Look Right into a Black Bears Eyes

Have you ever had the opportunity to look directly into the eyes of a black bear ? Most people are quite pleased with the fact that they have not. . Unfortunately, this past summer there were 2 bear attacks within the city and a couple of individuals actually saw this sight for themselves. In Sault Ste Marie, Ontario there is a very healthy population of black bears and encounters are not uncommon. In the majority of instances these encounters are fast and at a considerable distance. How terrifying would it be to look right into the eyes of a black bear in the wild ? Black bears are very alert animals with a various effectiveness of their many senses that they use on many occasions. Their sense of sight, strangely enough is very poor compared to most animals, however their sense of smell is tremendous. When setting up a trail camera in the wilderness it is this bears' sense of smell that will always cause problems when one is concerned about their equipment. In this instance the camera is attached to a coniferous tree. Despite being camouflaged very well with it's background, the bear has detected it, despite it's poor vision. Precaution is taken in bear country by spraying a scent free aerosol on the camera in an attempt to avoid detection by bear. This practice has been proven to be ineffective as time after time the bears have located the cameras by scent alone. And when the camera is found the result is usually a piece of equipment that has been chewed on, bitten through or sometimes devastatingly destroyed. The upside of the scenario, however, is that a unique picture or video is often the result of a bears' curiosity.