- I'm Coyote Peterson.
That's a baby black bear.
And he may look adorable.
I'll tell you what,
he's a real firecracker.
(adventurous jungle music)
- [Voiceover] One of the greatest destinations
to experience wildlife is the state of Montana.
From fish and fowl
to some of North America's top predators,
you stand the chance of seeing it all.
And while most encounters happen from a distance,
adventure seekers do sometimes find themselves
up close and personal.
Today we're getting the chance to work with Buckey.
A seven month old black bear cub
who lost his mother
and is not being raised in captivity
to serve as an ambassador for his species.
There's no denying it,
Buckey is downright adorable
as are all bear cubs.
And it's not completely uncommon
to stumble upon one while out hiking.
And while it might seem like a once in a lifetime moment
to snap a bear selfie,
we must remind you
that no matter how heart mealting-ly cute a bear cub may be,
never approach one in the wild.
- Let's go up here and try to get a closer look
at this unique little bear.
They are curious.
Very curious bear.
He sees my camera, he says,
"Alright, what is that?
"Is that something that I can eat?"
The answer to that is no.
Now you see this black bear
and you think to yourself,
"How adorable is he?"
And you might see him out in the wild
and think, "Okay, I'm gonna approach that bear
"to get a closer look."
That is a really bad idea.
Very rarely do you see a bear cub
where mother is not close by.
A lot of times,
people are attacked by mother black bears
because people try to get close to the cubs.
They think the mother's either left the cub
or that they can just sneak in
and get up close to the bear and pet it.
This bear cub may be adorable,
but I still have to give it the respect that it deserves.
It gets up on it's hind feet
and it's one formidable little predator.
Now black bears come in a variety of colors.
Of course, this one is black,
but you can see
he's got some lighter brown fur
on his back there.
And all these tufts that you see puffing up,
that's his summer coat blowing out
and the winter coat getting ready to come in.
The black version of the black bear
always has a tannish looking muzzle.
You can see on Buckey here,
that distinct coloration is already starting to grow in.
A black bear is the smallest species of bear
here in the United States and in North America.
Trumped, of course by the grizzly
and then up north, the polar bear.
One interesting difference
between black bears and grizzly bears
is that grizzlies have this famous hump on their backs.
Now black bears don't have that.
Often times, people mistake the cinnamon version
or the brown version of the black bear
for a grizzly.
Now black bears don't get as big as grizzly bears.
And the quickest way to be able to identify
a brown black bear
is to look for that hump on the back.
No hump, it's not a grizzly.
A bear of this size is actually susceptible to predators.
Just because he's a bear
doesn't mean that things aren't out there after him.
Now if something came after this bear,
let's say a grizzly or a pack of wolves,
his first means of escape would be up a tree.
And black bears are incredible climbers
and this baby here could speed up the side of a tree
as fast as you could snap your fingers.
Now these bears can live,
on average about 30 years.
And that's of course if they make it past being a cub
and don't run into any predators.
Now once this bear is full grown,
pretty much the only predator that it has is man.
Wolves aren't gonna mess with a bear.
Grizzlies will occasionally fight with black bears,
but most of the time they drive each other off with roars
and posturing and basically say,
"This is my territory black bear,
"you better keep moving."
I certainly have never been this close
to a black bear before.
And it's real easy to let your guard down.
Now obviously he's pretty content foraging around
on the ground.
But I still have to respect the fact
that he's got some pretty big paws.
And on those paws,
claws about this big.
And of course, a bite force as powerful as a German Shepard.
Yeah, that's not somethin' that I'm ready to mess with.
So right now this bear is going through hyperphagia,
which means it wants to gorge on as much food as possible
so it can build up its fat reserves
to hibernate for the winter.
And what Bucky's doin' right now
is foraging around looking for little marshmallows
that we've hidden.
But these bears in the wild
can smell prey miles away
and they say that their smelling capabilities
are almost six times that of a bloodhound.
If this bear wants to find food,
he's gonna follow that nose
until he's got his meal.
And bears love sweet things.
You always see on TV or read that bears love honey.
I'll tell you what, if anybody loves honey,
it's the black bear.
It'll climb up into trees to get at bees nests,
it'll rip open old, rotten logs
to get to bees nests.
Any way that they can find honey
and they're gonna go for it.
These bears are omnivores which means
he'll eat pretty much anything.
From bugs and slugs scurrying around on the ground
all the way through fish, berries, roots,
you name it, if this bear can get its mouth on it,
it's fair game.
Now these bears are extremly curious
because they're always following their noses.
Leave food out in your back yard,
leave your garbage improperly secured
and this bear will come and get into your garbage can.
And unfortunately, that's one way
that people often interact or encounter these bears
is right in their back yard.
And make sure you properly secure your garbage can lids
so you don't find Buckey where he doesn't belong.
What a cool encounter.
Getting this close to a black bear cub.
Have you guys ever seen a black bear
while out there hiking in the wild?
Tell me about it in the comments section below.
I'm Coyote Peterson.
Be brave, stay wild!
We'll see ya on the next adventure.
- [Voiceover] If you thought that was one wild adventure,
check out these other animal encounters.
And don't forget,
subscribe to follow me and the crew
on this season of "Breaking Trail".