I reckon he did spook you pretty good. They usually tend to shy away from humans pretty much. But if a bear has never encountered a human, they do not know to fear Man. Black bears typically are very docile animals, very alert, excellent sense of sight,smell and hearing. You must have been quite and the wind was probably towards you I would imgaine if he came in that close.
I have never run across one in Louisiana but have many,many encounters out west. A healthy bear is not the one to fear, it's the ones who are emancipated, sick, cornered or have young cubs that will react unkindly. Now A grizzly is a horse of a different color altogether. A black when aggressive will pop their jaws repeatedly, while grunting and shifting weight from one front foot to the other. Those are the ones that have concerned me before. Sounds like he was bumbling around and happened upon you, not looking for you or the scent of food.
Consider yourself one of the few who've had a close encounter in La.

Good read, Thanks for sharing.

RB

Thanks for your response. To say that he spooked me would be an understatement. I recently read that a man in Washington (state I believe) was attacked by a black bear. Do you know if there is more than one species of Black bear?

these are from jefferson county mississippi just across the river from tensas parish i never seen him with my own eyes but we have over 100 pics of him and ive had his tracks on top of my tracks on my way back out of the woods and i have also heard him several times groaning and breaking branches

bear

I know your first time was scary, so was mine on tne ground in thick palmetto in tensas. since then we,ve had many encounters. last year i came out to find one 10ft. from my truck. They have NEVER made any aggressive act. everytime they no ur there they leave in a hurry. he didnt see u in camo or smell u. next time just say 'hey mr. bear time to leave'. when they hear ur voice or smell u they leave.

HAHA...when i say 'hey Mr. bear, time to leave' do i have to say it in a Yogi voice!!

That is crazy. We have been getting bear pics every year before the season for about 4 years now. This year we have over 100 pics of black bear. Nobody in the club saw a bear yet but it is coming.I just hope it is not me. We hunt about 20 min from Natchaz,Ms. Here are some pics

Did you have to change your pants?I think i would have....I was always told that a grizzley will attack if she has cubs and then leave but if a black bear attacks its b/c they are hungry!Dont know anything about bears thats just what I heard/

i imagine i would have had a lil' black bear stain in my drawers after just standing there and staring one down haha.

Funny that LDWF recently posted something on their website about what to do about black bears. Here's the link: http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/news/32995

I sure didn't soil my draws, but I had to confirm that once back at the camp. That is exactly the type of information I was looking for. I really feel like this is going to be something that will occur more frequently as the bear population increases. The link posted by manvswild should be read by all hunters so that they can handle the situation should it happen to them....but lets hope it doesn't.