Though I've seen hundreds of blackies over the years in Ak. I really haven't had any close encounters, probably the closest was a bear that decided to scratch its back on the tree I was sitting in, about 20 feet off the ground, he never knew I was there, shot a few nice bucks out of that stand, but thats another story.

I did hear a great story this past spring when I got to the resort I work at. A couple of our dockhands (young, dumb and full of ___)were doing a trash run out to the dump (we burn all our trash) there are always bears there and they usually run off when they hear the quads coming. well the 2 dockhands spot this bear that is down in a hole with its rump up in the air and its so busy eating it doesn't pay any attention to them, 1 of the guys (stupidly) decides he's going to sneak up on the bear and kick it in the butt, he gets in position and drills that bear solid, expecting it to run off, well the bear had other ideas, it spins around and before Rich could move it clamped down on his foot for about a second then according to the other guy that witnessed this, they both let out loud screeches and ran in opposite directions, he was wearing extra-tuff boots that had definite signs of a close encounter with a bear.