--- title: Bear Relaxing in Hammock in Florida description: What, no picnic basket? canonical: https://time.com/2809601/check-out-this-bear-just-chillin-in-a-backyard-hammock/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-02T18:15:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:15.108Z og:title: Check Out This Bear Just Chillin' in a Backyard Hammock og:description: What, no picnic basket? og:url: https://time.com/2809601/check-out-this-bear-just-chillin-in-a-backyard-hammock/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Check Out This Bear Just Chillin' in a Backyard Hammock twitter:description: What, no picnic basket? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Check Out This Bear Just Chillin' in a Backyard Hammock by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 2, 2014 6:15 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 2, 2014 6:15 PM UTC Thanks to Yogi Bear, visitors to Jellystone Park know to guard their lunch bags from tie-wearing hangry bears, but no one warned Florida home owners that their hammocks might be prime bear snoozing spots. Consider yourself warned, Florida. Bears are known for hibernating throughout the winter, but even in the clement Florida weather, a black bear needed a nap after an exhausting afternoon spent ransacking trash cans, raiding bird feeders and frightening residents of a Daytona Beach neighborhood. Instead of heading home for a snooze, the enormous bear chose to clamber into homeowner Vincent James’s backyard hammock for a little siesta. “He got in the hammock like he was a tourist or something,” James [told WESH](http://www.wesh.com/news/photos-bear-lies-down-in-hammock-in-daytona-beach/26247854#ixzz33GniKN9M), a local news station. The bear hung around for about 20 minutes until, according to James, “something spooked him and he ran.” Apparently the hammock was a very comfortable spot for a nap, though, because the bear returned half an hour later for another go-round in the hammock. No word on whether the bear brought snacks with him. \[Via [WESH](//www.wesh.com/news/photos-bear-lies-down-in-hammock-in-daytona-beach/26247854#ixzz33VBLnksR)\] **MORE**: [Studies Show Cat People Are Smarter Than Dog People](http://time.com/2798972/studies-show-cat-people-are-smarter-than-dog-people/) **MORE**: [Here’s How a Two-Legged Cat Gets Down the Stairs](http://time.com/2809287/double-amputee-cat-goes-down-stairs/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2809601/check-out-this-bear-just-chillin-in-a-backyard-hammock/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2809601/check-out-this-bear-just-chillin-in-a-backyard-hammock/"},"headline":"Check Out This Bear Just Chillin' in a Backyard Hammock","datePublished":"2014-06-02T18:15:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:15.108Z","description":"What, no picnic basket?","url":"https://time.com/2809601/check-out-this-bear-just-chillin-in-a-backyard-hammock/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","Bears"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2809601/check-out-this-bear-just-chillin-in-a-backyard-hammock/","name":"Check Out This Bear Just Chillin' in a Backyard Hammock"}}]}] ```