Used to deer hunt in an area near Hell Creek Swamp, about 30 miles north of Mobile. It became a black bear preserve of sorts. All the bears moved into the area because of land development and more residences being built all around. I saw bears almost every time I went there. I thought it was pretty cool to watch the bears. One big one walked under my stand (6' from head to tail.) Musta smelled me but never looked up, then walked on. Hehe, I was thinking, what am I gonna do if that bear starts up this tree.
My hunting partner would come get me after dark, and I'd be standing there waiting...thinking about bears. One thing my partner had said before on previous hunts was "remember, you're the baddest thing in these woods with that rifle, nothing will attack you." That was comforting.
In the paper not too long ago, there was a lengthy story in the Sunday edition about an old coot who killed a black bear after the bear chomped down on his leg. He went to the hospital and that's where it was discovered about the bear dealings. Evidently he was shooting bears, and one got him back when he was checking on it to see if it was dead. This guy got in a lot of trouble for that, and rightfully so. Black bears are protected in this state. Think there are only about 60 left in the state, and most of them are near where I was deer hunting.
But yep, leaving out anything edible will attract bears in a rural/suburban area. They really like sweets, but they'll eat deer carcasses too. My friend said he went back to look for a deer he shot the previous day. A bear had already found it and was dragging it off before my buddy could retrive it. He said the bear stopped and looked up at the tree stand directly at him, then turned and went off with the deer like "this is my deer now."
Les
