My bear encounter (not for the weak)

[chickwhorips]

so my tuesday afternoon started off like any normal afternoon. ok not that normal, there was no wind and sunshine. had the urge to go for a run. R said that he wanted to go hunting, i said if it was a quick venture i would go with him. so the dogs and i went for a 2 mile run quick, and i mean quick! i ran it in about a 10 minute mile the whole way! so excited about that. so put the dogs in the house, changed into the waders and off we went.

hiked out to the little island that was about 30 ft wide in the lagoon and set out the decoys. sat down and the brant came in. of course i still can't it the broad side of a barn, so i didn't get anything. i was super frustrated, and never wanting to hunt again! we had a total of 3 birds and the tide moved out so we decided to pack it up.

(now before i go on let me say this: no hate mails please because i'm a hunter. i understand there are people out there that don't belive in killing animals. i am not out there trying to kill everything in sight, i don't believe in that or killing for a hide or rack. i also work for fish and wildlife which is about conserving land and animals. i am a hunter here because it is the main way to get fresh meat. i can't run to the store like anyone else and buy it. also, here being a vegetarian is not practical here either. we don't get fresh fruits and veggies often. i live in a very isolated community where we live a subsitence lifestyle. if this offends anyone, i am sorry.)

bf stood up and looked out at the birds and said "whoa! big bear!" i just looked at him like ha ha funny because he's joked about that before. i grabbed my shotgun and stood up and turned around and said "holy sh!t! BIG bear!" (so now when i say BIG bear, bubba was about 12+ feet, he was an old ornery guy who was a dark brown with a huge hump on his back) i backed away towards ron who was already trying to give him space. i don't remember how quick he came across the island, but i'm thinking pretty quick and he was on our side. he pushed us back into the water. while bf was shooting over his shoulder, both of us yelling at him. we were finally half way out between the island and the shore when we both shot at him from about 15 ft away (that's how close he was). me with the 20g at his face and ron with the 12g over his shoulder. i remember seeing the wad fly out at his nose and thought, wow that almost hit his nose. he after that he stopped pushing us away. scoffed at us and turned to the decoys. he started playing/eating with one of the brant decoys.

we just left everything there and headed back to the truck. and the easiest way to get to the truck is by a bear trail and guess who probably used it recently. we hauled a$$ as quick as we could. we got to the truck ok and drove home. happy to be alive. came home and had a drink. i was surprisingly calm through the whole deal. i was thinking very logically. all my bear safety training going through my head. i remember the bear quite well. i know how wide he was, color, hump on his back and how big his nose was. scary! after the drinks and still being dazed, BF said to me "thanks for keeping it together." it was a good thing we both did keep it together. could've been really bad. good thing we got up when we did. neither of us hear the bear coming with ear plugs in and if we would've waited 30 seconds longer we would've had a bear on top of us. definitely on me, i was sitting between 3 birds! scary. we did have slugs with us, but when we got up so quick they were still in the bag that stayed behind.

the whole situation hit me at about midnight. i was dead asleep when i woke up terrified of what happened. scared to death. so needless to say i didn't sleep much that night. kept having bad dreams, even woke up once and swore i could smell the bear in the house. had dreams of the food chain and many of the landlord of grant point. amazing how insignificant your life is when you realize you are NOT the top of the food chain.

went into work yesterday for an hour and took the rest of the day off. between not sleeping well and just being mentally... bla, i wasn't up for working. i did get BF convinced to take me with him for the recon mission. we went out full armor this time. i had the other 12g with cracker shells (fun but not super effective if the bear doesn't mind bird shot in the face.) and BF had his 12g with 3 in slugs in it. our recon mission turned out successful and no bear to be seen. recovered all pintail decoys, but the brant we chewed and taken out by the tide. all bags were fine, but the brant weren't. only thing left of them was a set of wings.

conclusions on the bear: Very Big, knows what he's doing, doesn't like pink (left my pink water bottle alone), doesn't like chocolate (left the candy bars that i had in my bag alone), likes brant but not pintail decoys.

after the recon mission i just took it easy. cleaned up the house, did laundry and did what any girl would do in my situation after a near death experience: made chocolate cake.

i'm just happy to be alive.

[mimitabby]

wow, Chick
i would not have been able to go to sleep last night in the first place!

poor bear probably didn't like the taste of your decoys either.
now where was your video camera (hhahahaha)


So you really really live somewhere where you can't get fresh fruit and veggies?
what do you do for roughage?

[Lise]

OMG. What an amazing life you get to live--and I'm so glad you get to keep on living it. Scary, scary, scary. Sounds like you and BF have your heads on straight. Good thing.

[Bikingmomof3]

What a frightening ordeal to go through! I am quite relieved to hear you and your boyfriend came away unharmed.

[slinkedog]

Darn right, Team Danger! Wow! I have had one encounter with a bear in my life and he ran away as soon as we started making noises. I can't imagine how you held it together. You Alaskans gotta be brave to live up there in the bush! Do you live near Chicken, by any chance?

[DebW]

Wow, glad the bear only got to eat duck. Take care. Stay safe.

[mimitabby]

Wow, glad the bear only got to eat duck. Take care. Stay safe.

er.. fake duck that is..

[Brandy]

[chickwhorips]

it was super scary. still makes me weak in the knees when i think about it all. i don't look out the window the same way i use to, thats for sure.

bubba got fake duck and fake brant (actually fake duck that was painted to look like fake brant) and also real brant. he was fat and happy.

it is really hard to get veggies here. we have new owners at the store and the veggie supply isn't there. we get good veggies when someone from town comes in and hand carries it. veggies here are worth more than gold. i scrounge around for roughage. found some high fiber bars that help.

we didn't have a camera (if we did it would've been left behind in the bags) but i did have someone at work ask me if i got pictures. i definatly wouldn't have had to use the zoom feature!

slinkedog no chickens here. bears would probably get them. though we are testing other birds (brant and pintails and steller's eiders) for the avian flu. so if the bears and the avian flu don't get me, who knows what will.

[mimitabby]

you might try sprouting beans for bean sprouts?
I can't imagine living without fresh veggies!

sorry you lost your duck dinner.

[horsemom]

Holy Batpoop!!! That is an amazing story--a grizzly, I presume? I raised an 18 month old 'hit by car' black bear for 10 months before he was released, but they are nowhere near the size or danger of the grizzlies.

Have you seen the docu of the guy and his GF who were eaten by bears up there? Timothy Treadwell, I believe. I have not seen the film, but have read several articles about him. He actually lived out there in the bear fields 'studying' the bears and thought that they wouldn't hurt him....nuts. There is an actual voice recording of him getting eaten--gross.

Anyway, I love the stories of your life...

Laura

[latelatebloomer]

More proof that TE women are tough as nails. That "cool head in emergency, fall apart later" can really pack a wallop, but I'm so glad you held it together when Bubba came a-calling.

[Kitsune06]

oh my god. *hug* CWR- that's scary! I'm so glad you're okay! I can't imagine two loads of bird shot and he wasn't even fazed. Scary, SO scary.

[Cassandra_Cain]

OMG - wow, how scary is that!

I'm glad you made it ok and even had the wherewithal to make chocolate cake. Good idea.

Stay safe

[Denise223]

That's just too scary for me -- I'm happy to hear that you & your BF kept it together!

Stay safe.

Peace & Love,

Denise