Bears.

[gus1989]

We were in Gatlinburg last June in a cabin on Ski Mtn Road. Saw lots of bear and people were feeding them. We forgot to lock our car door one night and a bear got in the next morning. We didn't see it but a neighbor did. It was a rental and fortunately it was empty (we had not eaten in it either). We did see dusty prints, some slobber and they did open the center counsel and pulled out a Kleenex box and ripped it up. No damage. They were walking the sidewalk as we were packing up. Little too close for comfort for me, but still very cool and we got some good pictures from the safety of the elevated back balcony.

 

[two70]

Well I guess I will just keep getting points then. Any other “close” states that have a points system I should start donating to?

Applied for youth elk draw in KY this year my first time applying out of state

Pennsylvania has over the counter bear licenses, IIRC but it is a tough hunt with low success rates since it is restricted to spot and stalk hunting in heavy forest.

 

[BrockStrader22]

Pennsylvania has over the counter bear licenses, IIRC but it is a tough hunt with low success rates since it is restricted to spot and stalk hunting in heavy forest.

I lived in PA for 3 years. I was in the area so I sat at one of the bear check in stations for a bit. I got to see a few people bring them in. Up there bear season is like deer season to us, a lot of guys I knew would go to bear camp and stuff like that. The success rate was definitely much lower than deer hunting. I got 1 trail cam pic of two black bears while I was up there but never actually saw one in person. Also, at least in the area I lived opening day of firearms deer season and in some places opening day of bear season was a holiday, schools and businesses closed.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

a lot of guys I knew would go to bear camp

 

[littletommy]

Some friends of ours were in Gatlinburg this past weekend, and said they have never seen as many bears as this trip.

A few years ago, we stayed in a different cabin than usual, and had a mama bear and 3 cubs under the deck most of the stay. One of the cubs actually went up a tree and came onto the deck with us. We went in and waited for it to go back to its mama, it was begging for food, wasn’t being a threat by any means, but it’s sad that idiots feed them and ultimately cause them to have to be put down.

 

[littletommy]

So they have signs all over that say if bears get too accustomed to people that they get put down by dnr…. But a ”civilian” does it and gets 5yrs…. Not sure how I feel about that.

I don’t have a problem with it. It’s relatively easy to de-escalate a random encounter with a black bear. Sure, there are circumstances where getting away safely would be difficult, but I can see idiots going out and mag dumping at any bear they see if it wasn’t taken so seriously. And the vast majority of black bears that have to be put down are because of the aforementioned idiots feeding them and treating them as if they are cartoon characters.

If you “have” to shoot a bear in the Gatlinburg area, you are either unlucky, or just plain stupid. Not saying a dangerous accidental encounter can’t or won’t happen, just that the vast majority could have been avoided.

 

[cg21]

I don’t have a problem with it. It’s relatively easy to de-escalate a random encounter with a black bear. Sure, there are circumstances where getting away safely would be difficult, but I can see idiots going out and mag dumping at any bear they see if it wasn’t taken so seriously. And the vast majority of black bears that have to be put down are because of the aforementioned idiots feeding them and treating them as if they are cartoon characters.

If you “have” to shoot a bear in the Gatlinburg area, you are either unlucky, or just plain stupid. Not saying a dangerous accidental encounter can’t or won’t happen, just that the vast majority could have been avoided.

I mean that’s not very fair…. 99.99% of deadly encounters can be avoided in hindsight. I agree to an extent with you I guess as long as they look VERY closely at every case and it isn’t just “oh killer a black bear 5 yrs” because little details would matter greatly in this situation same as a self defense shooting involving people. Hopefully they look at it with the same scrutiny is all I am saying.