What do you all think about walking a few miles into the woods during March and April to trap beaver with regard to bears being in the area?

Thankfully I've never had a problem but I usually don't bring a gun because it's 'too much stuff.'

Should I think nothing of walking in the woods this time of year? Or should I be more careful? I saw a bear last year from a distance.

It's another one of those questions I've always had.

I used to harvest spring bears at the same time as spring beaver.
I had 3 or4 spots where I hiked a ways into rivers where I had a half dozen beaver traps at each location.I would skin the beaver on the trail between the road and the river,then next trips in I would be on the lookout for bear on the trail.
Shot quite a few bear by taking advantage that way.
When I got a bear on the trail I went back to get the bike and salvage both bearhides and meat and of course had all the beaver hides too.

That sounds Very cool. We don't have a spring bear season in NY to my knowledge.

Bears don’t cross our mind in the woods really, unless we see them or are baiting them.

I haven't seen bears while trapping here but have lost beaver and 330's to them.

Seeing a bear was not uncommon in the UP but. running into a cub worried me a lot it was time to head out.

Bear spray? you mean buck shot from a semi with the plug out?

I don't know about back east, but in the PNW and SE Alaska black bears don't really seem to be active until sometime in May. Brown bears are quite a bit earlier. Besides you generally don't find sows with cubs out early.

Like the op, most of my trapping is walk in. I don't give black bears to much thought unless there is a cub(s) about. I carry a .45 concealed when out anyway. If Griz are in the mix, then ya, I would up my carry.

Thanks everyone! I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. Your answers give me more confidence.

I have had many encounters with black bears in late April/early May while spring turkey hunting. Lots of times sows with cubs come in to my hen calls looking for a turkey dinner for themselves and their cubs.

I usually watch them until they start to get too close and then a slight movement on my part usually sends them running off. I’ve let a few single bears get really close before moving my head or lifting a finger slightly to send them running off.

Once, a pair of curious cubs with mama fifty yards behind them did not respond to my subtle movement, I had to clap my hands and stand up to chase them off.

I think there’s very little danger from black bears but, I am always armed while turkey hunting.

Where in N.Y.? Adirondacks? If so,,I would have something with me.

2 legged animals more dangerous than a black bear.

There is always a chance of encountering a predatory black bear,especially in spring.
It is pretty rare,I have been in the bush my entire adult life and have only encountered 2 predatory blackbears-both large males.Both in spring.Both in May.

Bear stole a Trap & Beaver once. Got the trap back but the Beaver was gone for good

I came face to face, 10 feet, maybe, with a black bear last spring while collecting maple sap.

I was carrying a .45, but thank God, need not have to use it. I'm pretty sure the +P self defense loads would not have penetrated that fur.

Now I am loaded with Buffalo Bore® +P Outdoorsman. These things are 255 gr of hard cast flat nosed lead that really mean business.

I don't always take pictures of bear turds. But when I do, they're magnum size. Step carefully, my friends.

You got nothing to worry about, at least as far as black bears go.

I have never had a bear act aggressive toward me, or even approach too close, with the exception of dump bears. I have wallered in amongst hounds fighting wounded bear a time or two as well. 99 out of 100 black bear will likely leave even before you know they are around.........just remember, they don't come in numerical order! Had a co-worker near 40 years ago that was born and raised in good bear country in northern Michigan, and he'd never laid eyes on a single bear ever, until one afternoon, when mapping soils in the Dead Stream Swamp for the USDA in late April of 1982. He heard a growly/whining noise and looked up to see a large bear circling him at a fairly close distance. He dug a big plastic whistle out of his pack and tooted on it to scare the beast off. It immediately charged him. He scrambled up a heavily leaning cedar tree and there he sat for the next 5 hours! The bear bit at the tree and acted mean as heck any time he moved around. Long story short, the bear moved off 50'ish yards when the guy took a whiz from the tree. He was about frozen be then and scampered down and hurried out of the swamp to his government truck, which was nearly a mile away. The bruin didn't follow him. The story is way more involved than that, but basically, that was his first ever bear sighting. The USDA brass allowed him to tote a gun while finishing up mapping that isolated area. He actually saw another bear in there before he moved on to map elsewhere. He gifted me that big pink and orange plastic whistle on account of me loving to hunt bears. We figured it was a dandy bear call, after all, it worked 100% of the time he used it!