From: R Fisher (ghotier@texas.net)
Date: Sat Jun 22 2002 - 14:41:29 CDT
pooyie wrote:
> I have just retruned from Philmont and woke up in my own bed this morning.
> HALLELJUAH!
> In the morning we saw two bears near our camp, one was failry large and a
> beautiful golden color (cinammon). This one stayed a comfortable distance of
> probably 50 yds. moving around the perimeter of the campsites.
> The other bear must have been a younger bear, he was more agrresive and
> smaller. He circled our camp, we had called all our crew members into the fire
> ring for safety when we first saw him, lifting rocks and tearing at logs. He
> eventually came to our sump, 30' from the fire ring and us and sniffed our
> dishes and eyed us for a very long time, as though he wanted to come over. At
> that point a few of us raised our arms and he moved very slowly away and on
> about his business.
> We had a bear walk through our camp and around our tents. Myself, another
> advisor and a scout all heard him pass by our tents. You could hear him
> approching the camp because, like
> thunder gets louder as a storm approaches, I heard him lifting and dropping
> rocks and the sound getting louder and closer each time. Not a very comfortable
> feeling, I must say. As he passed out tents you heard the crunching of pine
> straw beneath his feet. Intially, I thought an advisor had gotten up to find a
> flat rock but very quiclky realized there were too many foot steps and the pace
> was too short. He tore at a fallen tree in our camp before moving on.
The good news about these sightings (as unnerving as they may have been) is that
the bears were acting in a normal manner, i.e. looking for natural food sources
and responding to humans "positively". Let's hope the trend continues throughout
the summer. And like Paul says, observe the prescribed bear avoidance protocols
for your crew's safety and the bears'.
Happy Trails
Roy Fisher
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