I grew up during the theatrical release of The Jungle Book (a long time ago!), and one of my first ideas of bears was Baloo scratching his back and singing "The Bear Necessities." Lovely fellow! This association with friendly, cuddly bears likely contributes to my lack of fear about these sharp-clawed animals in the wild—and having been a city dweller for so many years, bears weren't something I've ever given much thought to.
I now live in a more rural area, with a couple of bears regularly patrolling my neighbourhood - evidenced by the large, triangular deposits left behind or the occasional raid of a neighbour's garbage can if left outside. Luckily, these are black bears and not their aggressive relatives, though one is still pretty big. They walk through my street mostly at night to get from the hills where they live to the orchards on the other side of my house.
Mrs. T is much more prudent about bear safety and insists on carrying bear spray when we venture into the trails. She carries a bear bell when hiking or will set up her phone to play music and make noise to avoid creeping up on a bear. I go along with such measures largely for marital harmony. However, if I'm hiking deep in the back woods, I'm likely to strap on a can of bear spray. I've had bears walk through my camps, but they haven't woken me up, and I tend to be bear-aware with food to avoid potential problems.
Last weekend, I had my first close-up bear encounter. We were camping on a property some miles to the West of us in a beautiful wooded valley. I was taking Coco, our Lhasa Apso Princess Puppy, out for a walk when I noted a big black bear in the meadow a couple of hundred feet from us. Mr. Bear was doing beary things and foraging around the meadow, paying us no mind. Coco was likewise entertained by the sniffs of white-tail deer that had passed through the campground the night before. Indeed, it was The Peaceable Kingdom, with nobody paying any mind to anyone else.
So, I did what any self-respecting iPhone-carrying moron would do and broke out the camera to get a couple of pictures of the bear. I'm not suggesting I walked closer to get a selfie or anything that daft, but seeing a bear in the wild doing bear things was interesting. Very cool.
That was until Mr. Bear noticed us and started walking towards us. I didn't think much of it at first, as I was trying to keep an eye on the dog doing that circular walk that we all know means relief is coming soon. I looked up and saw that the bear had suddenly gotten much closer. Even at a walk, a bear moves quickly, and when it's looking straight at you and walking in your direction, it moves like the wind.
At about 100 feet away, I was tempted to pick up Coco, throw my phone at the bear, and shriek like a little girl while running away as quickly as my plump little legs would carry me, but this meant I'd be an appetizer for Mr. Bear. I could say I fought him off with my pocket knife and wrestled him into submission, but the truth is a lot less scary.
I said louder than usual, but not a shout - "Hey, bear!" And Mr. Bear turned tail and ran off through the back of the meadow. I felt bad for scaring the big loaf. And the experience has not taught me to be afraid of bears any more than before. Cute buggers when you see them up close. At least the black ones.
