Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Black Bears



"Whenever I walk in a London street,
I'm ever so careful to watch my feet;
And I keep in the squares,
And the masses of bears,
Who wait at the corners all ready to eat
The sillies who tread on the lines of the street,
Go back to their lairs,
And I say to them, "Bears,
Just look how I'm walking in all of the squares!"
And the little bears growl to each other, "He's mine,
As soon as he's silly and steps on a line.""

from Line and Squares
by A.A. Milne

We were sitting in the screened in porch having supper with my 
mother-in-law last evening when we noticed two young bears on 
 the spit of land that juts out into the slough about 400 yards 
from our cabin. This is the same spit of land where
earlier in June we saw what appears to be our resident 
bear poking around. We have had a single bear here for some years
 ( whether it is the same one I cannot tell you)
who mainly avoids close proximity to the cabin, I suspect the noisy dogs 
help. My brother-in-law, who has had a lot of experience with bears has
 said this is the best kind, it leaves you alone but it's presence will
 discourage other bears from moving in. 

It is probably male as we never see cubs,
 another complication we would like to avoid. 
One of my brother-in-law's experiences with bears
 occurred when a mother with cubs chased him into this 
very slough in this same spot. 
My wife asked him when he decided to run, and he answered decide?


But I digress, the two young bears wandered about eating for about 
an hour. Four beavers that had been on the opposite shore
disappeared. One approached closer to the bears to keep them in 
sight and then slapped it's tail as they moved about.
 Finally the young bears started running, a larger bear 
( the resident as promised? ) 
came out of the bush after them. We though we had seen the last of 
them  but about 10:30 last night we were in bed when Nina started 
barking. She often alerts us to beavers eating the nearby  trees. 

My wife looked out the window and shrieked in surprise 
( similar to her mouse on the cupboard shriek) 
when she saw one the young bears behind the cabin
  The shriek and the barking that followed seem to have frightened 
it off and we have added an airhorn to the bear spray 
we already had on hand. 


Sorry about the picture quality this is thru a screen and 
I am some distance away ( which I like ). 









"No, Yogi! We promised the Ranger we would stay away. 
 You're right. I'm losing control, Boo-Boo. I don't know who's steering 
the ship! "

Yogi and Boo-Boo

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