Good stories, George. People need to realize that once they've lost food to a bear, it's no longer YOUR food. I think another reason things are improving besides canister use is the greater access to bear boxes at trailheads and campgrounds, and locking dumpsters.
I've been lucky to see many bears, some very close, and I've never lost a crumb of food to any wild animal. Well okay, there was this one time when a Yosemite gang of bluejays and squirrels coordinated a diversion attack and tricked us out of a little trial mix right in front of our faces. Their skill was impressive.
The only angry bear I've seen was a huge dumpster diver at Loon Lake who didn't like getting his picture taken with a flash in the dark. He had already broken into the campground host's trailer that season and was on his way to being a poster bear for the the slogan - a fed bear is a dead bear. I've never been back, but I sure hope they put in a locking dumpster.
I've had bears try to snatch my trout by the shore but heard him crashing through the bush. The most dangerous bear encounter I ever had was a cute little cub standing on a rock 10ft from the trail while backpacking near Rancheria Falls at Hetch Hetchy. My little kids stopped to take pictures and wanted to approach it as I went into panic mode. I scrambled the family out of there as fast as I could and luckily we never saw Mama bear.
