At the time I am writing this I am 48 years old, I have spent plenty of time in the woods and forests and I have never seen a black bear in the wild. I have seen just about everything else, just no bears. I think people who have seen animals like this are very lucky, I also know that there are some people out there that view these magnificent creatures as pests or something to be rid of. These are the kind of people that move into the foothills or mountains and complain about the deer eating their flowers or the bears getting into their trash cans. I have NO sympathy for these people whatsoever. If you are going to move into a neighborhood and you don't like the neighbors, don't move there! Same thing applies to the mountains. If you don't like or don't want the animals that are around there DON'T move there. I know it sounds like I am going off on a rant, and maybe I am, it's just that I love seeing animals in the wild and maybe I'm just a bit envious of those who see them more than I do.