Black Bear

[YAMAHA_Jim]

This is a pic that a friend sent to me.The bear was on his back porch peeking through the screen door.Looks to be about 300 lbs.Not very big,but not too small either.

[J.D.]

Sweet! Looks like a shadow with glowing eyes, lol.

[Wickedfinger]

I remember one time we were camping up there by you in Grahmsville at my buddy Mikes uncles place and we had a bear incident. His uncle was getting up there in age and senility was setting in. The whole week we were there, he kept mumbling about "that guy in the tuxedo" this, and "that guy in the tuxedo" that. We paid it no mind really especially when aunt Elanore said "Hes been saying that for weeks" .... until the day we left that is. We were packing up the trucks and saying our goodbyes when uncle Frank headed out of the house with his trusty 30 ought 6 muttering to himself "I'll get that guy in the tuxedo out of here once and for all". We said ... Frank, for Petes sakes - what the hell are you talking about and put that cannon of yours away - who is this guy in the tuxedo?. And with that he said "Hes right there, ask him yourself". We turned around to see this huge 650lb+ Black Bear routing through the remains of our camp. It was a really dry summer that year and there wasn't alot of water up in the hills I guess - so thats why the bear came. He was eating up all of Franks blueberry and raspberry bushes.

[cliff2302]

I bet you need some new underware when you turned around. lol

[Name Brand]

I had lived on the Kenai Peninsula (look on a map if you're not familier with the size of this thing) for about twenty years and had incredibly seen only one black bear in my life there. This is bear country, they are on porches or in garbage all the time here. This is the story of the second one.

My mother and I are in our old 96' Windstar, driving back to Homer from Anchorage (about 220 miles). It was already dark and having seen many moose along the roads we were only driving about 55mph, with the brights on. In about a second, something runs in front of us, collides into the front of the van, the airbags blow (my mother pushed her airbag out of the way and put her hands back on the wheel when she realized the van was still going about 40mph), and my mom gets the van stopped on the side of the road. My first thought were along the lines of AIRBAGS F#@%ING HURT! We also didn't know what we had hit, whether it was an animal or person. (a moose would likely have ended up in the windsheild) There was nothing on the road. We found the now dead black bear all the way across the opposite lane, thrown against the alders past the ditch. (about sixty feet from our lane)

The van had some wrinkles in the hood and front fenders, one headlight was out, the bumper was tweaked, the bracket holding the sliding door got bent (it rattled the sliding door the whole way home) and about half the dash was laying on the floor. (I recall picking up an entire vent assembly, about a foot long and deep, and wondering what kept that from being between me and the airbag) After talking with the troopers, we left and drove the hour back to Homer. I beleive the damage to the van came to just over $7000.

I spent the next two days on the couch with a massive, dizzy headache. I would lay there thinking that I really had to use the bathroom, but if I get up, I'm gonna fall over. I probably did have a concussion. Six vertabrea in my neck, two between my shoulders, and three in my lower back were all damaged or misaligned in different ways. I spent about 16 months at a chiropractor, 3 days a week till I got sick of going. I really didn't feel any meaningful change was being done. The most annoying part was my jaw, the right side, where it hinges, got misaligned. When I open my mouth to halfway, there are no problems. Half to full there is a click and pop on that side every time I open my jaw. (if your jaw has ever popped, like a knuckle would, that's what it feels like) This also causes my jaw to move to the left slightly and affects the hinge on the other side as well. It also does it when I'm eating. Surgery to correct this would cost around $40,000, leave facial scars and may only have mediocore results.
Did I mention, AIRBAGS F&%@ING HURT!

Two days after hitting the bear, I started my first day of college. My head was still swimming. Ugh.

Anyway, that's my black bear story.

Oh, and AIRBAGS F&#$ING HURT!

[AirManCam]

We turned around to see this huge 650lb+ Black Bear
I have very many doubts about that...The average black bear is about 200-300 lbs. These animals can be very deciving (sp) The worlds largest black bear was 802lbs shot in 1885. I have no doubt in my mind they are out there..but an animal that big didn't get that big by wondering around people :rolleyes:

[BigGreenMachine]

Wickedfinger, I liked the story and so did my dad, he almost choked when i read it to him. LOL

That pic is cool, the eyes really stand out, be creppy to see some nite in your backyard.

[foster]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid111/p826c9237a77aa6faff598f8b962c1db3/f91115a7.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid77/p93e1ffa96102d07aa28114710d8450b5/fb31e62e.jpg

:eek:

[Wickedfinger]

650 was totally an estimate (I didnt think he would get on a scale) and I will say I have never seen a Black Bear that big in 20+ years of hunting and camping in Pa. and NY. before that day. In those 20+ years as well, I never saw a black bear that I was afraid of because they are usually so timid and scared of people - Mr Tuxedo could've cared less about us. I would have to say though he was easily near 6' tall because the blueberry bushes were taller than me (6'1") and he was eating off of the tops of them while leaning on the fence. I also remember going through ballistics tables in my head at the time wondering if even that 30.06 with an best case (I hoped Frank had hunting rounds loaded) Noslier bullet or worst case FMJ Ball would stop him if he decided to charge - lets just say he was big enough.