That wasn't a "small" bear as young...all coastal black bears are pretty small, in bear terms. He or she was a full-grown adult, in great condition if the glossy back coat is a good indicator. Unlike grizzlies (brown) bears, coastal black bears are very shy, avoid conflict whenever possible. I see them occasionally when doing fisheries work in the remote little stream on Oregon's north coast...but always their rears as they run off to avoid potential interactions.

While fishing in Alaska, I have had face-to-face encounters with grizzlies. That's an entirely different situation, one where you're the one to back off so that the grizzly can fish wherever he or she wants to! I once was fishing with a group of people on assignment from various magazines to write about a new fishing lodge. Being the only woman in the group, I fished the little creek last. <g> While I was looking downstream as I retrieved my fly, a grizzly appeared on the opposite bank. I was hip-deep in the creek, while the bear was on a steep gravel bar less than 10' from where I waded. First, none of us pros, even though we all had cameras around our necks, got a photo of the bear. Second, afterwards the guys argued about whether it had been an 8' or 10' bear. Didn't matter to me, as he/she looked huge from my vantage point a couple of feet deep in the creek, perhaps five feet below him or her! In those days, video cameras were quite new and weighed about 70#, so we told the guy with the video camera to just keep photographing when the bear followed us, as long as he was able to, and we'd recover the film afterwards. During the several hours until the float plane returned, you'd better believe that everyone reacted whenever a twig snapped.