I walked up on a big bear on thanksgiving day in a bear reserve on the Washington/Unicoi co line 3 years ago. I was 50yds from him and he was feeding on acorns. I tried barking,talking,kicking leaves,waiving my arms and he paid absolutely no attention to me. He would look my way for maybe a half a second then go right back to feeding. He had no fear of humans. I really think they should open the bear reserves for hunting every few years or just a couple days per year with no dogs to at least thin them out a lil bit.