I think not.
But I know next to nothing - just what my extension agent friend says about ‘berries and bugs’.
“What is the protocol when you see a bear on the trails?”
Hope that I’m riding with Sarah Palin and that her rifle is loaded. 
I’d faint if I saw a bear!
[QUOTE=GallopingGrape;3545577]
Do they eat goats? Should I worry? I have two…[/QUOTE]
Yes. Bears eat ANYTHING. Much like goats will if they are hungry enough.
Actually, bears DO eat people and polar bears and black bears have a reputation of being more people-eating than browns and grizzlies.
This is why the advice for what to do if attacked by a black bear is to fight for your life but if attacked by a brown/grizzly you are advised to “play dead”.
Here is some information about black bears. They DO NOT EAT PEOPLE. They are not vicious.
http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/black_bear.php
I grew up in NE Pennsylvania and would ride past bear all the time, they would be sitting in the meadow eating skunk cabbage. My horse was not phased. However, once one made the mistake of going across his pasture and he chased the bear out, right toward my sister and a friend who made a beeline for the barn.
[QUOTE=wanabe;3546236]
Actually, bears DO eat people and polar bears and black bears have a reputation of being more people-eating than browns and grizzlies.
This is why the advice for what to do if attacked by a black bear is to fight for your life but if attacked by a brown/grizzly you are advised to “play dead”.[/QUOTE]
Nope, you have it backwards in terms of which is more likely to attack but (from Wikipedia):
"Attacks on humans
Like many animals, they seldom attack unless cornered, threatened, or wounded. They are less likely to attack humans than grizzly bears and typically flee for cover as soon as they identify a human visitor. Deaths by black bear, though, are most often predatory, while the more numerous grizzly fatalities on humans are often defensive.[13] This makes feigning death when a black bear attacks ineffective. Although 15 North Americans have been killed since the year 2000, it is estimated that there have been only 56 documented killings of humans by black bears in North America in the past 100 years."
So grizzly bears are more likely to attack but you might be able to get away by playing dead because they were likely defending themselves. Blacks are less likely attack but if they do, they want to eat you so fight back.
I think one of the reasons more people are attacked by black bears is they are more common and “cuter” and many tend to think they are harmless so put themselves in danger by ignoring the fact they are large predators that will eat anything! we have plenty of bears around here and in fact. one fall, found one in our barn, sharing hay with one of the horses! If you encounter one on the trail, sit quietly while it goes about it’s business. Generally they will run off unless there are cubs involved in which case going somewhere else quickly is a good idea! Making alot of noise while you go along in bear country will send them off well before you see them and you can bet more bears see you than you see bears!
Here in Upstate NY we have bears. A few months ago, I was trail riding with a friend when my gelding put his head down and started tracking something. I turned my head to tell my girlfriend to watch my horse, he is actually tracking something, isn’t that cool, he has done it before, blah, blah, blah. My girlfriend says…I BELIEVE you there goes the bear!!! A black bear was sauntering across our trail. We turned around and walked home on the road just to be super safe. My dogs (chows at the time) cornered a bear next to my son’s swing set a few years back. Once we got the dogs in the house the bear left and never came back. Apparently he did not like chow chows. We have heard reports of mountain lions in the neighborhood…that has me nervous!!!
HR, yes, they are the same crittur. I just had some basic bear training as part of Leave No Trace training a month or so ago. Just as ‘grizzlies’ and ‘brown bears’ and ‘Kodiak bears’ are the same crittur. They do evolve some different characteristics based on region/habitat but same.
Keep in mind that like a horse, a black bear doesn’t need to be in ‘want to hurt you’ mode to accidentally do some damage. Hence a bear going for a granola bar in a sleeping bag might just accidentally inflict a fatal wound.
But truly pretty much blacks and browns are not out to get people. 99% of the time you don’t even know they are near you. Therefore I don’t worry about the bears, or the lions for that matter, when I’m riding along in the mountains. Far more likely that a stupid horse will dump me and inflict damage!
I’ve never met a bear in the woods - around here, the bears usually come to humans, showing up in people’s yards, etc. But these are young bears, whose mama has just suggested it’s time they get a place of their own, and they never, TMK, attack anybody. But we have plenty of bears and I can’t ever remember any of them giving anyone a bad time.
I think generally if a bear stands up she’s saying she’s upset.:yes: So whether she’s a brown, black or white bear isn’t nearly as important as the fact she’s an upset bear.:eek:
I agree with the advice to grab mane and get the heck out of there, posthaste. I doubt she’d chase you - at least not to catch you, just far enough to get you away from her/her cubs/her food stash or whatever it was you happened to blunder into.
My horse would sound like a sleigh covered with bells if I lived where bears were prevalent…nice or not!!! I am so afraid of bears…I read too many bear attack books with a morbid curiosity!!
[QUOTE=Beverley;3545034]
Well, actually, they’ll eat fresh meat too. A 450 lb 7 yo male black bear fatally took a 10 yo boy from his tent last summer, camp site about 15 miles from my house as the crow flies. Y’all should know, though, that the kid broke two rules- went to bed in the clothes he had eaten in, and snuck a granola bar into his tent to snack on overnight, both items are no nos in bear country.
In general on horseback I wouldn’t be bothered by the presence of a bear. Just keep on riding, if the horse is alarmed, sure, turn and go the other way, but don’t run. In particular if the animal you encounter is a mountain lion, don’t run, that is the signal that dinner is served.[/QUOTE]
Beverly is right, omnivores eat meat and berries. But our eastern bears won’t usually attack a horse or human unless we get between them and their cubs. Now a dog? Bears love to eat dogs, so on the trail, watch for bear is you are walking your dog. Usually having a human along with save the dog if the dog is on a leash.
My horses were afraid of briards at one barn, in a yard that backed up to their paddocks, and bouviers at another barn, when the BO got 2 bouviers who attacked horses. Fortunately we never met a bear. Yet. Mine were not afriad of pit bulls, of deer, or wild hogs, or gators, and the like. But dogs that look like bears? I would have problems on the trail.
Bears will eat small animals if they can catch them, like fawns. Even our eastern bears.
But as long as you are noisy, and yell at them, our eastern bears will leave you along as long as you are not camping and leaving food out.
[QUOTE=tikidoc;3546314]
Nope, you have it backwards in terms of which is more likely to attack but (from Wikipedia):
"Attacks on humans
Like many animals, they seldom attack unless cornered, threatened, or wounded. They are less likely to attack humans than grizzly bears and typically flee for cover as soon as they identify a human visitor. Deaths by black bear, though, are most often predatory, while the more numerous grizzly fatalities on humans are often defensive.[13] This makes feigning death when a black bear attacks ineffective. Although 15 North Americans have been killed since the year 2000, it is estimated that there have been only 56 documented killings of humans by black bears in North America in the past 100 years."
So grizzly bears are more likely to attack but you might be able to get away by playing dead because they were likely defending themselves. Blacks are less likely attack but if they do, they want to eat you so fight back.[/QUOTE]
Reread my post and you’ll see that is what I said.
