I saw a video on YouTube of a bear and a man accidentally surprising each other in a regular suburb. Do bears normally live so close to populated areas? How careful do you need to be when you go hiking?

I’m happy to hear about any bear stories you have.

42 comments

  1. The only times I’ve ever encountered bears were in national parks. But also at this place called Bear World, but that’s to be expected.

  2. They are quite common in suburban northern New Jersey. Black bears aren’t a “problem” though they are not really an issue.

  3. Depends on where you live. They are more common in rural areas in the East and western mountain areas. I’ve encountered black and grizzly bears. Not really a problem for me.

    You learn to bear proof your house. No garbage outside. No food outside. Nothing to attract them.

    There are times of day that they are more common. Dawn and dusk.

    But over the past 50 years, the majority of bear attacks were when a human surprised a bear. Like trail running at dawn. Otherwise, bears usually don’t want anything to do with humans.

  4. I’d say more nuisance than problem. It varies wildly with where you live. Black bears are a nuisance. If you see a grizzly good luck.

  6. I’ve seen bears twice in my life. The first time I saw one, it was walking on a suburban lawn in a suburban neighborhood in Connecticut. So yes, they do live in the suburbs. I’ve also spoken to a wildlife biologist who specialized in bears, and he told me there are bears in my densely populated, suburban county.

    The most common bear in North America is the black bear, and they mostly behave like giant raccoons in that they eat garbage. If a black bear does bother you though, you can easily scare it away by making noise and making yourself look big.

  7. No. Bears don’t live near me. There’s supposedly black bears in the northern part of the state but I’ve never seen a wild bear in my life.

    Grizzlies are the scary ones though. If you’re hiking in areas where bears might be then [bear spray](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_spray) is a common thing to keep in your pack. Even then its mainly precautionary as bear attacks are extremely rare.

  9. Northern Wisconsin here. They’re around, but mostly stick to the forests. I’ve had some in my yard before, mom’s with cubs. Never had an issue, respect them with distance and they’ll do the same.

  10. I have bear in my yard or street about 10 times a year that I notice.

    They are Black Bear and aren’t particularly dangerous. I told my son if he sees one to make sure he tells us so we put the dog in. I don’t want the dog being the aggressor and getting hurt. (I had to tell him when I heard him say sing sony “Bear” and not say anything thing else then I came around the corner and there it was. I had the dog with me in the yard so it felt dangerous. (He had already been quilled by a porcupine and sprayed by a skunk – BOTH because the dog attacked them)

  11. If you live in an area with bears then yes because that’s where bears live

  12. My grandpas house in northern Minnesota, nuisance bears are a big problem. If you leave your trash unlocked curious black bears will get in. Once as a kid we were grilling late and a young black bear came right up in the porch. Its sad because once they aren’t afraid of humans that usually means the DNR will out them down 🙁

  13. I have run into a bear once on hiking trail in Pennsylvania two years ago. I seen some people in distance waving at me but I could not hear anything, but got my guards up. As I walk on a trail there was a bear sitting off the path, in the bush feasting on some leftover food. My adrenalin went up, walked backwards toward people who were waving and they came closer to me in case I need a help. The bear was just busy getting food from the bag and was not paying an attention to me. I have seen bears off distance while camping in Appalachian mountains, but this was the closest encounter I had.

  14. Montana has entered the chat. Besides black bears, we have grizzlies here. They are the size of a sedan and they are to be feared. Nearly every year someone gets seriously injured or killed by one. The most recent incidents are 1- a woman taken out of her tent/killed. 2- a man came across a bear and its kill, and ended up getting seriously injured and later died. 3- a bicyclist surprised a bear on a trail, got attacked, and had to walk back to the trailhead, holding his face to his skull. He’s still recovering. All that being said, I’m an avid hiker. I carry bear spray, hike with at least one other, and we talk and make noise while we hike. (Most attacks are surprise encounters.)

  15. There’s a huge difference in danger level between black bears and grizzly/brown bears. Black bears are widely distributed. Grizzly bears are much more restricted in range and people in those areas do take precautions, from what I understand.

  16. My DC suburb gets the occasional subadult black bear roaming through. It makes the news, someone makes it an IG and Facebook page and it’s a thing.

    In the Western part of MD they are fairly common. Common enough that you need a bear proof trash can, and there was a woman mailed pretty bad a few years ago in her driveway.

  17. We get them occasionally in my semi rural part of Maine.

    Black bears don’t want fuck all to do with humans for the most part. The only times I have seen them around here they are running in the other direction.

    I had one pop out of scrub on a ridge line in the White Mountains on the Pemigewassett loop about 10 feet from me. It lit off through the the brush at like 30mph. Impressive but wanted nothing to do with us.

  18. Bears are one of those things that would be a problem if we didn’t handle it well, but it’s handled fairly well so it’s not a very big problem. Hikers know to make noise and carry bear spray when hiking in bear country, people who live around bears know to keep their garbage locked up, and wildlife management knows to trap/relocate(or sadly occasionally destroy) bears that encroach onto human habitation too much. There’s an average of 1 or 2 deaths per year due to bears in the United States, with most occurring in the Northern Rockies or Alaska (where the larger brown bears live).

    The kind of encounter you described is much more common with black bears because there’s more of them and they’re much more amenable to scavenging garbage as opposed to hunting. They’re also smaller and more timid, so they’re tolerated much more due to posing less of a threat and being scared off more easily. I’ve personally witnessed a 5’4″ pregnant woman scare off a black bear while hiking.

    In terms of apex predators living in close proximity to humans, the real interesting case is that there are a few dozen mountain lions [within the city of Los Angeles](https://www.nps.gov/samo/learn/nature/pumapage.htm).

  21. Bears are really smart so they’re able to venture into small towns and suburbs in search of food.

  22. My parents get one sometimes, but they live in the middle of 27 acres of woods (in Virginia) so that’s kind of expected I guess. The only time I saw one there it was trying to get in the bird feeder. They took it down and haven’t seen many since.
    Black bears can be easily scared away though. A friend’s parents live in Colorado and one day the mom noticed a black bear at their bird feeder so she went to the door and yelled no no bad bear very loudly and sternly and it frightened the bear and he ran away.

  23. Chicago was only 6-11 last season. Just kidding, I haven’t seen any. Grizzlies all moved north and got on with the Polars.

  25. ive only seen them in colorado, but they have been spotted in Missouri, but it’s pretty rare. depends on the state

  26. There’s only black bears around here. I don’t pay them much thought to be honest. Mountain lions are the scary ones

  27. Vacationed in Sevierville, TN on a mountainside last summer – had black bears flip our garbage bin overnight a couple times. Also saw mama and a couple cubs in broad daylight. This was not something I anticipated having come from the Chicago area. I should have read up though, very common there.

  28. I know someone who knows someone who actually got a bear in their house. They had a screen door that didn’t shut all the way, and a black bear smelled food and managed to get the door open. Where I live they’re not really a huge problem, but they do make their way into the residential areas sometimes. Black bears usually avoid people and loud noises. If you see one in the woods, yell at it and it will go away.

  29. In northern Illinois maybe once a year youll see a news story of a stray bear that came down from Wisconsin. But there are no resident bears really

  30. Bears do not LIVE near populated areas. People live near bear habitats.

    I live rural and I’ve seen 1 bear in the lastb10 years. I’ve seen 2 cats of which fish and game swears there are.none, regardless of cam footage, and I have deer in my backyard regularly.

    I moved and built here, they didn’t move to where I am 🙂

  31. I’ve come across them in the mountains but not really anywhere else.

    One quick story. I was in Yellowstone National Park with my parents as a teenager and we saw a bunch of people pulled over to the side or the road which almost always meant there was an animal to check out. We park and get out of the car and notice it’s a Momma Grizzly and her two yearling Cubs. Being people that were experienced in the out doors we kept our distance and watched but after a bit we noticed two or three guys in their early 20s break off from the group and start making their way closer to the bears. I immediately noticed people in the crowd start to back up and at the same time one of the Cubs stood up and was looking around. That was the sign to leave before it got worse. Thank god a ranger showed up almost as soon as that happened.

  32. In Lake Tahoe black bears are a big problem. Tourists feed them and they go after garbage. Our home was broken into 6 times by probably the same bear. These black bears are not that much of a threat to humans. But black bears that have not had a ton of exposure to humans are more deadly then Grizzlies. So I’m super careful about it. You dont know what kinda black bear your going to run into.

    If its Black attack, if its Brown lay down and if its white kiss your butt good bye.

  35. Bears *can* be a problem, but that answer needs a huge asterisk:

    Bears mostly mind their own business, and usually will run like hell when they spot a human. But some people are idiots, and try to give food to the bears. The bears learn quick, and in their little bear-brains decide “humans-equals-food, so maybe just eat the humans outright and save some time?” There are plenty of areas near me that I can’t go to because some numbnuts decided to give a hamburger to the bears.

    A caveat there is that there are many types of bears in the US. In my area we mostly have Black Bears, and they’re the wimps of the bear world. If you make yourself look big and strong? A black bear will “nope” out of the situation as fast as it can.

    A brown bear? Run as fast as you can and find a place to hide.

    Polar bear? Bend over and kiss your ass goodnight.

    But in general? Bears aren’t really a problem here unless you’re taking a wilderness hike.

  36. Pretty common around here. I pulled off the side of the rode to check out this turtle and a black bear came out of the woodline like fiftyish foot away and just turn around and ran when it saw me. Black bears in Arkansas mountains are pretty common though.

    Fun fact, one of Arkansas’s nicknames used to be the Bear State due do having an absolute fuck ton of black bears.

  37. Yes! Pretty much any US state with a forest will have some bears. Have encountered them in Nevada, Arizona, California, Idaho, and Utah. Bears don’t want to be around us, but they do want our food and trash. Most of the time, they come around sunset/dark, and try to avoids people.
    We live in the forest, and have bears that pass through our yard all the time. We see several each summer. I found bear scat next to my car in the driveway. We have to be careful not to leave trash or food wrappers out. I once left a foil grill pan on my barbecue, and a bear came onto my patio. It was my own dumb fault.

    When hiking, be noisy. Some people wear bells. We carry bear spray. Bears will normally move away from humans if they hear us coming. A mother in with Cubs will be more aggressive.

    Bears are a big nuisance in Lake Tahoe.
    My family live in Northern California, near a wooded area. A very large black bear tried to break into a bedroom where a child was sleeping. It stood on its hind legs and pressed on the window until the window fell into the room. The ensuing noise scared the bear, and woke the whole family.

    Friends in my neighborhood cooked salmon for dinner and left the scraps in their kitchen trash, which was in the cabinet under the sink. They left the house after dinner, and came home to a destroyed kitchen. The bear had pushed into a partially open kitchen window.

  38. While hiking I would be more afraid of finding a mountain lion than a bear. But I wouldn’t wanna see either.

  39. There are parts of the country where running into bears is very common, while most of the country may have never thought about it because they don’t have any bears in their area to be concerned with. I remember reading news stories of bears coming down from the mountains to get into dumpsters outside restaurants in fairly urban parts of Colorado Springs. Going to multiple tourist attractions closer to the mountains, such as the Air Force Academy, or Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, you’ll find trash cans designed to be bear proof/resistant. I hear that it’s common in Alaska to have to carry large caliber firearms to protect against bears, and in some regions (I believe in parts of Canada too), it’s common courtesy to leave vehicles unlocked in case someone needs to jump in to wait out a potentially dangerous bear encounter.

    What I know about bears is that most of the ones you see in the Continental US are going to be Black Bears, who tend to be less of a threat and will usually stay away from people or act frightened if you make yourself appear like you’d put up a fight they dont want to have. Getting further North and into some of the more secluded parts of the Rockies, you can run into Grizzlies, which are much more dangerous. Continuing out of the Continental US into Canada and Alaska, you run into Kodiak and Polar Bears, on top of Grizzlies. You don’t want to mess with any of those bears, and they are unlikely to be afraid of you.

    I’m glad to have never run into a bear. When hiking on less well traveled trails with my dogs, I often carried a mid caliber pistol (.380 or 9mm, all I’ve ever owned), but that was more for if we ran into Mountain Lions, which were more common. It probably wouldn’t have helped me much with a bear. Not sure it would have helped me much with a mountain lion either, but better than nothing. I’m glad I never needed it.

  40. I used to live in Sitka, Alaska, where brown bears are indeed a big problem. Most of the local police blotter is bear encounters and the golf carts at the local golf course have rifle racks because the bears love to hang out on the fairways. It would be very unusual to go hiking there without at least one member of your group carrying a firearm.

    Instead of a neighborhood watch, they have a neighborhood bear watch: https://m.facebook.com/groups/232225736811175/

  42. When i lived in colorado springs 30 yrs ago, i was akinny dipping on my deck in the hot tub about 3 am, and a black bear started to climb into the tub. Between me and the door. Tbere was about 3 feet of snow on the grownd, so i climbed over the railing and dropped into the snow, ran around to the front of the house and had to ring the doorbell until my husband woke up and let me in. Never did that again. Never had another bear encounter in the suburbs either, lol. Never got the bear smell completely oit of the tub, either.

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