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Poll: Where did you see bear(s) at an AT shelter

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  1. #1
    ME => GA 19AT3 rickb's Avatar
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    Default Where have you seen black bears at or near an AT shelter?

    This poll asks where you have seen a bear(s) at or near an AT shelter.

  2. #2

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    in 30 yrs, never have seen a bear at a shelter.

  3. #3
    Virginia Tortoise
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    I was heading to the privy near Peters Mountain Shelter, PA early in the morning in 2004 and saw a bear

  4. #4

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    Saw bears several times in SNP at both shelters on Old Rag Mountain. Six or so miles from AT but popular area with many hikers. You can no longer camp at either of these by the way. Day use only now.

  5. #5
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    I saw 8 bears on my section from Springer to Erwin 12. If you want to see bears be the first to leave camp in the morning or last to arrive at night. Biggest bear was before blackstack cliffs north of hot springs. He just moved off trail enough for me to pass at least 400 lbs

    Sent from my SPH-M820-BST using Tapatalk 2

  6. #6

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    GA and NC in the early 70's. 3 times each. Every time crossing the trail, never at a shelter.
    "Hiking is as close to God as you can get without going to Church." - BobbyJo Sargent aka milkman Sometimes it's nice to take a long walk in THE FOG.

  7. #7
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    Only time I saw them at shelters was in the smokies. A bear chewed a hole in a hammock. Next night I woke up to a bear in the shelter.

    Sent from my SPH-M820-BST using Tapatalk 2

  8. #8
    Registered User Wise Old Owl's Avatar
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    only in a zoo - I have better things to do at night.
    Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

    Woo

  9. #9
    Springer to Elk Park, NC/Andover to Katahdin
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    Quote Originally Posted by hikerboy57 View Post
    in 30 yrs, never have seen a bear at a shelter.
    Ditto.....
    I am not young enough to know everything.

  10. #10
    Registered User michaelosborne's Avatar
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    3 at once hiking down from Mt.Tammany in the Delaware Water Gap, New Jersey

  11. #11

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    Saw three bears spring of 2012 on a spur trail just off the AT in northern SNP. One lone bear, appeared to be about 2 years old, one day. Two cubs scrambling from a tree the next. Never saw mom.

  12. #12
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    Saw a small younger bear on trail this year near Stony Man summit next to Skyland in SNP. I've never seen any other bears in SNP or been bothered while camping. Not a single bear on the JMT this year.

  13. #13
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    Cosby Shelter in the Smokies. Everybody with tents and hammocks took them down and crowded into the shelter to get away from the bear. Everybody hung their food bags. Everybody had piles of rocks near their sleeping bags to throw at the bear if he/she tried to enter the shelter during the night. This was May of 2012.

    Several years prior there was a bear at Mt Sterling, also in the Smokies. Not a shelter there, and not right on the AT, but there is a fire tower, and people were climbing it to feel safer.

  14. #14
    Super Moderator Marta's Avatar
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    For me the operative word was SEE. I spent a long night alone in Tricorner Knob shelter in November 2004, listening to heavy foot steps going back and forth in front of the shelter. There was a tarp across the front of the shelter, so I couldn't see anything. I later ran into a trail maintainer who said there were three bears that started hanging around there when some numbskull left a bag a garbage hanging from the bear cables.
    If not NOW, then WHEN?

    ME>GA 2006
    http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=3277

    Instagram hiking photos: five.leafed.clover

  15. #15
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    I heard about this I was very close to you. What day were you there? My trail name is chief

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  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Toon View Post
    I heard about this I was very close to you. What day were you there? My trail name is chief

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    That was for illabelle

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  17. #17
    GSMNP 900 Miler
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    Had a bear encounter at Russle Field Shelter in GSMNP last year. My son and I had stopped by the shelter for a break as the last of the overnight campers were leaving. Almost immediately after they left, a bear came at out the woods to check the place out. The only time I've had a bear approach me. When he got too close, a shout was fortunately enough to chase him off.

  18. #18
    BYGE "Biggie" TOMP's Avatar
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    i saw 12 bears in the SNP and 3 in NJ, go figure both areas that dont have bear hunting seasons.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Toon View Post
    I heard about this I was very close to you. What day were you there? My trail name is chief

    Sent from my SPH-M820-BST using Tapatalk 2
    Not sure the exact day. The trip was over Memorial Day weekend, so maybe May 28 or 29 of 2012? According to the trail register and reports from hikers headed south, every night at Cosby Knob was like that. The night we were there, there was probably 12 people at the shelter, but I remember hearing that a night or two earlier there were only 4 because everybody else left to get away from the bear. One person said they woke up and the bear was inside the shelter sniffing around. We also ran into someone (a big guy) who said a bear tore his hammock - while he was in it!

    While all this was quite exciting, I don't want to contribute to the perception by some non-hikers/newbies/whoever that the woods are a dangerous place infested with bloodthirsty bears. There are a few bears that have been taught to hang out at shelters for a meal. They become problems. That's it. As long as I'm not alone, I don't worry about bears attacking me. On the other hand, re-reading Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, he recounts something about a group of 4 bears working to get a pack down. Four bears at a time would scare me real bad!

  20. #20
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    In NJ they've started doing a short bear season in North Jersey around the AT corridor - usually in early December. Don't really know how I feel about it - basically, it seems to be yet another way for NJ to obtain revenue - you pay to sign up for the lottery, then you pay for your permit, then you pay when you report your kill, etc. I think they sold a couple thousand licenses last year, and a couple of hundred bears were killed.

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