On an elk hunt in southwest MT right up against the ID border I came across black bear tracks, mountain lion tracks, and a wolf kill. About an hour later in my walk I stopped and was going to eat a sandwich. I went to sit on a log and looked down in the snow on the other side and there was a huge bear track with claws about 2 1/2 inches away from the toes. Then there was a cub track about 2 ft away. I did not eat my sandwich!!! I made my own tracks pretty fast and got out of there. One of my hunting partners talked to a rancher at the bottom of the mountain and he said there was a big sow and cub grizzly that had been there all year. Grizzlies scare the bejeebers out of me!

We had a black bear in camp in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Northern MN and all he wanted was our food. He was more or less an overgrown racoon! He was pretty easy to scare away. My wife was not real impressed though!