GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Neighbors across the Piedmont Triad have recently reported seeing bears in their front yards.

A High Point resident said he had an encounter with a bear on Sunday.

Henderson Gordon has lived on Basswood Avenue in the Skeet Club Ridge community in High Point for 23 years and says he had never seen a bear in his neighborhood until Sunday night when he was walking his dog around 10 p.m..

“Maybe a fox here and there…but nothing like that,” Gordon said. “I didn’t hear anything, and the bear didn’t make any noise. But I did see the dog looking, and that’s what kind of made me look that way.”

Gordon says after seeing the bear, he quickly left the area but snapped a photo of the bear before heading home where he later called the police and posted a picture to the Nextdoor app to warn his neighbors.

“Are you safe? Are we safer…in the backyard or in the neighborhood? I don’t know,” Gordon said

His post led to several other comments where people said they saw bears in other High Point neighborhoods and in Colfax.

Division 5 NC Wildlife Biologist Joe Folta says Guilford County and the Piedmont Triad usually see a spike in black bear sightings starting in May through August when juvenile bears leave their mothers.

“Majority of those bears that we do see in areas that we don’t typically see them, for example, in city or towns or neighborhoods is the juvenile males,” Dr. Folta said.

Folta advises people to remain observant to see if bears are in the area.

“When they find an easy source of food, they have a tendency to stay around,” said Folta.

According to an NC Wildlife officer in Guilford County, he has not received any reports of black bear sightings in the area.

The Wildlife Commission does not trap and relocate bears and encourages people to remain aware of steps they can take to reduce their chances of interaction.

For more information about living responsibly with black bears, click here.