I grew up in southeast Georgia. We had bears down there. They were less dangerous than the rattlers and the moccasins. I know of one person that was attacked. He went into a gallberry thicket after a bayed bear. The bear broke from the dogs and ran into the guy then mauled him nearly taking off his arm. The bear didn't attack the guy, the guy just did something stupid. Bears typically don't go looking for trouble from people. It's the bears that people start feeding from the back porch that you should be scared of.