Posts tagged #Bears

A Blast from the Past

IMG_9986-September 05, 2011.jpg

Flashback Friday

Dreams about Alaska

All the photos I have ever taken in my life lay scattered on two different external hard drives. Both are backed up to an online backup site, because although I said all I have lost too many photos I loved. The rate at which I take photos exceed the rate I share them. Before I went to Toolik in the summer of 2010 I bought a dslr camera, the cheapest one, a Canon Rebel XS. It is still my partner in crime, even though I dream about getting a new camera. Someday. Every now and then I open Lightroom and browse through photos dating back to 2010 and the first summer I spent in Alaska, completely untouched photos, as if I had forgotten about them, and I had. That summer was one of the best ones in my life, and I got to go on many different adventures. That summer I went on my very first helicopter ride, I walked on my very first glacier, I went into the mountains of Alaska for the first time, I fell in love with the mountains, I saw the aftermath of a forest fire, I started rock climbing and ice climbing once the temperatures slowly droppen, and I became friends with so many other people who just like me were also just so star struck by Alaska. The summer after that I fell in love with Denali, I fell in love with W, and then it just snowballed. More Ice climbing, cross country skiing, canoeing, kayaking and the list goes on.

Memories

In Lightroom you can create collections of your favorite photos. I have about 3500 of them, and that number keeps increasing for every time I open Lightroom. Yesterday I browsed through that favorite collection and was pretty amazed about all the things I have done, we have done. We have been to places I could only dream about when I was younger, and not even then did I. It’s not only photos from Alaska of course, but other states as well. Traveling is one of the greatest things on earth, and going on a roadtrip is definitely something I love. Below are a few of my favorite photos from Alaska, but also other places I have been.

Posted on March 1, 2019 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Flashback Friday, The great wide open, Nature and tagged 2019 Memories Alaska Bears Mountains Montana Wyoming elsewhere Glacier Deep Forest Spruce Ocean Wildlife Wisconsin2 Canada Canadaland Wildfire Yellowstone mississippi river.

Jinxing it?

Wednesday Thoughts

Bears

    As you probably have read earlier I am obsessed with bear and moose safety. With all the wild animals that walk around the watershed I've taken many classes on bear safety and how to act in order to prevent a bear encounter. A few weeks ago there were two bear attacks on two separate days at two different locations in Alaska, both with a deadly outcome. Both including a black bear. It made me think about the fact that I have no clue what to do if worse comes to worse and you are attacked (read the bear is actually eating on you and it is a predatory bear). We do have the bear spray, but if for some reason I would not be able to deploy the bear spray and the bear actually got to me? Or you ran in to one of those predatory bears that is in it for a meal, what do you do? I know they say fight for your life, but how can you fight for your life if you have nothing to fight with but your bare hands, arms and legs? I have heard other stories about people being attacked in their tent, well I know this is extremely rare, but I started storing a knife in the tent for a while, and then I forgot about it. A knife that would allow you to cut the tent open if you needed to. I used to wear a knife in the field to, but then I forgot about that too, it was usually in my backpack if I did bring it. 

Fieldwork

    W has been in the field too, countless times, many times alone. I think W has seen a bear from afar in the past while doing fieldwork, and I saw the back of a black bear once running away from me when I was on the ATV in the field once. Another time something was luring behind a tree as a friend and I came walking quietly after a long day in the field, we spooked it, it was huffing behind a large tree before it took a large leap to the side and ran up the hill. Still no clue if this was a bear or a moose. Lesson learned, be loud, and then be even louder. It's easy to forget about this after a long day working hard in the field, or when you are working with your head down in the stream it's easy to not make enough noise, plus you will most likely draw a curious bears attention to you, because many of them are just curious. With W's field season coming up and what had happened in Alaska I wanted him to buy a knife, a knife to have as a last resort, if for some reason there was no other way but to fight for your life. We talked about bear safety too, repeating what we already knew, again. I know W thought I was being ridiculous, but with what had just happened I felt first off very saddened for the two peoples families, but also very scared and wanted to be sure there was a way to fight for your life. I've had people laugh and make fun of me for my intense worry about bears in the field in the past too, but at least I want to be up to date with the bear safety for my own safety.

Jinxing it?

    W bought a knife, a large hunting knife, I mean not too large, but enough to be able to potentially make an impact. At least something to have in the tent if you would need to get out fast, or to have on your belt in the field. After a few hours of the first day in the field for W he texted me and said he had to pull his bear spray. Which is insane because that has never happened before, he has never had an encounter like that before. This time he wasn't even alone. But the bear was a curious black bear, those are the worst. A young curious black bear who would not move away even though they made sound and made themselves larger. Eventually he moved away enough for them to feel safe and retract too. Did I jinx his field season? A couple of days later they were going to cross a stream to another field site and W decided that they should walk downstream a bit, and then try to cross. Well luckily they did because they manage to spot two grizzlies across the stream about 50m away from them, something they would have popped up right in front of had they crossed earlier. Yeah I really jinxed it didn't I?

Last time I camped in Yellowstone National Park

    Fingers crossed that those were the only bears for this field season, as I am sitting on a plane on Friday to Jackson WY to spend 10 days in the field in Yellowstone, and some of those camping!

Posted on July 12, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Alaska, Nature, Yellowstone and tagged Alaska Bears Bear safety Bear spray Grizzly tracks signs CPCRW Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone 2017 Adventure Adventuring Summer Adventures 2 Fieldwork blackbear.

A Pine Needle Fell in the Forest - Bears

 

Wednesday thoughts

 

"A pine needle fell in the forest. The eagle saw it. The deer heard it. The bear smelled it." - Native American Proverb

 

There are bears in the forest

    I am not a bear biologist or researcher so this text is only based on my own observations and experience and not necessarily the reality..

    Summertime in the deep boreal forest not only mean mosquitos and fires, but also bear encounters if you are unlucky. Every day we were out in the field we would see tracks of mainly bears but also wolfs in one way or another.

 
 

    Mostly bear tracks, but of course also scat and markings on trees. Our sole protection is bear spray, which is kind of a concentrated pepper spray which is suppose to deter bears from attacking you, but yeah, you have to use it when the bear is almost right on you.

 
 

Rifle Anyone?    

    Of course you can carry a rifle if you need to. In Alaska almost every person has a gun of some sort. Mostly to hunt, but you also definitely see the people at the grocery store with a handgun tucked in their pants or a holster hanging on their side, sometimes concealed sometimes not, what I think about that is a whole different story. Going back to the use of a rifle as bear protection, well if you have a rifle and intend to use it for protection, you need to practice with it on a regular basis. I don't know how you feel when you encounter a bear or at least see a bear, I get nervous. Imagine trying to aim at a Grizzly at the same time as it is charging you, fast. Grizzlies can run up to 30 miles per hr....that is about 48 km per hr. 

 
 

    I have definitely had sketchy situations out in the field, where I have failed to make enough noise, or had other issues where my, and/or the other animals awareness has been reduced. When I grew up in Sweden I learned to be quiet in the forest, don't scream to loud while playing. In Alaska on the other hand its very different. A lot of people who have had a bear encounter says  they thought they were being loud enough, so try your best at being loud, and then be a bit louder than that. 

 
 

Bear Encounters

    I once attended a lecture given by a wildlife biologist, an expert on bears, and he said you can do everything you can possibly do WRONG when it comes to bears, and yet you'll get out alive at least 90% of the time. So even if you do everything wrong, for instance throwing food at the bear, you still (statistically) have a very good chance to get out alive. 

"The bear retreated for a moment but then came back and began circling Jones-Robinson, who took her pack off and threw a package of macaroni and cheese at the bear hoping to distract it."

http://www.newsminer.com/north-pole-woman-uses-insect-repellent-to-fend-off-granite/article_cddf6c53-3e9b-5ccb-9d49-593713fb8dec.html

"While playing dead is the proper technique once a bear has already made contact or contact is imminent, playing dead too early can cause the bear to become curious, according to information from the park."

http://www.newsminer.com/news/alaska_news/grizzly-bites-hiker-at-denali-national-park/article_9a60c0ea-40bd-11e6-a4d6-b782070bf083.html

    Bears with cubs is a whole different story, you do not want to come between a mama bear and her cubs, but being attacked by the same bear twice, in one day after deploying bearspray seems a bit odd to me, and could probably be put in the category below, of bears that are just not right. But I am no expert in bear behavior. 

"During the first attack, he yelled, deployed bear spray as the sow charged him from about 25 feet, and rolled into a ball to play dead. The bear repeatedly chewed and jumped on him as he tried to protect his head." "He did everything he was supposed to do," said Madison County Sheriff Roger Thompson.

    Playing dead once you are already attacked is the best way to survive, if its a territorial grizzly.

"Out of nowhere, the bear attacked him again and did the same thing to him," "She just seemed to lose interest because he was playing dead," said Thompson. "Then she just wandered off. Bears can be that way when they have their babies with them."

http://mtstandard.com/news/local/survivor-of-grizzly-attack-tells-harrowing-tale/article_c8a7c60b-596f-5deb-a970-127e07dc7a37.htm

     Now then there is another percentage, a small percentage of bears that are just not right. Their bear behavior do not follow the natural bear behavior, now if you meet that bear you can do everything completely right and still might not get out alive. You can also run into that bear as a large group of people and the bear will still come at you, which is rare. A group of people being attacked by a bear is far less common than a single person. They say, if you are being attacked by a predatory black bear you need to fight, fight for your life.

"Despite Kitchen's bravery, McConnell was mauled to death in front of the eyes of her 13-year-old son, Kelly, who was also attacked while bravely trying to save his mother. Witnesses say the bear turned on Kitchen, attacking him and killing him while witnesses tried in vain to save him. According to a police report, a kick made the bear withdraw into the bush. It then came upon four university students who turned and ran. A 20-year-old Calgary student slipped and was attacked. Police said the bear was shot while in the midst of this attack."

https://www.nnsl.com/archives/1997-08/aug22_97bear.html

 
 

Camping in Bear Country

    Am I scared when I camp in bear country? I wasn't at first, in Alaska, I don't know why, but I just wasn't. Now I am absolutely terrified for no good reason. Sure, there are situations where people have been attacked in their tent, but those situations are far rare compared to the people who are not. Yes, it can happen, but you can also get hit by a car while walking across the street. The best thing you can do is to be cautious. Keep your food (including tooth paste) in specific bear proof container. In some places (like in a forest) where there are trees you can also hang up your food items.

 
 

    Some people even like to change clothes, into clothes that have not been close to food. So you'll eat and cook food, and once that's done you change clothes and put those clothes away, farther away from the tent. Is this extreme? Yeah! Have I done it? Heck yeah!

Is this a Zoo?

    When we were driving from Alaska down to Montana, and then farther to Wisconsin we saw so many bears. All bears but two were spotted in Canadaland. Canada is so big, I mean so is the US, but Canada also has the Yukon and if you think Alaska is big, think bigger. We encountered these adorable bear cubs and their mama along the way in Canada, right by the road. These were the first of many many bears we saw along the road, but the only grizzlies until we left Yellowstone out in Wyoming. 

 
 

Mama bear of course were keeping an eye out on these little rascals. 

 
 

What is your opinion/experience with bears?

Posted on October 5, 2016 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under The great wide open, Photography, Alaska, Wednesday Thoughts, Science and tagged Alaska Canada Yukon Yukon Territory Canadaland bear tracks bear cubs Deep Forest Boreal Forest brown bear 2016_2 Science Bears Summer Adventures Summer days Forest.