One bear leaves, another arrives! Patrick Nickels and his trusty dog saw a bear in the yard of their home in the lush Mountain Plains neighborhood of Spearfish Monday morning:
Patrick Nickles was sleeping Monday morning in his Mountain Plains home when his dog woke him up barking around 5 a.m.
“He never barks. I told him to go back to sleep, and about 10 second later he barked again,” Nickles said. “I got up and could hear scraping and rummaging.”
He looked out of his window and saw an animal he took at first to be a large dog rifling through his garbage cans near his shed. He knocked on the window to get the animal’s attention.
“I said, ‘Look, there’s a bear.’ Then I thought, ‘Surely that couldn’t possibly be a bear,’” he said. “It ran off and it was indeed a bear.”
He said the bear was cinnamon in color and he estimated it might weigh approximately 200 pounds.
Nickles said his trashcan had a couple teeth marks and scratches on it [Mark Watson, “Black Bear Spotted Near Spearfish,” Black Hills Pioneer, 2019.06.26].
“It was indeed a bear” is the best South Dakota news quote of 2019, even better than “It was indeed nepotism” or “It was indeed hypocrisy.”
The Spearfish bear siting comes just about a year after a trail camera caught a bear strolling about near Rochford, 35-40 miles south of Spearfish as bears might amble.
I still can’t wait to get out to Spearfish and go running and biking through the Canyon and up Tinton Trail again. But now when folks hear me shouting, “Ho bear, hup!” as I wind through the woods, they’ll know I’m not just joking; I’m really calling ahead to keep from surprising any Black Hills bears.
Cory, always run with a slower runner, a stranger is your best bet.
Either that, Jerry, or run with tastier people.
Mosquitoes and gnats seem to enjoy biting me before they bite others around me. I wonder if the same emanations that attract bugs would also make me tastier to bears.
Colorado Wisdom … Bears are ignorable. It’s the Mama moose that’ll kill ‘ya.
Do not run…… and with Black Bears, do NOT play dead — that only works with grizzlies.
Black Bear = Be King Kong
Moose = Run Like Heck
Grizzly Bear = Pray
With any species of large game, being dead is clearly an option. Like Drumpf, they seem devoid of a sense of humor and a shred of decency. But, then, they be animals.
We have plenty of black bears in Minnesota. They can be shoo’ed away. I wouldn’t try that with any other bears.
I have lived in four states with bear populations. Here are a few tips.
Never get between a sow and her cubs.
Remember black bears climb trees. Grizzly bears cannot. (They may knock
the tree over however)
Make noise when walking in bear country. They will normally stay away from you.
Carry a firearm for protection? An Alaska resident informed me that a small caliber handgun (357 Mag or smaller) only pisses them off. He would also recommend filing off the front sight so it doesn’t hurt so bad when Yogi shoves it up your butt.
Bear in mind is the only thought you should have in bear country.
Mr. Old Guy, you will get people killed telling them grizzlies can’t climb because they sure as heck can and do. Not just cubs, either. No offense.
Old guy has the wrong of it on several fronts:
https://www.ammoland.com/2018/02/defense-against-bears-with-pistols-97-success-rate-37-incidents-by-caliber/#axzz5s9H7m8Yp
Anything that makes up for the fact we humans lack big teeth and claws is helpful.
All jokes aside this was bound to happen. Mountain lions were thought to not be in the Black Hills until it was proven without a doubt that they were. Next we will hear demands to begin a hunting season or calls for a bounty system. I say live and let live.
Black hills lions have been spotted east river, as far east as iowa, Michigan and Illinois and who knows where.
iowa gets an occasional bear from Wisconsin, but they tend to stay in the Mississippi River area.
Good advice, Daniel! I’ve heard with grizzlies, you’re screwed no matter what tactic you try.
I recall my hiking rule: with mountain lion, get big. With buffalo, get small.
Never get between mama and babies—indeed, WR Old Guy! That’s why we make noise in the woods. Plus, making noise and avoiding an incident is cheaper and safer than carrying a gun and hoping you can hit the bear with enough ammo to stop her.