Here's my latest encounter on the wild side. This past summer while on my extended canoe trip, It was morning and I was in my camp packing and preparing to start my day of paddling when I heard some noise down at the waters edge. I grabbed my camera and a bear banger and sure enough there was a bear walking up the path. When he caught wind of me he took off into the woods about 25 yards and circled back in for another look. he walked straight towards me and stopped only 4 (about 12 feet) paces from me. I took some pics then said to the bear in a calm voice, "that's close enough, it's time for you to leave" and I shot off the bear banger. The bear took off like a shot and could be heard running through the forest like a cannon ball. After he was gone I started to shake from the adrenaline, I had never been that close to a wild bear before. I didn't at any time feel threatened. This experience is one that I will cherish for a long time. To meet a wild animal in his environment is truly a great experience. Everything was stripped away, all the walls that society has built between the wild and ourselves to keep us from really appreciating the natural world were gone. All that was left was just me and the bear.
1 comment:
Geez Mark, you should have snagged a biopsy, or at least some hair, from that bear, before and after the bear banger! The I really could have tested out my lab work and it's ability to detect the short-term stress chemicals that had just been dumped into it's blood stream.
Cheers,
Bryan
Post a Comment