| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| blueberries in alaska |
Posted - Apr 19 2007 : 8:58:13 PM
When I first came to live in alaska, I had a horiffic fear of bears, carried bear spray with me all the time. My seasoned alaskan husband was tolerant having to never really fear or worry, he'd been around them for 40 years in the wild with not a single bad experience.
We were out fishing in prince william sound, camping out at night in the late august coolness with the ending of salmon spawning, literally thousands of rotting carcasses everywhere to be seen. I would lie awake at night listening for any encroaching bears and have Paul constant reassure me, "they're fat, lazy, they've had a prosperous time, you have nothing to worry about." But I worried and worried....... and worried.
On our final day, we landed and hiked up a stream with carcasses around. I suddenly detected the odor of stinky, unbathed, salmon fed bears all around me. Piles of scat everywhere (thick gelatinous looking poop, cow pieish I'd say. The terror was overwhelming. Despite all of that poop, all of those carcasses, the bears had probably left when they smelt stinky old us. I learned alot that day, bears really don't want to have anything to do with you! It has hung on since that day. I respect them, but don't fear them. I think it's alot more dangerous to get on a plane than to hike an area with bears around. Attacks are rare........... and they have the most awesome feet!!
photos from that day.......... jo
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| 12 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Ellen |
Posted - Jul 13 2007 : 12:08:50 PM
Poor little bugs only get a month or two to bite so they have to zoom around fast to have adapted. In Kingsolver's Small Wonder book she talks about the skeeters being the pollinators for the Artic, ooo and talking about Small Wonder and ya know she leads that book with an incredible bear story....any of ya heard it...it'll make ya just get all gooey warm inside when ya read about the mama bear nursing the little lost babe.
Do you think they allowed her to live when they found the baby in the cave?
You can read it here:
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/113/
If we take this parable along with the skeeters' being pollinators
and Kingsolver's: We are all beasts in this kingdom, we have killed and been killed, and some new time has come to us in which we are called out to find another way to divide the world. Good and evil cannot be all there is. What do you think about what else there IS? |
| Jen |
Posted - Jul 12 2007 : 12:06:18 PM
Nikki - check out Jo's post in the "Skeeters" topic (under "Ticks, Chiggers, Nettles, and Ivy")! I don't know about you all, but I prefer bears to biting bugs.
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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| countrychick |
Posted - Jul 12 2007 : 11:24:44 AM
Jo,
I would be scared if there were alot of bear activity like in those pictures so close to my back yard in Alaska. After watching Grizzly Man on tv.. I don't think I would want to get close to a Grizzly or a black bear. In Michigan the DNR says that michigan black bears do not nromally attack unless provoked or feels her cubs are in danger. I did buy a book on black bears in Porcupine Mtns in UP Michigan where a father put there child on the back of one the bears to get a picture. He thought they were kinda tame because it was coming up looking for food. It didn't turn out well the child died from being attacked. It was sad. Some people have no common sense when it comes to wild animals.
Do you have any hives near your house? The reason I asked is beacause When I had the bear in the back yard, it was because my neighbor, a 1/2 mile away, has beehives and he had to barracade the hives because the bear kept trying to get into them. Just curious?
My husband has always wanted to move to Alaska, but you need money for that and he gets cabin fever in late January.. Kidding around I told him he would get it in October in Alaska.. Hee Hee. Oh yeah, I wouldn't be to keen on the Mosquitos either. Do you deal with a lot of Mosquitos?
I love the picture of the bear trying to climb over the fence for the garden. Those are some big Black Bears!!
Nikki |
| blueberries in alaska |
Posted - Jul 12 2007 : 10:34:35 AM
Nikki, There have been alot of bear shootings recently, most bears acclimating too much to humans but not really bothering them. Have a look at this photo..... it's a link, taken a few blocks away. I found lots of black bear tracks up on my trail this last weekend. Probably a very large black bear, of course you can tell my their claws in the marks if they are black or griz....... they are majestic creatures!! jo
http://www.adn.com/photos/
couldn't link it, but go to the page above and click on bear sitings..... it's pretty amazing how many bears we have here!
there's no place like home....
http://web.mac.com/thomja/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html
http://homepage.mac.com/thomja/PhotoAlbum22.html |
| countrychick |
Posted - Jul 12 2007 : 07:42:26 AM
They hunt black bears here in Michigan. Some people eat bear meat here..(bear steaks). I personally follow my fathers advice "If you hunt it, you eat it" and "try and use as much as the animal as possible (fur, meat, etc..), no waste. I like his advice so that's what we go by. My husband has had bear steak and he says it' an oily meat.
I did have a black bear pass through my back yard, but only saw his tracks. The DNR reported this spring that one bear has had triplets (unusual), one had twins and one had one cub ... so they put a bear xing sign with mom and babies on it. Too cute.
Nikki |
| Ellen |
Posted - Jun 08 2007 : 2:20:50 PM
Hiking in the smokies, bears follow for food. They tell ya at the visitor center bears "know" processed foods, keep everything under wraps... reminded me of vincent in over the hedge.
Jo, please share more of your world. The colors in the water are outstanding! Is your dog field trained? Do you practice shooting at home? |
| Elizaray |
Posted - Apr 20 2007 : 8:37:23 PM
I think it is only ethical to eat the meat of the animals you kill. I do understand killing some of the predators for their fur as long as they aren't over hunted.
My grandfather worked at a radio (government) station in Alaska and came home with two beautiful parkas. They have wolf fur around the hood. Personally I like to see the fur on the animal if I can't eat it, but then again the winters here don't get as cold as Alaska's!
Elizaray |
| blueberries in alaska |
Posted - Apr 20 2007 : 6:27:54 PM
I'll look that one up Jen, just found some fresh tracks behind our house up on the trail today, they're definitely milling around now! It's great that Elizaray's family ate the meat, it really irritates me when people fur hunt, unless of course it's beaver or other wearable fur. We won't purchase wolverine, they're pretty rare in the wild and produce wonderful ruffs for coats, but wolf will do and are very plentiful. I know that many of you will go "oh no!" not wolf. They are serious predators here, we've seen them in the wild, they're not so cuddly when you see them with a freshly killed moose calf.
I try not to be judgmental about the taking of wild animals......... it is survival after all, most people have no connection to their food do they? The bear are just so amazing........ jo |
| Jen |
Posted - Apr 20 2007 : 11:37:42 AM
We have coexisted with bears in quiet anonymity for many years off and on - mainly black bears. Just found a pile of possible bear poop on our land the other day. In my childless days, bear scat just thrilled me (with a touch of giddy terror), but having kids has made me more cautious. As Jo said, we'd never shoot one unless it was absolute necessity. If there is a bear in this area, I feel priveledged & hope it might come to know our little patch of ground as a safe place to travel through.
Jo, have you read Sherry Simpson's The Way Winter Comes: Alaska Stories? It is one of my all-time favorite books - has a nice essay on grizzlies.
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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| Elizaray |
Posted - Apr 20 2007 : 11:14:57 AM
My sister and BIL lived in Fairbanks for some years. They would hunt bear for the fur and the meat. I had some bear jerky and thought is was rather tasty. I think it has a little stronger taste if they have been eating a lot of scavanged kills, and it seemed to have a high fat content, but I liked it. I don't think I would ever get a bear permit though, I am not sure if I am brave enough to hunt them.
Elizaray |
| blueberries in alaska |
Posted - Apr 20 2007 : 08:58:14 AM
That was just last week, they like the fur when they emerge just from their den. It's not that sporting, they're not exactly "with the program" this early. It's only for the fur, the hunters don't eat bear, natives do but not the hunters generally. jo
We would never shoot a bear unless clearly threatened and not just bluffed. |
| Mountain Girl |
Posted - Apr 20 2007 : 07:27:39 AM
Beautiful pictures! I would have been the same as you about bears. Been deathly afraid of them and I lived where there were just black bears. I made a conscious decision not to pass this fear onto my children and I guess it worked since my eldest son Eric has been doing a grizzly bear study in Katmai for the past few years. He literally passes by sleeping grizzlies! On a sad note he just sent me an article from the Alaskan Daily News about some hunter who was attacked after shooting a bear as it came out of it's winter den (probably still groggy from it's hibernation) and he didn't realize there was a second bear inside. How sporting is that!! Both bears ended up being killed. JoAnn |
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