I just walked my Schnauzer up the road and into the woods on a path called the Hundred Acre Woods. Coming back onto the road, my head was down as I was daydreaming and my Schnauzer started to pull forward, drawing my attention up. There was a BIG bear right there on the road, ambling across with its head down, perhaps ten yards away. I know you're supposed to yell, but he was so close I didn't want to startle him, so I backed away quietly with my Schnauzer silent, but still wanting to go meet Mr. Ursa. I've seen lots of bears from the Appalachians to the northwoods, but that was the scariest because it was so close and unexpected.

BTW, I live in "Blueberries for Sal" country, so I had my Sal moment.

I love that book! Cool experience for sure!

Mike

quote plainspaddler: "I love that book! Cool experience for sure!


Mike"

It's a great book, for sure. I once saw a bear eating blueberries at the far end of a patch. He saw me too. And we both went back to eating.

I saw a nice bear the other day too at about 20 yards he came out onto the logging road in front me at high speed and kept running.

Could of been because the dogs that were near by was a pack of bear hounds hot on his trail and we were trying to reduce him to meat.

Never did get him but that is why it is called hunting.

Had either a big bobcat or a small lynx run across the driveway this morning. Fun to see different animals now and again. The deer didn't seem too bothered by it.
Good thing you had your security with you Miss Molly.

quote nctry: "Had either a big bobcat or a small lynx run across the driveway this morning. Fun to see different animals now and again. The deer didn't seem too bothered by it.
Good thing you had your security with you Miss Molly."

It is such a thrill to see a wild cat!

Miss M, I nearly hit a black bear just about every time I headed south from the Whites (NH) down I93. That was in the late 80s. They were (are) even more plentiful in your neck of the woods!

quote HighnDry: "Miss M, I nearly hit a black bear just about every time I headed south from the Whites (NH) down I93. That was in the late 80s. They were (are) even more plentiful in your neck of the woods!"

I think he's been hanging in the area. There's a gravel road that bisects my land. My neighbors walk their dogs on it and have reported big sticks breaking beneath something heavy in the woods.

I was walking the dog yesterday on a Western States Historical Trail that passes 7 minutes stroll from my house. We encountered multiple bear poops along the way. I noticed that in one scat the bear had apparently been eating only manzanita berries while in another it had been eating only blackberries. Both food sources result in odd-looking poo.

With that subject line, I thought Miss Molly had just penned sequel lyrics for George Thorogood. (B-b-b-b-bad to the B-b-b-b-bear?) :)

When I was a kid I worked summers at a resort near Ely. A boy my age lived in a house a 100 yards or so along the shoreline of the lake, just north of the resort.

I would often head over to his house after my evening chores, taking a well worn path that followed the shoreline of the lake.

One evening I finished my chores a bit later than usual and as I headed to my buddies house, it was a bit dark along the shoreline path. I was paying close attention to where I was walking and having trouble seeing the path.

Well, the juvenile black bear that was ambling in my direction along the path must have been concentrating as much as I was for neither of us saw the other until we tripped over each other.

I don't know who was more frightened or who screamed louder or who ran faster, but that was the last time I ever used that path in the dark.........

quote awbrown: "When I was a kid I worked summers at a resort near Ely. A boy my age lived in a house a 100 yards or so along the shoreline of the lake, just north of the resort.


I would often head over to his house after my evening chores, taking a well worn path that followed the shoreline of the lake.


One evening I finished my chores a bit later than usual and as I headed to my buddies house, it was a bit dark along the shoreline path. I was paying close attention to where I was walking and having trouble seeing the path.


Well, the juvenile black bear that was ambling in my direction along the path must have been concentrating as much as I was for neither of us saw the other until we tripped over each other.


I don't know who was more frightened or who screamed louder or who ran faster, but that was the last time I ever used that path in the dark........."

With a story this good, it's as fun the second hearing as it was the first!