this point i had already grabbed my BearSpray *(i reached for it as soon as i saw the cubs) and i had safety off, and pointed at the vegetation/ground in direction of the cubs, as thats where i was expecting the mother to run out from. I also had started yelling "Hey bear, hey bear, back it up" as i kept moving up the trail. since bears were directly to my left, me continuing on trail was taking me further away from them. and it actually opened up a bit in that direction so was easier to ensure i had clear view around me.
i got about 75-100m up the trail, tried to get my binos/phone out to see if i could get a view and a picture, but they got down a tree and ran off somewhere.
this is now the closest i've been to a wild bear, and it was quite an experience. i was happy with myself for how automatically i just reached for the bear spray in first seconds of the encounter.
so thats 3 bears , later that evening while glassing up a canyon i spotted another black bear about 900m away working its way up the mountain *(away from my general area)
for this bear i had binos and phone in hand to snap few pictures and a short clip. here it is.
*** actually cant figure out how to post 30sec clip. Anyone knows how to?
so about 1 mile into my 5-6 mile hike in, i'm walking a trail and all of sudden to my left (90* degrees) i hear some commotion and a squeal, and as i turn i see 2 cubs climb up a pine tree about 15' up and stop there clinging to a tree and looking at me. it was close enough that we made eye contact and i could see their face features super clear. Bear cubs are very cute/cool looking animals. **i guessed it was in the 20 meter range. *(next day on my hike out i ranged it and it was 32m exactly). this is around 8,000' elevation, so it's a mix of pines, aspens and in this particular area it opened up a bit as there was a small creek crossing. so trail at this time is overgrown with tall grass/vegetation about thigh high, and in this specific area, right around the tree where i saw the cubs, brush was about 6' high. so a Pine tree - 6' brush around it - thigh high grass/vegetation everywhere else - and then me on trail looking directly at the cubs.
as soon as i saw them, in my head i was like " o crap, here we go, where's the sow?, i'm about to get charged", i figured i was way too close to the cubs.
but with in 5 or 10 seconds i hear more wresting in the brush and then i see a 3rd bear climb up the tree and stop right underneath the cubs. it was the sow, although she did not look that big *relief. by this point i had already grabbed my BearSpray *(i reached for it as soon as i saw the cubs) and i had safety off, and pointed at the vegetation/ground in direction of the cubs, as thats where i was expecting the mother to run out from. I also had started yelling "Hey bear, hey bear, back it up" as i kept moving up the trail. since bears were directly to my left, me continuing on trail was taking me further away from them. and it actually opened up a bit in that direction so was easier to ensure i had clear view around me.
i got about 75-100m up the trail, tried to get my binos/phone out to see if i could get a view and a picture, but they got down a tree and ran off somewhere.
this is now the closest i've been to a wild bear, and it was quite an experience. i was happy with myself for how automatically i just reached for the bear spray in first seconds of the encounter.
so thats 3 bears , later that evening while glassing up a canyon i spotted another black bear about 900m away working its way up the mountain *(away from my general area)
for this bear i had binos and phone in hand to snap few pictures and a short clip. here it is.
*** actually cant figure out how to post 30sec clip. Anyone knows how to?
