Bears in the news on channel 5 at 10 tonight !

[Country Boy]

 Don't miss this one. Have any of you guys seen bear in Mo. Where ?  I've hunted bears for 40 years as a client and a guide. I get so tickled at how afraid city folks and even country folks are of black bears. They just don't know black bears. Darn funny to me as I had so many encounters and not a scratch yet But one did scare me enough to wet my pants. It was a sow with cubs and she was intent on killing me. But, it all came out alright and I didn't have to shoot her. I could go on for hours but don't want to bore you

[Ponydog]

Cape Girardeau news had a high school gal in Jackson Mo hitting one as it crossed the street last year..., and also a man was having issues with one trying to get in his hen house , maybe near Whitewater......last yr as well...........I personally have seen what a group of about 6 of us think was a black bear in the Ozark scenic waterway .....as we floated down from 17 mile on the place where rt 17 crosses the Jacks Fork ( near Buck Hollow) ,   It was about half way between jam-up cave ..and Bay Creek.    On a limestone ledge one of my buddies sons spotted something large , low, and black walking along...we never said it was a bear....we just said what we thought it was not.......it was not a dog.....it was not a deer....it was not a hog......it was not a horse........or a pony.......I mean..what else is there     So ...when a couple of the guys who were a bit behind us caught up.....we asked them..."hey....look along that low ridge and see the dark object walking along.....what does that look like to you ?"   They said..." well,,,if it did not sound crazy...I would say it looks like a bear".     So , to this day ...that is what we thought it was.    Later during that day , as we pitched camp on a nice gravel bar....and had the steaks fires up....a Conservation officer in a canoe, asked us if we had plans for our leftovers.....?? We said , well, the raccoons will probably wake us up fighting over them ....he said...."do me a favor...bury them ....bury them deep......"   " Things alot bigger  than raccoons are around here too" We asked point blank..."Bears"?    He said , more are sighted each and every year, especially in remote areas like we were in .  So I say yes..they are here.         

[Ranger J]

While I personally have not seen one they are seen rather regularly in our area.  A couple of years ago there was a spite of reports just down the road from me but these turned out to be a large black Chow dog who liked to chase squirrels through the woods.  There was an authenticated sighting in the neighboring town of Viburnum where a bear cut through a section of town in broad daylight.  Several of the members of our church got pictures of it as it meandered through and everyone knows that a good Methodist wouldn't lie.  Our mailman's wife was fishing at Lost Lake and when rounding a bend she met a bear face to face.  She yelled, the bear snorted and both turned and ran.  I don't know who was the more startled.

RJ

[nomosendero]

Bears range more than Deer & we have had a good population for many years in Arkansas. Up until last year, AR set a quota of 250-300
Bears to be killed per year. We would have to call in each morning during the Bear season to see if the quota was met. Last year the quota was lifted because of an expanding population. We have Bears in the White River Bottoms & wetlands in Southeast AR. & in the Ouachita Mountains of Western AR & the Ozarks in Northern AR. The bigger concentration of Ozark Bears is in the very large blocks of Nat. Forrest 75 or more miles South of AR/MO line, but they have been expanding out of that more remote region for several years & all of the AR Ozark Counties report Bears. I listen to a couple of radio stations just North of the line on occasion, Thayer & Doniphan, MO. Sightings are reported on both stations, especially close to the Eleven Point & Current River area. It is inconceivable to me that Bear would not spread North out of AR, alot of the border area is quite rural.