Things you should know

I’m telling this story because you need to know what to look for in order to be safe when enjoying the great outdoors. Bears are intelligent creatures, if you know what to look and you are aware of your surroundings you can often figure out what the bear is trying to tell you. Be observant, know the environment you are in and follow your instincts. Bears are not vicious, but they can be dangerous if you don’t pay attention. They deserve your full attention, always.

The other day I was walking with a few friends in the forest just outside of town on a fairly remote trail. It was a gorgeous day and we were all joking and having a good time. I was having fun, but in the back of my mind I was thinking about all the recent bear encounters that had been reported in the area. Someone had been killed by a bear in the same region a few weeks earlier. I kept my eyes peeled.

The trail was crowded by close packed trees on either side. It often twisted drastically around blind corners. We were running along the trail up to one of these corners when something on the path caught my eye and made my stomach drop. My friends dashed past me and continued on. The thing on the trail was the biggest pile of bear scat I have ever seen. Grizzly bear.

It was covered with flies and black as ink. The colour of bear scat is always important. Black is the colour if digested blood. For those of you that don’t know, bears are omnivores. They can pretty much eat anything that people can. However they also don’t often eat meat, preferring to go for bugs, grasses and roots. I should also let you know that this time of year (spring) is very tough on bears. Not much has begun growing this far north. This means that bears become desperate for food. Depending on the individual bears personality it will do two things, continue eating low calorie grasses and scavenging for food…. or hunt. Needless to say a hungry bear with the kind of personality that leads it to hunt is incredibly dangerous to a group of thoughtless 20 something’s goofing off in the woods. What could make this worse?

The position of the scat. Bears don’t poop on trails unless they are trying to say something. Usually a bear will poop in the woods then go back to walking on the trail. They do this to keep the trail clean, just like people do. But if a bear wants to claim a trail as its own it will poop on it. This is the bear’s way of saying, “This is mine and I will fight to keep it that way.” But wait, there is more. This pile of scat was way too big. I looked at it a bit more closely and realized a second bear had pooped on the first bears mark. This means that there are two territorial and aggressive bears in the area both laying claim to the trail.

It was time to go. I hollered for my friends and they came running back. I showed them what I had found. They were mildly concerned but they wanted to keep going. I had to argue with them to turn back. Eventually I convinced them. They were pretty pissed at me, they thought I was over thinking it, but I’d rather put up with their pouting than a territorial, hungry grizzly.

We went home. A few hours later a hiker was attacked on that trail.

Again, I’m not telling this story to scare people out of hiking or to make anyone fearful of bears. I’m telling this story because you need to know what to look for in order to be safe. When you go out into the forest you are in the bear’s territory, regardless of who owns the land. Bears are intelligent creatures, they are powerful and they deserve your absolute respect. They are dangerous, but they are not vicious. If you go out into their territory you have to understand them.

If you found this post interesting please leave a comment and let me know. I have a lot more wildlife related information I can share. I am an avid outdoorsmen. I work at a wildlife reserve where one of my response abilities it to teach new hikers how to understand the land.

Note: I didn't have a camera on this outing, none of these images are mine. Below are the sources

1. http://www.businessinsider.com/80-year-old-russian-man-survives-after-bear-throws-him-off-cliff-2013-11
2.http://iwenttheretoo.blogspot.ca/2012/08/killarney-camping-near-north-ontario.html
3. http://funwithgravity.blogspot.ca/2010/06/green-mountain-drizzly-run.html
4. http://www.thepicturewindow.ca/keyword/smith%20inlet/
5. http://www.americangrandma.com/2011/06/07/it-is-okay-to-say-no/
6. http://pixdaus.com/a-brown-bear-mother-and-one-of-her-newly-born-off-spring-enj/items/view/307258/