Picking raspberries in your yard becomes a whole new type of experience after you have seen a black bear sniffing around the canes.
I had the dog out in the yard, thinking he would alert me if any large furry visitors came calling. Yes, the same do that sat silently in the living room while the rest of us ran about loudly commenting about the unusual diner in the front yard. Even our obvious nervousness didn't get him at least curious. Um.. yeh.. I don't think he's going to be much help here.
Any tiny noise made me twitchy. Jumpier than a cat on a hot tin roof.
At one point I was sure I heard a snorting, grunting sort of a noise. I jumped back about 6 feet from the raspberry canes, and made ready to sling my bucket of raspberries at the bear while screaming loudly and running for the house.
Wait.. you're not supposed to run when you encounter a bear, are you? Or maybe you are?
I found myself playing out the scenario. What would I do if/when I came face to face with the bear? I tried to think about what Bear Grylls or that Survivorman would do. All I could remember was that you should always try to purify water before drinking it, and that if you fall through a frozen pond you are supposed to get naked and rub yourself with snow. I don't think survivor dudes are gonna be much help either.
Note to self: watch more Discovery channel - one never knows.
Unfortunately that line of thinking also got me thinking about the Grizzly Man. You know.. the guy who filmed his life living with wild bears. Until they killed and ate him. Thinking about him did not help my mental situation either.
Every rustle in the leaves had me convinced that Mr Bear was sneaking up on me, thinking that the bucket of berries I was carrying would make a nice dessert after his tasty meal of Me. Although from my very limited exposure to bears, I don't believe it's likely that they sneak up on anything. They don't seem to be a light footed sort of animal. In fact, I would have to say the one I saw sort of lumbered about.
Still... one can never be too careful. Still thinking about the Grizzly Man.
Love the advice you remember from Bear Grylls. Another one that is not quite useful for your situation... you can cut open a camel and sleep in it to stay warm during cold desert nights.
ReplyDeleteBe careful!!
LOL!! Nope, no camels around here. Maybe a nice bearskin rug? ;)
Deletewhat about getting bear spray or something that you could spray in their face. Carry a bell with you that makes loud noise; I think that's what they say when you are hiking some place with bears. I'm so not a wilderness person so clueless on what else to suggest....
ReplyDeletejust be safe out there!
betty
I've had a few people tell me about bear spray. I had no idea there even was such a thing!
DeleteReally watch out if you see baby bears. When I took a Ranger talk camping in the Smoky mountains, they said if you see a baby bear, make sure you don't go ANY where near it. Mamma bear will be somewhere close by and they will attack if they see a threat. They have a lot of bears there, and only times they had problems was when alcohol was involved (people eat KFC in a hammock and are greasy and fall asleep drunk..wake up and see bear licking their face and they decide to "beat up " the bear...guess who got hurt? Two other cases were ladies taking pics of baby bears..
ReplyDelete