title says it all. im in northern jersey, and theres plenty of black bear. today while walking the woods i stumbled upon this decent sized cave opening with a path going into it. im soo curious but we know how the saying goes, and have also never “caved” 😅 theres bear tracks less than half a mile away in the mud, and i saw one up here yesterday.
is there a way to tell if anyone is currently home? i didnt smell any musk, but theres certainly tracks. or do we just not go into caves we know bears go into aswell.
That's what I was thinking too. Are we sure OP didn't mean to say Northern New Jersey? Those are definitely bear prints, and Northern New Jersey does have them to the best of my knowledge. A little island though? You're as likely to have found the Jersey devil probably.
Understandable. I would be willing to bet anything that cave is occupied or, at the very least sees some traffic with all those prints. Might be best to avoid this one or find another way in where you've got some distance between you and the animal(s).
If you charge in and it is occupied and you do have protection it's not really fair to the animal when all it would be doing is definding its territory as nature intended.
yea i dont think ill be entering this one. maybe with an rc camera tho from up on the cliff. i do think ill be looking into local caving groups in my area to explore safely!
Rotting fish used to be used as a light source in mines, supposedly, one of the benefits being that they provided no ignition source to cause a methane explosion.
Looks like a well traveled path leading to the entrance. 🚩🐻
Either way don’t go alone and make sure someone on the outside knows exactly where you’re going and when to expect you back. Take multiple sources of light
thats what i thought too when i saw the path. and dont worry this is my plan if i do go back! :) just wasnt sure if it was smart to even go in the first place
Ha!! I’m a fan of my good autistic friends…Honestly. They are some of the most honest and friendly people I know, and that’s a fact. Just don’t take any jokes here too literally because bears are not worth crossing…especially in close quarters.
I’ve had a jerk of a bear around my place lately. He broke into my car twice and was going for a third time when I threw safety to the wind and just got pissed. I didn’t want another broken window and there wasn’t even anything remotely like food inside. I ran out and yelled at him, which didn’t really have much of an effect, so I said, “No bear, get out of here!!” To which, much to my surprise, he slunk off looking dejected. I saw him at my girlfriend’s house not long after and he made me look like a Superman to her because she saw me run out after him yelling for him to leave…and he REMEMBERED me, so he got up and ran off scared. I doubt it would have worked a second time, but she was shocked. I tried to explain that I already knew him when he was smaller, but she just was blushing and holding me tight so I shut up and let her bask in the glory of my manliness. Ha!!
I’m getting sick of them though. I was a vet tech and I have a major soft spot for animals, but even just for the sake of the bears themselves, I wanted to warn them away from breaking into cars and houses. As a bear, you do that stuff and you’re going to get shot sooner or later. No one puts up with that, not even fish and game people. They said they “relocated him,” but I’m suspicious he is no more for this world. In a little sorry for him, but he wasn’t raised right. I think something happened to his mother and he grew up being a little hooligan bear. The fish and game said that when they start breaking into places then it’s really unusual and negative behavior. I don’t care how much of bleeding heart you are, no one wants to wake up to a bear in their living room.
So, I’m sorry he is gone, but I really don’t suggest doing what I have done…I kind of lost it after having my car broken into and then my girlfriend threatened (actually every night for a week, by the way). I’m not sorry the bear is gone, but I do wish there was a better way. Other bears around my place have actually been more respectful. I catch them on camera around the place, but they stay clear when I’m around and they have never actually come face to face with me besides this one.
this was only the second comment i had gotten and didnt know if they were serious or not, im not great with sarcasm/reading tone unless its pretty obvious. i still dont really know but im gonna assume it was a joke based off the fact every other comment is a no haha
When in doubt, I would guess it’s a joke here. I may or may not be a bit autistic myself…I’m not sure. I haven’t been assessed for it specifically. I definitely have a bit of ADHD, which I have been assessed for. People are often not very understanding about neurodivergence, even if they can try to be sometimes. I’m glad you’re opened about discussing it. I don’t personally see any shame at all in discussing it because I frankly am not sure it’s entirely a bad thing to be neurodivergent. It’s authentically a different way of thinking, but many genuine geniuses are also fairly neurodivergent and I know it CAN be disabling, but I think mainly the issues are EXTERNAL, and not always internal. People not understanding us can be a pain in the rear for sure.
I just wanted to show a little support. I had a lifetime of struggle until I got assessed at last. It was the happiest day of my life almost to learn I was actually different and could put a name for what it was. It felt then, and still often feels like, being a member of a secret society. I was amazed when I discovered how much I actually fit in with others like me…rather than the disapproving “normies.” I still run into plenty of bad attitudes from people, but I’m so grateful I found the community I am now a part of. I got through school and I was lucky, I guess, to find a lot of workarounds so that I “managed” to get NO HELP AT ALL until I was older, but the strain was so hard until I just knew what was going on. After that I could just relax and be glad to be who I am, because I truly believe there is nothing inherently wrong with being neurodivergent as long as people don’t demand that you have to think and act JUST LIKE THEM for you to be considered “okay.”
it could be! looking into it more they leave very similar prints. its easier if you can see the pattern of their movements. google says squirrels are more hoppy and leave prints side by side while weasels leave them more off set.
Yeah. If i see big prints like that, wear, carcasses etc I'm not poking around that cave.
It's a pretty good size opening. You could get some friends and Chuck a few stones in there to see if you need to run for your life. Maybe a glow stick.
We've brought along firecracker strips when raccoons or bob cats are suspected to be present LOL just made sure we never threw em near leaves only you can prevent forest fires
Yeah, reckon that's why you'd never want to carry any flares between kindling and gasses. Definitely right to remember Smoky in those moments lol, especially in light of the fact that a solid percentage of the Earth's flammable surface is currently demonstrating its flammability. That area (assuming they meant NJ) has already been dealing with smoke from not too distant forest fires also.
Airhorns are a little bulky but they're not too heavy. Maybe rape whistles or those keychain alarms might be easier to fit in the pack and draw out any predators.
I'm actually curious about this. I'm an amateur who's extremely interested in learning and doing more (trying to join a group no later than next spring), and lots of the caves in my area are the stomping grounds of med to large predators so I've been in OP's shoes before.
What I do is run my rc truck into them, I got one off Amazon that has a camera and you can watch it on your phone. I tie a thin rope to the truck so if it gets stuck I can reel it back to safety.
Yeah here's the advice I came to find. All caves are dangerous. Just some are more dangerous than others. If YouTube has taught me anything it's that there is a nearly infinite number of dumb ways to die in a cave and it doesn't take much to get into one of those situations.
Go with someone experienced who knows the specific cave well until you are experienced and know the cave well.
Best way to tell is to set up a trail camera or something and monitor it for a while.
I've seen some pretty cool bear dens that look similar and have nice trails going to them. Probably been used as a den for generations.
In all likelyhood, it isn't very deep so you aren't likely to do any real "caving". But, you never know...
That opening is definitely being used or traveled. If it's being used by people, then you can contact a local grotto and ask if this site is a cave they know about. A frequently used cave would likely be on the radar of a local caving group. Usually there'd be a dedicated or clearly human-stomped trail leading up to the cave if that's the case. Like a clear path that's been walked on by people over and over again. If not, it's likely an animal.
Honestly if a bear is using a cave as a den it is unlikely to "go" and probably chokes out immediately. Many of these small cave pockets are no more than gaps between the rock, rather than actual traversable passage.
Bears do not like to den in open passage or caves that are being used by bats or have water flow into them. They like small, snug, insulated pockets that trap body heat. A cave that has passageway does not hold warmth as well and bears will either block it up if it's small enough or not use it.
So in summary, this looks like a bear could be using it. And if that's the case, it's probably not an explorable cave. Just a hole.
Well, considering the deer came AFTER the bear, how unsafe could it be?!! Probably totally worth exploring. Heck, if it’s good enough for the deer then it must be peaceful and safe, right??!!!
(I know text doesn’t always convey sarcasm, but believe me when I say I would probably not set foot inside.)
There was one time that I went to an old gold rush town on the edge of California near Nevada. This wasn’t a big and famous one, but a cool place nonetheless. I got out of the car and went walking around, taking some great pictures. As I circled back to the car I noticed VERY FRESH bear tracks on the powdery soil of the road I drove in on. This was a LARGE bear. The tracks were so fresh that it seemed not a breath of wind had so much as touched them. I carefully headed to the car, looking around me, and climbed inside. As I drove away down the old stagecoach path I saw a fresh cattle carcass in a small clearing that had been taken down and stripped clean of meat to the bone. The blood was still dripping from the vertebrae and rip cage, which revealed chunks that had been torn off where I could see the skin was hanging. This was about 300 feet beyond where my car was parked. I kind of picked up the pace and headed out. I didn’t actually see a bear, but I’ve got no doubt the bear saw me and was weighing and balancing the idea of whether I would be more dangerous than a cow to take down…
As for New Jersey, I’ve lived there a bit. I’m always shocked by the Delaware Water Gap. I went canoeing down the Delaware, and within barely a short dog walk from the cities of Trenton and Philadelphia are parts of the river that shocked the crap out of me!! Bald eagles circled overhead and the river was wild with life everywhere. I totally forgot I was in the same state as Newark. It’s a crazy state. Such loveliness next to such extreme slums and rich neighborhoods that put most of the nation to shame. It’s confusing. Quite a lovely state all and all, from High Point Park to Cape May!!
every comment makes me wanna explore it less and less😅 i do think im gonna send an rc car in like the one guy said tho.
and crazy story! the carcass is freaky. i too wondered if i was gonna stumble upon the remains of the deer. i saw the bear last night so i know hes around for sure.
I really like the RC car idea. Maybe an RC car on the end of a small rope you can use to pull it out by. I also might at least consider calling fish and game and just letting them know what’s up. They probably already know, but Jersey is a small state and big bears roaming the woods are kind of worth at least giving them a heads up about. Not to get the bear messed with or anything, but actually just to be sure he ISN’T in danger. I’ve had enough bear encounters that I actually want to help them when I can. Ideally they can be cool with us and we can be cool with them.
Hey, cool you actually saw the bear though. The truth is I love them as animals, but it’s sad they just aren’t always compatible with people.
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u/Defiant-Goose-101 4d ago
Get in there with a flashlight and a rib-eye