Black bears are getting so they are downright comfortable around humans. We have both sorts of bears here in our part of the Great Land, and while it’s not unusual to see a griz, we see black bears more often. Last fall, I got up in the middle of the night, for the reason we aging fellows frequently have to get up in the night, and a black bear was sitting on our deck, looking for all the world like a big dog. I went for a gun – black bear is good eating and the season is open year around – but he bailed before I got back with a shootin’ iron.
Not everybody who has these critters around is interested in eating black bears, and that may account for some bears so blithely hanging around in people’s yards. This sure appears to be the case in Vermont, where a couple investigated a noise to find a black bear comfortably relaxing in their hammock:
Noah and Kristen Dweck have seen a number…
