Last year in late December I was hunting on my property one evening. Just before dark a 1.5 yr old buck trotted off the hill at that pace that you know he was being pushed by something. He stopped about 40 yards from me and stood there for a few seconds, looking back over his shoulder before he took off running. About 30 seconds later I see two black bears, probably about 150lbs each coming down the same trail with their noses on the ground. They trailed the buck up to the point that he took off, where they lost the trail for a few minutes. I watched them work back and forth with their noses on the ground, just like a dog would, until they picked up the trail again and continued following the deer out of site. I thought it was kind of odd as I had never heard of a beer doing that but, didn't give it much more thought.
Then a few weeks ago my dad was sitting in his stand when he saw a 6pt browsing towards him through a heavily timbered area. When the deer got to one of the timber roads, he turned and headed out towards where my son was hunting. A few minutes later the deer came back a slightly different path (I presume he winded my son) and worked his way down under my dads stand and out of site. About 20 minutes later dad sees an adult bear trailing that 6 pt. He followed the trail exactly, even turning out the road towards my son and then coming back the same trail, working under my dads stand and out of sight.
Then Friday, I found a fresh set of deer tracks in the snow with an even fresher set of good sized bear tracks following the deer tracks step for step. I know black bear eat fawns but, It seems odd for a bear to expend that much energy tracking an adult deer that late in the year. Just curious if anyone else has ever seen this?
Then a few weeks ago my dad was sitting in his stand when he saw a 6pt browsing towards him through a heavily timbered area. When the deer got to one of the timber roads, he turned and headed out towards where my son was hunting. A few minutes later the deer came back a slightly different path (I presume he winded my son) and worked his way down under my dads stand and out of site. About 20 minutes later dad sees an adult bear trailing that 6 pt. He followed the trail exactly, even turning out the road towards my son and then coming back the same trail, working under my dads stand and out of sight.
Then Friday, I found a fresh set of deer tracks in the snow with an even fresher set of good sized bear tracks following the deer tracks step for step. I know black bear eat fawns but, It seems odd for a bear to expend that much energy tracking an adult deer that late in the year. Just curious if anyone else has ever seen this?
