I've had many many encounters with bears of both varieties - mostly, but hardly exclusively, in Alaska. They are highly individualistic and fairly unpredictable. While I've had good luck pretending to be a nastier critter than the bears, it scares the bejabbers out of me to do so, especially the ones that have been at "touching range" (for the bear). I'm sure that acting like lunch-on-legs (prey) would be bad. I have seen bears kill large animals twice - both griz; one was a calf moose (cow defended for a long time, but the bear eventually feinted past her and swarmed all over the calf) and one was a caribou - possibly the dumbest caribou on the planet <grin>. "It looks like food - kill it and see..."<br><br>I have never encountered a bear up close that I couldn't smell; the wild ones, at least, have a very definite and unmistakable odor to me. Dozens of times I have smelled the bear before I saw it - and before it detected me. I'm sure that I have NOT detected bears everytime, too - and not just the ones I found the tracks on, either (once one, a large male grizzly, FOLLOWED me and my dad back to our tent - not more than 1 minute behind us; possibly closer - we were unaware of it).<br><br>There have been times and circumstances when I made absolutely darned certain to move only UPWIND, even through difficult terrain, because my nose was the only early warning available due to density of vegetation.<br><br>I greatly enjoy watching chance - encountered bears, especially on a mountain side. But only through my binoculars. It is not safe to be close to them. Are they as dangerous as big cats or other large African fauna? Hardly - but they can be just as deadly and please keep in mind - they are NOT predictable; don't let anyone tell you that. I don't claim to know anything about great white bears (polar bears), but I know enough first-hand about griz/coastal/black bears to avoid generalizing what YOUR bear might do in a given situation.<br><br>They can be unbelievably persistent and even "clever" about getting into caches, too. We had a particlarly nasty (hungry) time getting out on one trip because of that. Bear bag or not, keep your food well away from camp.<br><br>Now - I don't let thoughts of bears keep me from anything and I don't strut around like some Rambo, either. I've been attacked by a bear exactly once, and I precipitated the attack, not the bear. I've been chased by half-feral hogs a lot more times than that! (And by bison and cow moose, come to think of it).<br><br>I avoid public campgrounds like the plague in bear country, though. (OK - I avoid public campgrounds, period <grin>).<br><br>I really like seeing and watching bears at a relatively safe distance and I am mindful of what bad things they can do to frail ol me. As far as "in camp" encounters go - that's a pretty dicey situation IMHO. I mentioned in a post a few days ago about popping a white penflare once - it was because a very aggressive bear was coming into camp (we were "expecting" him - long story). As it turned out, the flare scared the stuffing out him - for about 3 hours. We left at dawn and he moved in shortly afterwards (I had reason to return and reconstruct that sequence of events a week later). He gave us an uneasy remainder of the night, because he kept noisily circling around the camp the whole 3 hours - at about the perimeter of the useful light the penflare briefly issued. Clever bear; we had heard of him, and the stories were not exagerated (part of the long story). I had no idea he would flee at the flare, and I would not EXPECT the same reaction from another bear - but I suppose it could happen. He was "inbound" at the time we popped the flare and I initially had my shooting eye closed when I had my Dad pop the flare - I needed area illumination for definite ID of critter type, exact location, and apparent intent. If he had not hauled out of there, I was ready to whack him with my rifle. I'm glad that was not required.<br><br>Somewhere in my ramblings, I hope you can pan out a useful nugget or two...<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Tom