When we went to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, for our end-of-summer trip, we visited Grayton Beach State Park for the first time. It was golden hour, and there was a rainstorm on the horizon, so I was able to capture some rather impressive photos on my not-so-new iPhone. We walked along a short trail and saw dunes, forests, and coastal dune lakes.
When we came upon a sign that warned of bears, I was surprised and couldn’t believe it to be true. But apparently there are black bears in the Florida Panhandle, and sightings are not uncommon. Bears live throughout the state of Florida, and the southern portion of the Panhandle is one of a few more concentrated areas of habitation. For fun, feel free to share any bear sighting stories you might have.
I’ve never seen a bear except in a zoo, but my Daddy was always telling me about bears in the woods when I was little. Back then, kids sometimes would go off to play and wouldn’t come home for hours. A lot of times, our parents wouldn’t know where we were.
I remember when a young black bear climbed a tree in a shopping center parking lot and stayed there most of the day. Drew a big crowd of reporters and wildlife rangers but the public was told to stay back. The bear finally came down (I think they lured it with cake) and left the area. It was spring and young male bears often move around finding new territory then.
Yikes that’s frightening. Entertaining but frightening.
On a recent trip to the Smoky Mountains, a black bear mama and her three cubs visited our cabin every day in the late afternoon. We were very cautious about being outside during that time of day. It was exciting but concerning at the same time. Super cool to see wild bears in their habitat but we were so aware of the potential danger especially since there were three large cubs.
How interesting that she came back at the same time each day. But definitely frightening with cubs. I sure do love the Smoky Mountains.
Husband has seen a bear while hiking. Clacked his hiking poles together to sound scary, and the bear took off. I would have simply had a heart attack and become bear lunch.
Me too, me too…
When we lived on Vancouver Island, we daily walked a circuit around a bird sanctuary. A bear lived in one of the trees and was not interested in the people. It was a bit of a strange situation to say the least!! We were just very careful in that area.
I hear Vancouver Island is beautiful. I’ve only ever been to the city of Vancouver.
I’ve run into several bears on canoe camping trips in the Canadian north. They usually keep to themselves. But we usually go under the canoe and make a ton of noise and move quickly.
Off topic but one trip we had several moose swim up to us! I didn’t realize at the time they are good swimmers!
Wow! I had no idea moose could swim. Were you freaked out? I sure would be.
I live in Europe and more than 60% of my country is covered with forest and wild animals live there. I still remember as 10-year old girl when we had special day in school how to behave around wild animals if meet them.
And around 15 years laters, my much younger sister is finishing elementary school and has completely new teacher from the big city. She asks children how to behave around bears. And they tell her:”Hit yourself with a rock in the head so you are unconscious. Bear will think you are dead and leave you alone”. I was laughing my heart out.:)
That is absolutely hilarious! Thank you for sharing such a funny story. 🙂
In Canada, in our Rocky Mountains, seeing wildlife is fairly common. Visitors want to often see bears or other creatures but don’t always realize it’s not like at a zoo or Disneyland and getting too close can have bad consequences. When my oldest son was young we travelled home from Radium Hot Springs on his birthday and we saw a Mama bear and two babies that crossed the road (taking ample time) in front of our car. It was a neat experience on his special day!
My sister & husband when to Tennesee in September and she was put a stuff in their car turn around ans saw a bear she went back inside she forgot to put the cooler in car, the bear open the cooler to see what was inside. The next day on her husband’s birthday they saw 5 bears.
I told her they came to say Happy Burthday to you and your husband.
We live in Northwest Arkansas by the Boston Mountains and Ozark National Forest…we see bear every year around our house\land and also see alot at our familys cabin farther up in the mountains.. You see more if the summers are hot and dry as they come in closer looking for food and water. One time a bear had been making the rounds to our house and others in the area getting in peoples trash cans and dog food outside etc..he sat up against a tree in our backyard and scratched his back and just rolled around enjoying himself..we were probably 20 feet away from him standing on our deck..he became a nuisance and eventually had to be caught by wildlife officers and relocated. Arkansas has a big wildlife population including bear, deer and turkey
and has a hunting season for each to help with management
Wow! I have heard a lot about the beautiful wildlife in Arkansas. Sounds like a wonderful place to live.
It really is a great place to live! We also have elk! Eastern Elk were native to Arkansas into the 1840’s then disappeared for various reasons and are onsidered extinct. Rocky Mountain Elk were introduced in the 1930s unsuccessfully ..then reintroduced in the 1980’s and now there are close to 600 elk around the Buffalo National River area. We go there a couple times a year to see them..Boxley Valley is an area they are frequently spotted and several times we have heard them bugle! There is a very neat and educational Elk Education Center in Ponca with exhibits and tons of info about the elk and other wildlife. We are actually planning to go there again this week as the leaves here are at their peak fall color. There are also lots of really great trails and scenic hikes in that area we love to do..the last time we were there last fall we and several other hikers saw a juvenile bear ! If your family is ever in Arkansas you need to check out that area!