Bears

Until I moved up to the north woods with my husband the only experience I had with bears was with the stuffed Teddy Bears that all kids love. There were bears where I lived, but they were so shy that I never saw one. However to be married to a wildlife specialist in bear country introduces a whole new world in which bears can play a prominent part.

Funny how pictures of bears always show the bruins in a wild surrounding, eating ants or grass, maybe gobbling down berries. That is what bears usually do, but not always. In a year when the berry crop is poor the bears make do with what they can find and that is where the problem comes in. Very few people up here have not had the unpleasant experience of cleaning up after a bear has raided the garbage or attacked the birdfeeder. These big critters can make a major mess in a short period of time.

In the early years of our life up here a problem bear was trapped in a live trap made of a chunk of large culvert with a spring door. Bait was hung in the trap attached to the trigger for the door. The bear entered the trap, grabbed the bacon and the door closed trapping the bear inside. Wildlife personnel then hooked up to the trap, which is on wheels, and carried the bear far away into the woods away from homes. The door to the trap was opened (always the tricky part) and the bear was free to leave and find a new home. At least that was the intention on the part of the wildlife personnel; the bears had another idea and made a beeline back to the spot where they got into trouble in the first place. What are fifty or sixty miles to a bear? They would be “home” in no time and back to raiding the garbage and birdfeeders. Eventually the idea of relocating bears was abandoned and our days of trapping bears came to an end. We were left with plenty of memories of the “old” days, though.

When a bear was trapped we always tried to get out immediately and relocate the bear so that the critter would not have to spend a long time in the trap. There was a dual purpose in this: of course we didn’t want the bear to suffer, but even in a short time a bear can make a real mess inside a trap. We had to clean out the trap and it is no joke to clean up after a bear has used a trap for its bathroom facility. I remember one big sow that we caught at a resort. It was a hot summer day and when we got out to haul the bear away we had a very unhappy sow on our hands. We drove her way out into the woods and prepared to release her. She was snarling and acting very aggressive, and since we had to unhook the door manually before she could get out it was a tense situation. Hubby gallantly elected to risk himself unhooking the door and sent me to the front of the trap to distract the bear. The sow was extremely crabby by this time and refused to be gently distracted so there was nothing I could do but clap my hands and yell at her. She swapped ends in a heartbeat and lunged at me preceded by a wave of waste that sloshed through the bars of the trap and covered me from head to foot. It was ghastly and I stank like the proverbial pig sty until I could get home (hours later) and shower. Hubby did get the trap unhooked, the bear got out and ran for the woods, but it was a long and stinky drive back – one which we will never, ever, forget to our dying day!

Another memorable experience involved a young bear that was foraging in garbage late in the season for bears. A trap was set and caught the bear…which proceeded to curl up and hibernate! The wildlife guys covered the bear well with straw and backed the trap into a garage stall at the office. The bear spent the winter with the DNR (Dept. of Natural Resources) and was released in the spring when it woke up. Not too many bears can brag of that experience!

Bears are a fact of life up here. I have been nearly run over by a bear (it was as surprised as I was), been challenged by bears (I backed off as gracefully as possible) and have enjoyed seeing bears up in trees eating acorns. The bruins are part of the world in which I live and even though they can be pesky at times I wouldn’t be without them.