One of the greatest fears that came upon the trappers and mountain men of the early West was that of a grizzly bear. Folk stories and legends of past have kept this magnificent animal close to our hearts. The grizzly bear resembles power and freedom from the old frontier. I don't envy the lonely mountain men who conquered the West with his knife and courage. I remember as a kid reading one of my favorite books that told of such adventure. Still today you hear of close encounter stories about grizzly bears. The areas that grizzly bears inhabit are few and far between. However, when you enter into such an area, your senses definitely are peaked and you are aware of the danger that may come at any time.

A few years ago I went with my brother on a mule deer hunt in Wyoming. We backpacked into a new area and had trimmed our packs to keep the weight down for the long hike ahead. As we were hiking around a small lake we went down closer to the waters edge. The hair on my neck quickly stood up as we saw distinct bear tracks in the mud. It quickly dawned on me that I was not the one carrying the gun. That night as we slept under stars on that ridge at 10,000 feet with no tent or shelter, I couldn't help but think about the tracks we had encountered. With the wind howling and the coyotes barking in the distance it was not a night that included much sleep.

Unlike the grizzly, the black bear is found extensively throughout the West. The black bear may not quite have the fear-factor as its cousin, but the black bear can stir up quite a bit of trouble. A secretive animal, the black bear is difficult to find and see in the wild, but they are there more than you think. At certain times of the year, the black bear can cause just as much damage, if not more, to big game herds and domestic animals as a mountain lion. One of our local sheepherders has already lost 15 sheep to black bears and 15 to mountain lions, and the worst part of the season for bear predation hasn't even started.

With so much talk about the ongoing drought, one animal that is affected heavily from drought is a bear. Many bears have been spotted coming into local towns looking for food and have found their own worst enemy - garbage. Once a bear digs into a garbage can or is fed it has crossed the line. Like the saying goes, "A fed bear is a dead bear." With most predators, crossing the line with garbage or killing domestic animals means almost sure death to the animal. When predators lose their fear of man things can get ugly.

Two years ago, anti-hunters stopped a black bear hunt in New Jersey. Following the tragic death of a five-month old girl who was snatched from her stroller by a black bear in the Catskills of New York, New Jersey citizens are taking a second look at the issue. With no hunting season in place to control the black bear population, the number of bear complaints in New Jersey is on the rise. The Division of Fish and Wildlife reported 285 bear complaints in 1995. That number increased to 1,538 so far in 2002. Forty complaints have involved bears that have broken into homes and another 19 were attempted break-ins.