Cool Bruin Encounter

[Pygmy]

I went up to the property this morning to disc up one of my food plots..

 

I was driving up a farm road, woods on my left and hayfield on my right, and I came up over a knoll..

 

There, about ten yards away, was a black blob that HAD to be a bear..Nothing else in nature is that black..

 

Suddenly a head popped up, and the bear ran into the woods, followed by THREE cubs...I'd guess they were perhaps 15 pounders..

 

I stopped for a few seconds and could see Mama standing about 30 yards back in the woods as the cubs scurried up trees..

 

Not wanting to stress her anymore, I drove up over the hill and tended to my business...

Edited July 18, 2015 by Pygmy

[Red]

Very cool encounter It has to be pretty neat seeing those tiny cubs.

[NFA-ADK]

That's cool. 

[Lawdwaz]

Cool deal Dan.  Headed onto Sis's place?

 

 

I don't have any NYS bear encounter stories to add but in PA I had very close deals three years in a row while hunting spring gobblers in '93, '94 and '95.

 

First year I watched a sow and 5 (yes five) cubs plod across a field while I sat in my truck.  They came as close as 75 yards or so I'd guess. 

 

2nd year it was a sow and a few (?) cubs I bumped into in the pitch dark around 4:30am as I headed to the top of the mountain for a gobbler I roosted the night before.  The cubs climbed a red pine within 30 yards of me while the sow took off for less stinky cover.  (the stink came from my shorts at that point)  The cubs bawled like a crazy for quite a while.  I know this because at that point no gobbler was worth hanging around for on that ridge.  I bailed out and went back down the mountain and up the other side of the narrow valley.  I could hear the bawling for a long time.  Then I killed a jake and hit the road.........

 

The third time was a sow and two cubs that crossed a trail ahead of me on a very damp morning within 40-50 yards.  They never saw me which is just as well.......

 

Note that all three encounters were in the same small valley maybe 1/2 mile apart.  Cool beans....

 

There is a possibility that time has clouded some of the finer details of the accounts above and a little Brian Williams action could be at play but IIRC, it's pretty damn accurate. 

 

 

[wooly]

Pics please....... I ain't buying your story!

I'll bet they were woodchucks, and your just exaggerating! 

[Pygmy]

Larry...It was on the roadway between the trailer and the food plots...perhaps 100 yards uphill from  the trailer...

 

Wooly, even if I had a camera, the action happened so fast I wouldn't have had time for a shot...

 

Probably could have got a shot of one of the cubs climbing a tree, but I don't think I'd want to get out of the truck with Mama only 30 yards away..I had my .357 mag with me as usual, but the last thing I want to do is to put myself in a position where I have to kill a mama bear to save my silly butt..  I am glad I was in the truck when I surprised her..She was close enough so that if I was on foot, things may have become kinda dicey..

[Lawdwaz]

If you get in a jam with that bear and I have to come down to sort things out I'm bringing my spinning rod and some of your jigs.

One way or the other I'm not going home empty handed.............

[wildcat junkie]

Pics please....... I ain't buying your story!

I'll bet they were woodchucks, and your just exaggerating! 

More likely black color phase grey squirrels.

[growalot]

When our son was a teen working in a milking parlor I took the back roads to pick him up from work...same situation as you Pygmy..But 2 cubs 2yrs old by size and they stopped in the middle of the road...it surprised me so that I forgot I was in the standard (little red Vega) and came to a rough stop...we watched each other just yards away  until all 3 stood on their hind legs..Well let me tell you from my rather low position in the Vega they all looked dang scary. I scrambled to put it in gear backing up and they were coming down the road at me as I did...until she was satisfied I was far enough away (part way back over the knoll) turned and they all walked up into a hay field...fun but glad I was in a car.....