Question from a rookie, regarding bears.

[funewchie]

I'm brand new to this game (which seems a bit light on teaching me things, but that's fine, I sometimes enjoy figuring things out)

But considering I'm kinda nervous about bears IRL, I gotta ask, do bears just randomly attack you when you get too close to them?
(I ask because I'd hate to be tracking a deer, lining up a shot, and then WHAM! A bear starts mauling me from the side because I spooked it.)

If that happens, I can deal with it. But forewarned is forearmed.

[Zoakadin]

I've never been attacked by a bear by inadvertently walking into it. They do a thing where they get spooked and run and if they run towards you they will hurt you but they tend to keep running. And all animals can do that to you. I've shot a bear and had it attack me once before it dropped. So I feel the bears in this game are somewhat realistic in behavior to real life bears. Is an attack possible, yes but happens very rarely.

Really the animals you got to worry the most about being aggressive are buffalo.

[Rookie-31st]

Bears usually just run away. If you sneak too close they might choose to attack, but this rarely happens

[DanoUK]

ANY animal is capable of attacking you if you get too close! This is why it's always recommended to carry a first aid kit (once unlocked) at all times.
If you shoot and wound a bear and it can see you... chances are it'll come straight for you for revenge! This can be an advantage on long shots as they run up and drop dead in front of you sometimes, saving a long walk to harvest it. However, if it gets too close... hit it again.

I recommend spending a while looking up videos from 'Flinter' and/or 'ZaggiDK' on you tube. Their "beginner" series is a great help to new players. (just remember that some older videos were made before the update that changed spine shots as the main 'kill shot'.)

[saphire jinn]

Black bears wont attack you but Brown bears will, those are in the Russian map. with those once you place a round, you better have a second shot ready and fast. chances are you will use it.

[Old Goat]

I have been attacked by Black Bears on several occasions even by those not shot at or wounded. On two occasions they attacked without warning. Normally they just run away.

[naspa]

Black bears very rarely attack you. When you do your probably just in the way and they sort of run over you.
But Russian brown bears can be quite violent. Better have some slugs or your Rhino waiting for them in case you do not drop them immediately.
On the other side, if you take a long shot and they have trouble bleeding out fast, their aggression can you help you not having to walk too much.

[Soltyk]

This seems to be another part of the game that got broken in one of the recent updates. I don't get attacked by bears and boars anymore (Bison seems to be partially fixed, they now sometimes do a fake attack).

Occasionally the broken path finding makes them run in circles and sometimes they bump into you, but I don't count that as an attack. Even roe deer do that.

In the past, they went straight at you when they were shot at, like a cruise missile. It was kinda ridiculous how they homed in on you. So I'm actually glad that that was broken. From what I read, Buffaloes still do that but I don't play those reserves.

[RadarLuv]

I was attacked by a bear, I heard it grunting on the other side of a bush but didn't know exactly where he was. When I got close to the bush he grunted again then all of a sudden he burst out of the bush and all I saw was teeth and claws. It set me back in my chair pretty damn quick. This was a Black Bear and I have been attacked before by one, I shot one pissed him off and he killed me for it.

[Jack Greedy]

Once bear get dangerously close to me at Medved Taiga map, started to Roar and stand on back legs. God, i feel fear going down my spine. Then suddenly i realize that my wife made me big sandwich with grilled pork , i grabbed my bag, take my sandwich and throw it at the bear , then i run away , fast as hell. I will never go brown bear hunting without pork!

[NuCkEnFuTs]

they absolutely will attack you. Two different bears and two different circumstances.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1573696165
You'd better drop them fast if they look at you like this
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1198769539
or this may happen
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1198769549

[funewchie]

Wow...that's pretty scary to hear... and exhilarating.

I had earlier decided to not take any chances and shot at one, but he took off away from me. It took a while for me to find him again (partly I chased him because a wounded animal is even more dangerous... and partly because it's a family motto: "if you injure the animal, you've gotta finish the job.")

Of course, as I pursued the wounded bear, then the warden mentions they prefer to keep away from you.
...Now he tells me.

In any case, I claimed the bear trophy and moved on.
(Only to later learn my starting rifle and ammo apparently isn't really rated for a bear. Yikes.)
------

While I'm into it, just to avoid starting another thread, I gotta ask: Is there a quick way to move around the preserve, such as going from Cheela Lake to the starting area?

[NuCkEnFuTs]

ATV's or walking once your get outposts open you can fast travel back and forth between and if you get the Tents you can fast travel between them as well.

[NuCkEnFuTs]

This game will get your heart pumping, Wait till you hunt Loins.

[Nite69]

Originally posted by NuCkEnFuTs:

ATV's or walking once your get outposts open you can fast travel back and forth between and if you get the Tents you can fast travel between them as well.

Yea Tents are a great trick to get animals to spawn too without scaring them off, makes it much easier to complete certain missions.