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For goodness snakes! 'Tis the season of warmth and going outdoors for many folks, but for some there is a hesitation about deep forests because of two animals: snakes and bears. All this hit home to me early this month when I was in the woods with a grandson age nine and his grandmother who is petrified by mere mention snakes and bears. So on a trail in Shenandoah National Park we suddenly encountered a fully grown bear grazing or grubbing right ahead of us. What should one do? When it comes to black bears, the only ones found in the Southeast, the likelihood of meeting one is quite small. I recently encountered some photographers who bemoaned that they had looked repeatedly for even one bear in the woods to photograph without success. My own luck is much better than that - about one a year - but then I am out there far more than most people. Upon a bear encounter, you are most likely to see only the quick flash of the bear as he/ she flees from you. Bears have many reasons to fear humans, not the least of these is the simple fact that they are hunted and killed legally in season. However, if one doesn't run, don't you run either. (A black bear can run twice as fast as you.) The thing generally considered best to do with a black bear: stand your ground…unless…
Unless you suddenly realize you are between a sow (female) bear and her cub(s), in which case you need to move aside (sideways) to remove yourself from a direct line between mama and child(ren). I once unknowingly walked between a sow and her cubs, and the sow charged me briefly until the cubs in the high brush behind me scampered up a tree. Seeing her offspring safe, mama bear grunted at her cubs, who jumped down from the tree and ambled off with their mother. I had meanwhile made myself appear as big as possible, made noise, and had my hiking stick up and ready for something (to this day I'm not sure for what!). Proud of my practical, brave stand, it was only after mama wandered off that I realized my legs were trembling considerably! Snakes? Only six of the 52 snake species living in the Southeast are venomous, and only two of these are found in the Southern Appalachians: timber rattler and northern copperhead.
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