THAT'S THE BEAR

[3RRL]

Well, we finally saw "THE BEAR" at camp this weekend...Friday night at 1:00am. Excitement is a mild way to put it. Here's what happened...

When we got to camp we saw sign that he had been in camp and into the ATV shed. Sure signs of bear visitors.
This is the back of the ATV shed where the bear came in. It looked like he had slept there.



There were a few things knocked over in the kitchen area.



He had eaten most of the birdseed out of this 50lb bag!



The only things he got into were the bird seed bag, and Coco's 5 gallon pail of dog food we keep. He bit the pail and pried off the sealed lid.



He also bit a jug of stuff that Loretta spreads around her garden to keep deer and other animals away!

 

[Captinjack]

Bears are like 300# racoons........Undesireable! They get into everything and cause a lot of damage.

You can expect him to return as long as there is food. Anything remotely consumable should be kept in a metal SECURE container.

While nice to see every once in a while, Bears quickly become a large PITA. A good load of birdshot on sight is a great deterrant and will make them wary of humans and run away if seen.

This may simply be a wandering young weaned male that is in search of a new home territory. Hopefully, he will move on and not be seen again.

 

[3RRL]

There was bear scat all over camp telling us he had stuck around for several days and evidence that he slept in the ATV shed and behind it.
Sorry if these are a little graphic...







And the tell tale foot prints all over the area.



So naturally, I became somewhat alarmed and thought he might come by again? I just didn't know when. It was evident that he had been here a while and found the place inviting. My hunch proved to be true as you will see later.

Some of you who have read about my camp know I have been camping up there with my family for about 3 years now, but still go through the same routine and take safety precautions every time. As usual, we were armed in case of the worst. A .357 mag revolver in my tent, Wes has the .30 M1 carbine and two 12 gage shotguns in scabbards on the decks. They are always loaded when we retire and we have about 10 flashlights "in case" of an emergency. I also had the 30:06 and a 30:30 up there, but thought the shotguns would be the best defense in case of a charge at close range....different than hunting.

 

[3RRL]

It was hard for me to fall asleep that night. I kept hearing things in the forest around us. Then around midnight I heard the bear cough what seemed far away. I had heard that before while elk hunting and knew it was the bear. Loretta and I waited for some time but heard nothing else, and soon we dozed off to sleep.

Then, at 1:00am in the middle of the night, Coco our small black lab mix let out one bark and then charged an animal right behind our tent. It was a full moon and we could see the silhouettes very plainly. When Coco barked, Loretta and I shot up and we saw Coco charge the huge bear. Loretta and I saw this and she said matter of factly "That's the Bear".

The bear was completely surprised when Coco charged. He wheeled around and ran right through some buckbrush. We called Coco back and she came. We then got dressed and armed ourselves and got Wes up. I could hear the bear huffing and coughing loudly behind our tent and towards the "parking lot". I really thought he might charge us at that time...I did not know what else to think.

 

[3RRL]

I have those giant flashights...spotlights so I lit up the area and had the shotgun ready...so did Loretta and Wes. I thought he was hiding in some thick brush up the hillside a ways, but Loretta saw some leaves and branches fall. She said "I think he's in the trees?" I shined the spotlight upwards and located the bear and indeed, he was in that huge Oak tree 30' from the tents.

My camera does not take good exposures at night, not only that, you can't see what you're trying to shoot with the camera, but Loretta go this shot where he is in the fork of the tree. You can see his muzzle pointing up and his belly along the fork of the tree.



This was a lot better situation than having him on the ground in some brush. Even so, we were all scared that he would come down and charge...or who know what? I did not want a bear/human/dog confrontation of any sort...that never works out for anyone.
So while we were deciding what to do, we kept a sharp eye on the bear. It was like the spot lights kept it up there until we made up our minds.
Here is Loretta.



He was hooting, coughing, angry and scared. He was cinnamon colored...beautiful 400lb+ male in his prime....he was huge! No way could we stay at camp while he was treed and Coco would probably start barking or who knows what could have happened. All of this took place in a matter of minutes and my mind was racing.

 

[3RRL]

I decided to get everyone including Coco into the jeep for safety, with our guns and lights. Then Loretta suggested we drive away to give him the chance to come down. Good thinking. We were hoping he was scared enough not to come back while we were there. We drove into the meadow about 100 yards away and waited about 1 hour and he finally came down. We could still hear him in the dark.
Loretta took this shot from the jeep.



A minute later we saw him amble off in the moonlight. I drove the jeep towards him as he was moving from camp towards the property to the North. Then he disappeared into the forest and did not come back the rest of the weekend.

Although we were armed, we did not want to hurt him under any circumstances short of an actual attack. I thought we were lucky and smart to give him the opportunity to get out of there, avoiding a confrontation. Not only that, we were out of harms way as well.

 

[3RRL]

Coco was heroic! She did not hesitate one second to charge him as he approached the camp. She has done this on several occasions in the past too, but we were never sure what it was she was chasing away. Usually coyotes or deer. This time it was the bear. She could have gotten killed easily, but I think the bear was so surprised that she (and we) were there at camp, that he lost his nerve and ran. Especially that she charged him. She is a great dog...a big brave dog trapped in a small body. You should have seen her! She stayed at our side through the whole episode.
Here she is.

 

[3RRL]

In the morning we surveyed the area and the tree he was in. Unbelievable to see a giant animal climb a tree like that. The shear clamping strength needed to pull up all that weight is hard to imagine. We took some photos that actually show the "footprints" he left on the tree trunk.





You can see where the bark has been "pressed in" by his clamping the tree trunk...unreal!

Throughout this episode, Loretta and Wes (Coco too) remained surprisingly calm. lol ... Seemed like I was the most excited of all of them? Of course I was extremely worried about them. But it all turned out alright.
Due to our home schedule, we will not return until August 18th (Loretta's birthday). So I hope he does not get the idea that camp is vacant again for him. It was an exciting weekend, to say the least. Needless to say, I did not sleep well the next evening up there.

 

[texasjohn]

Great story! Great dog! Great big Bear! Great that you were armed, just in case. Sad that people and such animals don't mix well. You did right in seeking to allow it to go on its way... maybe you have provided some "aversion training" that will keep it away from human habitations in the future.

I'm sure you've thought thru this, but if you DO have to shoot, my opinion is that you 1st shoot to scare it away. Then, if it is actually attacking, you shoot to kill, using maximum firepower available, and keep shooting until it is no longer moving... a wounded bear would not be a good thing to go after. I'm assuming you have slugs in the shotguns.. if not, then I'd think that the 30.06 would be the weapon of choice.. assuming you have a choice and don't simply have to grab the 1st thing at hand.

 

[Thomas]

Afternoon Rob. I'd say you and the Mrs. had night full of memories...yikes...maybe #8's or 6 bird shot in his butt from fair distance might get him to thinking before returning....be safe out there.