Howdy,
I don't often post on here, but I had the most amazing, and terrifying, awesome experience the other night. I thought people may be interested to know, and it is probably very pertinent to those who live and visit bear country. Take note; never underestimate these things, never take liberties with them, and never let your guard down.
2 nights ago, I was travelling back home from a nightshift in the middle of nowhere. I was in a work vehicle, and was accompanied by a trainee. Bears are very relevant to my job, and I am very aware of them, their body language, their behaviour, and cautions to take around them, but this one caught me out. It just goes to show, they're all individuals, and just because one bear does one thing, doesn't mean the next bear will behave in the same way. Before people start chipping in with their 2 pence worth on what went wrong, I know exactly what went wrong, and know how to avoid it in future.
01:30 am, and I was travelling home. Wildlife on the roads is pretty frequent at that hour where I live, so I was keeping an eye out for creatures, and eye shine as I was driving back. I'd just passed through a herd of cow and calf elk, when up ahead crossing the road and heading into the ditch I see the dark shape of a bear. The bear was heading across the road to the treeline, and it was reasonably dark, so I couldn't see if it was black or griz. There was a dark shape in the middle of the road, and I couldn't tell what it was. I was thinking it was either a medium sized cub, or an elk calf that the bear had nailed.
I started to slow down on approach so as not to run over the object. At around 50 metres, the lump separates, and I see that it is in fact 2 tiny little puffball grizzly cubs who both start heading for the ditch behind what is now apparently Mum. They looked like a lump because they'd been rolling about wrestling in the middle of the road. No big deal, I've seen this lots of times before. Mum is ignoring us, babies are following, just slow down a bit to let them get off the road (cause no-one wants to run over a puffball), and don't stop to look as this'll just stress mum out. Little Yogi and Boo Boo make it to the ditch no problem.
At this point, Mum rears up on her hind legs, and simultaneously does a 180, and comes down onto all fours, and she starts coming like a freight train. She's making no sound whatsoever, her ears are flat back against her head, and her eye's are locked onto me like a missile guidance system. Amazing. I've never seen anything like it. Instant brown underpants. She covered the 35 to 40 metre distance between us in less time than it took me to react and floor the gas pedal, and before I knew it, she was 5 feet from the drivers window. Thankfully the truck reacted fast and I was moving out of there just in time to see her rear up and swipe at the vehicle (missing by centimetres) with her left paw. I then see her in the wing mirror, waving her arms about like a heavyweight boxer, before dropping down onto all fours again and persueing the vehicle for about 25 metres. It was simultaneously one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and an incredibly scary one too.
It was actually kind of cute (in a large terrifying animal sort of way) in that mum was so protective of her babies that she was willing to take on a full size pickup truck just for being in their vicinity. I've had dozens of bear experiences and encounters on both foot and in a vehicle, and have never seen anything like this before. I saw the said same bear again last night, in the same location, and in the same circumstances (only difference being that Yogi and Boo Boo were playing behind her, and not in the middle of the road). Just goes to show, they're all different animals, with different tempers, and sometimes the same animal is different from day to day. It's worth noting this the next time you are pulling over in Banff, Jasper, or Yellowstone, to watch a Griz in the ditch.
I don't often post on here, but I had the most amazing, and terrifying, awesome experience the other night. I thought people may be interested to know, and it is probably very pertinent to those who live and visit bear country. Take note; never underestimate these things, never take liberties with them, and never let your guard down.
2 nights ago, I was travelling back home from a nightshift in the middle of nowhere. I was in a work vehicle, and was accompanied by a trainee. Bears are very relevant to my job, and I am very aware of them, their body language, their behaviour, and cautions to take around them, but this one caught me out. It just goes to show, they're all individuals, and just because one bear does one thing, doesn't mean the next bear will behave in the same way. Before people start chipping in with their 2 pence worth on what went wrong, I know exactly what went wrong, and know how to avoid it in future.
01:30 am, and I was travelling home. Wildlife on the roads is pretty frequent at that hour where I live, so I was keeping an eye out for creatures, and eye shine as I was driving back. I'd just passed through a herd of cow and calf elk, when up ahead crossing the road and heading into the ditch I see the dark shape of a bear. The bear was heading across the road to the treeline, and it was reasonably dark, so I couldn't see if it was black or griz. There was a dark shape in the middle of the road, and I couldn't tell what it was. I was thinking it was either a medium sized cub, or an elk calf that the bear had nailed.
I started to slow down on approach so as not to run over the object. At around 50 metres, the lump separates, and I see that it is in fact 2 tiny little puffball grizzly cubs who both start heading for the ditch behind what is now apparently Mum. They looked like a lump because they'd been rolling about wrestling in the middle of the road. No big deal, I've seen this lots of times before. Mum is ignoring us, babies are following, just slow down a bit to let them get off the road (cause no-one wants to run over a puffball), and don't stop to look as this'll just stress mum out. Little Yogi and Boo Boo make it to the ditch no problem.
At this point, Mum rears up on her hind legs, and simultaneously does a 180, and comes down onto all fours, and she starts coming like a freight train. She's making no sound whatsoever, her ears are flat back against her head, and her eye's are locked onto me like a missile guidance system. Amazing. I've never seen anything like it. Instant brown underpants. She covered the 35 to 40 metre distance between us in less time than it took me to react and floor the gas pedal, and before I knew it, she was 5 feet from the drivers window. Thankfully the truck reacted fast and I was moving out of there just in time to see her rear up and swipe at the vehicle (missing by centimetres) with her left paw. I then see her in the wing mirror, waving her arms about like a heavyweight boxer, before dropping down onto all fours again and persueing the vehicle for about 25 metres. It was simultaneously one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and an incredibly scary one too.
It was actually kind of cute (in a large terrifying animal sort of way) in that mum was so protective of her babies that she was willing to take on a full size pickup truck just for being in their vicinity. I've had dozens of bear experiences and encounters on both foot and in a vehicle, and have never seen anything like this before. I saw the said same bear again last night, in the same location, and in the same circumstances (only difference being that Yogi and Boo Boo were playing behind her, and not in the middle of the road). Just goes to show, they're all different animals, with different tempers, and sometimes the same animal is different from day to day. It's worth noting this the next time you are pulling over in Banff, Jasper, or Yellowstone, to watch a Griz in the ditch.
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