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Bears and such

Well, Fall is well on it's way up here, and with it the bears trying to stock up on calories before hibernation. I was getting the ventilation and inflator system set up yesterday, my mind completely immersed in some problem or other, when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I spun around to find a momma bear and her twins starting to munch on the chard I have in a wicking bed. Now my Walapini style GH is 20'*24' so there is not much room for confrontation. Besides, I was near the back wall kitty corner to the door. I don't know who was more startled, me or the bears. I let out a yell, Momma gave a cough to warn the cubs, who were by this time well outside and heading for the nearest tree. Momma, however was not about to give up so easily. So I grabbed my shovel and hammer and proceeded to make enough noise to 'wake the di'el hisself', as my gramps used to say. Well, apparently Momma thought that discretion was the better part of a good chard feed, and slowly backed out of the GH, muttering threats all the while. Well, another day in our beautiful part of the world.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeremiah Robinson on September 15, 2014 at 10:23am

Wow! What a story - that sounds terrifying!

Sounds like you managed it well. Hopefully they won't come back and finish off the chard.

Permalink Reply by Ian Cameron on September 15, 2014 at 10:43am

Well, it certainly got the heart rate up. Darned near like the end of a 3 mile run. This particular Momma has been around for a few years and has twins every other year. They are a part of our life and we generally ignore each other. Never had her so close though. I suspect I will have to put up an electric fence around the perimeter of the GH. That darned plastic is very expensive.

Permalink Reply by Dana Choate on September 15, 2014 at 7:29pm

Wow! What a fun story...well fun now that its over I guess. Bears can be pests. We had a bear meander through our back yard but it was just passing through. My dog was very upset since my kids were outside she barked a lot and was circling them until they came inside. She's quite protective.

We also had a bear visit us while we were camping in Colorado. Apparently one of my children who was assigned to clean up the kitchen screen tent didn't put the cereal away. The bear ran off with a huge bag of honey nut cheerios. Yes, I know....

Any way fun stuff that.

Permalink Reply by Jeremiah Robinson on September 15, 2014 at 10:24pm

My grandmother once slept in her car in the UP and woke up with a bear on the hood. She was so nonchalant, just waited it out.

Permalink Reply by Ian Cameron on September 16, 2014 at 8:37am

Dana, bears can be pests if you encourage them to be. They are creatures of opportunity. I am constantly amazed it the furor that is raised in suburban neighborhoods when folks leave their garbage out etc. and the bears come around to take advantage of a free meal (reminds me of university students) . In our Secwepemc culture we view bears as a sort of brother, therefore we do not bother them nor encourage them to behave badly. I guess we understand that we are in any wild creatures back yard, not vice versa. 'Nuff said.