Lloyd, I’m no bear expert but I would be very surprised if he didn’t know you were there. He most likely just didn’t perceive you to be a threat of any kind whatsoever. And he probably wasn’t hungry.
We used to keep our boat (we were on islands) docked on an Indian reservation and used the rez dump when leaving. Just about every time I drove into that dump 8 to 12 bears wandering around in close proximity. A little unnerving to begin with. But then one day I watched a couple of older native ladies sifting through the garbage looking for useful stuff. They would walk right up to the bears and shoo them away, like one might shoo away a cat under foot. I got the distinct impression the bears understood the ladies had no interest in the bears…..they were just in the way. So they ambled out of the way of these women. And this wasn’t a one time thing. I watched it play out over 20 plus years.
I think the important things with bears are….in order…..don’t be a threat to their cubs….find bears that aren’t hungry……make sure they are aware of you asap…..don’t ge a threat to them.
Just about every time we came back to the islands during the summer after being in the city during the week, there would be a bit of bear scat on the docks, decks or pathways. These would be 15 acre islands. Bears just swimming by and stopping in to see if there was anything interesting. Usually though they stay out of sight. But you know they are around.
My experiences with grizzlies in the Rockies has me behaving very differently around those bears.
Last edited by canvasback; 09/30/25 05:51 PM.
