Posted on 07/22/2006 5:30:03 PM PDT by kanawa
I wish I had known about the trouble Mad Ivan was having. I would have been in there with a knife in my teeth.
PING is right.
Two heroes. One less problem bear.
I do.
You can't be serious with this comment can you?
I too am semi urbanized, but live in rural Vermont. During my college years I happened on a dream job of operating a geochemistry team for Noranda Exploration in Canada's wilderness. That meant when college was over each Spring I got into a bush plane and essentially disappeared into the bush for 3 months each year. I have over 4 years in tents during my lifetime, and thats if you count only the weeks and not successive days. I paid my way through college that way.
As a result I can cook just about ant kind of food over an open fire, and that includes bread and cake.I have run into every wild critter there is in the wilderness of Eastern Canada, including eagles that fished the same pool I did. On average I traversed 10 miles a day through the wilderness using a compass and 1/50,000 topo maps and sometimes aerial photos. I wore out 2 sets of hiking boots each summer and well into the third. Bears often wanted to investigate our camps and we learned that the only way to handle them if they came into our tents was to move. Canadian wildlife officials would not let us kill them or carry guns. I learned a lot about bears.
I am still immune to mosquito itch when bitten. I developed a dislike for crowded places and even now can take the city for only 2 or 3 days without feeling uncomfortable.I found that my sense of perception changed in the wilderness, my sense of sight , sound and smell were invested with more accuity. My mind certainly was more peaceful and more sensitive. I missed women but then made up for it. ( LOL). I also found that women who go in the wilderness for long stints become dead sexy after a week or so, but thats another story altogether. I also learned that a woman in good shape have a naturally superior lower body strength than a man does and can walk men into the ground, a fact few people would admit.
I think there is no greater gift one can bestow on ones friends or children, than to spend time in the wilderness with each other and teach the skills.
I rarely get the chance to go on a walk about these days but my house is on the side of a small mountain surrounded by pine oak and maple, and life is good. Deer often walk right up to my windows and look in. Mr. Bear visits every spring, and after looking around disappears with a few whiffs at the sequestered garbage cans.
I see you are Texan, the only place I would want to move to in retirement! I bet you have a grizzly story or two from the cascades. I have many stories, particularly about moose. In interior Newfoundland we found them as tame as milk cows, they never having seen men before, they had no fear.
It's been kinda nonstop with calls from the media.
Did onair interview with CBC Sudbury earlier
and just got finished with the Mope and Wail.
(Oops not quite finished, they just called
and asked if it would be ok to send a photographer around.)
I won't be sorry when the media attention dies down
but I'm willing to put up with it for two reasons..
One, if my story can help even one individual be better prepared for a bear encounter
then it will have been worth it.
And two, I haven't been able to help financially in the fight against BSL
as much as I would have liked to,
but I have been given this opportunity to spread some good news about our dogs
and I owe it to our dogs to see it through.
Dang kanawa.
Just, dang.
Just make sure it's NOT a bear hug... that could be disastrous.
So how's your dog doing?
"We are creatures of creation...Our bodies belong to creation"
No, we are creations of God, and our bodies belong to Him. He is separate from His creation. But that's not something He chose to reveal in creation, only through the means He chose: His Word.
"We are linked to creation."
No, that "link" is the command by God to rule over it,to use it; it is made for our use. But that information isn't found in nature; only in Scripture.
"Our souls are eternal with the Creator."
No, HE is eternal having no beginning or ending. We are not eternal: we have a beginning. We are not "with" the Creator: We are separate from Him because of our sin, unless we accept His only provision for sin: His Son's death. But that is knowledge not found in creation.
Just because Scripture mentions animals, you cannot then arrive at the conclusion that they should be elevated to a position other than what they are: created beings. It also mentions used menstral cloths, comparing our sins to that filthiness.(Isaiah)
I'm in Alaska right now and have some video of a grizzly from about 20 feet away. Fortunatly I was on a bus and it wasn't interested in coming on board, cause all I had was a can opener to fight with.
AWESOME!
And you will be in the FReeper Hall of Fame. What a story.
My late wife was all excited about seeing bears in the Smokies. One day we were climbing one of the mountains and I became too hot so lay down on a flat rock to rest. She was going to go up the other 500 yards or so to the top. So I was kinda dozing when she comes running back down yelling that she had seen Two bears and one of them "snorted" at her. Another time we were on a narrow trail when we saw one ahead coming down toward us. She kinda climbed a little ledge and I grabbed the biggest rocks I could find in case it got closer. Fortunately the bear sniffed us and took off.
Old-day Texas ran out of black bear because we loved so much to fry our cornmeal in its grease. You have any plans for sampling any part of this bear? Lemme know how it tastes.
Dum@$$.
They are illegal in some places now...thank God.
I really miss MadIvan. Wish he would come back, I'll help defend him.
Wow, enjoyed the story about your time in the wilderness, and you make some very good points.
I go for weeks without seeing other people where I live, and wouldn't have it any other way. I grew up in the country, spent many years away from it, then came back recently.
I have oil lamps, a firepit, and could survive here just fine without electricity, and for long periods of time. I have plenty of deer and squirrels I could kill, and I grow my own vegetables. Am in the process of building a greehouse so I can grow my own veggies year-round.
The state of Tennessee's elk reintroduction project is near me, and I am about 30 miles from the state of Kentucky's elk reintroduction project (abandoned coal mines). Also I'm not too far from the Smokies and the Cumberland Plateau, both of which have bears.
I love sitting in the yard and listening to hoot owls, and once in my yard I heard a big cat off in the distance (bobcat most likely).
Some folks don't like the seclusion, including my mother, who says she's afraid she'll have a heart attack or something and can't get to a doctor. But I wouldn't live any other way if I could help it.
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