Oh yes, those claws are scary. I remember that a couple years ago, I went east out of Eugene probably 50 miles to the area where I grew up. There is a dam there now. The water was low, as they had let water out to prepare for winter rains. I parked the car at a roadside park above the dam at the far end of the lake and walked down a ways to a channel of water. As I was walking on the wet bank of the stream I noticed a track bigger than my spread hand! It was a black bear footprint. i could see the imprint of the claws. Nervously, I looked around to see if the bear was anywhere nearby. I was quite a ways from my car, and black bears may not be big as a grizzly, but they can still get pretty big! Usually, they will leave from the presence of humans but that didn't comfort me. I got out of there! :)
