A black bear was followed by a news copter as the bear made it's way through a California neighborhood.  During this video a man was walking and sending a text message, when he encounters the bear.

Fortunately the bear wasn't aggressive, but the video is a pretty funny reminder that texting takes your focus off of everything around you.

What would you do if you encountered a bear in Casper or in the back country?  What should you do?

With the bears on Casper Mountain as well as all across Wyoming waking up from their winter nap, they are starting to forage and look for food in and around neighborhoods.

What do you do when you meet a bear?

If you know you're going into bear country, you should understand that there is a real possiblity of a bear encounter. The following tips from MountainNature.com will help reduce the likely hood of meeting a bear face to face, and prepare you for what you should do when the unexpected occurs.

Situation #1 - Bear HAS NOT detected your presence and is more that 100 yards away.

Do not announce your presence! If possible retreat slowly and give the bear plenty of space. Leave the trail to the bear and if you must continue, back off a short distance and wait for the bear to leave the area.

Situation #2 - Bear HAS detected you, but is more than 100 yards away.

In this situation, the goal is simply to act in such a way that the bear can identify you and realize that you are not a threat. Speak calmly so the bear can identify you as a human, they will often quickly turn and run once they realize a human is near by. Remember bears have poor eyesight and if you need to detour around the bear, in this instance you'd want to be upwind so the bear can get your sent and help it identify you as human.

Situation #3 - Bear shows signs of aggression and has detected you.

Hopefully you have a bit of distance between you and the bear and you can:

Assess the situation - are you dealing with a black bear or grizzly? Are there cubs near by? Are there climbable trees near by and do you have time to climb them?

Do Not Run - you can't out run a bear, so DON'T try it!

Try to retreat slowly and put some more distance between yourself and the bear.

If the bear charges you, it might be a bluff charge designed to allow enemies to back down before the bear actually needs to engage you. Continue to back away slowly.

And if you must - use pepper spray. This is a last resort and most all pepper sprays are only good from a very short range (15 ft). Remember in Wyoming that WIND will be a factor in your decision to use the spray and it might blow the spray back into your face if you are not careful.

More From My Country 95.5