Penn's/Hemlock Bear

I forgot to report- on my way down the hill from Hemlock on my way to
fish Spring Creek last Friday (8/5) I spotted a bear! It was walking
up the road about 1/2 the way from the entrance to Hemlock Acres to
Penn's Creek. I stopped along side it and it moved quickly into the
woods (on the side away from the campground). I got out, looked at the
bear about 30 yards away, opened the back of my SUV to get my camera
but by the time I got it, he/she was gone!
That was my first PA bear sighting!
I thought that the bear would have at least hung around long enough to
get directions to Frank's cooler.

"Gene Cyprych" wrote in message
ups.com...
I forgot to report- on my way down the hill from Hemlock on my way to
fish Spring Creek last Friday (8/5) I spotted a bear! It was walking
up the road about 1/2 the way from the entrance to Hemlock Acres to
Penn's Creek. I stopped along side it and it moved quickly into the
woods (on the side away from the campground). I got out, looked at the
bear about 30 yards away, opened the back of my SUV to get my camera
but by the time I got it, he/she was gone!
That was my first PA bear sighting!

Stick around Hemlock for a while and it probably won't be your last.

I thought that the bear would have at least hung around long enough to
get directions to Frank's cooler.

Directions I'd be happy to provide any time I'm not cocooned next to it.


On a somewhat more serious note......

What are the odds that someone might actually get mauled by a bear at a
campground in central Pennsylvania......one in a million?......one in ten
million? The trouble with probabilities is that the **** doesn't need to
wait till the ten millionth event to hit the fan. Given the number of
reported bear sightings, I'd say Hemlock Acres is a ****ing tragedy just
waiting for the right opportunity.

Wolfgang

You may be right Wolfie.......There are alot of bears in the area of
Hemlock Acres.....99.9 percent of the time the bears will move on
away.........I have fished Three Streamer Stans with bears in the area
i have seen scat at Ingleby.......I have seen Rattle Snakes at Big
Fishing Creek.....Yes Rudy could proberly do a little more to deter the
bears from hanging around the campgrounds but so do people camping.....
When we were there in June Rudy was picking up the garbage on a daily
bases... He did have warnings at the store and on the bulletin board of
bears in the area he did personal tell me of the bears and has a sign
to stopp and see him upon arrival..... Any idea what else he could
do......i know of at least 3 bears that hang out over at Stans which is
over the hill from Hemlock......There are several down at The Cherry
Run Cabin area.......Wild life is a part of the mystic we call
flyfishing I myself enjoy it as much as fishing itself.........I grew
up with wild life in the woods of Maine our nearest neighbor was 3/4 of
a mile away the bus stop was 1 1/4 mile from home my brother and i
carried loaded rifles to and from the bus stop yes we walked....... The
property is now a sportsmens club........Most of my encounters have
been in the east some in Ga, SC, Texas,& Ca.....We all know as
sportsmen that food stuffs are to be kept cleaned up and stored
properly Frank admits he did not do that but knew to do that I don't
think the bear was interested in chowing on you or Frank but barley
stew but ya gotta admit looking for a place to sleep wearing only your
BVD's was funny......Most human/animal encounters are caused by human
error ie right place wrong time food stuffs just lieing around the list
goes on and on......As the country gets more developed the less
habitate animals have thus more encounters and we all know the animal
get the short end of the stick........Here in Ct we have had around 75
bear sightings this year alone..........Enough of my ramblings just
wanted to put my $.02 in........................


Standin In A River Wavibg A Stick

Mike

I would second what my Handy Pal says. Black bears come with the territory
in the East. More so every year, which is a good sign for the natural
environment being improved. To my knowledge, there haven't been any maulings
in PA or any other Eastern local by black bears in a long time. To
characterize Hemlock Acres as some sort of tragedy waiting to happen is
unfair to Rudy. He has learned, and quickly, and has done what has to be
done. If campers want to be stupid or careless, that is on them. The only
potential issue, as I see it, is someone letting a kid approach a
bear.....especially a mother with cub(s).
tom

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 18:03:17 -0500, "Wolfgang"
wrote:

(snipped)

What are the odds that someone might actually get mauled by a bear at a
campground in central Pennsylvania......one in a million?......one in ten
million? The trouble with probabilities is that the **** doesn't need to
wait till the ten millionth event to hit the fan. Given the number of
reported bear sightings, I'd say Hemlock Acres is a ****ing tragedy just
waiting for the right opportunity.

Wolfgang

The odds you'll get mauled are better / worse in a campground where
there's a resident garbage bear than they are out in the woods.
That's even for the wary who know bear rules. For the new camper, the
careless camper, the just plain dingbat or drunkie, the odds get much
heavier. "Hold my beer while I go pet / scare / fight the bear, will
ya'?" "He's in cooler. Get the cooler back from him." "Little
Jimmie, there's a bear there. Run away. Run away. Run fast!" "Oh,
let the dog loose. It'll chase the bear away." "Grab all the food
and hide in the tent with it." "Little Jimmie, take a donut over
there to feed the bear, we'll get a picture."

Whereas, if they met the bear in the woods, they'd most likely scream
and freeze and the bear would scram.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: lid (strip the .invalid to email)

"Cyli" wrote in message
...

The odds you'll get mauled are better / worse in a campground where
there's a resident garbage bear than they are out in the woods.
That's even for the wary who know bear rules.
Cyli

Not according to these folks.

"Offensive attacks include all the killings by black bears. These are
generally unprovoked, predatory attacks. Most victims were eaten. Offensive,
predatory attacks have almost always been in remote areas where the bears
had little or no previous contact with people. Black bears that raid
campgrounds or garbage cans are almost never involved. The rarity of the
killings goes along with the non-confrontational, timid disposition that's
been bred into black bears. But why approximately one black bear in 600,000
becomes a killer is a mystery. None of the killers had rabies. Some had
common physical problems. There is no consistent explanation."
(http://www.bear.org/Black/Articles/H...ack_Bears.html)

Mark

To my knowledge, there haven't been any maulings
in PA or any other Eastern local by black bears in a long time.

Better than that, Tom. The PA Game Commission says there is no record
of a black bear *ever* attacking a human in PA.

Twenty or so years ago, according to that unimpeachable source, the
CDT, a resident of Pleasant Gap (near State College) saw a mother bear
and her cub in his garden. The dummy rushed out and tried to chase
both bears away. Mama cuffed him a good one, and both bears left.

Dummy suffered only minor scratches.

That was a case of a man attacking a bear, not a bear attacking a man.

vince





To
characterize Hemlock Acres as some sort of tragedy waiting to happen is
unfair to Rudy. He has learned, and quickly, and has done what has to be
done. If campers want to be stupid or careless, that is on them. The only
potential issue, as I see it, is someone letting a kid approach a
bear.....especially a mother with cub(s).
tom

For the new camper, the
careless camper, the just plain dingbat or drunkie, the odds get much
heavier. "Hold my beer while I go pet / scare / fight the bear, will
ya'?" "He's in cooler. Get the cooler back from him." "Little
Jimmie, there's a bear there. Run away. Run away. Run fast!" "Oh,
let the dog loose. It'll chase the bear away." "Grab all the food
and hide in the tent with it." "Little Jimmie, take a donut over
there to feed the bear, we'll get a picture."

Hey, Wolfgang, we done did that whole list in under 10 minutes (I'll
substitute you for Little Jimmy and the dog). Coool. I guess I qualify as
the new, careles, dingbat, dunkie camper.

--
Frank Reid
Reverse email to reply

Hey, Wolfgang, we done did that whole list in under 10 minutes (I'll
substitute you for Little Jimmy and the dog). Coool. I guess I qualify
as the new, careles, dingbat, dunkie camper.


Uh, drunkie camper. Was that slightly Freudian? Ever so slightly.

--
Frank Reid
Reverse email to reply

On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 20:09:55 -0400, "Guyz-N-Flyz"
wrote:


"Cyli" wrote in message
.. .

The odds you'll get mauled are better / worse in a campground where
there's a resident garbage bear than they are out in the woods.
That's even for the wary who know bear rules.
Cyli

Not according to these folks.

"Offensive attacks include all the killings by black bears. These are
generally unprovoked, predatory attacks. Most victims were eaten. Offensive,
predatory attacks have almost always been in remote areas where the bears
had little or no previous contact with people. Black bears that raid
campgrounds or garbage cans are almost never involved. The rarity of the
killings goes along with the non-confrontational, timid disposition that's
been bred into black bears. But why approximately one black bear in 600,000
becomes a killer is a mystery. None of the killers had rabies. Some had
common physical problems. There is no consistent explanation."
(http://www.bear.org/Black/Articles/H...ack_Bears.html)

Mark

Yeah, but those are predatory bears. A whole different forest of
trees. Mostly way up north, like MN, WI, Ontario, etc.. The last
case I heard of in MN or WI was decades ago. The experts find that
they're generally very large bears who probably have gotten into the
habit of eating smaller bears and found the eating to be good.
Predatory bears are very rare. Almost everything you hear about bear
maulings is by ordinary black bears who were startled or otherwise
bothered by humans. Seldom does this result in death because the
bear's real first priority is to get the heck out of there or get back
to his / her food.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: lid (strip the .invalid to email)