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The Bear Facts

            Â           Slowly
            Âand carefully I began to pick my way
            Âacross the old logging unit. The
            Âfirst thing I discovered was that the
   The Bear Factsbrush that appeared chest high from the
            Âroad was much taller than it had
            Âappeared from the friendly confines of
            Âthe Tracker and I often found myself in
            Âa jungle that was only possible to see
            Âout of by looking straight up! Where
  Bypossible, I used down logs to traverse
            Âthe rugged terrain. At other times, I
            Âwas on my belly, crawling under the
            Âthick brush. For more than an hour I
            Âsneaked across the three hundred yards
      Thom Cantrall(270m) I had estimated him to be from me
           Thewhen I began this exercise.  I had no
sun had passed its zenith and the tideidea if the bear was still in his place
was busily filling the inlet slowing theas I crept up on him. It certainly
fishing to the point that it was time towould not be the first time I had
find other things to do for a time.Âexecuted the "perfect" stalk only to
Besides, after four days of fishing, thefind that my quarry had long since
freezer was full and there was no morebugged out for more friendly, if not
room to store the salmon we caught.Âsafer, confines.Â
Those fish caught in the morning had           At
been filleted, wrapped and stuffed intojust under what I judged to be one
the overcrowded freezer awaiting ourhundred yards (90m) from the bruin, I
trip home in two more days.Âcrossed a sizeable log and was able to
           Frompeek over the brush to see my bear still
the sleeping area of the cabin came thecontentedly munching in his berry
rasping and wheezing sound of menpatch. Quietly, I dropped back down
sleeping. The thought came to mindoff the log and continued my stalk, now
that, perhaps, there had been aspending more time on my hands and knees
woodcutters competition scheduledthan on my feet, slowly, but inexorably
without my knowledge, but after carefulclosing the distance separating us.
investigation it wasrevealed to be no           At
more than four men snoring contentedly,fifty yards (45m) from the bear, I came
probably with visions of thirty poundupon a doe and fawn, also feeding on the
salmon running through their minds.succulent and tasty berries and had to
           Takingstop my stalk and move to where I could,
advantage of the lull, I took my goldwithout being seen, toss a couple of
pan and loaded my carcass into therocks into the brush near them, but not
little Geo Tracker available for our useso close as to scare them. My aim was
and headed for the tiny, no-name creek Ito cause them enough distress to leave,
had spotted in one of my earlierbut not enough to spook them, thereby
perambulations away from camp. Thisspooking my main quarry, Mr. Bear. As
creek showed on my map as being shortmy right (throwing) shoulder is
and fairly steep, falling from some highcompletely inoperative due to the lack
country that gave every indication ofof a rotator cuff which has been
containing mineral and I was excited todestroyed by arthritis, I had to fling
do some test pans.the stones with a kind of underhand
           As ismotion.  It was not pretty, but it was
my usual wont, I wanted to know as mucheffective as the stones landed close
as I could learn about the stream beforeenough to catch their attention and
investing time and energy into thealert them that not all was well within
testing to increase my chances ofthe kingdom today and that it was
finding mineral by eliminatingperhaps prudent to move on to more
prospecting in unproductive waters.Âreceptive climes. The result was, as
To this end, I turned the Tracker up theI had hoped, they simply moved off into
old, semi- overgrown logging road thatthe brush, not panicked, but merely
seemed to parallel the stream up thewary.
mountain. About a half mile off the           With
main road, the logging spur veeredtheir departure, I continued crawling
sharply east and up a short ridge, awaythru the re-prod (newly planted) timber
from the stream. Â As I reached theand brush until I figured I should be
peak of the ridge, I stopped to look outwithin bow range of the big bear.Â
over the basin through which the creekAlthough I was totally unarmed, my
meandered.original goal was to see if I could get
           To mywithin range of my bow without him
utter dismay, the creek flowed out of asensing my presence. At that point I
very beautiful and very substantialfound a large stump that I felt I could
lake! It was quite scenic andscale fairly easily. Doing so
picturesque to behold, but it destroyedafforded me a magnificent view, not only
my hopes of finding any color in itsof my immediate vicinity and Mr. Bruin,
waters, let alone the Mother Lode everyquite in view at a range of between
prospector expects to find with each panthirty and thirty-five yards (27-32 m),
he washes! Any gold in the streamstill enjoying his fruitful repast, but
would settle out in the lake and not beacross the island to the east, the
carried further down stream.straits and on towards the mountains on
          Âthe mainland east of Wrangell and
Disappointed but not disillusioned, IPetersburg.
continued up the road, past the lake and           To say
into the upper reaches of the now tinyI was stunned would not do justice to
rill. I now had nothing particular onthat moment. It was absolutely the
my mind, but was merely on an exploringmost magnificent panorama I could ever
trip, seeing what I could see of thishope to view. I was so enthralled, I
vast and beautiful country that wasmomentarily forgot my bear. I used
Alaska. Â Presently, I left the coverthe rest of the roll of film in my
of the timber and entered an area oflittle Nikon camera on the view,
almost alpine beauty. There weretemporarily forgetting I had come to see
extensive meadows interspersed with athe bear.
multitude of beaver ponds, with a tiny           When
stream vigorously working its way frommy sanity returned after a short hiatus,
one pond to the next as it made its wayI judged the bear to be in the "nice
down the slope toward the lake I'd seenbear" class on the Twangg Universal
earlier.  Between these diminutiveScoring System. The levels on this
ponds, stands of spruce and hemlock withsystem are quite simple and don't
an occasional pine struggled to make ainvolve a lot of superfluous
living in the damp, boggy soil.measurements as to most other scoring
           As Isystems in use today. It simply goes
left this area, I entered a region thatfrom "little bear" to "good bear", "nice
had been logged several years ago. Mybear", "great bear", "OH MY GOSH" and
best estimate would be six to eightthe ultimate is "Faints Dead Away". I
years had elapsed since it was logged.Âuse this same scoring system on all
The stumps of great Sitka Spruce,major game species and some fish.Â
Western Hemlock and Red Cedar stood asIt's the most universal system ever
silent testament to the great stand ofdevised. For safety's sake, when
timber that had once stood here.Âapplying this system to the Grizzly
Everywhere, there were young treesBear, Ursus Horriblis, any class above
growing in the comparatively drier soil,"little bear" should be done while
giving promise to the great stand ofvacating the area the bear inhabits!Â
timber that would soon be found hereFurther, it is recommended that any
again in a very few years. Today,larger Grizz in the TUSS scale be
though, it was at the prime age forestimated from film taken while
wildlife as the brushes were growing inretreating!
great profusion at just the age of           This
maximum tenderness and nutrition. Thewas definitely a lone boar and would
small Sitka Blacktail deer indigenous tomeasure between five and one half and
Southeast Alaska were everywhere!Âsix feet (about 2m). Â He weighed about
They obviously found the young brushes375-400 lbs (170-180 kg) on the foot
to besucculent eating and were making(bears don't have hooves)! He was a
good time on getting their fair share.very nice bear... maybe even a "great
           As Ibear" and, if I had been so inclined and
continued higher on the mountain, I wasso armed, he would have been a very
watching very closely as the blueberrysimple target. As it was, however,
and huckleberry brushes were becomingall I wished to do was to watch him and
more prevalent and berries in this arealearn something of his traits from close
generally means bears! Â It was notobservation.
long before I was rewarded and I spotted           All
a lone black bear feeding on thetoo soon, a vagrant wind betrayed my
ripening blueberries growing inpresence to his ultra-sensitive nose and
profusion around him. A lone bearhe began a slow, careful, tactical
probably meant it was a boar as,retreat. I got my camera reloaded in
carefully as I watched, I could find notime to get only a couple of longer
evidence of young ones or of this bearrange shots, but he will live forever in
paying heed to what could have beenthe view screen of my mind.
another bear. This bear had evidently           As I
either not seen me, or did not considerretreated in my turn to my vehicle after
me a threat, for he continued hishis departure, I pondered God, Life and
foraging even as I parked my vehicle andBears and our place in the overall
began a short semi-circle to insure thescheme of things, a scheme that we all
wind, such as it was this clear, calmtoo often don't understand or cannot
day, was completely in my favor. Itcomprehend, but suffice it to know that
is said that if a leaf falls in thesuch places and such creations do
forest, the eagle will see it; the deerexist. That is sufficient unto my
will hear it and the bear willsmellsoul for the present... perhaps for
it! His olfactory sense is thatalways...
superior!



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