Stepped in bear poop yesterday at my prospecting area, advice?

[firebird]

I went back yesterday to the gravel area that I had posted about in another thread. Immediately I noticed a nasty smell and just right around the paydirt area was the unmistakable sight of black bear poop. Oh crap, now I finally understand why I was finding gold here and why it hadn't been taken by anyone else before. Have you ever had any experiences with dangerous animals while prospecting?

 

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[jeff of pa]

Only advice I can give is Clean it off before Tracking it in on the Carpets.

Or walking around people who may think you Crapped your Pants.

Other then that, Don't be afraid to make Noise.


Noise doesn't attract Black Bear, It makes them Nervous

 

[Clay Diggins]

I use a stick. It helps get it out of the tread on your shoe.

Oh yeah - the bear? It was there all along, you just finally noticed it.

Your fear is based on perception. The bear doesn't want anything to do with you. The odds of you breaking your leg and dying of shock while prospecting are much greater than the danger from a bear.

Watch where you step, don't carry beef jerky in your pocket and you will be much safer prospecting than you would be in the city.

Heavy Pans

 

[jeff of pa]

I use a stick. It helps get it out of the tread on your shoe.

Oh yeah - the bear? It was there all along, you just finally noticed it.

Your fear is based on perception. The bear doesn't want anything to do with you. The odds of you breaking your leg and dying of shock while prospecting are much greater than the danger from a bear.

Watch where you step, don't carry beef jerky in your pocket and you will be much safer prospecting than you would be in the city.

Heavy Pans

beef jerky, Or Donuts ...

When Game Commission sets up a Bear Cage Trap around here ,
They use Donuts . I Never heard what Type, But AM Guessing Honey Glazed
& maybe Sugar.

 

[Joe-Dirt]

I always carry my model 1911 when in sketchy areas, both rural and urban

 

[spillercanyon]

I have a bear on my claim as well. I intentionally make some noise with my bar or shovel, they don't like that metallic sound. Funny thing is I've has zero problems with the bear but it bothers the miner below me something terrible, knocks his gear around and bites everything, almost like it's personal. I don't leave any trash, including orange peels or apple cores, nothing but digging tools.

 

[firebird]

Your fear is based on perception. The bear doesn't want anything to do with you. The odds of you breaking your leg and dying of shock while prospecting are much greater than the danger from a bear.

Oh yeah, that happened yesterday too. It's been raining quite a bit and I almost slipped badly several times in the slippery bedrock. Seems like the better the gold, the more dangerous the area gets.

 

[spillercanyon]

I always carry my model 1911 when in sketchy areas, both rural and urban

I've never needed one for a bear but they sure have come in handy a few times with the two legged animals in sketchy areas.

 

[spillercanyon]

Oh yeah, that happened yesterday too. It's been raining quite a bit and I almost slipped badly several times in the slippery bedrock. Seems like the better the gold, the more dangerous the area gets.

I fell yesterday hard, was fine working all day but when it came to picture taking I stopped paying attention to my footing and down I went.

 

[AllenJ]

Those type encounters are part of prospecting. As stated above the bear is far more afraid of you then you are of it. My current favorite area has a number of piles of bear scat and I don't feel at all uncomfortable working there. If you are truly concerned for your safety get some bear spray and carry it to give yourself piece of mind.

 

[Kray Gelder]

Black bears are not inherently dangerous, like a grizzly. If you're making noise, they are not likely to come around. You may be leaving food scraps about, which is why they're sniffing around. A black with cubs can be dangerous, but again, likely won't come near while you are there. If you see one around, shout, raise you arms and wave them about. Make yourself look big.

That said, a big hungry black bear, who does not run off when you attempt to scare it away, but continues walking toward you, eyes locked on, probably sees you as prey. At this point, the firearm you should ALWAYS have handy comes into play. Warning shot, which may do it, if not then fatal shot. Don't shoot a bear in the ass! Head, neck, chest.

 

[Goldwasher]

I try to splash my foot in the creek a little.. and wipe boot on the grass

Dry season I use a Barry stick

I have a bear that had at least one cub last season. Haven't seen the cub yet.

Got a Mt. lion on camera again last week. looks like the same one I've been hanging out with the last several years.

SKUNKLION

A few weeks back I came across a bear pile ..swung coil over it got a tone...I was like "of course"

Kick pile out of way target gone.. back to pile screamer... dang it.

smash pile with foot...the bear had been in some ones trash. some kind of foil wrapper in with the manzanita berries.

dig every target

 

[Goldwasher]

I always carry my model 1911 when in sketchy areas, both rural and urban

Me too. Loaded with Hornady Critical Defense. https://www.hornady.com/ammunition/handgun/45-colt-185-gr-ftx-critical-defense#!/

This is California. its sketchy everywhere. Urban or rural

 

[rodoconnor]

Always take someone with you . Someone that you can outrun.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

Moose worry me much more than black bears. My dogs will tree a bear easily but moose wont budge. They aren't scared of anything and they are much more dangerous than a little ole blackie.

 

[63bkpkr]

Hi firebird,
Yup, all kinda wild animals out there all the time but most of the time we do not see them but stepping into a fresh pile of bear scat is smelly, unpleasant and alerts you to the fact that you are Not alone out there. The canyon I hike in has had Bad Bears (bears from parks where people have fed them and are now breaking into cars, etc. for more free food) dumped in it since he late 70's and then I began having my food bags (on a rope way up in the air) taken by the bears, they just chew the rope at the tree and food falls from the sky, a near miracle for the bears.

Like many others have said, make noise as usually the bears want nothing to do with us, usually! A firearm is a good Noise maker and in general is easier to carry and use. You are more likely to have your firearm on you as opposed to always carrying a warning horn with its can of compressed air attached to it on you at all times or even having a can of bear spray on you at all times. Bears can smell food from a very, very, very long distance away and then they simply follow their noses to the stuff that smells. Hence - no food on yourself, in your tent, etc. and don't cook in camp. Yes those are the rules that I've broken for many years so now I hike in a steel cable with me to hang my food bags from and since I started using the steel cable I've lost Zero food bags.


Bears, and all animals, are smart! Protect your food and yourself from them. Making noise will usually cause a Bear to retreat but having four more 300 grain slugs left in the cylinder is still a comforting thought for ME! (having fired two to scare the animal off)

Steel cable system requires two food bags, one for each end of the Paracord over one or the other pulley. The bottles have easy to remove lids and the bottles are filled with cayenne pepper for making an up close attacker think twice about continuing its assault on me. As a precaution, the pepper can be sprinkled on the ground all around one's camp as any nasal oriented animal will inhale it should they come across it. I've been charged by bears and a variety of other animals Including A DOG Pack, I think the dog pack was the worst as there were simply more of them coming from different directions. Yes, one of the dogs bit me though one shot from my noise maker (454 Casull) ended the attack and no I did not shoot the dog though I really wanted to. However, if any kind of Canine Pack (dogs, coyotes, wolves) ever came in on me I will Not hesitate to shoot one or more of them!! I will not hold back from shooting for a single second as I now understand how it works, they will not give up!

300 grain slug flinger, I've Zero interest in dropping any animal but if it comes to one of us surviving then it will be me! Also, the country I'm usually out in has a large bear population and a lot of them are Very Large black bears, 400 lbs and up...........................63bkpkr

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

A 1911 loaded with 45 ACP isn’t exactly optimal for large dangerous animals.
I’d definitely use one if that’s all I had, but there is a huge difference between a scared bear and an angry bear.

I never ever want to be in the cross hairs of an angry bear.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

I've only had to fire off a noise maker once and all I had was my 40 caliber.
We feed our dogs mostly road kill and livestock that die when we can so we always have a few corpses around in the winter buried in the snow.
A rotting dead corpse is also a wolverines favorite food so eventually it happened. He was about to rearrange my dogs face when I fired two shots and they went seperate directions.
I've never heard a full grown wolf cry like a little girl but that night wasn't normal hehe.
I dont think it's legal to kill a wolverine here and I'm glad it was easy to get them apart.
I've never seen an animal move that fast and that decisive and it was something to see
Everytime my dog would lunge forward even as a bluff to scare it away, the wolverine would meet his lunge and latch onto his face, obviously not scared one bit. It was like clockwork and that critter had my big bad wolf dog figured out and timed perfectly. It never hesitated and made my dogs face the target every single time.
My dog knew he was outclassed there and was glad to hear the shots I think. Poor fella needed a week to heal and his confidence may never be the same again hehe.

Bears generally avoid humans and every bear I've seen in Colorado has been from the backside. The town bears can be dangerous (because of humans) but in the wild they are scared.
Moose dont care about good smells or the food in your camp. They are purely sex machines and only see you as an invader or competition that will take his women. They aren't curious about humans or hungry for your food, they just want you gone.
I see bear scat almost everywhere I prospect and those bears dont worry me too much.
Yet nothing makes my hair stand up like seeing moose in an area I'm prospecting and knowing that ill be camping there.
Moose dont have reliable schedules like deer and elk and can be nocturnal which unnerves me and they will circle your camp at night. What makes me most nervous isn't that they want my food, it's that they want me dead hehe.
I have my wife with me on day trips when I'm prospecting but only at night at the claim. I'd rather just have a dog or two with me prospecting and if they get tore up a little during the night, well better them than her. They like to stay up and watch things and I cant expect her to do that either hehe.
I usually just roll out my sack under the stars and enjoy the fresh air but even a tent wouldn't be much protection anyway.
Biggest thing is I probably need a prospecting buddy (besides my dog). Y'all know how that goes and never works out and I end up alone anyway hehe. Until then I'll dodge the moose and bears alone with my dogs, the best friends a man could ask for! At least they are willing to pull guard duty all night every night.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

Double

 

[Goldwasher]

keeping in mind that people hunt blackies with a bow... I realize the lethal action is slightly different...BUT.

my .45 is my daily carry. so its what I have. in the field its on my belt opposit my digging pick.

i'm not in the position to carry a .44 mag I used to carry a single action army in .45 colt. I fired it and a loaner at thousands of targets in SSA competitions.

Very accurate with it but I switched to a 1911 becasue its easier to carry concealed.

I would prefer to carry a shotgun or carbine for bears but I need my hands when I'm prospecting.

My bear is an urban interface bear and so is the mountain lion they aren't afraid of people and have been seen during the day.

Our claims happen to be the wildland in between rural homes. connected to water routes to the river.

I plan on getting a dog now that my youngest is two and my other dog is getting older I'm getting closer to trying to pick one.

I've been bluffed by a brown in Denali nerve racking but, we stood our ground. Lots of bear run ins in Tahoe and June lake.

Yelling throwing sticks and rocks does chase them off. but if they had a target in mind they tend to back off and circle around once they have been dealing with people.

When we first bought our house it had been empty for more than two years. The week we moved in the dog food was knocked over. few nights later a storage tub was moved.

Finally a very big black bear showed its self at the side door. BIG

banged on glass it ran off an hour later back again more yelling..calling him bad bear etc.

I had a high end airsoft M$ select fire with .3 gram aluminum pellets. One night the bear stood up from behind our patio table. Head right into my sight picture at 25 yards. Lit him up..hes all pawing at his face like it was mad bee's lol.. dropped down and ran off.

Finally a week or so later my wife hollers out " bears back"

Grabbed my browning autoloader .22 dropped a couple bird loads into the tube.. worked the bolt walk towards the door. the bear casually turned to walk away...like "great he's gonna call me names again"

He was about ten feet away maybe four yards. I opened the one French door stepping out and taking aim at the middle of his fluffy rump.

Pop!! you could see the shot smack him in the but he tried to tuck his tiny little tail and lit off like that was the worse thing he had ever experienced in his life.

never came back. and from all the piles everywhere you could tell our property had been one of his major hangouts. This all took place over our first month in the house.

Bears feel pain. Hunt with a 1911 nope. Carry one just in case yep. Not ideal but I know I can get shots on target and that's good enough for me.