Another Bear Tale

This seems to be the year of the bear. This tale is a lot closer to home than the last one. In fact this one occurred in my yard.

Friday afternoon I was mowing and my wife was working in her flower bed at the end of the drive. Across the road from our house is a ten acre corn field. I had just mowed along the road beside the corn field and had gone on down the hill. My wife said she heard something in the corn. At first she thought it was one of her cats but it sounded too big to be a cat. Next she thought maybe a cow had gotten out and was in the corn. Right when a big bear stepped out of the corn about 20 yards from her. Seeing her it take off across the road through the yard and across the small field beside the yard until it was back in the woods again. During all of this I had reached the end of our property and was coming back up the other side of the road. My wife was standing at the top of the hill waving her arms and pointing. My first thought was that she had seen a rattlesnake. July and August is the time of the year when the rattlesnakes come out of the mountain and we'll find them in the yard. Reaching the top of the hill my wife told me the story of her bear encounter. I'm not sure why the bear would leave the cover of the corn field in daylight especially when it had to hear me mowing near by.

This bear could be one I'm getting on the cameras. According to the American Bear Association the range of a male black bear is 8 to 60 square miles. Females are 1 to 15 square miles. Well with in the range of my house and the farm I set my cameras on. I may need to bring a camera back to the house and set it up.

A few more of the various bears I've been getting is below.

Peanut Thieving Bear

I was talking to a neighbor and he related a funny story about a peanut stealing bear. He is a dairy farmer and stores 100 lb. sacks of peanuts in his barn that he feeds to his dairy cows. He was working at his barn one morning earlier this summer when the corn was still fairly short and noticed a bear in his corn field next to the barn. The bear would stand up look around and then drop back down in the same spot. It did this a couple of times. The farmer got curious as to what the bear was up to so he walked out into the corn about 100 yards to where the bear was. The bear ran off when he approached and he found one of his sacks of peanuts torn apart and mostly eaten. Apparently the bear smelling the peanuts walked into the barn and helped himself to a sack. Below are some miscellaneous bear pics I’ve gotten over the last couple of weeks. Since this farm is only about a mile away from the farm I set my cameras on I wonder if one of these is the peanut thieving bear?

Fawns

We have really had a bountiful fawn crop this year. It seems they're everywhere. Got this group of five together last week. They all look big, strong and healthy. I'm sure the doe in the pictures isn't the mother to all of them but she is the only one in any of the pictures I got with all five fawns in. I'm guessing the other does were off to the side.

Bear Triplets

Well the bear triplets are growing like weeds also. Got some good infrared shots of them hanging around the Mt Pond last week.

Back Pack Gadgets

I’m always interested in what other folks carry in their packs so I thought I would do a post on what I carry. I did the pics one Sunday on the cabin porch while I was out checking my cameras and I had to wait for a thunderstorm to pass. Most of the time I carry the pack setting out or checking my trail cameras but I also use it for hiking. Love to hear about any unusual things you carry and what you use them for.


Below are a few pics of the pack and some of the gadgets I carry. The last pic is numbered with a description on each gadget below it.

                                   
Pack - Drago Tracker – My old pack was worn out so I replaced it last winter with this one. This is a great pack that has lots of room at a good price.

1. Ontario Knife Company Spec Plus Machete #SP8-94 - I wanted something that would replace both my long machete and hatchet. This has worked out great. It has a nice handle, 10” blade, and is very heavy.

2. Metrix LED Flash Light – At one dollar these are really good flashlights.

3. Streamlight ProTac 1L Flash Light – Yes, I carry two flashlights. I had a light fail on me many years ago and leave me in the dark about ½ mile from the cabin. After that I’ve always carried two lights. For its small size this light has a very strong beam and can be set to strobe.

4. Corona Pruning Saw – Great for trimming larger branches and small trees.

5. Diamalloy Fence Pliers – This is the antique in my pack. I don’t think Diamalloy is even still in business. Now you may wonder why carry fence pliers. But let me tell you this is a tough, heavy duty tool. You can hammer, cut wire, dug, pry, grip, etc. etc. etc. I really need to paint these orange so I don’t lose them in the leaves when I lay them down.

6. Bushell 10X42 Trophy Binoculars – Nice little compact binoculars.

7. Ontario Knife Company Spec Plus USN-1 Clip Point with Line Cutter 5" Blade – I always like carrying a fixed blade knife. This was a little dull when I got it but a little time in the wet stone and its razor sharp.

8. Leatherman Rebar Multitool – This tool will cover most anything the fence pliers won’t.

9. Doan Magnesium Fire Starter – I carry a lighter in my pack but this is fun to play with when you need to start a fire.

10. Cabela's Alaskan Guide XR Headlamp – O.K I have three lights. What can I say? I’m a little paranoid :). Actually my daughter got me this for Christmas one year. It works great when you need both hands free.

11. Orange Marking Tape – I carry a roll of this to mark anything I want to found easily later on. I’m getting old and can’t remember things like I use to . I mark dead trees we can cut for firewood, locations I want to try as a new camera location, or miscellaneous other things.

12. Coleman Lensatic Compass – This is not the compass I would recommend if I was going someplace that my life could depend on it but this is good for what I use it for. I generally use it to position my cameras. The cameras work best if they are facing to the North. This prevents problems with the sun washing out the pics.

13. Fiskar Pruners – Great for small branch trimming and pruning.

I also carry a small first aid kit in one of the small side pouches and a canteen pouch attaches for when I’m hiking or doing more than just checking my cameras.