Bear In Polk County?

[dennis boatman]

Heard a rumor of a recent bear sighting in southern Polk County... Anyone else hear this?

[jdmidwest]

Could be possible. MO has a nice population of them now.

http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/wildlife-sightings/bears

[dennis boatman]

I do remember many many many years ago some were released in Polk County but have long been gone...I'm doubting this sighting, but anything is possible...

[Mitch f]

Not in Polk county but I'm attaching a pic of a close encounter in Ontario with a bear. My brother and I were fishing in Rough Rock Lake near Minaki, ON when we heard a splash. We looked over and saw that a black bear had jumped off a 6 ft ldge into the water to swim to a big island. My brother started the motor to go get a better look. When we got close the bear panicked and started turning around to go back where he came from. The only problem was my brother had got in between the bear and where he was headed. We were able to snap 1 shot before we got the heck out of there. Notice the blurred rod and line in the picture, he was less than 10 ft from us!! He was not a happy bear!

Actually it ended well, 30 minutes later I caught a nice Musky when we were jigging for walleye.

[dennis boatman]

I had an "interesting" encounter with a bear in Woodland Caribou Park...I wasn't nearly careful enough with my food...do as they say, not as I did...