Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Listening Point - General Discussion :: Close encounter with a bear
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Pinetree |
I used to do a lot of back country in the Absoroka's(sp) north of Yellowstone and in Yellowstone. Lucky I have never seen any grizzly while hiking. I did have one Tho in the brush about 60 yards away and breaking brush in Glacier National Park and I could smell him. Got down to the lake and here was this big Griz track in the sand the water was just running into the track. Got out to the campground after my hike at Polebridge here was the Ranger walking by with a limb. A few years before a Griz took a bite out of his leg. Did see a Griz in Yellowstone while beside my pickup and about 150 yards away in the sagebrush. All of a sudden, he took off in a burst-man are they super-fast for short distances, you better have your spray real handy you won't have much time. Note: Fished an area in Yellowstone and Griz poop everywhere but the cutthroat fishing was excellent> Hmm wonder why I didn't see anyone else there? |
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ockycamper |
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YetiJedi |
Carbon1 - excellent words of wisdom: "If a bear doesn't leave very soon after they know you are human be very careful around them." Thank you, Miss Molly. :) Ducks: HA! One daughter is out west finishing a summer semester of college. She'll be home a week from Friday and then we leave for EP 31 - Farm Lake for 10 days. :) Woodsandwater: Very true...I'm grateful for the memory. The image of the bear stepping out of the water and shaking off the water a few hundred feet away is ingrained in my mind. |
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bfurlow |
YetiJedi: This cracked me up! Sounds exactly like a dad thing to say. Great story, and an awesome encounter. Thanks for sharing! |
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missmolly |
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woodsandwater |
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carbon1 |
They are always on a search for food. Are bears dangerous no, yes, maybe. They are very capable of harming humans. Bears that do not run at the sight or smell of a human should be given special consideration. I have seen 5 or 6 so far this year the closest was about 20 feet . We bumped into each other in some thick woods. at the first sighting he took off. Then stopped at about 40 feet then took off again. Bears are hunted heavily in my area and are mostly respectful of humans. If a bear doesn't leave very soon after they know you are human be very careful around them. |
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YetiJedi |
We camped at site 1152. Halfway through the week two of my daughters joined me in getting firewood across the channel. After we had half a load I looked back to camp, about 1,000 feet away per google maps, and saw a large bear making his way along the shore towards camp - I've seen a fair number of bears in the wilderness, mostly in Wyoming and Idaho, and I am 90% confident it was a male. We started paddling furiously to get back! I didn't want to yell and scare the bear into camp or cause my family to come running (they were on the beach on the other side of camp) towards the bear to see what was wrong. The bear was immediately aware of us returning in the canoe and he stood up to get a better look at us. Fortunately, the bear decided to start working his way back along the shore away from camp so I refrained from yelling. My 14-year-old daughter was in the bow of the canoe and asked what we were going to do as we got closer. I told her to figure it out since she was in the front of the boat! Just kidding...I had my bear spray attached to my PFD and told her we would use it if we had to but that I thought the bear would leave once he saw us headed to camp. My ten-year-old wanted to know if I had my packet knife: "You know, just in case". She still thinks I'm pretty cool. :) Anyway, when the bear reached the point at the end of the small bay, it stopped. At that time, we were close to getting back so I repeatedly yelled "bear" as loud as possible! The bear quickly disappeared into the woods and my oldest daughter arrived first with her bear spray. Shortly after landing the canoe, we saw the bear swimming to the small island in the channel. He got out, shook off, and stood up to observe us - magnificent creature! Then the bear started swimming to the other side of the lake and I was amazed at his raw power in the water. My guess is he was trying to determine what we were going to do so he could put distance between us. Then again, maybe he was simply headed in that direction. We try to keep a clean camp, store food in opsacks, use barrels, etc. There were dozens of turtles laying eggs right in camp every evening and I wonder if that was a natural food source that helped attract the bear. I'm sure it could smell the food we prepared too and also wonder if it knew a canoe left and thought camp was unoccupied. It is also a popular camping site with plenty of buried fish behind camp. It was an adrenaline rush at the moment and scary to consider what could have happened in a worst-case scenario. We measured the last pawprint, still wet, on the beach and the bear was less than 25 feet from my daughter's tent. He stood up less than 10 feet from where my daughters were swimming just a few hours earlier. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and the bear didn't get any food. |
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nctry |
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ducks |
The important question here is….. What did the one daughter that didn’t get to go with on the trip do to get in that much trouble that you made her stay home? LOL. Bwahahaha. |