My best friend lives in Black Mountain.
He phones about once a week or a little more often. He has mentioned seeing bears several times.
Bears are not as common here in the Florida Panhandle but my neighbor has seen one several times. He takes a hike daily.
We had bears at Grandfather mountain.....a lot
And I’ve seen bears on the island at Grayton Beach off 30A
We even have bear sightings in Williamson county TN near Franklin