The Bear Story

Been gone on a long weekend and got back yesterday so I have been out of blog touch until today. Here is the bear story I promised you.



The Friday after my birthday my husband and I went to a friend's father's 80th birthday party at the father's cabin up in North Park. To get there we drove the scenic route though the Poudre Canyon. It rained all the way except for Cameron Pass. On the pass it snowed. (There are three good photos of the area on a clear day here.) Even with rain and snow the drive was beautiful.

We got there right before the wildlife officers that Doc, the birthday boy, was expecting arrived. Doc had called them to get help with removing some black bears that were coming a little too close to his cabin. He had three bears roaming around his property; a mamma bear and two cubs. The cubs, a male and a female, were almost two years old and mamma had decided it was time for them to go out on their own. The male cub had decide that meant looking for food around the cabin. Any time Doc saw him he fired a shotgun into the air to scare him away.

Then one night Doc had been awakened by a noise and got up to find the male standing on the deck and looking in the front window. He again scared him away but decided more drastic action was needed and got some special shells that fired M-80 cartridges, shells that contained rubber pellets, and asked the rangers to lend him a bear barrel. The barrel would be baited with a food packet which would be attached to a canister of pepper spray. When the bear went into to the barrel and pulled on the food packet he would be hit full in the face with a blast of pepper spray. When Doc heard the bear roaring in surprise and pain he planned on shooting him in the rear with a load of rubber pellets. Doc hoped the face full of pepper spray, the noise of the shotgun blast and the pain from the rubber pellets would be enough to scare the bear into leaving the area and keep it from returning. If the bear showed no fear of humans and would not leave the area he would have to be destroyed. That was not what Doc wanted.

That night we had a small pre-party where Doc opened up family presents. While we were doing this one of his sons came into the room and said the bears were at the salt lick that Doc had put out for the deer. We all went out on the deck and took a look. In the light from a large flashlight I could make out two bears (later I found out the mamma bear was there too) and I was surprised to see that one bear (the male)was cinnamon colored. It seems not all black bears are black and in the light the bear was the same grey color as the dark parts of the moon.

That light should have made the bears run away but they stayed right where they were. By this time another one of Doc's sons had brought his father a shotgun and Doc loaded it with an M-80 cartridge, aimed, and fired it into the trees over the bear's head. There was a flash of light and then a loud noise as the M-80 exploded. The mama and the female cub took off but the male stayed right where he was unfazed by the noise and light. Doc reloaded and fired a second M-80 into the trees and the remaining bear took off.

Doc had set the bear barrel up behind the cabin but had not armed it because his grandchildren were around. After seeing the behavior of the male bear he decide to arm it. The bear had shown he was not really afraid of anyone and that worried Doc. When it was armed the children were strongly warned to stay away from it.

Saturday night the bear came around to the salt lick again but took off the second the flashlight was shined on him. This was a good sign. He now connected the flashlight with the shotgun blast and the exploding M-80. Maybe he wasn't as hard headed as we thought. The bear had not found the bear barrel yet but maybe when he did the consequences would be enough to frighten him away for good.

We left the next morning and still do not know what happened to the bear. We should give Doc a call and find out.