Here's two bear stories I posted a while back:
A few years back I made a trip to Hickory Run Park to fish Mud Run off organized camp area road. I parked all the way at end of the area next to the gate, suited up and began walking down the trail to the stream. There are dense laurels along the trail, and I heard rustling in the bushes not too far in. I peered into the bush the to see if I could spot anything as I continued walking. When the brush thinned a bit I spotted a good sized bear about 20 yards away walking parallel to the trail. I stopped and he stopped. We studied each other for about a minute.
I’ve seen quite a few bear in the woods and found them to be extremely wary. My experience has been that they run the other way with your slightest movement or when they catch just a hint of your scent. This bear had no fear at all.
We walked “together” for quite a distance. Just to see what would happen, I yelled to see if the bear would react, he just stood there peering at me. I picked up a stick and hit it against a tree; again he had no reaction. I thought to myself that bear is going to be trouble for the campers in the area.
Eventually I lost sight of the bear when I arrived at the stream, and my thoughts shifted to trout. A few weeks later I read of a bear mauling a camper in that very spot in the park. I wasn’t surprised. That bear completely lost his fear of people and I would bet it was the same bear that attacked a camper in his tent.
Another time I was bow hunting at my cabin in Wyoming County on Forkston Mountain. It was a real windy night. I woke up early, as usual, and the wind was still howling. I geared up, and began walking on the trail behind my cabin to my treestand.
It was a moonlit night, and I decided not to use my flashlight because it ruins your night vision and I’ve found you can actually see better in the semidarkness without one.
Up ahead in the middle of my trail I spotted what I thought was a root ball from a blowdown resulting from the high winds. As I walked up to the blowdown it absolutely exploded in the darkness. The blowdown was actually a bear, feeding or lying in the middle of the trail with his back to me. My first reaction was to raise my bow and put in between me and the creature. I was so close I could actually feel the bear hit the stabilizer on my bow as he bolted.
I later surmised that the wind masked my sound and scent, and the bear had no idea I had come up on him. I’m not sure which of us was more scared. “My heart was in my throat” doesn’t even come close to describe literally walking right into a bear in the darkness.