Posted on 12/07/2008 5:31:15 PM PST by MtnClimber
We had quite the interesting night last night! At about 1AM I was awakened by the sound of a car horn but thought I was imagining things. I checked on the girls and all was well with them so I went back to bed. At 4:30 the girls woke me up with the news that the car flashers/hazards were on. Mark is out of town so I was a bit nervous about leaving the girls alone while I checked it out but I went anyway.
Still in my jammies, I went to the driver’s side door and tried to open it but it was jammed. I could only get the door open part way but enough to see that the inside of the car was absolutely trashed. I thought we’d been robbed and vandalized… until I saw the snout of a black bear.
I slammed the door shut, ran into the house and called 911. A half hour later the sheriff’s deputies arrived and between us we talked with the Dept of Wildlife folks to determine what to do. Generally they want to make sure an animal won’t ever return so they sometimes tranquilize the bear and relocate him/her. But because they were confident that the bear had a reasonably bad experience at our house they suggested we simply let him out. The deputies devised a plan to drive their SUV up to my car door and open it (with a Taser gun drawn just in case), but the winds were so strong that the door kept blowing closed. After the third attempt the door stayed open and the bear lumbered out and ran away. He was a well-fed, rotund fattie!! The girls watched the scene from inside the house.
After we surveyed the damage I dug through the bear slop and debris and got my purse and phone out of the car. This morning the local Bear Watch people came to have a look and offered me the use of their car if I needed it. Apparently a realtor in the area also had her car destroyed by a bear but her bear crashed out the back window. Mine was captive in my car for about 3 hours! We think he was attracted by a vanilla scent that was sprayed in the car yesterday at a local car wash. Other than that, there was no food in the car.
Imagine a pajama-clad mom coming nearly nose-to-nose with a bear at 4:30 AM! I’m not sure which of us was more freaked out at the sight of the other! Thankfully my insurance company (so far) is being great. They’re paying for a rental car for me for 30 days while they have the car repaired. They suspect the entire interior of the car will need to be replaced but even that is less than the car is worth so for now the car is not totaled.
This has been enough excitement for one day! I’m looking forward to a quiet and peaceful weekend. When I called the girls’ school to inform them that the girls wouldn’t be in attendance today I said, “You might hear some excuses like, ‘My dog ate my homework’ but my excuse is that a bear ate my car!”
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“We have a panther living across the street from us. Used to have a bunch of hogs.”
Panthers, can be a problem, but I understand that female cougars can be just as much trouble, they are cunning and dangerous.
“Who had the hogs...you or the panther?”
Well the neighbors and I were planning a block party and were thinking of using one of the empty lots. By the time we got our act together the buzzards were overhead.
There are still lots of hogs, otter, deer, herons, bobcats, and of course a panther. Getting to be too many people though.
LOL!
I’ve been dealing with garbage bears...
I use a piece of pvc pipe to knock them off the fence!
My brother had to leave his NICE four wheeler out overnight in the N Ga mountains one night after engine trouble. The next AM we went out to trailer it up and the seat stuffing had been shredded by a bear.
I’m so sorry!
*HUG*
I felt the same way when I had to have my Collie put down.
I miss her so much!
We have more than our share of bear probs in Alaska, we just shoot every dang one we see around the house. I’ve seen bear shot inside cabins when they wouldn’t leave when owners came home.
I really wish I could but I live in Kalifornia!
Besides, it’s usually a female with at least two cubs, and my heart won’t let me be the bad guy!
I watch closely when my grand babies are here though, a bear in the yard around the little ones is dead!
My kids get tired of all my bear stories, but here’s a funny one.
As a young guy on a crew in Glacier once I was up on a height above the switchback on the Going-to-the-Sun Highway where the trail goes up to Granite Park. I watched a family park their car in the lot there and very carefully put all their food in its trunk. Then they left up the trail that goes up to Granite Park. A bear came along, opened the door to the car, climbed into the back, fairly neatly tore out the back seat and got the food out of the trunk and ate it.
Thank you very much!
No fun with gangs and Chickenlooper’s ...
I remember camping in the Missions one night.
I looked out to see a Daddy bear with the Mama bear on top of him. There were two cubs on top of the Mama bear reaching for my stash bag hanging from a tree.
I figured if they were smarter than most Democrats they could have my food.
The worst part is that Edie was my shop dog, when I’m down in the shop, so was she!
Now I’m down here all by myself, but we did replace her with a 3 year old Boston Terrier.
Her name is Bobbie. She loves my propane heater!
Do normal women leave their purses and phone in the car overnight?
Propane heater!?
What the heck is that?
Smilin in Tampa.
Around here alot of people never lock their homes even when away for work. I had a tax accountant tell me which door was unlocked and where to leave my income tax information inside the house. I certainly don’t tempt fate so I lock up and have defensive dogs that would attack an intruder including chasing away bears in the past.
Only you Floridians wouldn't understand!
But then again, I now for sure that no hurricane is gonna wipe me out! Earthquake maybe, forest fire sooner or later!
Where do you live, cause I want to live there.
I live in Gilpin County, Colorado. When I was renewing my CCW handgun permit I asked the sherrif’s assistant about the crime statistics in this county. She said there were a fair amount of DWI arrests around the gambling establishments which are a long way away from me, no traffic would come past my residense to go there. The other major call is for dogs barking.
Buy a gun!
good luck out there. if the USAF still does it's yearly low flyover at the airshow, enjoy. i'm back in cincinnati, and will miss all of the memories.
fight those who would try to turn co. blue from red.
/ex derango rant
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