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Old 07-17-2016, 04:19 PM   #21
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Bears?

Envious of you bear encounter... or were you clothed?

As conservation biologists who have spent 25+ years living in Central America (Now we are Scampers in the great white north) and working from Mexico to Bolivia, we have had many "predatory" wildlife encounters. My wife, to paraphrase our international conservation organization coordinator "She has seen more jaguars while on foot than any living white woman." OK, she has seen >25 jaguars while on foot. Pumas, AKA mountain lions? Well, she had so many face-to-face encounters (>18) that curdled my being and I always wished she would stop!

One afternoon 3 - 3/4 grown puma cubs followed here up our driveway in Belize, likely attracted to our 12 lb Maltese/Havanese dog nearly to the back steps of our house leading to the door before scampering off into the bush.

As conservation field biologists who were part of a global conservation research organization for more than a quarter century, we occasionally met with other conservation ecologists from the world over. For North America, the standing joke was you could always differentiate Grizzly bear scat from black bear scat. Black bears (being smaller) usually had mixed berries and an occasional rodent in their poop. While it may not have been uncommon to find jingle bells... like worn by hikers, in Grizzly scat.

Hmm.

Now that we are back in the U.S. permanently we still aspire to see a bear in the wild. Waiting for our Alaskan Scamp adventure and if we can manage to caravan with some folks that would be even better.
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Old 07-17-2016, 04:27 PM   #22
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If you head up the Al-Can in spring, you are pretty much guaranteed to see blackbear and griz, bison, bighorn sheep, and plenty of other large fauna grazing on the new growth on the sides of the highway in northern BC and the Yukon. It is a marvelous time to travel north.

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Old 07-17-2016, 05:10 PM   #23
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My Back Yard

We live literally in town but just a few hundred yards from the Pike National Forest. There is a ravine with a stream in our yard which is the forest equivalent of an interstate highway.

Besides cougar tracks in the snow next to our house there was once an unlikely set of three cougars that lived under a neighbors deck for a short while. They were two yearlings and a two year old. (I only know that because a wildlife officer told me.) I didn't see when the dead fawn was deposited in our yard (I thought they cached them??) but I did get to watch the yearlings fight over it. I live in the low IQ district (some blame hypoxia) and folks here just leave their dogs loose. After some mystery missing dog quota was achieved the wildlife folks sedated and transported the cats to the mountains. Apparently one tranquilizer needle hit a blood vessel and that one died. These were the only cougars I've seen live.

We don't see many bears but this year we've only seen one pile of scat. No bears at all. One winter we did see tracks in the snow of a bear getting on it's hind legs to look in a basement window.

We haven't had rabbits for years. For (I guess) two years we haven't had foxes apparently due to distemper. Hence the rabbits. We have for the first time lots of underground rodents (I think gophers, moles, voles??) apparently due to the absence of foxes. The first message in this thread talked of bears eating these boring rodents. Well, I wish they would!!
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Old 07-17-2016, 06:58 PM   #24
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Dealing with Bears is Easy

In bear country, always be sure to travel with a friend. That way, if you encounter a bear, you do not have to outrun the bear, you simply have to outrun your friend!
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Old 07-17-2016, 07:25 PM   #25
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I've had many encounters with black bears, and every time the bear left in a rush, so I don't worry about black bears. Follow good practices in keeping trash and food in proper containers, don't get between a mom and her cubs, and black bears will leave you alone.

Grizzlies are another issue. I always stay aware of my surroundings in grizzly country, because they are far more dangerous than a black bear.
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Old 07-17-2016, 07:53 PM   #26
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Update: I was just putting a new sticker on my boat trailer's license plate. The trailer is parked next to a rock wall. I heard snorting and turned. About 10 feet horizontally away from me and about seven feet above me was a very black medium sized bear. No ear tags indicating that he/she hasn't been a problem. I yelled and he/she ran off, continuing to not be a problem!!
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Old 07-17-2016, 08:08 PM   #27
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I'm not scared of bears....spiders though, that's different.
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Old 07-17-2016, 08:13 PM   #28
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For those that may be interested, I have posted some of my wildlife pictures on FB and could post some here. All of my albums are "public" so you should be able to browse at your leisure. I do think that Brown Bears have a WHOLE different personality than Black Bears. That said, I don't challenge them. I just have never been fearful.

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Old 07-18-2016, 12:46 AM   #29
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Originally Posted by Talia View Post
I've had many encounters with black bears, and every time the bear left in a rush, so I don't worry about black bears. Follow good practices in keeping trash and food in proper containers, don't get between a mom and her cubs, and black bears will leave you alone.

Grizzlies are another issue. I always stay aware of my surroundings in grizzly country, because they are far more dangerous than a black bear.
========================================
Here is a nice black bear at a local fair, earning money to help other bears in need . . . or so they said. He has a collar but isn't chained. Bears are fascinating creatures, this one has problems and can't be returned to the wild. For a few dollars you can stand next to him for a photo with just a thin plexiglas shield between you. David in Fresno,Sonora, and next week Oregon Gathering.
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Old 07-18-2016, 09:17 AM   #30
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========================================
Here is a nice black bear at a local fair, earning money to help other bears in need . . . or so they said. He has a collar but isn't chained. Bears are fascinating creatures, this one has problems and can't be returned to the wild. For a few dollars you can stand next to him for a photo with just a thin plexiglas shield between you. David in Fresno,Sonora, and next week Oregon Gathering.
That's so sad. It shouldn't have to suffer being a human's plaything, nor forced to do unnatural things to earn money for its owner. If it cannot be returned to the wild, it should at least be placed in a sanctuary.
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Old 07-18-2016, 09:51 AM   #31
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Bear

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That's so sad. It shouldn't have to suffer being a human's plaything, nor forced to do unnatural things to earn money for its owner. If it cannot be returned to the wild, it should at least be placed in a sanctuary.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

The group claims to use him to teach people about bears, and earn enough money to provide sanctuary for other bears.
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Old 07-18-2016, 10:09 AM   #32
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--------------------------------------------------------------------

The group claims to use him to teach people about bears, and earn enough money to provide sanctuary for other bears.
Even if that's true, that doesn't make it okay what they're doing to that bear. And I'd sure like to see a breakdown of where that money actually goes.
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Old 07-18-2016, 11:30 AM   #33
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My MIL & BIL

Bear Kills Woman and Her Son in Alaska - NYTimes.com
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Dear KC---I just read this article and my heart goes out to you and your family.

While people generally LOVE making mother-in-law jokes, this is NO joking matter and you have my deepest sympathy for this horrendous loss.

How is your nephew doing???

Thanks for sharing.
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Old 07-18-2016, 11:52 AM   #34
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My condolences. That is very tragic.
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Old 07-18-2016, 11:57 AM   #35
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In bear country, always be sure to travel with a friend. That way, if you encounter a bear, you do not have to outrun the bear, you simply have to outrun your friend!

I was always picked near the last for school sports teams ... but I'm always chosen first for a hiking bear buddy!
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Old 07-18-2016, 02:55 PM   #36
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This is just horrendous--

Quote:
Originally Posted by k corbin View Post



Noticed the other poster commenting on this so finally
checked it out.

How is the boy doing now? What a trauma!

Our deep sympathies.
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Old 07-18-2016, 05:52 PM   #37
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snoring and grunting sounds like something else other than snoring!

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You're not alone.

We were at Grand Coulee Dam, camping in a van, and I walked to the restroom in the middle of the night. I was nearly inside when I heard what I could only identify as a coyote, snarling, close by.

I hurried into the restroom, helped push the heavy self-closing (but slow) door shut, and took care of things; then I checked outside.

I could still hear it.

I lurked and checked, lurked and checked for over an hour while the huge mosquito eaters fluttered all around me, drawn by the restroom lights. I got more and more tired and even bored, colder and more miserable until I finally decided it was the coyote or me.

I decided I'd make a break for it and if it came to combat, I'd fight and scream my loudest.

I slipped out of the restroom and for the first time was able to pinpoint the sound--coming from a nearby tent. Yup. Same deal.

A human, snoring, mistaken for wildlife. Boy.

Would I make the same mistake again?

Probably.
Kai my wife got me to get a C-Pap machine now she does not hear a peep of a snore from me, big problem she cannot sleep until I hit the sack and some nights I cannot sleep due to Medical problems but the Cpap shut the snoring down 100%, they say from 2 doors away I keep most of the Neighbourhood awake until I got the Machine. Just upgraded to sit in Nostril only no more face armaments.
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Old 07-18-2016, 06:03 PM   #38
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I have this theory that snoring evolved to help us defenseless humans scare off predators. Well, that's my story. . .

So take off your C-pap gizmo, and maybe you'll even frighten the bears!

/Mr Lynn
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Old 07-28-2016, 08:39 AM   #39
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Kai my wife got me to get a C-Pap machine now she does not hear a peep of a snore from me, big problem she cannot sleep until I hit the sack and some nights I cannot sleep due to Medical problems but the Cpap shut the snoring down 100%, they say from 2 doors away I keep most of the Neighbourhood awake until I got the Machine. Just upgraded to sit in Nostril only no more face armaments.
Stude


Hey, Stude,
Hadn't heard about the updates to the C-Pap; a good idea!
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Old 07-28-2016, 10:12 AM   #40
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Bears and C-Pap

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Hey, Stude,
Hadn't heard about the updates to the C-Pap; a good idea!
: Yep used to scare the Bears now don't even bother them. I dropped it to a 6 and it does the trick stops all the snoring but does fall out occasionally & when it does it wakes me enough to put it back on. I Like it just in the nose now stops problems with the other stuff and rubbing my nose irritating the Basil Cel Carcinoma problems I have there.
If you ever had to burn your arms, face, back of hands, ears along the edge, nose, and some areas of neck one does not have any idea what kind of hell that is.
Stude
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