BEAR on Warrenton Trails - what would you do??

[GallopingGrape]

I live next to 800 acres of open space in Warrenton, and right near Whitney Forrest. I trail ride here every day. Today, my boarder, was walking along the trail when a black bear turned and faced her and her horse, and stood up.... all 7 feet of him. She turned the horse and ran. What is the protocol when you see a bear on the trails? This was along the edge of the cornfield, between Lee Highway Nursery and the Fauquier Motel.

[Rachel L]

I certainly wouldn't run, you can trigger their chasing instinct. The book on bear behavior I have says a bear that stands up like that is likely reacting to being startled. Standing up is not a predatory behavior in bears, a predatory bear would be low to the ground, quiet, stalking you. With a startled bear, you should speak to the bear, so it knows you are a human, and back away slowly. But I guess what I would do would really depend on how my horse was holding it together!

[saddleup]

I think my horse would probably freak out, and my main goal would be to ride as fast as my horse was running!

[Rachel L]

I think my horse would probably freak out, and my main goal would be to ride as fast as my horse was running!

The second time I took my horse to Yosemite, we saw two bears. Surprisingly, my horse didn't care about the bears at all. Of course, those bears were ignoring us, not standing on their hind legs and facing us.

[kt-rose]

I live and ride north of Warrenton. We see black bear all the time. The horses seem unbothered by them -- I think it is because they see the bear at night when they are turned out from spring to fall. I am always panicked by the bear up close when we happen on one in the woods but the horses are no more bothered than by the deer or dogs we encounter. I don't think making a big deal of it is the way to go...

[J Swan]

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/bear/living-with-black-bears.asp
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/bear/
http://www.centerforwildlifeinformation.org/BeBearAware/bebearaware.html
http://www.nps.gov/archive/lacl/bear_behavior_field_guide.htm

All links have facts about black bear biology. The last two have field guides or other educational info about body language, what to do, etc.

We see them out hunting. There is a nice big healthy fella whose route includes my front yard. He eats windfall apples and then wanders down into the bottom. I fenced half my land, leaving the rest as a riparian buffer and wildlife corridor. That area seems to be as busy as a 4 lane highway. Nice for desensitizing a young horse. Not so nice for the rider that has to remain in the saddle. ;)

[jazzrider]

I think my horse would probably freak out, and my main goal would be to ride as fast as my horse was running!

I think if I was out riding alone and ran into a bear who stood up when he saw me, my horse would have to keep up with me, running in the opposite direction. :winkgrin:

[CanterQueen]

From one of the field guides posted by JSwan:

"Do not play dead unless the bear contacts you as a result of a charge."

CONTACTS me?? I won't have to play dead -- I will have aldready died from a HEART ATTACK. I doubt I could keep a level head long enough to do anything but run and scream. :eek:

[wateryglen]

JSwan! Thanks! Great info! Knowledge is power and reduces fear!!
Make some noise in the woods; that's my motto!
But I didn't know about the salt block being an attractant maybe? Mine in the field IS kinda disappearing at a fast rate lately....! I assumed it was the deer altho' the horses think it's candy!!!

[J Swan]

Thanks. It's always best to learn the body language.

Like CanterQueen - by the time "contact" is made I'd have already messed my shorts and died of a heart attack.

I once heard a great story. This guy said he walked out to his pickup truck to toss a bag of garbage in it, as he was planning to go to the dump.

A bear had crawled into the pickup bed and was sleeping. Bag of trash hit the poor thing, scared the hell out of him, he jumped up, and leaped out of the bed and dashed away.

The guy was just as surprised/scared and set a new land speed record running back to the house.

True story.

I can't offer any advice on how to teach a horse to be unafraid of bears. I guess the only thing I can suggest is to learn as much about the biology and behavior of bears. If you encounter one, it will make the experience less frightening. If you're mounted, perhaps the knowledge will make you calmer and that calmness and lack of fear will be communicated to your horse.

Keep your heels down anyway. :lol:

In case the OP is reading this thread as well as the one in the hunting forum, it's possible that small animals like goats might be preyed upon by a bear.

We have a really healthy bear population in this state, and there is usually plenty of food for them in the wild. In times of severe drought or weather extremes, a stressed bear might range farther to find food.

This may result in an injured bear (as they live in very defined territories and may fight if one trespasses into anothers territory), or a nuisance bear.

If you want to make your farm less attractive to bear, don't feed the wildlife. No birdseed, especially. In the fields, remove supplement blocks. Or, keep them near areas that are busy or there is activity. Or just don't worry about it too much, because if a bear is going to choose the bed of pickup truck to nap in, I guess they'll pretty much go anywhere!

I'd not be concerned about bears preying on small livestock, especially not this year. There should be plenty of mast for them.

However, in this area, coyote predation is common. If the OP is concerned about predation, I'd place coyote higher on the list than bears.

(speaking only of the area in which the OP lives - I realize wildlife issues vary by location)

Hope that helps.

[GallopingGrape]

I see coyotes out alot when I'm riding as well... ! Thanks for the info!!

[CowboysRMyWeakness]

We visited yellowstone this year in June - still high activity time for bears, so we researched how to handle bear encounters. (We actually saw a grizzly mom and her 2 cubs up close plus 3 black bear sightings!).

Running like heck was probably the last thing you should do as it could trigger the predator/prey response (although maybe on a horse you have a better chance of outrunning then on foot).

Standing on hindlegs is a bear's signal that they are scoping out the situation, it is not aggression. They said that even most charges are bluffs; can you imagine standing your ground during a charge - that is what they say to do if you are on foot anyway.

From what I have read, the safer response is to make noise as you travel (bear bells?) and if you do happen across a bear, slowly back away in a non threatening, non prey like manner. :eek:

I never really understood this prey response, until owning my current big dumb lab (lovable, but dumb); small animals running from him trigger him to chase like pushing a predator button. If small animal doesn't run, he never attacks or otherwise threatens.

[linquest]

GallopingGrape-

I think you should put the rthym bead necklaces from your store onto your horse! The bells will warn the bears :)

[cloudy18]

Yikes! I was walking the dogs a few days ago on the road and heard noises in the woods but just thought it was a squirrel. They can make a lot of noise. But then I heard a weird "chuffing" noise, can't explain, it wasn't a growl, and the adrenaline kicked in bc that is all I could think it would be. I wasn't going to stop to stare into the woods to investigate, so dogs and I crossed to the other side of the road and picked up the pace A LOT, but no running. I think if possible, after I filled my pants, I would turn my horse and walk away, keeping an eye on the bear. I would THINK maybe you are safer on a horse bc you are bigger, you can hopefully run faster, and bears might see you as less of a threat bc you aren't on two legs, but who knows. Also, your biggest worry with black bears is if it's a mother with cubs. They get very protective.

[Sanity Rules]

I think my horse would probably freak out, and my main goal would be to ride as fast as my horse was running!

Ain't that the truth! :eek:

[pines4equines]

I was riding my horse in a local state park to us and the horse kept sniffing the trail and flehming and then going back to sniffing the trail as we rode. I thought "I wonder if a bear had been down this path." And, then we turned a curve and there it was about 20 feet away. It looked at us and then ambled off. The horse was totally unbothered by it.

We're 55 miles NW of NYC so bears are pretty unusual and I know the horse had never seen one in his pasture, too suburban.

But interesting about his reaction.

[Shadowsrider]

We've seen many bears out on trails around here. We saw one last year no more than 20-30 feet away from us. Came around a bend in the trail and there it sat in the middle of the trail. It stood up then ran off when we all started yelling to each other "Look, a bear!!" Our group was seven on that ride, and not one horse even hardly flicked an ear at it, just disinterestedly watched it run off as if it were no more import than a trail dog. We all walked right across the spot in the trail where the bear had been rooting, and not one horse even bothered to sniff. Honestly, I think people are far more worried about the bears then the horses are. ;)