\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA father and son hiking near Spirit Creek in Franklin County say they had a close encounter with a black bear over the weekend, according to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Both are safe, but wildlife officials say the incident is an important reminder of how to react if you ever find yourself face-to-face with a bear.According to the AGFC, the pair had set up camp near the creek Saturday evening when they spotted a young black bear across the water around 8 p.m. They followed safety protocols, making loud noises, shining a flashlight, and throwing rocks, prompting the bear to run off. But a couple of hours later, the bear returned.\u201cThey had two fairly quick encounters,\u201d said Keith Stephens, a spokesperson for AGFC. \u201cI\u2019ve seen some things online where it said they were fighting the bear off all night \u2014 that\u2019s way blown out of proportion. That just didn\u2019t happen.\u201dStephens said bear encounters like this aren\u2019t unusual in that part of the state.\u201cThat\u2019s probably the most populated area of the state,\u201d he said. \u201cIn that north-central Arkansas area, that\u2019s where we have our greatest bear population. We have between 5,000 and 6,000 statewide.\u201dOfficials said the hikers did everything right: staying calm, making noise, and keeping their food secured away from their tent. Stephens said that\u2019s the best approach if a bear comes too close.\u201cUse pots and pans to scare them away,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can carry bear spray if you like. Make sure you get in front of them and startle them.\u201dStephens said recent encounters in Franklin and Newton counties have fueled rumors about more aggressive bear behavior, but there\u2019s no evidence to support that. He added that young bears are particularly active this time of year as they search for easy food before winter.\u201cRight now, those yearlings have been pushed out of the den by their mom, and they\u2019re trying to fatten up for the winter,\u201d Stephens said. \u201cSo don\u2019t feed them. Once they lose that fear of humans, that\u2019s when we start having problems.\u201dHe said anyone planning to hike or camp in the area should remember that this is bear country and always be prepared.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tFRANKLIN COUNTY, Ark. \u2014<\/strong> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n A father and son hiking near Spirit Creek in Franklin County say they had a close encounter with a black bear over the weekend, according to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Both are safe, but wildlife officials say the incident is an important reminder of how to react if you ever find yourself face-to-face with a bear.<\/p>\n According to the AGFC, the pair had set up camp near the creek Saturday evening when they spotted a young black bear across the water around 8 p.m. They followed safety protocols, making loud noises, shining a flashlight, and throwing rocks, prompting the bear to run off. But a couple of hours later, the bear returned.<\/p>\n \u201cThey had two fairly quick encounters,\u201d said Keith Stephens, a spokesperson for AGFC. \u201cI\u2019ve seen some things online where it said they were fighting the bear off all night \u2014 that\u2019s way blown out of proportion. That just didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Stephens said bear encounters like this aren\u2019t unusual in that part of the state.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s probably the most populated area of the state,\u201d he said. \u201cIn that north-central Arkansas area, that\u2019s where we have our greatest bear population. We have between 5,000 and 6,000 statewide.\u201d<\/p>\n Officials said the hikers did everything right: staying calm, making noise, and keeping their food secured away from their tent. Stephens said that\u2019s the best approach if a bear comes too close.<\/p>\n \u201cUse pots and pans to scare them away,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can carry bear spray if you like. Make sure you get in front of them and startle them.\u201d<\/p>\n Stephens said recent encounters in Franklin and Newton counties have fueled rumors about more aggressive bear behavior, but there\u2019s no evidence to support that. He added that young bears are particularly active this time of year as they search for easy food before winter.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, those yearlings have been pushed out of the den by their mom, and they\u2019re trying to fatten up for the winter,\u201d Stephens said. \u201cSo don\u2019t feed them. Once they lose that fear of humans, that\u2019s when we start having problems.\u201d<\/p>\n He said anyone planning to hike or camp in the area should remember that this is bear country and always be prepared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A father and son hiking near Spirit Creek in Franklin County say they had a close encounter with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":289034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[148420,148414,2418,56236,148417,28868,2416,148418,11067,990,9524,35201,148419,148415,148421,62267,17820,148423,159,148416,290,67,132,68,837,148422,3159],"class_list":{"0":"post-289033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-agfc","9":"tag-arkansas-game-and-fish-commission","10":"tag-bear","11":"tag-bear-encounter","12":"tag-bear-population","13":"tag-bear-safety","14":"tag-black-bear","15":"tag-black-bear-encounter","16":"tag-camp","17":"tag-food","18":"tag-franklin-county","19":"tag-hiker","20":"tag-hiking-arkansas","21":"tag-keith-stephens","22":"tag-loud-noise","23":"tag-outdoor-safety","24":"tag-p-m","25":"tag-populated-area","26":"tag-science","27":"tag-spirit-creek","28":"tag-state","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-unitedstates","31":"tag-us","32":"tag-wildlife","33":"tag-wildlife-official","34":"tag-winter"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115343807365072831","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}