On 3/26/06, Cameron Forde  wrote:
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Where do you live, Cameron?  You got me listening for noises outside
real close.  Usually our dog barks, "There's a bear out there!" and we
go out and scare it away.  But last year, she didn't realize the bear
had a cub up one of our alders. Molly got a firm head-butt and a swat
by that mama bear who was trying to protect her baby.  My husband lost
his voice yelling, "Run, Molly, run!".  The next day, mama quietly
came back and stole one of our bird feeders.  Couldn't find it
anywhere!  I just bought a new one less than a week ago, so it's
probably time for her to come back and take the new one. I imagine
she'll be hungry after a long winter's nap.  We tend not to bring in
the feeders at night until we get raided.
We're in Zigzag, Oregon about 1500 ft up the west side of Mt. Hood.
Take care,
Ann

Just saw a history channel tory on bears and that the North West of the US has the largest polulation of brown bears, the most dangerous around if you provoke them...
they just be trooling for food the easy way!
reX
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If a bear starts chasing you, how do you know if it a brown or a 
grizzly? Climb up a tree. If it follows you up, it is a brown bear. If 
it pushes the tree over, it's a grizzly.
A ranger told me that.
Kit
beanjolais wrote:
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I thought browns were more dangerous then the grizzly?
hmmm,  gotta go lookthat up.
Thanks Kit.
rx
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I was reading The Backpacker's Field Manual a few years back, and
there's this one part in there that says something like, "If you're
being mauled by a grizzly, just try to roll with the blows and lay
face down on the ground like you're dead."  I was always pretty sure
that this would be how the scenerio played out no matter what a person
*tried* to do :-)
Aaron Peterson
Versailles, KY

The other thing I learned from the ranger was when I asked about wearing 
about bear bells. He said that you really want to determine which kind 
of bear territory you are in. If you find some scat and see that is is 
full of seeds, it is a brown bear. Grizzly scat, on the other hand, will 
contain bear bells.
Kit
Aaron Peterson wrote:
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hahaha.  Growing up in Minnesota,where we only have black bears, I got used
to thinking of bears as just annoying, and not really dangerous.  More like
some giant dog or racoon that loves to dig in your garbage than any real
threat.  Next time I head out west, I'll have to remember that the bears
there are more aggressive and dangerous.
On 3/29/06, Kit Anderson  wrote:
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