I saw a grizz on my birthday while out picking blueberries here in AK near Denali...the ole grizz was picking blueberries too!
I saw a grizz on my birthday while out picking blueberries here in AK near Denali...the ole grizz was picking blueberries too!
"I'd rather kill a man than a snake. Not because I love snakes or hate men. It is a question, rather, of proportion." Edward Abbey
Virginia, outside of the Smokies - 2, at the same time, they were hiking the A.T. also, until they saw me and ran off!
New York - 1 in the Adirondacks, eating a hapless group's food supply
New York is actually considering a regulation that makes it mandatory to use bear resistant canisters when backpacking in the High Peaks region. The bears are very skilled raiders.
Long-distance aspirations with short-distance feet.... :jump
On another thread it looks like there is one less bear in MD, now. I nice fat one too.
Not sure why L Wolf said there were too many in that state, based on the number of Whiteblazers who have seen one there.
oh come on ricky
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/huntersgu...Management.asp
There are not too many bears in MD. If there were the state would allow hunters to take more than the limit of 70 for the whole state.
Simple LNT philosophy says they should be appreciated, not shot.
Special situations excepted, of course.
I think LNT is at times a selfish philosophy. It worries more about the immediate senses of people in the woods, rather than what might be better for the wilderness in the long haul. To say "LNT means don't shoot bears" is just too simplistic. Animals leave traces whereever they go; they just leave extremely temporary traces. People should do the same. Leaving footprints and even ashes is OK in my book; just don't leave plastic or tinfoil, etc.
Trees drop thier leaves too. But lets not cut them down to make them stop.
The black bears seen in those other states were small ones. The 700 & 800 pounders are in Pennsylvania.
http://www.pagameandfish.com/hunting...ng/PA_1005_02/
Don't sleep with your food.
i always sleep with my chow
Whatever. I would have figured you were more into poodles.
No, but as an example, there are huge forest fires that are ugly for a time, but are ultimately beneficial to other wildlife. New growth is sometimes a bonus. Part of respect for nature is respecting that things are born, live, and even die. No bear in the wild dies of old age. Limited hunting of bears is no worse (and perhaps is better) than having them die of starvation or injury. (Bears often die in falls, believe it or not, when they try to reach food because they are hungry). Then of course the other bears eat them. What's the difference?
People are part of nature. I'll grant that we are obliged to act with some restraint, because there are so many of us, and because we have inventions that are lethal and trash that is not biodegradeable. But to say that killing a bear is antithetical to LNT, is, I think, disrespectful to nature rather than respectful of it, in that it assumes that nature only exists when we are out in it, rather than that it exists all the time, and will exist for many thousands of years after we are gone from the world.
First day in SNP, within a few miles of the north end of the park. Very cool. Saw very fresh paw prints in NJ on the Kittatinny ridge, but no bear.
I'm with Mouse.....did not see any bears on my thru.
I got the feeling they were hiding behind trees laughing at me as I hiked past...........
NC - Mother, two cubs on other side of Eagle Creek from us, plus fresh bear prints in our camp (a few inches from our tent) a couple of days later. This was on my very first backpacking trip ever - Smokies.
PA - bear in our camp (at a campground), attempting to steal garbage, a couple of us were still up at the time.
NM - two bears at different times at Philmont. One came back to a neighboring camp a couple times during the evening.
MI - a couple in the UP of MI at a distance
Va - tail end of one running up the trail ahead of me
So this isn't thread about mooning the cog?
"The Ordinary Adventurer"
http://www.FunFreedom.com
I had six separate bear encounters (and three near misses) in the space of forty hours at SNP two years ago. This includes a bear running out in front of my car while driving to the park.
I've also seen bear on coastal North Carolina...not in a cage. There was even one reported on Ocracoke Island about a year ago.
It must have took the ferry over, cause it's a mighty long swim from the mainland.
[COLOR="SeaGreen"] [I]"Mama always said there's an awful lot you can tell about a person by their shoes. Where they're going, where they've been. I've worn lots of shoes."
(Forrest Gump; Greenbow, Alabama)[/I] [/COLOR]