Florida Black Bears in Ocala National Forest

While hiking recently we had a few magnificent wildlife sightings and wanted to write about them here. In Ocala National Forest if you are lucky you can sometimes spot a Florida Black Bear and in this case we were blessed with such a sighting of not just one, but two! Read on...

Long Leaf Pine Tree Forest

It was near Lake Delancy in The Ocala National Forest heading southward on the Florida Trail towards Grassy Pond. It was in here in the middle of this section where we spotted a larger bear and it's cub by it's side. This area of the forest is mostly upland pine forests with rolling hills and mixed with scrub habitats throughout, perfect for bears and they are known to be here.

Florida Scrub Habitat

It was just past the scrub habitat where we saw these two bears. As we entered this part of the forest I knew if we were going to see bears this would be the perfect place.

The trail began to narrow with thick hammock and shrub plants on either side. Perfect for animals to hide in and as we came around a bend it was just up ahead about 75 to 100 feet or so where we saw a little bear walking against the brush on the trail it must have came out of. Then a moment later a larger adult bear come out next to it, this most likely was the mama bear. The smaller bear huddled up against the larger bear and both starred at us from a distance.

The feelings of fear and excitement rushed over me have you ever felt so vulnerable in nature? I did in this case and felt a fear like none other as I knew at any moment the larger bear could rush us to protect it's cub. With the narrow trail backwards was the only escape. Though perhaps it sensed that we weren't a threat as we both kept our distance and peace.

Florida Black Bears on Trail

Just as we spotted both bears together we hurried to get our zoom lens ready for snap shot. It was just then that a coyote jumped out in front of us! It darted across the trail about 10 feet ahead into the surrounding woods. It happened so fast I just caught a glimpse. It was large with gray and white coloring. Was it following the bears? We weren't sure, but just after this we managed to get a picture of the bears right before they slipped off into the forest.

Florida Black Bears on Trail

I reflected back on the sightings and can't help but feel truly blessed by nature for this sighting even though it was scary, I feel it was a great and valuable experience.

The Florida black bear is the largest native land mammal in Florida. It is believed that at one time there were as many as 12,000 black bears living throughout Florida. Today only about
1,500 black bears remain.

Hiking with Bison at Paynes Prairie State Preserve

Paynes Prairie

The other day I found myself trying to figure out why exactly it is I enjoy hiking and exploring trails so much. I couldn't just narrow it down to one particular reason. It's a combination of many things. Exploring trails to see where they go, observing the different kinds of ecological systems and looking for wildlife are just a few reasons I can think of. I get excited about not knowing what I might see on the next hike. I cherish the photos and videos because through those mediums I can capture the moments forever.

I mentioned about looking for wildlife and I feel that the more we explore, we are rewarded with wildlife sightings. I've seen many kinds of animals on my adventures thus far and on a recent hike we saw a couple animals I thought I'd never get to see in wild Florida. We encountered a bison and wild horses out on Paynes Prairie State Preserve. It was ironic as well, because the park ranger mentioned that day that it's rare to see them on this vast open prairie. That they could be really spread out and so with that noted we still decided to go see this expansive prairie.

Wild Horses

Wild Horses

Plains Bison

We headed to the north end of the prairie where you can hike out onto an boardwalk around the prairie and it eventually leads to an observation deck. On the way to an observation deck you'll hike onto a wide multi-use trail that parallels and old drainage canal. Make sure to look closely down in these areas as you'll see alligators and birds dwelling in and by the waters. Well it was on the way back from observation tower that a bison emerged from the canal on the side of us! He came out 50 feet in front of us and into a suprised crowd of people. The bison mostly just stayed still starring at everyone and we were able to get some great photographs and videos! After about 10 minutes he eventually began to walk away into the surrounding prairie. 


As we started walking again and as we approached the boardwalk we saw just to our left about 30 feet away some wild horses grazing! They stood their ground and everyone kept there distance. After some more photos and videos we headed back up to the trailhead.  I'll never forget these moments we experienced at Paynes Prairie State Preserve. I posted some information about the park below, along with a link to web site if you want to read more up on it. I also posted a couple videos and photos of the bison and wild horses. When you go to the park, be sure to check out all it has to offer and enjoy the history!

Paynes Prairie itself is the largest geographical aspect of Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park and consists of sixteen thousand acres of wet prairie, open water, and marsh. An additional area of six thousand acres of uplands including pine forests, fallow fields, ponds, and scrub that surround the Paynes Prairie basin boosts the total acreage to over twenty-two thousand in the preserve.

Paynes Prairie has a rich natural and cultural history that meanders back through time to eras long before humans appeared. The Paynes Prairie Basin was formed in pre-history by the washing away of limestone and the resulting resting of the land. The karst topography of the area has changed appearance little over the epochs, except for intervals of flooding. Paynes Prairie became home to many animals now extinct that included saber toothed cats, mammoths, mastodons, and one animal described as “a five-hundred pound beaver.” Humans followed the animals there at first around twelve thousand years ago, and then a steady stream of us followed including paleo and archaic Indians, the Cades People, the Seminole, and subsequently Europeans and Americans. The area played a bloody role in the settlement of Florida, as it was often the site of battles between the native peoples and others who wanted to make the grand, fruited region their home.

Park Website
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