Tense Moments When a Missouri Outdoorsman Came Upon a Hungry Bear

You just never know when you're walking through the Missouri woods when you might come face-to-snout with a hungry bear. That is what happened to a Missouri outdoorsman who had quick decisions to make.

For whatever reason, I had not seen this series of videos that Shawn Mann shared on YouTube although the description says this happened in July of 2021. It looks like he came upon this big apex predator somewhere in Missouri in the Mark Twain National Forest and he did exactly what you're supposed to do. He let the bear know he was there in a calm, but authoritative voice and did not approach the animal.

In the next short video, you can see the bear slowly make its way past the tree line, but still remaining curious about what Shawn was doing.

By the third video, it appears that Shawn was capturing the rest of his video from the safety of his vehicle.

Most bears will not seek out human contact, but they are curious creatures. If you let the bear know about your presence and don't corner the animal, they will often head the other direction. But, watching how the bear is behaving and reacting to you is key.

The National Park Service warns that bears will often "yawn or clack their teeth and pound their front paws on the ground while huffing". If a bears head is down and its ears are laid back, you're in trouble. That is a sign that they are about to charge and it might be a bluff charge or maybe not. They say you should never run because even if a bear is only bluff charging, your flight might trigger it's predator instincts and turn the encounter into a full attack.

Missouri is full of black bears and if you end up in an encounter that results in an attack, DO NOT play dead. Fight back with everything you have and hope the animal will relent.

Fortunately, in the video above, it was just a curious black bear in Missouri that had no intention of causing trouble and went back to doing bear things.