Black bears are fine. I live amongst them and sometimes bump one when foraging. They are pretty safe if you and the bear don't get stupid.
Bear story time.
I have a friend that was bow hunting deer in the early part of the season and had 2 cubs come wandering down the trail. He got some nice video of them nosing around. It was all going swimmingly well. Cute little bears and some nice video footage in a beautiful fall forest.
Then one of them hit his scent, (bears have excellent noses), under the tree his stand was in. Then it started to climb the tree and the video got better. My friend was still not overly concerned. After all the bear wasn't even halfway up to the stand. But the bear didn't stop climbing until it reached the bottom of the stand. My friend was now considerably concerned. Because he had nothing with him that he could use to repel boarders beyond a very sharp pointy stick. Another concern was that if the bear did decide to climb over the stand, the stand was unlikely to support the weight of both of them. And after a 15ft fall they would probably end up in a pile together on the ground. Not a desirable outcome for either of them.
Fortunately for both of them, when the bear got close enough to get a good whiff of just what was up in the tree, it decided it was not lunch but rather something to be avoided at all costs and climbed back down as fast as possible and ran away.
My friend got some awesome video and photos plus a fine story, with proof, to tell in any hunting camp for the rest of his life.
