Cutest & scariest thing in a thick hammock

meateater

when i was living in the mountains years ago i met a old timer who took me under his wing    teaching me ways to survive in the wilderness. one day he came running toward the cabin screaming grizz  grizz and right behind him was a grizzly    the old man ran thru the front door right thru the cabin and jumped out the window leaving me in the cabin with the grizz    good times       that was before i was working for the fur trading company and was attacked by a huge sow grizzly and left for dead by big mac and trt.

Crkr23

Jeremiah Johnson's handle was not Meateater, it was Liver Eating Johnson.

Turner River Terror

Heck.. Mac and I knew before we even went in the woods with you that you weren't worth saving.
Thought you were gonna die on the ride out when you pulled out that Glue tube and little brown paper bag.
We should have killed you at the Trailhead, but Mac said ...just give him one more chance..

Bet you tasted like cra.p...loser

FloridaOD

gogittum said:

FloridaOD said:

Some time ago I encountered Cubs and Mom..... and broke all the rules.I was not aware of the rules.... protocol.
Driving a Osceola National Forest road..... two Cubs scurry up tress. 

I get out of the vehicle, nearing the Cubs for photos..... then Mom appears a little ways away..... upright.
I got all sorts of photos. 

Since then, Bear encounters have become routine and I follow the Rules. 

Neatest Bear event was a single bear walking on a railroad rail.... all fours on the rail..... walking right towards me. 

I'd really like to see the picture of that...

I will post photos tomorrow if I can transport from photo files

OGBOHICA

JohnnyBandit said:

Same trip... This She bear... No cubs gave me some issues and got between me and my truck.... False charged me a couple of  times.... Finally moved off and I got past her... Then she came back out of the sweetgum swamp and followed me to my truck...

I did not take a lot of photos of her... it was raining and she was showing behavior I was more focused on paying attention to her and what she was doing.... I walked 50 yards backwards.... About 25 yards from the truck I hit the alarm button on the key fob and she went back in the sweetgums....

Showed this photo to a USFW guy the next day... he said... yea... you see those ear tags.... she already got in trouble somewhere else.... Steer clear of her...

Is this off the Indian land headed down to Big Cypress levee?

gogittum

Not a Bear, but same type of thing - on one of my trips, I was heading west on Hwy 20 in central British Columbia and got my 1st view of the Coast Range with a small lake in the foreground. 

Beautiful, I thought, so stopped for a picture.  Then got to thinking it'd be an even better picture from the shore of the lake, so walked down a steep, wooded slope for a couple 100 ft. for another try.

Took my shot, (it did come out better) and started back up when I heard puppies whimpering.  Puppies ??  No dogs around here....but there are Black Bears, Grizzly Bears, Cougars....and Wolves.  Puppies ??  Uh Oh. 

I looked around carefully, then quietly eased away from the sound and got back up the slope, watching carefully all the way.  Never did see momma or poppa Wolf.

hoggator

Johnny,  those bears are huge.  Great pics as always. I read somewhere that the biggest FL bear recorded was 760 lbs.  wonder how heavy that big boar in your picture is.  

I have never heard of how wolfs would react to a human near their den. I also wouldn’t want to personally find out.  On my bear cub encounter, I didn’t think we would get attacked.  Just thought that if she was around there would be a strong show of force from mom.  I am not used to being around bears and don’t think I would be comfortable with a pissed off animal like that in tight dense quarters. I know my 12 gage with a full choke & 3.5” shells would have been better killing a bear at close quarters.  However, I felt like the .380 was going to allow me to fire several “go away” shots and still be able to shoot close quarters if charged for real.  Either way, I am glad we got out of there without having to test any of those situations.  

JohnnyBandit

hoggator said:

Johnny,  those bears are huge.  Great pics as always. I read somewhere that the biggest FL bear recorded was 760 lbs.  wonder how heavy that big boar in your picture is.  

I have never heard of how wolfs would react to a human near their den. I also wouldn’t want to personally find out.  On my bear cub encounter, I didn’t think we would get attacked.  Just thought that if she was around there would be a strong show of force from mom.  I am not used to being around bears and don’t think I would be comfortable with a pissed off animal like that in tight dense quarters. I know my 12 gage with a full choke & 3.5” shells would have been better killing a bear at close quarters.  However, I felt like the .380 was going to allow me to fire several “go away” shots and still be able to shoot close quarters if charged for real.  Either way, I am glad we got out of there without having to test any of those situations.  

He was MASSIVE.... I get varying opinions on him.... 600-700 pounds....  After I photographed him, I found out he is a known bear in that area. I showed him to a USFW guy that I ran into nearly every day when I was up there.... He referred to him as Big Bubba.... I posted photos of him on the Carolina Critters page and only mentioned he was in NC... I had several people comment on the area I took the photo in and they were correct. 

Keep in mind I took this in Mid May of last year.... The area is the Alligator River and Pocasin Lakes NWR.... Way up close to Virginia and out on the coast..... Just inside the outer banks.... The area has both the highest concentration as well as the largest in physical size of black bears anywhere in North America.....

The area is nothing short of amazing.... I was there for four days last May. And the weather was awful. There was an early tropical system sitting off the Outer Banks while I was there..  Some houses on the outer banks got washed away....  Feeder Bands of rain and heavy wind would sweep through. Sometimes it got so bad I had to just stop and sit in my truck. I could not see the grade road and I certainly did not want to run off in one of the wet prairies.

Despite the bad weather, I photographed 26 different bears in 4 days. Including at least four(including the huge boy) that were easily over 500 pounds. That does not include all the bears I saw.... I had them dart in front of me in the truck. Dart across the trail in front of me while I was walking... I walked down to this marshy pond and there was an old folding chair. So I sat in it... It started pouring rain... I put my poncho on and put my camera gear in a garbage bag I had..... I could not hear anything in the rain and wind.... I looked to my right and there was a good sized bear about 25 feet away just looking at me.... or at least my direction... I do not think he could figure it out with the weather... So I started talking to him so he would know I was there... he huffed at me a couple of times then walked on out into a sweet gum swamp.

It is the food supply that allows the bears to be so many and so big... There is some kind of grass up there that grows in those wet prairies that is high in both sugar and protein. Plus the crawfish... I have never seen so many crawfish in my life.... Every time I walked out on a wet prairie or in a shallow creek I would feel a crunch on every step.... In addition to the bears there are tons of Barred Owls.... Like see a hundred in a day... They are eating the crawfish as well.

Other than the ear tagged bear all of the bears seemed very calm a relaxed...

I am going back this May. About a week later this time... Last year I was there about a week before the sows brought out the first year cubs... I saw and photographed sows with cubs but they were all year old cubs... I did not see any tiny spring cubs.

A couple more of the big boy.

rudyeng

Great pictures. Thank goodness it worked out well for you & the Mama bear.  If you are going to carry a .380 I would recommend the Underwood 380 ACP +P 90GR. XTREME PENETRATOR.

I carry a 10 MM with 220 gr. Underwood solids but I hunt out west in very remote areas.  I also use it for hogs in Fl. 

Best of luck !

Rudy