My Outdoor Life, consolidated

Black Bears in Muskoka

• Posted on July 13, 2008 at 10:36 PM
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Not the bear I saw -- I wasn't quite quick enough with the camera.

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What do you do when you encounter a bear in the wilderness?
I’m cottaging at High Lake for the week. Took a drive in to town (beer run) and saw an adolescent bear crossing the highway. Since Teri is training for the 60K breast cancer walk, and will be doing some long strolls along cottage-country roads, it got me to wondering: what kind of bears do we have in Ontario and what is it that you’re supposed to do when you encounter one? Are these the “make yourself big and stand your ground” bears, or the “get the hell out of there as fast as you can” kind?

So I go to the Ministry of Natural Resources site for some answers, and get brilliant suggestions like:

• Know how to prevent, recognize and handle an encounter with a black bear (on the “Visiting Bear Country” page) and
  

• “Learn bear safety basics. Know how to prevent and handle encounters with bears.”(on the “Safety” page of the bears section)

Thanks, ya bunch a useless gits.

I’ll research it a bit more and see if I can create a Guidebook page on the topic. If anyone knows of good resources on the topic, let me know!